What’s wrong with America?
What’s wrong with America? One of the world’s greatest and most powerful countries is not as perfect as everyone thinks it is. A lot of people say that America is the best place that you can live in. I can verify that, that is a valid fact, America is one of the best places you can live. But every country has it’s problems, some more than others, but regardless everyone is going to have their problems. America is one of those countries that has many pros, but also many cons. America has a lot of problems, but as of present day, they seem to be having a lot more problems than the norm.
One of the most concerning problems in America is the corrupt career politicians. Back when America first started, there were no “career politicians.” No one got into politics because of the fact that they wanted to make money and go from one position of power to the next until they become president. There was no one like Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, or anyone of that kind that would stay in office just to move up in political power rankings. Take George Washington for example, he didn’t become president for the money. He was offered money to lead the continental army, but he refused because he loved his country and only wished that the expenses of the war be reimbursed at the end. He didn’t want a position of power just to boss people around, he wanted to make a difference and shape his country so it would outlive him when he was gone. Then there’s also Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton both were concerned with the revolution and the political pursuits that followed the war. They didn’t want positions of power because they wanted to make America their own. They wanted a position of power to make America the best America that they could possibly make it. They all were committed to their country and weren’t just in it for the money. Politicians today could care less about our country, the corrupt politicians of today’s office are just concerned about how much of the American’s money is going into their pockets. They just want to get rich and are greedy people that don’t care about the well beings of their fellow people. Take Barack Obama, when he was president he was getting paid $300,000 a year to be president. He was greedy and gave himself a $100,000 raise because he didn’t think he was getting enough money for what he was doing. Then there’s our current president that is giving his entire paycheck as president to a charity of his choice. See the difference?
Another thing that is alarming in these times in America is the ignorance of the American people. They think that it is okay to do some things that I know I wouldn’t do unless I were completely insane. For example the black lives matter riots, they think that it’s okay to go through some of these cities and trash innocent businesses and loot through all of their goods that they probably paid a lot of money for. Those businesses weren’t the ones that hurt that George Flloyd dude. It was the cop. Those businesses that have been looted through and trashed by “the protestors” have nothing to do with this whole matter. Just keep the protests peaceful and on the sidewalks and then maybe it will make a difference. In my mind, if you are looting a business or anything like that for a cause or injustice, then that is making me look down on your cause. It’s not making me want to join it. That’s a wrong thing that no one should even fathom of doing. Another thing that I think is ignorant on the American people’s part is the 1619 project.
The 1619 project is a lesson curriculum that people are trying to get taught in public schools. Basically, what the project is trying to teach is that everything wrong in America is drawn back to slavery and that America was actually founded in 1619 when the first African American slave was trasported to America. It also is trying to teach that the founding fathers fought to keep their slaves in their plantations and that slaves made America a lot of profits and money when really they didn’t. The slaves brought little to no profits in America. Slaves made some Americans rich, but it didn’t make America itself rich.
The slaves were actually very bad for the economy when they were relevant and being used all the time. This is why the north wanted to break away from the south because it was hurting their economy. In the north there were more factories, more active paid workers, more trade, and more money going around during the civil war. The south was doing worse financially in 1860, just a year before the civil war broke out. Back to my original point, the 1619 project is trying to teach that the founding fathers fought for independence because they wanted to secure their slave trades. That’s not true, they wanted to be free from Britain because they didn’t want to be taxed without representation, and they wanted to be able to make their own country with their own rules, and not pay for everything the British couldn’t pay for themselves. They also wanted to be free from complete government control, which by the way, Britain wasn’t going to give them that because they would have to let the Americans into Parliament and a bunch of other things that King George was not going to do. The revolution has nothing to do with the power of slave holdings, it was about the happiness and natural rights of the American people that were being denied by the British.
This project is outrageous and cannot become a part of what our schools teach. It is forgetting our history up until a certain point and is telling our students all of the wrong facts. If we are going to teach our kids things, then why are we going to want to teach them things that are not true? Wouldn’t you want your kid to have all of the right information so that they can use it later in life? I know that I would. I would not want my kids to be taught this, and if they were being taught this in school I would be having a serious talk with a lot of people within the school system. If the people of America, and any country for that matter, did the research on this project they would see that this project is preposterous. If one day I do become a teacher and am forced to teach my student this project, I will rebel. I would make sure that the children of America are being taught the right things and not some hogwash that someone wants them to learn.
Another topic that I feel I need to point out is the lack of respect for other people in America. A prime example of this is baking shows. Gordon Ramsey has two versions of his show Kitchen Nightmares, one is British and the other is in America. The basis of the show is that Gordon Ramsay goes to different restaurants that are in some rough shape and he fixes them up. In the British version he is very polite and gives very good pointers on how the people can improve and ultimately redesign their business. The British people are very attentive to his suggestions and take them to heart. You can tell in the show that they respect him a lot and take it as a gift that he is helping them out. Ramsay also doesn’t swear at all because there’s really no need to. Everyone is doing what he asks of them and they do what they are told. Now the American version is where it gets a little salty, no pun intended. Ramsay is considerably different in the American version of the show. He is more critical and swears a lot more in the American version of the show. He also yells a lot more and is a lot more intimidating. That’s because no one is listening to him and because no one respects him.
If Americans were to respect Gordon Ramsay and listen to his advice for them and their business it would be exactly like the British version of the show. But Americans being Americans, we need a swift kick in the butt to get going and get to doing business. That’s actually not true, it’s because American’s don’t like to be told they’re wrong. Then again who does like to be told they’re wrong? Americans will not take someone else’s advice and will just give them the big screw you. Now if I was in that situation with someone who is trying to give me pointers, I would listen to every word and take notes as to what they are saying. I want to do the best that I can in my life and if someone is going to help me put my best on the table then I will gladly listen to what they are saying.
Another thing is that American’s don’t know their history. Now I know we all learn history throughout school and learn about American history anywhere from 4th-12th grade. Now even though people learn that while they are in the schooling system, it is one of those things that people tend to forget about as they get older. If people don’t know their history they are doomed to repeat it. I have a prime example of people forgetting their history and repeating it. The early colonists of America wanted to break free of oppressive forms of government. This means that they wanted to break free from the reign of the monarchy that Britain had. Now today, in present day, we want to convert America to socialism. Socialism has always been proven to fail. Every country that has tried socialism has come crumbling down and often ends up in economic despair.
Why would we want the United States to be like that? We are one of the best countries in the world. We have freedoms, we have money, we have astronomical people that are in our country, we are proactive, and on top of most things. Why would we want our country to go into economic despair and give up the freedoms that make us unlike every other country. We are one in 195 countries. We need to be as successful as we possibly can and yet we want to bring ourselves to an oppressive government that we fought to break free from to begin with. I’m sure that if I sat here all day trying to come up with everything wrong with America then we would be here all day. My point is that I just wanted to touch on a lot of the big topics of things that Americans think are great, but in reality they aren’t. There’s not really anything I as a single person can do about any of these things. But if we all band together we can fix these problems and make our country totally unstoppable.
Thank you for listening to angry and merciless writing time with Phoebe Matthews and I will see you next time!
