America’s Decline
According to a Gallup poll taken this July, only 52% percent of Americans are extremely proud to be American, having declined from a high of 70 percent in 2003. The largest contributors to the decline are young adults, becoming 26 percent less patriotic over the last decade. Considering recent events, this is unsurprising. After American patriotism spiked following 9/11 to bind the country together through a difficult time, it has steadily fallen. The economic crisis from 2007 to 2009 didn’t help national pride. Nor have police brutality videos on social media, a new and dangerous Islamic terrorist group, and a presidential race that could be picked out of an extreme Would You Rather? book.
This election has people split into two distinct camps. However, many people feel they are voting for the lesser of two evils, without fully believing in their candidate. This is understandable considering we are choosing between a racist billionaire and a woman who has a new cover-up scandal every other week. Most of the campaign ads have been about attacking the competition and the debates are even worse. Both candidates often interrupt the moderator, dodged audience questions in the town hall debate, and spend most of the time fighting each other with precious little discussion of the issues that will impact each of us for the next four years. If we cannot be invested in the future leader of America, how can we be invested in the future of the country?
America’s decline has its roots in the way we educate new generations. The education system in this country has immense faults throughout and prevents America from having a future. Public schools are underfunded and teachers there are often not equipped to deal with their students. The alternative for those who want a good education is private institutions, where the costs are steep and competition rages. Policies are on the ballot this year that would divert even more funding from our public system to charter schools instead of fixing the problem at hand. Without a future generation of educated workers, we cannot trust ourselves to make the right decisions and move the country forward.
Fewer and fewer people are concerned with making a change; more are focused on how much money they can amass for themselves. Formerly the pinnacle of innovation, we now borrow things from other countries or rely on a select few visionaries to carry us forth. Silicon Valley used to be concerned with changing the way we interact as a species and revolutionizing industries. It is now more concerned with getting us to stay on a page longer so we see more ads.
On the foreign policy front, our relationships with the world are the worst they have been in ages. We back Saudi Arabia, which recently bombed a Yemeni funeral, killing and injuring hundreds. Our relationship with Israel is now on rocky ground after we withdrew some support for the Israelis in the UN. We are entangled in a Syrian civil war, riddled with human rights abominations and pitting us against Russia, a major rival that we desperately need to establish better ties with. Both the USA and Russia independently have enough nuclear weapons to end human civilization but we are making enemies of each other. Domestically, ISIS terror attacks abroad spread fear and ignorant racism against Muslims across our country.
With a bleak future to look forward to and the present in a bewildered state, I wouldn’t be surprised to see our patriotism fall even further. Just in the past year, we have had to deal with race issues, police brutality, over 300 mass shootings, sexual assaults on our school campuses and a truly deplorable presidential race. Jobs disappear overseas and innovations barely crawls along. The primarily American obsession with personal wealth will be our undoing. On top of everything, we are the singular generation tasked with avoiding mass-extinction of our species by climate change. God help us. Without drastic changes in culture and a massive effort by all of us to build a future for ourselves and our country, America may be declining into an unrecognizable shadow of its former greatness.