I’m deeply disturbed by how the US is trying to be a “modern” country but is failing in so many ways.
Minority groups are still struggling, oppressed and criticized. Gun violence and mass shooting are a DAILY occurence and despite all these tragedies the US government is unable to act and improve the situation significantly. Racism, inequality, equitable treatment are far from addressed, despite EVERYTHING the US has been through including George Floyd and Martin Luther King (60 years ago!).
The US fails at separating church and state and the two party system is flawed. I personally think that this “blue”/“red” divide is completely counter productive and prevents the US government from achieving anything meaningful. It’s so called democracy barely gives the people meaningful choices to vote on, but not the ability to say yes or no to larger and impactful issues.
Why do people only get to vote whether they’re republican or democrat – by electing specific candidates? Why not also give US citizens the option on voting directly on things that actually matter to them! For example: abortions, healthcare and education.
Other countries can!
Abortions
In the majority in the world abortion is legal – in the past 25 years only 5 countries removed abortion rights. Women living in other countries are treated better or more equitable than in the US.
Many years ago when I observed various US states going after Planned Parenthood regarding abortions I told them that – at the time – in Switzerland we, the people, were debating whether the health insurances should pay for medical procedure, not whether it is permitted. Nowadays, it is part of the Swiss mandatory & universal healthcare that abortions are covered by the insurances.
Healthcare
The state of healthcare has improved but it is prohibitively expensive or hard for people to even get it. Even if people are fortunate enough to have health insurance through their employer, they have to be afraid of loosing it when they resign/get laid off from their jobs, because health insurance is terminated shortly after?! It’s tied to the employer.
Education
Education is too expensive, inaccessible – there are even multiple wikipedia pages talking about it. It absurd that people have over $30k of debt on average (or almost $200k for medical degrees) when they graduate while the country is dumping giant amounts of tax money into the military — In 2020 40% of the worlds military spending was by the US.
Other countries have free or at least affordable education FOR EVERYONE.
In Switzerland higher education is not completely free, but it’s about $730 per semester and you don’t have to buy any books, the school provides the lecture material at no cost. Teachers are permitted to legally copy and distribute almost any material to their students ENABLING education and not hindering it NOR making it prohibitively expensive.
I am disappointed. Disappointed in a country that makes believe it is one of the most advanced countries of this planet. I honestly think it’s the opposite. The US is moving backwards..
Going forward
I hope the US can turn around and:
- Make education more affordable and potentially forgive student debt
- Make healthcare more affordable and universal – especially to low income and minorities.
- Make abortions legal and let women decide what happens with their body. Not the government. Not the church. Not the governor of a state.
- Put women’s, minority groups and LGBTQ+ rights INTO THE CONSTITUTION. Protecting their right to be who they are, to marry, to vote, right to healthcare and right to BE HAPPY. Put an end to random people and states messing with their basic human rights.
But I’m just an immigrant, so I don’t expect my opinion to matter. But I hope someone else’s will and that eventually the US government, the congress and SCOTUS will listen to reason.
A concerned resident.
Also published on Medium.