The United States is in a permanent decline and will cease to become a major world power

The United States will not cease to be a major world power in the coming century nor is it on a permanent decline. It sits on both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, making it a perfect highway for trade, increasing overall GDP and wealth. It has the labor force to facilitate this geopolitical advantage that the other countries in the Americas do not. South American countries either don't have enough population, centralized government, etc. Another big impediment to South American domination is impassable terrain. There is a line down the western coast and through the northern area of South America that renders South America almost useless in the geopolitical sense. The United States has a superb system of navigable rivers that allows the country's agricultural surplus to be shipped to world markets. It also has an amazing road system that would take decades for any potential rival to build and which also greatly helps the economy. Other countries are in a love/hate relationship with the U. S. They inherently don't like it because it is so powerful but they need the U. S. and will do everything in their power to help it remain a world power so long as there isn't another country nearly as powerful as the U. S. that could step in and fill the void that a weak America would leave. The U. S. 's navy is unprecedented in history. It controls all the world's oceans, providing safety to weaker maritime countries. Without the enforcers of the U. S. piracy would abound and the world's international economy would devolve into land or air travel, both much more inefficient than water shipping. Also, this navy protects the U. S. itself from any possible invasion, securing its place as a world power. The U. S. has lots of other good things going for it, such as some of the world's richest land for farming. Now to address my opponent's points: >>> We are in the middle of an economic decline that will continue to decline <<< We are in an economic decline but we are already seeing a recovery. The United States has officially been through 11 recessions but they have all been relatively short and the economy has recovered and prospered afterwards . http://en.wikipedia.org... The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record lows in February 2009 but since then has been on a steady recovery and presently has risen from 7000 to almost 9000. >>> The rate of poverty is increasing and people are becoming more desperate <<< This is a normal part of a recession and will recover once the economy does. >>> There is a decline in freedom with new unnecessary security laws and surveillance <<< My opponent has not supported this statement in any way shape or form within his argument and, with a quick scan of his 3 sources, I cannot find it in there and I as my opponent to specify sources for this assertion. Since it is up to me to negate all parts of my opponent's arguments I must reject his videos and ask that he make his own arguments. >>> The U. S. is selling its infrastructure, corporations, and land to foreign interests <<< I would disagree as the U. S. 's GDP is 10 trillion above its closest competitor, Japan. >>> The U. S. now serves the wealthy, not the middle class <<< The U. S. has a very distinct 50- year cycle. Each is characterized by a struggle between a declining dominant class linked to an established economic model. Each faction represents a radically different way of viewing the world and a different definition of what it means to be a good citizen, and reflects the changing ways of making a living. The first cycle was from 1776 (the year of the declaration of independence) until the election of Andrew Jackson in the late 1820s. This was a clash between founders and pioneers. Jackson took the focus off founders and onto pioneers. But the solution to one 50 – year crisis is the problem of the next. Hayes fixed this problem and made the problem that Roosevelt fixed: small-town America. He championed the industrial, urban workers at the expense of the former pioneers/ small towns and their values. So essentially, the ‘betrayal' of the middle class is a reorientation of the U. S. system that will work itself out. >>> We are wasting money on an invasion and are prepared for war with N. Korea <<< Whether or not this is true (which I highly doubt) it would not be a waste of time. North Korea has tested, on multiple occasions, nuclear weapons which are a threat to American security. >>> The value of the dollar is declining and a global currency is set to replace it <<< Too high of a value of a dollar and the general population is dirt poor (great depression), too low and we have run-away inflation (Germany late 19th, early 20th centuries). The U. S. is at a happy median right now. >>> The existence of the North American Union <<< This is a silly conspiracy theory and government officials from all 3 countries have said that no plans are being made to converge the country's economies in this way. >>> The Pope of the Vatican has the power to abolish any law in the United States <<< Really? >>> Some of America's sovereignty has been lost to the United Nations <<< The U. S. has all the sovereignty it needs In the U. S. and the UN is a joke. It wields almost no real power, as was demonstrated by it's failure to stop the Rwandan genocide and the current Darfur suspected genocide. >>> America's sovereignty will be completely lost due to Globalization <<< Humans can't get along well enough to become a one-world government and economic gaps will never allow it. >>> Our Social Security numbers are issued by the IMF (U. N. Agency) <<< Who gives a flying f*** where our social security numbers are issued from? This in no way represents a decline in U. S. power. Good luck geolaureate8.