The United States – Is It Still as United as It Once Was?

     Many years ago, in 1776, a paper was signed that created a new kind of freedom, greater than had ever been seen before. The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4th, created a country independent of all others, self-sufficient with its removal of ties to Britain. The Republic of the United States of America offered a new life of freedom – Religious freedom, political freedom, and freedom from all kinds of persecution. This was truly a great time for members of the nation, as well as people across the entire world.

     Flash forward to more modern times. The Republic of the United States becomes a Democracy. The originally singular political party is divided into two – The Democratic Party, and the Republican Party – Two factions with widely differing concepts and ideals… And divided by these very concepts. Wasn’t this against the very ideals that the country was founded upon within the Constitution? Time passes by, and tension between the two grows stronger.

     In the 1990s, the tension became even more apparent than before. Both political parties vie for control, through disputably “fair” means. As new presidents become elected, more conflicts arise in the White House and Congress, which divide the public as well by their own beliefs, leading to an open conflict within the entire nation. Unkept promises, immoral acts, and new, seemingly radical policies bring outrage to the public and the media, as even the media itself is divided by their own views of issues, and the population becomes divided even further. Those who are Republicans or Democrats by name lose faith in their own political parties, and call themselves Conservatives, those who believe in the original Constitutional rights and morals upon which the country was founded.

     And so, we are brought to our current situation. The country is in the middle of an economic crisis, the likes of which we have only seen once before, during the Great Depression. The country’s deficit in the year 2000 was at an extremely high $9,000,000,000,000. However, it has risen, in just 9 years, by 33 percent, at $12,000,000,000,000. We are in what appears to be a hopeless situation financially, unless we improve our own economy.

     Meanwhile, what are we doing? We’re setting up costly health care plans. We’re bailing out companies and businesses that are already rich, as small-town businesses remain small and unvisited. How exactly is that going to help save our country, you may ask? The answer is, nobody knows! There are many who claim to be sure that such methods would cure our country’s problems, but are they really? Is the President himself even sure?

     I believe that nobody is sure whether things even have the possibility of being fixed, especially through such odd means as are being proposed, and no amount of charisma or political appeal can convince me otherwise. I’m not saying that there isn’t a chance for the country to recover like this. However, I will not delude myself with the belief that I, or anyone else, can know that there is.