Is American dream dead If so should we do anything about it - Essay Example

However, there are those people who believe that the American dream is dead, while others argue that the American dream is very much alive. Although none is said to be true or false, certain issues happening in the American society contradicts each other. This is the main reason for the divergent views in this motion. Initially, the American dream was concerned about creating opportunities for all Americans, opportunities that did not take into accounts either the race or nationality of people.

According to the virtues of the American dream, all Americans deserve equal opportunities before the law. The idea criminalized any form of discrimination against any person due to his colour, race, religion, language, social class or nationality. Every person is entitled to equal opportunities such as job opportunities, enjoyment of rights and enjoyment of people’s freedom. The rate of unemployment in America stands at 7.60 per cent as at June of 2013 while the underemployed rate is at 14.3%. This shows that some of the Americans miss job opportunities due to different reasons.

Additionally, people should have an opportunity to share in the national resources and enjoy their privileges. However, this is not the reality on the ground. Most people miss out opportunities due to their colour, race, ethnicity, language and physical looks. Since many people do not have equal opportunities, this has killed the American dream. A number of factors contributing to inequality among the American people are the main reason why the American dream is dead. Inequality, cited as the main pillar of the American dream is highly disregarded.

While all Americans are supposed to pay taxes, some enjoy the rare privilege of not paying taxes. Others receive tax deductions that exempt them from paying heavy taxes. Bending of the law through various amendments now allows some people to enjoy more tax reliefs than others. Some even device crooked means of avoiding taxes. Approximately, 46.6% of Americans do not pay income tax. Moreover, there is a huge wage gap between the rich and the poor people in the society. Approximately16 per cent of the Americans live in poverty, while 20% of the children live in abject poverty.

While the rich are entitled to high salaries, the poor are poorly paid. This results in a class difference between the Americans, the rich get richer and the poor remains poorer. Payment of wages need be equal, holding all other factors constant such as level of education, experience, the type of job and the hardships encountered in the work place. Sex should not determine the amount of income that a person should receive. However, in many instances men when compared to women earn higher wages despite the fact that they hold similar positions at work.

On the other hand, the American dream is still alive. Despite the cited cases of inequality, the dream is still alive among the Americans. With the high hopes and faith that we have in this dream, various people point out on the need to amend the law to make all people equal. Human rights groups and welfare organizations point out on the need to subject all Americans to a similar tax level. Other humanitarian groups such as the feminists point out that man and women require a similar pay package for similar kinds of tasks handled.

Little can however be done about this problem. Despite these cases however, the dream is