The land of opportunity, the greatest country in the world, the American Dream, all of these are words that many have used to describe our country, yet as a young Millennial, I do not see any of this reflected in the America of today. I see an America more concerned about pop culture and Hollywood than the more important issues that our nation is struggling with.
Personally, I do not believe America is the greatest country in the world. In fact, we rank horribly compared to many countries in such things as education, and health care. It's plain and simple when you look at the facts the U.S. isn't No. 1 anymore
From a young age we are taught that America is No. 1 and no other country is better than us, in fact, we learn this so much as a child it is almost indoctrinated into us so that we blindly believe it without considering the facts. Look at our country today, the country is split on countless issues, political rallies are turning more and more violent by the day, and we're currently involved in one of the most controversial elections in history.
When we look at the facts, we currently rank 37th in healthcare out of every country in the world, and 14th in education. We have more prisoners per capita than any other nation on earth, at around 715 per 100,000 people, we lead the world in violent crime by firearms, and we're not even in the top ten happiest nations on Earth.
Something is wrong, America. Our nation is struggling yet our politicians are more concerned about whether or not two men or women can get married to members of the same sex, or whether or not a women can get, an abortion. These are both religiously rooted issues that should in no way be restricted by the government, its called separation of church and state.
America is also being plagued by Islamophobia, so many people support not only the complete expulsion of all undocumented immigrants from the country but also the banning of anyone, particularly those from the Middle East, from entering the country.
We were a nation of immigrants founded for immigrants, George Washington once said, "The bosom of America is open to receive not only the opulent and respectable stranger but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions,".
Our first president was pro-immigration, I can only imagine his disapproval if he were to hear Trump say we should build a wall around Mexico, or Ted Cruz spew more of his anti-Muslim garbage. To say the least, Americans used to help those in need and now when there are millions of refugees fleeing the Islamic State, who we helped create, we do nothing to help the struggling men, women, and children.
We as a country criticize our government and our leaders so much yet according to a Pew research done during the last election only 53 percent of the 89 percent of registered voters vote. Americans are one of the least politically involved democracies on Earth, even countries like Turkey and Iceland have a higher voter percentage.
I am in no way saying America is a bad country, in fact we have it better than a large portion of those on this planet we all share. I am saying however that we have major problems in America, problems that need to be solved if we want to be called the greatest country on earth again.
