United States of America is considered to be the country with the strongest democratic system in the world. Despite this, its recent policies are seemingly acting against its democratic principles and against the wellbeing of its citizens and its overall social structure. In this context, United States behaves like a scorpion that poisons itself by sticking with its own venomous needle. This current political behavior confirms Abraham Lincoln’s vision, which stated that “America will never be destroyed from outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
George W. Bush was the first one to confirm Lincoln’s words in the contemporary history. His statement aired immediately after the 9/11 event “you’re wither with us is against us” (Ikenberry 263) shuddered the principles of democracy, transmitting throughout the world the idea that United States is a revengeful and hegemonic country. This view upon U.S. has decreased the country’s global popularity, transforming it from the most ardent supporter and protector of the peace into a state that generates global political and military tensions.
United States’ foreign policy of sending and maintaining military troops in world regions affected by terrorism and civil wars (such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Balkans or Korean Peninsula) weakens its national defense system. This policy is leaving the country unprepared in the case of an attack because its military resources are elsewhere concentrated (Amburn, “The U.S. Military Index”). Moreover, U.S. role as the global peacekeeper through positioning military forces in strategic regions creates the general worldview, according to which the country develops interventionist policies for the purpose of serving its own interests of achieving world supremacy.
The health care system promulgated under President Obama’s administration was meant to create affordable health care services for the U.S. residents. Instead, Obamacare has significant flaws, such as a shortage of primary care physicians with lack of access to primary care for the poor, which conducts to high infant mortality from preventable conditions (Bernstein, “Once again, U.S.”). The population of United States, especially the low-income citizens, is mostly affected by the U.S. health care system and this generates a social dissatisfaction.
The disputes between the liberal and conservatives are also supporting Abraham Lincoln’s envisioned present. The policy that protects the rights of sexual orientation, legalizing the relationships and the marriages between people of same sex generates internal tensions between liberals and conservative. While liberals sustain the right of diversity, cultural pluralism and egalitarianism, the conservative claim that homosexuality is against the religious principles and against nature (Spross, “On Gay Marriage”).
Such policies that refer to the freedom of expressing one’s sexual orientation and cultural pluralism or to the right to affordable health care or to protection make United States more feeble, being vulnerable to its internal policies, while focusing on the external policies.
For reducing the likelihood that our future and freedoms will be threatened from our country, we should look at our past and understand how the previous misunderstanding on various issues affected the country. We should understand from the past that we should be more tolerant, more open to admit our prejudices as this is the first step towards changing them into an open-minded acceptance of diversity. Most importantly, we should learn to make compromises. We should consider our country as a family with diverse perceptions. Instead of fighting with the family members on various issues, we should learn the value of every argument that sustains different perceptions. Diversity is the way to progress, and the acceptance of various opinions is the solution for reducing the possibility that our future and freedoms will be threatened from within our country.
Works Cited
Amburn, Brad. The U.S. Military Index. Foreign Policy. Available at http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2008/02/19/the_us_military_index. Accessed 1 July 2014. 2014. Web.
Bernstein, Lenny. Once again, U.S. Has Most Expensive, Least Effective Health Care System in Survey. Washington Post. Available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2014/06/16/once-again-u-s-has-most-expensive-least-effective-health-care-system-in-survey/. Accessed 1 July 2014. 2014. Web.
Ikenberry, G. John. Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 2011. Print.
Spross, Jeff. On Gay, Marriage Claiming ‘Religious Liberty’ Dodges the Real Dispute. Available at http://theweek.com/article/index/257749/on-gay-marriage-claiming-religious-liberty-dodges-the-real-dispute. Accessed 1 July 2014. 2014. Web.
