The American dream is not dead despite the hype, pundits' perception, and a negative mindset brought on by a divisive presidential campaign. According to former roofer and U.S. Congressman Reid Ribble, it's just different.

The retired National Roofing Contractors Association CEO kicked off the 2025 IRE in San Antonio by exploring the state of the American dream in his keynote address. He took more than 1,000 attendees in the multi-level Lila Cockrell Theatre down memory lane, describing and showing pictures of the small, humble home he shared with seven siblings growing up in rural Wisconsin. He fast-forwarded to his current home in Tennessee, pointing out all the amenities and creature comforts that would be unheard of in some parts of the world.

He cautioned roofing entrepreneurs in the audience about the trap of nostalgia — that powerful, sentimental longing for things of the past that seem good or better than alternatives available today, even though many are not. Pew Research Center shows that only 19% of people are satisfied with the outlook for America’s future, while 80% are dissatisfied.

“I think we all have a tendency to look back on our youth and say how great it was when we were kids,” he said. “My parents lived their version of the American dream, and I’ve lived my version of the American dream and my children are living their version of the American dream. And that immigrant seeking a new opportunity in the United States is looking for his or her version of the American dream.”

He demonstrated this with anecdotes, facts and figures, pointing to the U.S. gross domestic product, which is at $27.72 trillion. The next highest is China at $17.79 trillion. U.S. workers, he said, earn more than most workers in the world.

Ribble noted that we may look back in envy at the price of gas being $0.31 per gallon in 1960, but when adjusted for 2023 inflation, it works out to roughly $3.39 per gallon — on par with today’s prices. Poverty and homelessness in the U.S. were 22.1% in 1960, higher than the 2023 figure of 11.3%.

He said the myth that the American dream is gone is based on circumstances that aren’t new to this generation. Every generation has faced this question, each with unique and multiple challenges, and every generation has had to define the American dream for themselves. Ribble said that along the way, we’ve discovered that the American people are industrious, resourceful, imaginative, and problem solvers.

As such, he said people should feel good about the country they live in and the work they do and see our current immigration situation as an opportunity rather than a crisis.

He said a true crisis would occur when people aren’t lining up to come to the United States.

“If they’re coming here it’s to live their version of the American dream, whatever that looks like,” he explained. “They’re coming here for that little slice of it. And you’ll know it’s dead when people don’t want to come here anymore.”