The American Dream is not “something for nothing,” not a campaign promise like a chicken in every pot (or iPhone in every pocket) but a shared belief that part and parcel of freedom is a promise: the possibility of prosperity and success for all regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The Declaration of Independence proclaims that “all men are created equal” and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Land of opportunity — that's America's promise now as it has been since this country was first settled. Pilgrims crossed an ocean to escape religious persecution and build new lives. Countless others came for economic opportunities and a chance to be upwardly mobile, no longer working just to survive but to get ahead.

Since our founding, government policies have promoted upward mobility. Free public schools and free public libraries were radical ideas (and still are in some countries), but schools and libraries are institutions deemed necessary in a democracy in which all people are equal and eligible to vote. Education and knowledge were then and are now seen as keys to a better life.

My Norwegian and Swedish forebears came to the U.S. like millions of others because there was free land to be had, an opportunity to become landowners through their hard work and persistence in carving farms out of the Dakota prairies, just as the early settlers did here in Oregon and others did in the Oklahoma Land Rush. No inherited fiefdoms to limit possibilities, no system of inherited power constrained the chances to do well in the United States of America, a country whose shared belief was in opportunity for all.

After World War II, Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights (1944) and hundreds of thousands of ex-servicemen and women earned college educations, tickets to a better life for themselves and their families that was not possible for them without the government's help. No longer was education only for the elite but for all. Congress reaffirmed this belief recently when they passed the Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 to support our Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.

Pell Grants and other assistance to people unable to afford college educations on their own, along with government-supported loans, have allowed individuals more opportunity to realize their dreams and have moved families into the middle class. In many other ways, national, state, and local governments have created means for people of all backgrounds to improve their lives.

Douglas County has, since 1954, provided a system of 11 free public libraries. Today as much as ever, people throughout the county use those libraries as a means to improve their lives. Along with the traditional media of books, tapes, videos, maps, reference materials, and so on, computers and the Internet play an increasing role.

In many rural areas of our county as well as in the Headquarters Library in Roseburg, the library is the place to go to search for jobs, write resumes, and submit applications online. The library is the place to research colleges and scholarships, fill in applications, and apply instantly to schools across the nation. Libraries are places to do research for school assignments or home projects, to use email or Facebook or Craig's List or eBay. Distance education students of all ages use library computers, especially for online tests which librarians often proctor.

Libraries are safe, dry, fun places for kids to hang out. They offer programs to keep kids busy and learning in the summer. They're strong partners to schools and to home-school families. Preschoolers and their parents enjoy weekly story times and bigger kids love summer reading programs and special art and craft events.

Libraries are community gathering places — from informal bumping-into friends to scheduled events such as classes or meetings or celebrations.

Losing the countywide system that supports our local libraries next July when federal safety net funds expire would mean losing a key piece of Douglas County's infrastructure, a vital component in our “pursuit of happiness” and our ability to gain the American Dream.

Will we be the ones who choose to end this long, democratic tradition: the Douglas County Library System? Or will we step up and save our libraries?

Diane Williams is vice president of the Douglas County Library System Foundation and a member of the Library Future Committee. She can be reached at Diane.Y.S.Williams@gmail.com.