Social Problems In America Many Of Americans example essay topic

Social Problems in America Many of Americans today do not take the time to realize that our nation is little by little falling apart. Our leaders are corrupt, our environment is being destroyed, and there are thousands of children being born each day. The three major social problems facing the American citizens in the 21st century are births to unmarried woman, being able to trust or government and or leaders, and lastly destroying the environment. The first major social problem facing America today is the crisis of births to unmarried woman. In "Straight Line to Calamity" George Will writes, "rising illegitimacy is a self-reinforcing trend because of the many mechanisms of the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The principal one is: People tend to parent as they were parented".

(228). During the 60's and 70's a lot of people were having unprotected sex. This age in time most people were not worried about getting pregnant so they didn't wear a condom to stop the pregnancies. This led to many unwanted pregnancies at early ages for girls. They were bringing up children when they were barley coming out of their teens. As the children were growing up, as Will states, the children were following in the parent's footsteps.

Most young parents really do not understand how to raise a child properly, meaning that they would raise their children the 2 same way they were brought up in the 60's and 70's. Later in the essay Will states; "Two supposed signs of the "crisis" are America's high rate of infant mortality and low rate of immunization of preschool children". (228). Many of the children that were being born were either under weight or not strong enough to survive. The use of drugs during this time was heavy, and this resulted in many infant deaths. The large-scale deaths to infants were due to the large number of teenage pregnancies, many of which were "born dead".

It is hard for a doctor to save a child that weighs less than 2 pounds and cannot breath on its own. Due to the increasing number of teen pregnancies lead to a population growth in America. In "Divine Revolution" Vaclav Havel writes, "Humankind today is well aware of the spectrum of threats looming over its head. We know that the number of people living on our planet is growing at a soaring rate and that within a relatively short time we can expect it to total in the tens of billions". (254). Havel is seeing the whole picture when referring to the population growth, not only unwanted pregnancies.

He sees the world becoming overcrowded and he believes we need to do something about it. He uses this essay to give us a revelation to wake up and save our planet from the destruction we are placing upon ourselves. Secondly, trusting our government and its leaders is another problem facing American in the 21st century. In "The Circle of Governments" Niccolo Machiavelli states, "As the human race increased, the necessity for uniting themselves for defense made itself felt; the better to attain this object they chose the strongest and most courageous from amongst themselves and placed him at their head promising to obey him".

(230). I take this statement to mean that ever since the beginning of time we have 3 put the biggest and smartest man at the helm of our nation. This may not always have been the best way to choose a leader. Many leaders now and today's abuse the power giving to them by the people. Not knowing what a person is about a chosen just on appearances and smarts is a big misconception of American people. You should always study a person past to find if they abuse power because it might always hurt you in the long run.

Later in his essay Machiavelli states, "Such were the beginning and cause of disorders, conspiracies, and plots against the sovereigns, set on foot, not by the feeble and timid, but by those citizens who, surpassing the others in grandeur of soul, in wealth, and in courage, could not submit to the outrageous excesses of their princes". (231). This is an example of a man having too much power. Because of a mans wealth and social status he used his power to make disorder in his kingdom, which lead to conspiracies. Trusting ones leader is a major part of having a united nation.

If many citizens of a nation cannot trust its leader it will lead to revolts by the people. Our leader that used drugs as a young man, cheated on his wife, and is involved with Watergate is a fine example of not being able to trust ones leader. Our President has lied under oath in front of millions and we are supposed to trust him? In our next election please take the time to do a little research on the public figures which you vote for.

Lastly, destroying our environment is another social problem facing Americans in the 21st century. In "The Divine Revolution" Havel writes, "We also know that we " ve been destroying the environment on which our existence depends and that we are headed for disaster by producing weapons of mass destruction and allowing them to proliferate". (254). Havel sees our world as a time bomb waiting to go off. Our world's 4 nations have been producing weapons off mass destruction for years.

While the cold year was going on many off the top nations in the world were producing bombs. Were any off these nations thinking of the future? What are we supposed to do with these bombs now? You cannot just set these off anywhere because off the fallout it has not people and the environment. Later in his essay Havel states, "We must develop a new understanding of the true purpose of our existence on this earth. Only by making such a fundamental shift will we be able to create new models of behavior and a new set of values for the planet.

In short, it appears to me that it would be better to start from the head rather than the tail". (255). What Havel is trying to tell the people are that we need to change our attitudes towards our planet. The people of our nation need to change their behavior towards out planet before we don't have one left.

We depend on our environment for many resources and it depends on us to live as well. The way we treat our environment will in turn be the way it treats us. Lastly in his essay Havel states, "Perhaps our lack of responsibility for the planet is only the logical consequence of the modern conception of the universe as a complex of phenomena controlled by certain scientifically identifiable laws, formulated for God-know what purpose". (255). The science and technology that we have in today's age is not only a helper it is also a destroyer. Many of the new inventions of today's age not only help the humankind they threaten them as well.

Many products produce unwanted chemicals that are needed to run them. This is harmful way to kill off humankind, very slowly. Ever car that is built, every can of hair spray is used, and every pollutant that is drained into or waters is killing us of very slowly. 5 Millions of Americans can understand the millions of problems facing our nation today. But the question is what are they going to do about it? You first have to recognize and understand a problem facing you before you can take action against it.

The three social problems facing America in the 21st century are births to unmarried woman, being able to trust or government and or leaders, and lastly destroying the environment. Everyone has a responsibility as a citizen of America to do his duty to help our nation get better every day. By volunteering for special interest groups, not buying products that harm the world, and by being a little bit nicer to people the world be a little bit nicer.

Bibliography

1. Havel, Vaclav. "The Divine Revolution" McGraw-Hill Reader. Gilbert H Muller, Ed. Boston McGraw-Hill, 2000 (337-341) 2.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. "The Circle of Governments" McGraw-Hill Reader. Gilbert H. Muller, Ed. Boston McGraw-Hill, 2000 (230-233) 3.
Muller, Gilbert H. Ed. The McGraw-Hill Reader Boston. McGraw-Hill, 20004.
Will, George. "Straight Line to Calamity" McGraw-Hill Reader. Gilbert H. Muller, Ed. Boston McGraw-Hill, 2000 (227-229).