The topic for today's debate is that America is too influential on us. I, on the affirmative side, will prove to you that America is too influential on us. But before I begin my case, I would like to point out the clear faults in the oppositions case.

First,we all agree that there are huge cultural influences of the America upon on our nation’s way of life, including food, sport, film, politics, clothing, and music. After World War II, American money and culture became very evident in Australia, this was amplified after the Vietnam War. there are American items everywhere! Put on the TV and there are just American TV shows everywhere. Majority of Australian TV shows are copied or just American, such as So you think you can dance, Big brothers, Australian idol, or CIS etc. Talking about some fast food, its American brands, such as Hungry Jacks and McDonalds. When you turn on a radio channel, its mostly American music. So basically everywhere we go in Australia, there is a lot of America in it. Don’t you think it is TOO much. Many Australians have begun to adopt an American mind-set. This might not be so bad if it was the mindset of a small-town America, but instead it is the extravagant mind-set of the major cities where much of American television and movie entertainment is set and produced: Los Angeles, Washington, and New York ("The Big Apple", which has a reputation for thinking money is far more important than people). Don’t you think it is a bad influence, not a good one.

The Americanisation of Australia's culture is a sad and terrible thing. It is a process whereby ordinary Australians are bombarded every day with images of American lifestyle, so much that it merges almost unnoticed into their own lifestyle. It is a process whereby our home- grown entertainment industry is overwhelmed by the enormous powerhouse of the American economy, with drastic effects upon the modern Australian nation. We have lost our own identity as an Australia.

Second, in terms of international affair, Australian seems not to have her own opinion at all, completely following The American. For example, if America sends troops to a country, Australia would soon follow them to war, no matter how dangerous it is to our soldiers. Until yesterday 39 Australian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001, and 242 have been wounded, many seriously. Have we ever considered how much their beloved family members has suffered for their losses? Do we really have to send our troops to Afghanistan? There is nothing wrong about being influenced by the most powerful country on earth. Australia itself is too small to have all the manufactured needs and resources, it needs help from larger and more powerful countries. However, it has to be towards certain extent. We do have similarities to America: speaking the same language, descended from Europe, and being a democratic country. Hence, we can learn from America however, we cannot completely depend on them. Otherwise we will lose our identity. America isn’t the only powerful country on Earth, there are many other countries where we can learn just as much from. Diversity is good for us. So being close to many countries rather than only America.

Now that I have clearly proved to you that America is too influential on Australia, there is no doubt that we will have convinced you.