Thoughts on America's Dream

Currently pondering the following:

I think in mature Christian circles (those self-identifying as “close to Christ” or “Christ-centered,”)most would agree to the following statement:

"The American Dream is not biblical."

Now for me, I know I have taught students that the American Dream is not necessarily God’s plan for their lives. By it, I don’t mean that God can’t give them wealth. I simply mean that God’s plan transcends American culture and is in fact possibly adverse to the American Dream. Of course, I don’t mean that God always works a certain way; I mean that the principal behind the Scripture is not always in line with America’s idea of a dream, i.e., happiness.

Now this brings me to my point. Happiness. Most Americans are born and then ingrained with the notion to pursue happiness. I reference the United States Declaration of Independence, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
It has just dawned on me that pursuing happiness may not be biblical. In fact, the more I think about it, it resonates in me that it is in fact the incorrect thing to pursue. Hold on, I’m not yet finished. My point is pursuing happiness is not correct. Biblical counsel seems to command us to pursue differently. I think pursuing goodness is a much more worthy and biblical pursuit.

I find the following:
Romans 15:14
I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another.
2 Peter 1:4-6
4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;

It seems to me that if happiness was paramount, then we should be adding goodness to our pursuit of happiness. However, in verse 5 of 2 Peter 1, we are instructed to add goodness to our faith. This makes faith our vehicle to pursue goodness.

My fear is that I use my faith to pursue happiness way more often than the pursuit of goodness.

Bottom-line:
Pursuing Happiness is singular and internal.
Pursuing Goodness is plural and external.

Therefore, how do you feel about this quote from Marva Dawn:

“To be middle class is to have more than your share of the world’s resources.”

Scary thought: Is the American dream simply to be middle class? I’m curious as to how much energy I put into attaining or maintaining my middle class-ness.