Marco Rubio’s Quote of the Day: “The American Dream is an oft-used but often misunderstood term” and the story of “An American Son”
Long before he became Secretary of State, Marco Rubio In his 2012 memoir, he introduced himself as “America’s son.” At the time, he was a Florida senator and the embodiment of the American dream. In a career he never planned for and a meteoric rise in the current Donald Trump administration, Rubio spoke poignantly about the American dream, about his parents, and what those two magic words mean to him.“The American Dream is a term that’s often used but also often misunderstood. It’s not really about getting rich or famous. It’s about something simpler and more basic than that. It’s not really about getting rich or famous. It’s about something simpler and more basic than that.” He wrote to explain what the American Dream is not.
What is the American dream for Marco Rubio?
“It’s a happy home that allows you to live without fear for the safety of yourself and your family. It’s the freedom to worship the way you want. It’s the opportunity to get a good education, it’s the opportunity to get a job that gives you financial security and a comfortable retirement. And it’s the opportunity for your children to be better off than you were,” Rubio explained of his American Dream.“My parents came to the United States about 60 years ago, and you could get a middle-income job without a higher education. That’s how they entered the middle class, working as bartenders and maids. But they desperately wanted their children to have more than that. Giving us the chance to live a better life was their American dream,” he said.“For them, it meant giving us the opportunity to get something they didn’t have: a university degree. That’s why from a very early age, they would tell me tu tienes que estudiar: ‘You have to study.’ “So growing up, I never considered not going to college.”“My parents didn’t make enough money to pay for our education. But I was able to use Pell Grants, student loans, work-study, and summer jobs to pay for a four-year degree and eventually law school.”Marco Rubio graduated in 1996 and two years later, when he ran for West Miami city commissioner, he had already interned for Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who became the first Cuban-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Rubio won the election and his political career was on the fast track. In 1999, Gepao represented Florida District 111. In 2000, he was appointed Majority Whip and in 2002, House Majority Leader. In 2006, at the age of 35, he was elected Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.In 2011, he entered the U.S. Senate after winning the Florida midterm elections. He served in the Senate for 14 years and became Secretary of State in 2025.In the meantime, he announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination in 2015, but lost in the Florida primary.
