The question has been asked "what do Americans want?" The answer is complex and difficult to reach without making generalizations. Komal Prasad Phuyal, this topic's creator, writes that the answer is money. He goes on, asserting that the pursuit of money is Americans' one true ideology and that war is the vehicle by which Americans make it. I am concerned that this may be a fairly common perception among foreign spectators.

Americans are an eclectic group of people drawn from regions all over the world. They are comprised of peoples of various different faiths, moral codes, and principles, but regardless of where they come from, they share a commonality in that they came to the United States in hopes of securing a better lifestyle. If anything, this is their ideology. Money is just one means to that end.

Like Komal Prasad Phuyal, I recognize an "American restlessness," but differ with him over what it is and why it exists. Komal writes that Americans' restlessness is the result of their innate belief that war is some sort of birthright and that peace is counterproductive to turning a profit. If one follows this line of thinking out to its reasonable conclusion, it means that Americans will forever be locked in an imperialistic mentality so long as it is profitable.

In my opinion, American restlessness is much more complicated than simply being a matter of greed and unchecked egos. American restlessness exists because Americans don't appreciate what they have, and are under pressure to meet, many times, unreasonable expectations of success. It is not that success is unreachable, rather, it is that success has become an amorphous concept. This problem with attaining success is directly related to American's lack of appreciation for their current level of success. Since World War 2, the country has been at war on and off without significantly affecting people's day to day lives. The current middle class has not had to struggle like their parents had to, and as a consequence, today's average American does not fully appreciate his or her situation. It is this lack of appreciation for one's current success, combined with the need to meet undefined expectations of success, which creates American restlessness. In a way, this restlessness has become the modern American's search for meaning, and will persist as such until Americans get a dose of reality.

Although I acknowledge American restlessness, I do not believe that it is necessarily

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