America's Biggest Problem

America’s Biggest Problem
By Cary Spell

The United States of America’s largest issue is not the “incompetent” officials placed in charge, the communications problems between information companies, or even the war going on overseas. Don’t get me wrong, these are all important subjects that deserve consideration and possible solutions. However, the thing that seems to be hurting America the most is the lack of responsibility in Americans.
This problem is not limited to simply politicians, but to regular citizens of the United States. People head to voting booths every four years voting for a color, not a person. Not skin color, mind you; which might make a whole lot more sense than the truth. Most people vote for their party’s candidate. They either vote red for Republicans, or blue for Democrats. Many people simply do not make the time to learn about the opposing candidate’s character or position on policies. They simply know that either he or she “doesn’t care about black people” or “are too much of a pansy to do what’s right.” I think with a sense of responsibility, more people would watch the news and pay attention to both candidates. Doing so makes them ask themselves questions like what they believe is right and who can make those things happen. As for politicians, it’s not so much that they don’t have a sense of responsibility, but I just wish that they would show a little humility when they push for something so hard for so long and it winds up being a major bust and the whole country is furious about it. For once, I’d love to see a politician not deny an event like this to his death and just say, “Listen…I screwed up. Sorry, I’ll try my best to not let it happen again.” That’s all. Let’s have the people that we put in charge of us act just like they should: people. Despite what their yes-men tell them, they can make mistakes and they can make big mistakes. We’ve seen these mistakes, we’ve heard them, sometimes we’ve been one of those mistakes. So why not just admit that you aren’t a god in a nice suit and just work harder?
Well, one reason politicians have a tough time with this idea is because a lot of them believe that our officials must appear to be perfect and brilliant at all times. Supposedly, if they were to show, for just a moment, that they were just like us then we might think they weren’t good enough for the job. That’s ridiculous. I’d much rather have a guy with some common sense up there in that office, that cares about his family and his country, and is willing to simply admit when he was wrong and is willing to do whatever it takes to correct said mistake. It’s hard to believe that that kind of political leader could still exist today. As for the voters who simply don’t have the time, energy or patience to make a well-researched decision, the cause is simply laziness. Shocking isn’t it, Americans being lazy? The only way I can think of that could possibly solve this problem is simply having all potential voters take a written test on the upcoming election. The questions could be simple, about each candidate’s positions on major issues. If you pass, you can vote. This most basic of tests would weed out thousands of ignorant voters. I’m sorry, but if you don’t have time to watch a presidential debate, you shouldn’t have the right to choose who is going to be one of the most powerful people in the world for the next four years. Somehow I think that that’s a little more important than whether or not the spunky blonde or the tough brunette gets eliminated from American Idol. God bless America.