Little bit of the American dream for starters (3)
I believe the answer is:
tad
'little bit' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the american dream for starters' is the wordplay.
'for starters' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letters of 'the american dream' is 'TAD'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for tad that I've seen before include "Small bit" , "A small amount (colloq.)" , "Smidgen" , "Modest amount" , "little boy" .)