Resolved: The American Dream still exists.

Resolved: The American Dream still exists. Let's start out with the definition of the American Dream. As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a dream is "a strongly desired goal or purpose". Also it is the "American" dream. Thus, the definition of the American Dream is a person's ability to strive after a strongly desired goal. Continuing the definition, the person has the best chance to reach his or her goals because he is in, or under the influence of, America. Contention 1: Women Throughout the world women are not given a fair chance to achieve their dreams because society holds them to be inferior to males. A prime example is in India. According to Super Freakonomics by Steven Levitt, when a girl was born to a family, she was considered a curse and was often killed on the spot. Similarly in China, women are seen as incapable in the workspace, and due to this, women earn 77% less money [1]. The one place that women know they can get the best opportunity is in the United States of America. In this country, women are allowed to hold a job without being sexually discriminated; they are allowed to own land on their own; they are allowed to pursue a career in any field they desire; they are allowed to choose whether or not to participate in sexual activity, whereas in other countries women are constantly raped. Just two years ago Hillary Clinton attempted, and nearly succeeded, to become the first female president of the United States. In addition, according to the US Department of Labor, "women comprise 46.8 percent of the total U.S. labor force"[2]. Women are at par with the number of men employee, a great feat that illustrates the great opportunity that women receive in the United States. It is clear that women receive the best opportunity to succeed here in the US, and thus the American dream clearly lives on. My opponent may say that women do not make as much money as men. This may be true, but you as the judge must look at this statement in context. Most women belong to families and have kids. According to Freakonomics, women are much more attached to children in comparison to men. Thus, they work fewer hours to attend to the kids, causing them to earn less money. These women desire to go to their kids, so they accept the inevitable consequence of making less money, and thus they still are living the American Dream. Contention 2: When did the American Dream cease to exist? In order for something to stop existing, there has to be something that caused this. I challenge my opponent to state the incident that "killed" the American Dream. My opponent will almost certainly cite the recent economic recession as the cause, but there is simply no evidence to support this. The United States has gone through World War 1, the Great Depression, World War 2, the Vietnam War, and George Bush, yet the dream has remained intact throughout all of these events. It is pure folly to believe that just because the US hit an economic blip, it is suddenly going to stop becoming the ideal country to live in. This is evident by the fact that although we have gone through some rough times, as all countries have, the United States has remained, and will remain, the number one country to immigrate to. At some points, there has actually been too many people rushing into the US to flee from their poor, non-ideal country that the US had to make laws that limited immigration. Currently, the United States remains the #1 immigration destination, and 165 million people world wide wish to move into to the United States from their country of origin [3]. Clearly the American Dream existed, still exists, and always will exist. Contention 3: the Economics of the American Dream. Simply put, the United States is the country where a person is offered the best financial opportunity. Millionaires are literally made in minutes and anyone has the opportunity to do so. A person is entitled to the right to start any business that he or she desires to make, and essentially, the United States has adapted a laissez faire policy. This is the essence of the American Dream, and it is still very much alive today. Contention 4: Education. According to Fareed Zakaria in the book Post-American World, the United States has the best educational institutions in the world. In other words, any person who comes to the United States is offered the best education in the world. This allows for the development of young minds, leading to better lives in the future. And this educational opportunity is not just offered to men. As stated in Freakonomics, 58% of all college students are women. Clearly, the evidence to support my claim is pervasive, and thus I strongly urge an Affirmative Vote in today's debate. I thank my opponent in advanced for accepting the debate and look forward to an interesting debate. [1] http://www.christusrex.org... [2] http://www.dol.gov... [3] http://www.gallup.com...