America will remain the worlds dominant superpower

Thank you for your reply con, it was an enjoyable and interesting read, but I can't help feel that your use of humour and analogies possibly masked problems in your explanations. Before I begin on that however I would like to answer the question of "Did my changing of the time scale make this debate more difficult for you?" My honest answer is no, it has made it no more nor less hard, I felt it would be a positive for the debate as a whole in the fact that it makes the debate more interesting and "realistic" in a sense. looking to 100 years in the future I would argue opens the door to too many assumptions and guesses, more in need of a crystal ball then facts and statistics! I will begin with rebuttals: Near the beginning of your argument you state how nothing lasts forever, using the seemingly immortal mass that is our Sun as an example of this. Of course this is true! Change is a part of the universe and it always will be, but unfortunately the life cycle of our Sun is a lot less complicated than politics and ideals in society. I say this because in your argument about changing ideals I feel you have given the situation far too general of a look. It is true that in many of the statistics you gave the USA is different to Western Europe. To say that these statistics are signs of the USA drifting away from its Allies is unfair though, as I would argue that in the world of today, an era of relative freedom of travel and mass immigration/emigration permanently in motion, does it really surprise you that peoples views vary so much? It is the cross pollination of different cultures and people that causes variation, something that in my mind is a very good thing. After all, you and I clearly have opposing views on this topic of debate, but it CERTAINLY doesn't mean I am any less of a friend to you as a result. It is in the nature of human beings to have different thoughts and views to others, and it doesn't necessarily always have to result in dislike of one another. To give an example, the British Empire at its peak had a huge presence in India, a land heavily dominated by varying Eastern religions such as Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism... yet despite these religions and there differences to the strongly Christian England, the people of India were some of the kindest and most beneficial Allies to England for many a year after we first set foot there. As for Obamacare, I am aware of the controversy surrounding its creation and implementation, but surely I am not the only one who's first thought on the matter was "This is positive, America (or at least its leadership) evidently realises change is happening, more available healthcare is needed to compete with other countries socially". Using another historical reference, was it not Britain in the early 1900's (when it was the unrivalled dominant superpower) in an attempt to compete with Germany created a welfare system, not the NHS, not a completely free healthcare system? I believe it was, and controversy was rife over the matter, the public was split over the new Government implications and many scoffed at the idea. 50 years later... the NHS had been created and implicated all across the country, who's to say the USA won't follow a similar pattern, it seems highly likely in my opinion. The proposed "hopping over to the other side of the fence" confused me considerably. You seem to make it clear that this "other guy" China is on the opposite side of the fence to the USA, and by asking the question of what's to stop the allies of the USA from hopping over to their side is a contradiction of what you had just stated. By your own argument, one of the key reasons that the USA and its Allies are drifting apart is because of a difference in ideals, in particular Americas lack of a healthcare service. Well then, surely it is China's lack of a health service as one of the US's "steadfast ideological brothers" (as you put it) that would make this jump illogical and ultimately a waste of time. A much larger issue lies here that would ever prevent this jump, the banner of communism given to China by the outside world. I myself had the opportunity to visit China last year and I saw first hand just how much of a capitalist communist state it really is, but not everyone has had this opportunity. The fear of China by Western Europe is similar to that of the fear of the USSR experienced during the cold war. I'm not here to tell you that China is an evil place, far from it, but for many the fears of gulags and spit roasted babies is still at the forefront of their minds, communism is scary, a regime representing totalitarianism and the bane of capitalism in the publics eyes, the same reason China isn't attracting international talent and minds, and it will take more than the USA lacking an efficient healthcare system to break this fear, especially considering how unique the UK in particulars bond with the USA is. Most people that I have met like the USA, lets be honest, despite their slight differences in ideals and faith, their culture is very much similar to ours - more similar than China to say the least! Should we really be surprised at this, was it not the British Empire (and other Western European countries) that set up many of the foundations of the USA? I would now like to look at an analogy of my own, one of brothers. I would class the USA as extremely close to the UK, a bond that is similar to that of a family. Two brothers lets say! Two brothers wouldn't (in most circumstances) break a lifetime of unity over a difference in ideals, I certainly wouldn't, especially when the alternative is a person almost entirely unlike ourselves in all that they do! Human beings are not machines, that is fact, we are packaged with empathy and attachment, we need to consider these factors when it comes to talking about the continuing existence of Alliances. The USA is NOT drifting away from its Allies. To briefly address the idea that China is building up it's power base economically and militarily whilst the USA is out fighting wars, it may well be true, but who is to say that war is a negative, that war is not in search of peace, that is more down to opinion than fact, a topic of another debate, and secondly, there was another country that did the exact same whilst other countries fought wars around the globe... it was Germany under Adolf Hitler. He grew Germany's economy rapidly (like China), raised a great army, particularly his Navy (like China) and he took a lot of land that he claimed belonged to Germany (Tibet springs to mind!), and I'm sure we are all aware of how things ended up for Germany, a complete loss and takeover! I saw the education first hand on my visit to China, in Shang Hai, the city that according to your source was the best educated, and myself and the teaching staff attending were appalled by the disorganisation and work ethic of many pupils. Many didn't wish to work altogether and children at age 17 were covering things we already had! Even if this is true I feel their lack of good universities will still cut this education burst short as they simply cannot continue to the levels of the USA without better further educational systems. Looking briefly at the military difference this round, I will start by simply stating this - China is 20 years behind the US in terms of its military, and that is a fact announced by the Chinese themselves, 20 whole years, think about how large a gap that is, the Chinese officials admitted this gap was "very big" and I agree. The USA is still the only country in the world that can be involved in multiple wars across multiple continents and still attain few casualties. I will expand upon this next time, but to finish this debate I would like to kindly ask that Con makes sure all his facts are correct next time, China has been involved in many wars over the past 20 years: (sources in comments due to character count restrictions) I look forward to your reply!