In Carving Today’s American Dream: The Rule of Law
by Anya Amin, 3rd Place Winner, Junior Category
America governs itself on the rule of law: the fact that nobody － no billionaire, no saint, no person － is above the law. This is the core principle of our American justice system. It’s this core principle that ensures that every American is subject to the same laws, that blurs the distinctions between Americans, and that magnifies their humanity instead. The rule of law is the epitome of the American Dream, and it’s engraved through history as the catalyst which kept Americans dreaming.
Our founding fathers built America on the American dream: the promise that all people, regardless of their background, could carve themselves a better life through opportunity, hardwork, and determination. But in America’s early stages, not all people could.
The Black man lived a few neighborhoods down in a segregated slum.
The poor man couldn’t afford schooling for his young one.
The disabled man couldn’t find himself a job.
The Chinese man was banned from the country.
The women weren’t even considered.
The America we built upon patriotic premises grappled against dystopian realities. But even when reality crushes our dreams, Americans don’t give up easily. We never have. Historians could easily dub us as an extraordinary one-of-a-kind species marked by the raw determination of our people; every stage of our history built on a test of human resolve.
So the Black man protested in the streets.
As did the schooling reformers.
As did the disabled.
As did the Chinese.
As did the women.
As did their fellow Americans.
Even as the world stood formidable against them, these Americans carved themselves a movement through opportunities, hardwork and determination. They fought for the American Dream by leveraging its promised principles, and the courts listened.
Because unlike the outside world, under the court’s rule of law, everyone is equal. In looking beyond distinctions, Americans are characterized solely by their actions: not their gender, not their race, not their wealth. This is the rule of law etched in our courts; the only paradise on Earth where Americans enter as a blank slate － where their judgment rests solely on what they prove. Presenting a leveled playing field where any American can work to succeed, the rule of law is not merely an idea, it’s an objective multilateral promise.
It’s the epitome of the American Dream.
Under the rule of law, these persevering Americans grew a nation that captured the core principles of the rule of law’s promise, and the American Dream they secured within the courts engraved itself across the nation.
It built our diverse communities, our schools filled to the brim with young aspiring children. It built our universal vote, our merit based jobs, and our tenacious immigrants. It built our American Dream.
The rule of law never compelled Americans to act, rather, it empowered the Americans who chose to fight for their American Dreams. It promised to all brave Americans that every dream is achievable, as long as you keep fighting. This is the rule of law’s promise for the American Dream.
