Challenges Facing America
One of the most important responsibilities of our nation is to protect and serve its citizens. As the new millennium begins, our nation must overcome many challenges that affect this responsibility. Three of the most important are terrorism, illiteracy, and the lack of moral values.
Americans have considered terrorism as a horror that occurs in other countries and not as a real threat to America itself. As the recent terrorist attacks on our nation shows, this opinion was gravely incorrect. There are several policies in both the private sector and our government, which contributed to our vulnerability to terrorism.
Most people assume that all luggage and passengers are closely screened before they are allowed on an aircraft; however, this not the case. Unlike carry-on bags, luggage placed in the cargo bay of a plane is not x-rayed. This creates the possibility for a terrorist to check in a suitcase that contains a bomb with no problem. Not only would the bomb go undetected, but also the terrorist would not have to be a passenger on plane due to no checkpoints, which match baggage to passengers.
Another factor, which contributed to the successfulness of the recent terrorist acts, is the gross negligence of the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) in their duties of monitoring foreigners who enter this country legally as students. By focusing their efforts and resources mainly on the Mexican immigration problem, they have left the door wide open for legal aliens to stay in this country for as long as they wish. The school in which a foreign student is allowed to attend is specified when he is granted a visa; however, there is no office in the INS whose responsibility is to ensure ...
... middle of paper ...
... the Biblical rule that states, “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” Instead, we continually show that there should be no tolerance or understanding of any wrongdoing committed against us.
Very few youth of today have respect for teachers, elders, or each other. Everyday more and more instances of violent crime are committed by our nation’s youth and children. Shocking accounts of children bringing guns to school as a means of solving problems with a teacher or a fellow student are becoming increasingly frequent. Children are committing crime, which were one thought only committed by adults such as rape, robbery, and murder.
For our nation to be successful in the future, governmental leaders and citizens must come together to find solutions to the problems of terrorism, illiteracy, and lack of moral values. If we do not, our nation will weaken.
Before the events of 9/11 the US had been attacked before and we were aware of possible threats. However, these threats, specifically those of Al-Qaeda were not taken seriously by American foreign policy makers or regular Americans alike, so on September 11, 2001 Americans were truly shocked by the scale of devastation and loss of life that occurred. The effect these attacks had on America was incredible. In the years that followed Americans became fearful and discriminatory of religious groups; the government created the Department of Homeland Security and enacted stricter search and seizure laws, and America’s foreign policy became defined by unilateral decision making and preemptive war.
... must gather information from citizens. The question is how much freedoms are we willing to sacrifice in order to feel safe, when does it become a slippery slope and more is taken from us than we wanted. Is the price of safety is worth the price of freedoms? And do liberties and freedoms outweigh the price of safety? Domestic terrorism is causing more damage than just the exterior of what can be seen immediately, and the difficulty to stop it has brought on some unwanted results. There is no doubt that Radical Islamic domestic terrorism will happen again, and when it does how far will America go to stop it. Will domestic terrorism cause America to lose who we are? Or will we find new ways to combat the evil that it is? Only the future will tell, but one thing is for sure and that is we as citizens can do a lot to help, and we must stand strong on what we belive.
On September 11th, 2001, four planes were hijacked, two planes hit the twin towers, one hit the pentagon, and one crash-landed in a field in Pennsylvania. Since then the government has been doing everything it can to help with security at airports, in airplanes, and in everyday life. Even though the government has been trying to increase security, terrorists have still been successful. Since 9/11, the government has taken many steps to increase security and decrease terrorism. However, security has increased, while terrorism has not decreased.
As modern America has progressed, it has had many advancements. Those advancements in turn have only compounded the problems they were meant to solve by adding copious amounts of obstacles. Progressive movements in people’s rights have been met with opposition, the country has become scared due to terrorist threats and local attacks such as: bombings and shootings, and now America is worried about the future. America’s zeitgeist is easily offended, frightened, and concerned.
"Children, Youth, and Gun Violence: Analysis." Princeton. The Future of Children, n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. .
Unfortunately, terrorism is known to the United States very well because there are a lot of threats of terrorist acts against the United States. Unlike, a criminal threat a terrorist threat is considered to be very serious and has to be acted upon as soon as possible because these
There are many crimes committed by teenagers every year. Crimes that are committed by teens each year are mainly assault, bullying, gang violence, and physical fights. According to National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, about 1 and 9 murders are from kids that are under 18 (Center, 2001). In 1998, there were approximately 2,570 among youth aged 10-19. Every day there are at least 7 children murdered in the United States (Center, 2001). Statistics say that between 16%-32% female teenagers have committed a crime before the age of 17. Also 30%-40% male teenagers have committed a violent crime before they turned 17 (Center, 2001). Teenagers that commit crimes are the ones who were abused or bullied as a...
Terrorism represents a continuing threat to the United States. It is the most significant threat to our national security. Terrorist attacks have left many concerned about the possibility of future incidents of terrorism in the United States. Since the events of September 11, 2011, Americans and much of the world have been afraid. Americans are at war with terrorism and no longer feel comfortable.
Unfortunately, while all of these questions are flowing through the ears of the government, other problems are discombobulating the current situation. The recent gun control controversies, rambunctious political parties, the flawed education system, and the misleading media are among the intricate quandaries the United States needs to fix before the first world nation turns into rubble.
America has had 21 terrorist attacks, from 2000 to 2009 consisting mostly of al-Qaeda and suicide bombers (infoplease.com). Osama Ben Laden, leading al-Qaeda’s attacks is fed up with the way America treats the world. Blaming America for global warming and determined to stop them by sending suicide bombers and hijacking planes. After the 9/11 attack America changed the way they looked at security, putting into effect; Airport Security Federalization Act of 2001: To deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools (The Library of Congress).
In order to solve the problem of violence in schools, we must first find out who the problem is. Being that not every teenager is prone to participate in such violent acts as what happened at Columbine, there must be specific environment imposed on a particular biology to turn a teenager into an Eric Harris or a Dylan Klebold. These are not normal, healthy teenagers, and they don’t just become killers overnight. They become killers because they are already deeply disturbed individuals who can be sent over the edge by all sorts of innocuous influences. Violent teens often have specific characteristics that put them at high risk for committing these crimes. These high risked students may display some of the following traits. First, violent students often indicate their intentions before acting violently through drawings or writings. (Juhnke et. Al., 1999) They also make threats of violence towards others. Next, students prone to violent behavior tend to have a history of violence or aggression. (Juhnke et. Al., 1999) This may include other students, boyfriends/girlfriends, and animals. Violent students often have hypersensitivity toward criticism. (Juhnke et. Al., 1999) These students report perceptions of being teased, harassed or being picked on by those they were violent toward. This tormenting can also cause a student to isolate him or herself and withdrawal from friends and family, which is another sign that something is wrong. Another fairly obvious characteristic includes those children who are inappropriately given accress to firearms. (Juhnke et. Al., 1999) When students are given a gun, it gives them a sense of power. Some choose to take advantage of that power, as we have seen in numerous high school shoot...
There have been several terrorist acts committed in the United States of America, not by terrorists that live in other countries and despise the American ways and ideas, but by our own citizens who live and work in the United States of America. Domestic terrorism is done by a person or group of persons who reside here, who are not acting on behalf of a foreign power, and who may be conducting criminal activities in support of terrorist ideas and whose acts are aimed at elements of the U.S. Government or population. Those objectives range from distrust of the government, to hatred of a specific type of person or people or their beliefs. They organize around civil rights, war, feminism and other po...
There are many challenges that our great country faces today. Throughout our history America has also over some great challenges. Like for instance the beginning stages of how are our founding fathers were going to setup this country. Also slavery and discrimination. They are plenty challenges that our great country faces today like the economy, employment, discrimination, immigration, but the biggest challenge that America faces today is our safety and security.
To prevent tragedies like 9/11 from taking its toll on the United States, terrorism needs to be thought about still to this day. One quote that proves this point is, “ In 2001, the federal commission warned that terrorists could get weapons that can cause mass destruction. Congress needs to work on the integrated governmental structures to better the nation's security” (Augustine). The nation's security can help with the destruction of weapons that are dangerous to the U.S. This can cause more attacks like 9/11 and create a larger threat to the population. Another quote that shows this is, “Preventing further attacks required the U.S. to drop its law-enforcement approach to terrorism and recognize that we were at war” (9/11). To stop attacks like 9/11 from occurring, people need to see that the U.S. isn’t only under attack, but at war as well with the terrorists. Slowly, the country and its citizens are coming realizing this. The counterclaim for this argument is, “The work of public officials allowed us to ask if the country overreacted to 9/11. Providing counter terrorism has increased costs more than what was to be expected” (9/11). The oppone...
There are many things wrong with society today. Some of the problems could be easily solved, while others may be impossible to solve. Today, many of the problems we have in society people feel the government should fix seeing as they are in charge. But, many of the problems start and should end with people doing their part as a group and want to make the world a better place for future generations. Not all problems in society can be fixed at once, but with people coming together we can come closer to bettering our society as a whole. Three major problems in society today would be: racism, violence, and immigration.