America

This is a question I plan on using in an english paper. It is primarily directed at Americans, as the paper will involve our national identity, but as long as you list your nationality, anyone can answer. Thank you.

As an American, how do you feel about America? Are your feelings generally positive or negative? Why?

Desolous, USA- in all honesty my feelings about this country have taken a nosedive over the last few years, as I saw what was billed to me as a child as a beacon of hope and liberty:
* start 2 useless wars.
* increase the national debt til it is realistically unpayable.
* increase the gap between rich and poor til it is virtually impossible to cross said gap.
* tell me to 'work hard, go to school and one day you will be rich (or well off), which is thus far a total lie.
* see politics, at least on a national scale become nothing but a joke while impotently seeing politicians owned by their real contituents, rich people/ corporate interests.

And so on and so on. I could literally write all day, but I'm sure you get the point. If you would like me to expand on any one point listed above, please ask.

csmith wrote: This is a question I plan on using in an english paper. It is primarily directed at Americans, as the paper will involve our national identity, but as long as you list your nationality, anyone can answer. Thank you.

As an American, how do you feel about America? Are your feelings generally positive or negative? Why?

I'm an American and I love America. I love the land (it's so pretty and varied), I love the people (again diverse and oh so interesting), and I love the different kinds of wildlife and plant life we have on our piece of land. However, I am extremely disappointed and appalled by our government. It's unconstitutional and crooked. We have far too many laws and are being robbed left an right. The majority of the people running this country don't care about America or it's people. They just want money and power. Sadly we let them have it.

Although we have a major problem I understand that government isn't all that my country is. My country is it's people (good and bad) and land that it occupies. I like it and I don't plan on living anywhere else (although I do love traveling to other amazing countries).

I'm American, and overall I'm very disappointed in our government and infrastructure. We have such huge potential, and power, but we let inefficiencies and desire to maintain the status quo keep us from soaring. 3 big issues:

1.) We have huge amounts of human capital that is underutilized. To make the most of our human resources, we need to invest in education- especially science, math, and technological education. We need to make it easier for middle-class kids to afford an education (rich kids-> parents pay, poor kids-> government will pay, middle class families often have a hard time affording to send their kids to college), and we need to create more incentives for them to go into fields currently in demand.

Also, we're starting to use a business model for Universities, and it has hindered students' abilities to afford to attend. For example, the University I graduated from raised tuition so it could enhance already acceptable infrastructure- that's needless money being spent just to look prettier so it could attract more students. The 2nd highest paid employee was the football coach, who made over 500k a year.

2.) We need to overhaul our public K-12 education system. I've said this before in other posts, but my science and technology education was ridiculously poor. Ignorance does not give our country a competitive edge. We spend too much time teaching to the test, and we aren't teaching our students proper critical thinking skills. We also need to teach students more civics and law, and personal finance should be required. Our goal should be to teach children how to become productive, well-functioning citizens, and our current system isn't doing that well. We need to know our rights, and we need to know how government works- so that if we have people/politicians trying to infringe upon our rights (such as right now with politicians trying to blur the separation between church & state), we will know what they are doing isn't legal and will thus (hopefully) be more willing to fight it (and know how to fight it using the proper channels).

3.) We need to overhaul our criminal justice system. Let's be honest, our system sucks- we have the highest documented incarceration rates in the world. We need to place a much higher emphasis on rehabilitation, and we need to eliminate victimless crimes as prisonable offenses. But more importantly, we need to create social programs that will prevent people from going into crime in the first place- after school programs, jobs with liveable wages, etc. And yes, such programs cost money, which means higher taxes. But it benefits everyone in the long-haul: prison costs will decline, we'll have more people giving to society than taking from it.

That's just a few things. We also need to overturn Citizens United, and go back to having a greater cap on the amount of money any one person or organization can donate to a political candidate. We're turning into a plutocracy.

However, having said all that...

America is not just it's infrastructure. I love how we have almost all climate types, so if I want to move someplace tropical, mediterranean, or alpine, I don't have to leave my country to do so. I love the Shenandoah mountains, and Appalachian culture in general. I love the diversity of our cities and people, and the different cultures within our nation.

In conclusion: I love my country, and feel like it has so much potential if we could only unite as a nation and do away with all the red tape and inefficiencies plaguing many of our government systems

http://www.alternet.org/hot-news-views/prison-beast-us-imprisons-more-people-any-other-country-world

Prison Is a Beast: The U.S. Imprisons More People Than Any Other Country in the World

A new video created by the Brave New Foundation and endorsed by a wide range of groups, from the ACLU and the NAACP to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the United Methodist Church, examines the ways in which prison is like a beast. "The U.S. is paying to have more than 2.3 million people behind bars. That's more than China, more than Iran -- more than any country on Earth," the video's narrator notes. When you also consider that half our prison population is behind bars for non-violent crimes, and that our prison budget has swelled to an astonishing $228 billion a year... well, you get the idea.

AlterNet / By Lauren Kelley
Posted at August 30, 2012, 9:12am

Watch the video below.

Br. John wrote: A new video created by the Brave New Foundation and endorsed by a wide range of groups, from the ACLU and the NAACP to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the United Methodist Church, examines the ways in which prison is like a beast. "The U.S. is paying to have more than 2.3 million people behind bars. That's more than China, more than Iran -- more than any country on Earth," the video's narrator notes. When you also consider that half our prison population is behind bars for non-violent crimes, and that our prison budget has swelled to an astonishing $228 billion a year... well, you get the idea.

Wow. Talk about ignorance; I never knew this at all! It's absolutely disgraceful that the government has allowed this to happen when it should have been trying to fix it. At least people are beginning to take a stand and demand change.

Why did this happen in the first place? Does anyone know?

CrossingStar wrote:

Br. John wrote: A new video created by the Brave New Foundation and endorsed by a wide range of groups, from the ACLU and the NAACP to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the United Methodist Church, examines the ways in which prison is like a beast. "The U.S. is paying to have more than 2.3 million people behind bars. That's more than China, more than Iran -- more than any country on Earth," the video's narrator notes. When you also consider that half our prison population is behind bars for non-violent crimes, and that our prison budget has swelled to an astonishing $228 billion a year... well, you get the idea.

Wow. Talk about ignorance; I never knew this at all! It's absolutely disgraceful that the government has allowed this to happen when it should have been trying to fix it. At least people are beginning to take a stand and demand change.

Why did this happen in the first place? Does anyone know?

Money. Prison is big business.

Wendaline wrote: Money. Prison is big business.

Those...oh, the government just upsets me. When will they ever start doing things right?

The United States is home to 5% (one out of twenty) of all the people in the world. 25% (one out of four) prisoners on Earth are in The United States.

Why?

Three BIG EVIL'S:

The War on [strike]Drugs[/strike] People
Mandatory Minimum Sentences
For Profit Private Prisons

Maybe you think you're a good citizen and abiding by the laws. You probably commit three federal felonies every day especially if you own a business.

How can the average American commit three arguable felonies in the course of a given day? Consider these hypothetical examples—along with their real-life parallels—in which vague and broad federal laws have made honest citizens into federal felons.

http://www.threefelonies.com/Youtoo/tabid/86/Default.aspx