The Next Free Press Live Debate: Is the American Dream Alive?

The American Dream is at the core of our national ethos. We pride ourselves on the notion that, unlike in other places, with enough hard work and determination, anyone in America can have a successful middle-class life. 

Is that still true? 

There are millions of Americans today who have lost faith in the American Dream. Consider the numbers:

• Income Inequality: The top 1 percent of Americans today hold more wealth than the combined net worth of America’s middle class—a spread that continues to widen. 

• Stagnant Wages: Despite economic growth, wages for middle and lower-income workers have barely budged in real terms over the past two decades. 

• Cost of Living: Housing costs have soared, with median home prices now out of reach for many average families in major cities. 

These figures paint a stark picture of an economy where the traditional avenues for upward mobility are disappearing. But beyond the economic data lies a deeper malaise. Polls suggest that Americans have less confidence than ever in the future. In particular, they have lost faith in another tenet of the American Dream: that their children’s lives will be materially better than their own.

This subject is a crucial one in the current presidential campaign—which is why we’ve decided to make it the subject of our next debate in our nation’s capital.

On September 10, The Free Press is heading to Washington, D.C., to discuss the state of the U.S. economy—and whether prosperity is still within reach for most Americans. 

We’re proud to partner with the country’s leading defender of free speech rights, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), and we are so excited about our lineup. 

Arguing that yes, the American Dream is alive, is economist Tyler Cowen. Tyler is a professor of economics at George Mason University and faculty director of the Mercatus Center. He also writes the blog Marginal Revolution.

Joining Tyler is Katherine Mangu-Ward, editor in chief of the libertarian Reason magazine and co-host of The Reason Roundtable podcast.

Arguing that no, the American Dream is not alive, is David Leonhardt, senior writer at The New York Times and the author of Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream. David has won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. 

Joining him is Bhaskar Sunkara, the president of The Nation magazine and the founding editor of Jacobin. He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality. Bari Weiss will moderate.

We hope you’ll join us. 

Paid subscribers get access to the presale window for tickets HERE, using the code at the end of this email. Our last debate sold out in just over 24 hours, so you’ll want to move quickly! And if you want to watch previous live debates, including our most recent on in San Francisco on criminal justice reform, head to thefp.com/events.

We are grateful to our paid subscribers for making this debate, and everything we do at The Free Press, possible. We encourage you to take advantage of the 24-hour presale period by using the access code below. 

Head here, enter the password DCDEBATEACCESS, and select your ticket.

We are also thrilled to invite you to our exclusive debate after-party, where you’ll be able to chat with Bari and members of The Free Press and FIRE teams, mingle with the debaters, and get a chance to meet other Free Pressers in the flesh. 

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