The American Dream - Essay Example

Youyun Xu WR 121 Essay 2 The American Dream What is the American dream? Is the American dream alive or over? These questions trouble people have become a heated debate for a long period. American dream has always been a treasure of American nation and it is very important not to allow it to disappear forever. However, according to scholars, the threat is really serious as income inequality prevents American dream from being realized. The issue is worth-discussing thus, the given paper will provide the opinions of different scholars and prove that in order to save the American dream it is essential to struggle with income inequality. In the article written by Cal Thomas, we can easily find out the debate on the title “Is the American Dream Over?” Different people have different opinions on the issue if the American dream still exists. Thomas first chooses the definition by modern society for American dream as achieving greater prosperity through the consumption of more material goods. And then Thomas argues that the American dream is totally over. Stating that he refers to Bob Herbert’s article. Herbert also states that the American dream could be over, he thinks the fading of the American dream is contributed to the “expanding, encroaching, over-taxation, over-spending, and over-regulating government” (Herbert). Herbert has a very hapless opinion about the America as he sees it as a “can’t do society”, which is an embarrassing state of affairs. It comes out clearly in his argument that the American dream will never be achieved as long as people assume that teaching it in class would make some changes. Instead, people can’t understand their problems and find a better way to make themselves get away from these problems. The authors want people to realize that American dream is dying and necessary measures should be taken to save it. In the article “The American Dream, Dead, Live or on Hold” by Brandon King, the author makes us familiar with the history of American dream. King begins by telling where American dream came from, and how it affects the country today. King defines the American dream as "potential to work for an honest, secure way of life and save for the future (King)." To support his position, he quotes a survey by the 2009 The New York Times that indicated that 72 percent of the American population believes that people can start poor and work harder to end up rich. And the king talks about how many American citizens focus on saving for the future and most of them prefer renting houses than buying. Another problem that many Americans are struggling with is the issue of income inequality, whereby King argues that most of the American wealth is concentrated amongst the rich minority. He thinks the American dream is based on people’s individual perception, because success is determined by imaginations people have about it. According to King, the American dream will continue to exist simply as a dream that will never come true because of the lack of appropriate action form the side of government. He adds that the American dream will stay alive if “planning for the future by saving more and enacting policies that sustain economic growth” (King). In the article “Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore” by Robert H. Frank, he talks about how progressively unequal income levels affect on Americans. Starting from World War II where the income rates in the U.S. rapidly rose by 3 percent, Frank reckons with the experience of the last three decades where the economy has grown very slowly and infrastructural development is almost at a standstill. “People do not exist in a social vacuum. Community norms define clear expectations about what people should spend on interview suits and birthday parties. Rising inequality has thus spawned a multitude of “expenditure cascades,” whose first step is increased spending by top earnersЭ. (Frank). Frank places his blame on the economists for the inflation and argues that the economists have left their work for the philosophers to come up with the solution of income inequality. Frank further mentions that some scholars touch the principles of fairness and justice when talk about inequality. His argument is based on the concept of the income and that the rich spends more because they have extra money, but the second group are trying to come to the rich level of which there is the challenge arises. He argues that the unequal income is a bad thing and becomes a serious problem. An unequal income causes financial distress and would lead to many social problems such as divorce. All the three essays are discussing the American dream. In the Cal Thomas’ article, “is the American Dream Over?” states that the American dream is a matter of great concern to the American society, and he thinks the American dream is over. Opposite to the opinions raised in the other two articles by King and Frank, Thomas takes a pessimistic view of their entire issue and states that the American dream is a big problem, which will never be resolved. Thomas goes ahead to argue quite a number of the way and methods that the Americans have adopted in trying to achieve this dream. “The rules for achieving the American dream may no longer be taught in and supported by culture, but that doesnt mean they dont work. The rules are known to previous generations: studying and staying in school; achieving at least an undergraduate degree; avoiding drugs that harm your mind and body; getting married before you have children and working hard to stay married as an example to those children and to benefit society” (Thomas). One of the method that Kings finds to make little sense is the education system. The Americans have tied their best in educating their children and teaching them about their cultures with the aim of achieving the American dream. However, this method cannot work in achieving the American dream. He continue to argue that America will never put his cat together, and his reason is until they realize how much trouble they are in and they agree together with Herbert. Thomas idea is very contrast to Brandon king and Robert H. Frank whereby they agree that there is a problem but at the same time they don’t have a fixed mind like Thomas, because according to them any problem has a solution and that American can still achieve its dream if proper planning and methods are set in place for the purpose of achieving this long waited dream. The three articles agree on the fact that the American tax system and income inequality have played a big role in killing the expectation of American Dream. These two issues cause a greater distinction among American population. The American population is clearly divided into three social and economic classes which include the rich, the middle class, and the poor. According to the American standard, the poor person lives under two dollar margin. The struggle is then, the poor want to be in the middle class, the middle class want to be rich and very interestingly, the rich automatically continues to be richer. Therefore inequality is one of the factors that have stood between the American dream and its realization. In conclusion, all the three article agree that the only way to achieve this dream is through radical policy adjustments that will see a total exchange of the American taxation system and inclusion of measures that will promote equality within the population. Things to do for the next version of this essay 1) Revise the summaries based on my suggestions, and make them shorter overall 2) Revise the synthesis based on my suggestions, and use your revisions to make the synthesis clearer and more specific overall. 3) Pose a new Q@I in the final section – related to income inequality 4) Write an enthymeme that answers the Q@I, and offers one best reason to support the claim 5) Briefly map out the line of reasoning needed to support the enthymeme’s argument – first find the burden of proof and then use that to talk about what you would need to discuss in the essay to support the argument and how you might make that argument (i.e. what appeals you might use) Read More