America’s Three Biggest Problems
Fixing these three alone would make a huge difference.
I’m not one of those Americans who pick on America and excuse all other countries, unwilling to honestly acknowledge their domestic issues.
I see racism, poverty, patriarchy, religious fanaticism, and government corruption all over the world. The planet is drenched in blood, historically speaking and right up to the present moment.
However, I do not view America as the greatest country in the world. I never have and never will.
There are lots of issues in America that continue to plague us and most likely will never be solved. We’re a selfish, greedy country that was built on slavery and genocide by rich founding fathers who were interested in preserving their place on the top rung in society. They succeeded.
So what are America’s three biggest problems?
Well, let me just say that we have a LOT of problems and in the last few decades we haven’t managed to solve much of anything. In spite of all of our self-acclaimed exceptionalism, progress has pretty well come to a standstill. We’re not only not gaining ground when it comes to improving the lives of Americans, we’re losing ground.
Yet, in spite of the long list of problems that never get fixed any longer, there are three that stand out to me as the most urgent.
Guns
climate change
health care
Two of the three are fixable. Let’s start with the health care crisis. Shall we?
The western world, our historical companions, fixed the health care problem over 70 years ago. No one else in the entire western world goes bankrupt because they’re sick. No one. It’s preposterous that Americans face such grim financial possibilities when they’re sick, but we do. We have dozens of examples of different health care systems that other countries have in place, but most Americans have little to no interest in any of them.
Even those who think they want universal health care haven’t a clue what kind of systems the other western countries have put in place.
Why? Because when it comes right down to it, Americans aren’t interested in other countries and how they do things. Even progressive Americans remain stuck in the mindset that we have little to learn from anyone else. So, most people couldn’t explain how health care is delivered anywhere else in the world. They’ve basically adopted the viewpoint of — just give me one of those plans — without a clue that they’re not all alike. Oh, well. That’s Americans for you. Not easily engaged in critical thinking activities.
Our gun problem doesn’t exist anywhere else in the western world either.
Many other countries have solved the gun problem for themselves years ago. Sure citizens of other countries have guns, but they’re not toting around weapons of war, heavily armed, and thinking that at any second they may have to kill someone on their way back from the store after buying a loaf of bread. Children aren’t being slaughtered, whole classrooms, over and over again. Only in America.
This is a topic that burns my butt.
I hate sending my granddaughter to school every day. It feels too risky. I hate taking her to a public event. It feels too dangerous. I look across the room in a restaurant and see an ugly man with a gun strapped to his hip in plain view and I leave. I don’t want to be near him. I hate it that I can stay safer than my granddaughter because I’m retired and can easily pick and choose how much risk I’m willing to take. She has to go to school every day and practice shooter drills.
Basically, I avoid crowds.
Why? Because it’s just not worth it. I’ll be glad when my granddaughter is through with school for good. I’m also glad I only have one grandchild. America is unnecessarily dangerous and that makes me sorry that I brought children into the world.
The third problem, climate change, isn’t being sufficiently dealt with anywhere in the world.
Here’s America’s chance to be the leader we like to think we were chosen by god to be. Why not step up to the plate and lead the way. Why not redeem ourselves in the eyes of our children. But instead we procrastinate even as water grows scarce and extreme weather increases. Why?
Because we don’t fix things any more.
We’re like a married couple that can’t live in the same house any longer. We can barely stand the sight of one another. So instead of pulling it together, getting counciling for the sake of the kids, we have one knock down drag out after another. Our children are traumatized but we don’t care. We’re selfish adults who find it impossible to get along. Where has all the love gone? Out the window. We want a divorce.
Like I said, there are many problems in America, but the top three stand out screaming for our attention.
Two could be fixed and should have been long ago. Other countries have done it. So could we. The last one no one is taking care of and we refuse to take the lead. Why?
How many times do I have to say it? America doesn’t fix things any more— and our children are paying for it with their lives.
Teresa Roberts is a retired educator, author, world traveler, and professional myth buster. You can find her books on Amazon.
