America in Trouble

This is a persuasive speech my daughter wrote as an assignment in Jr. High school.

There are many evidences that America is in trouble. A close look at threats to our national security, the dumbing down of our education system, and the constant erosion of our freedoms will reveal the dangerous path our country is on.

There are many things in today's world that pose a threat to our national security. The worst threats are caused by our own irresponsibility. At the present time our economy is on a down hill spiral. The runaway spending by our government is creating debt of historic proportions. To find examples of this overspending one needs to look no further than the 89 percent increase in expenses in running capitol hill. They have spent $51 million of taxpayer's money on electricity, $3.27 million for office supplies, and over $4.6 million on sewer and water. To top it off, over $200 thousand dollars was spent on bottled water in just the first quarter of this year alone!

Another example of government funding irresponsibility involves a study called “Malt Liquor and Marijuana: Factors in their Concurrent versus Separate Use”. This study pays people to drink beer and smoke marijuana, all at taxpayer's expense!

And, these are just a few of many examples of the government's out of control spending. Run away spending has caused America's debt to soar over the last few years. In 2007, the debt was $8.67 trillion. As of Tuesday, October 26th, it was over $13.6 trillion. This amounts to every citizen owing a debt of $43 thousand dollars – yes, every student in this classroom currently owes $43 thousand dollars, and we don't even have jobs yet!

Currently, our economic system is being kept afloat by other countries funding our debts. For example, China has bought over $867 billion of our debt and is the biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries. On August 9th, a Chinese general implied economic retaliation against America over a U.S. Carrier in the Yellow Sea when he said: “Imagine what the consequence will be if China’s biggest debtor nation challenges its creditor nation.” As the proverb goes: “the borrower is slave to the lender”. With most of our manufacturing jobs going overseas and our liabilities being controlled by other countries, we are finding ourselves more and more at their mercy. This poses a clear and present threat to our national security.

An area that has also become a part of America's downfall is the education system. The history that is being taught today isn't always the whole story. Many of the founding fathers have become just a bunch of names on some document whose identities, ideas, and beliefs have been lost. Many people are never taught the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence. An example of this is that many people are taught and believe that the only reason the 13 colonies separated from England was because of taxation without representation. However, the real reason they separated from England was due to England's abuse of governmental powers. In fact, in the Declaration of Independence, abuse of governmental powers was mentioned 11 times more often that taxation without representation, which was only mentioned once out of 27 reasons.

Kids nowadays are taught more about political correctness and environmental stuff than they are taught reading, writing, and math. Now these kids are growing up and becoming teachers, and principals. So now we have people who don't even know how to write, read, and do math teaching kids how to write, read, and do math. An example of this has to do with a principal of a middle school. He does not think that the kids in his school need textbooks. So he writes and sends out a memo defending his policy of not providing textbooks for his students. What is so bad is that in his memo he made a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes and he could not even even support his topic. Because of America's declining education system, there are kids in junior high and even in high school, that still do not know how to read or write. Kids that do not know reading, writing, and math are at a disadvantage in today's world.

A final example of how America is going the wrong way is that U.S. Citizens are loosing more and more of their freedoms – and often giving them up willingly. Every day our freedoms are being challenged. For example, we have increasingly intrusive firearm registration and restrictions on ownership, all in violation of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Similarly, our freedom of speech is being silenced because of the fear that someone might be offended by what we have to say.

A clear demonstration of how our freedoms are being legislated away was with healthcare reform. Most everyone agreed that we needed changes made to the healthcare system. However, what they stuck into the bill that was passed does little to truly address the problem. For example, the bill forces people, just because they are a member of society, to buy a service that is regulated by the government. Additionally, in section 9,006 of the healthcare bill there is a policy that has credit card companies sending credit card transaction records to the IRS. This begs the question: What business does the IRS have in knowing what we buy with credit cards? And, what exactly does this have to do with healthcare?!? We all wanted healthcare reform, but we ended up giving up our freedom and still not getting the reform we needed.

Benjamin Franklin wisely said: “Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Our irresponsibility threatens our national security. The dumbing down of our education system handicaps future generations. And, the constant erosion of our freedoms will lead to tyranny. Any reasonable person, when presented with these facts, should come to the conclusion that America is indeed in trouble.