What do you believe is the greatest threat facing the United States, and what measures would you implement to address it?
Robot
This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »
ArishMell · 70-79, M
The USA faces multiple threats, not one single threat that will break the country; but most are internal.
Externally:
- Economic competition from China, India, etc; not bringing America down but considerably weakening its trading power.
- Political interference from hostile states, much of via the Internet by both subversive "social-media" propaganda and by sabotaging important governmental and commercial systems.
- Loss of vital raw materials by political machinations or by physical depletion - the latter is likely to exacerbate the former for imported materials.
These affect many countries, not only the USA.
- Hardening attitudes, bringing enemies, against the USA resulting from its overseas activities.
- Isolationism by US policy (damaging international relations with possible domestic consequences).
- Contempt probably based on ignorance, for other countries and their cultures by many Americans. This helps no-one, and may even damage alliances.
***
Internally and irrespective of Party or Government, the hazards may include any of -
- Growing bitterness and divisions in political, economic and social matters, with decreasing willingness to understand let alone accept others' views, to find overlaps and compromises, to accept one's own fallibility.
- "Powers behind the throne"; by assorted, self-serving campaigners, commercial-interests and manipulators thinking themselves more important than Presidents and Congress.
- Growing personal isolation as people retreat into their mental and social bunkers. These fuelled by various factors including valuing anonymous opinion blogs rather than real reports by named, professional journalists, preferring working at home rather than in offices (for those whose work is desk-bound), preferring Facebook over face-to-face relationships, fear of differing ideas, and increasing dependence on Internet-purchases and deliveries.
- Increasing numbers and severities of epidemics as anti-vaccination and similar campaigners increasingly have their way.
- Decreasing trust generally in anything scientific, in a country that relied for its success on science and engineering in an increasingly scientific world generally.
- Increasing clinging to cults and "conspiracy theories".
- Social breakdowns around deep-rooted, casual attitudes towards violence
- Social breakdowns around deep wealth divisions, with strong "sink or swim" attitudes.
- Addressing serious problems by scapegoating and politicising rather than by co-operatively investigating real causes and cures.
- Politicising and/or commercialising everything to such an extent the real values are lost.
- An entertainments industry dedicated to the cheap, the meretricous, the un-original and the untalented; so the genuinely talented (of whom there are many) seem sidelined in favour of low-value, low-quality, quick-profit epherema. This may bring cultural decay by encouraging desires for instant gratification without thought or effort.
- Complacency, with "I've always done it my way" attitudes.
Each of those internal threats alone would not wreck the United States of America, but do not do it any good; and their combination creates a formidable enemy-within.
Some of these difficulties are common in many nations, of course, but one or two seem particularly strong in the USA.
Externally:
- Economic competition from China, India, etc; not bringing America down but considerably weakening its trading power.
- Political interference from hostile states, much of via the Internet by both subversive "social-media" propaganda and by sabotaging important governmental and commercial systems.
- Loss of vital raw materials by political machinations or by physical depletion - the latter is likely to exacerbate the former for imported materials.
These affect many countries, not only the USA.
- Hardening attitudes, bringing enemies, against the USA resulting from its overseas activities.
- Isolationism by US policy (damaging international relations with possible domestic consequences).
- Contempt probably based on ignorance, for other countries and their cultures by many Americans. This helps no-one, and may even damage alliances.
***
Internally and irrespective of Party or Government, the hazards may include any of -
- Growing bitterness and divisions in political, economic and social matters, with decreasing willingness to understand let alone accept others' views, to find overlaps and compromises, to accept one's own fallibility.
- "Powers behind the throne"; by assorted, self-serving campaigners, commercial-interests and manipulators thinking themselves more important than Presidents and Congress.
- Growing personal isolation as people retreat into their mental and social bunkers. These fuelled by various factors including valuing anonymous opinion blogs rather than real reports by named, professional journalists, preferring working at home rather than in offices (for those whose work is desk-bound), preferring Facebook over face-to-face relationships, fear of differing ideas, and increasing dependence on Internet-purchases and deliveries.
- Increasing numbers and severities of epidemics as anti-vaccination and similar campaigners increasingly have their way.
- Decreasing trust generally in anything scientific, in a country that relied for its success on science and engineering in an increasingly scientific world generally.
- Increasing clinging to cults and "conspiracy theories".
- Social breakdowns around deep-rooted, casual attitudes towards violence
- Social breakdowns around deep wealth divisions, with strong "sink or swim" attitudes.
- Addressing serious problems by scapegoating and politicising rather than by co-operatively investigating real causes and cures.
- Politicising and/or commercialising everything to such an extent the real values are lost.
- An entertainments industry dedicated to the cheap, the meretricous, the un-original and the untalented; so the genuinely talented (of whom there are many) seem sidelined in favour of low-value, low-quality, quick-profit epherema. This may bring cultural decay by encouraging desires for instant gratification without thought or effort.
- Complacency, with "I've always done it my way" attitudes.
Each of those internal threats alone would not wreck the United States of America, but do not do it any good; and their combination creates a formidable enemy-within.
Some of these difficulties are common in many nations, of course, but one or two seem particularly strong in the USA.