Do you know what a major problem in the USA is these days, besides the economy?

The gap between the rich and the poor, growing, no solution in sight.

The decline of manufacturing.

The growing disconnect between politicians and actually doing things for the people that put them into power.

The usage of religion by all politicians to hide their pillaging of the country.

The slow, sure repeal of basic civil liberties.

Shall I continue?

Sounds like you seriously don’t like America

Further to Danielle’s reply, a British friend of mine was once asked which part of Britain Belgium was in - by a university graduate.

It was reported on UK news at the time of the Iraq invasion, that a lot of American soldiers thought they were in Israel defending it against an invasion by Iraq.

Scotland was not conquered by England but sold itself to pay off debts, unlike the general opinion in the US.

To set the record straight, I love the States, but the question asked for faults.

I love …some things about my country. However, I’m also “wise enough” to realize that no institution of so many diverse opinions will be an ideal one.

well yeah those are all major problems but not too many people know about this. One major problem within the USA is the water system. throughout the country the water system is over 50 years old. the pipes and water mains are old and have major leaks in them. bacteria and other things are being leaked into the water system and sooner or later more and more water mains are going to break and we are going to have a major problem with “fresh” water supply. and it is becoming harder to fight fires when theres no pressure in the fire hydrants because of the leaks in the water system.

Yeah, education is a huge issue. Up until the 1970’s our education system was top shelf; the envy of most of the world. Since then for many reasons it has been in a downward spiral. This will add to the growing disparity of the haves and have nots. When only the wealthy who can afford private schools can give their kids a decent education we will move further into the direction of being surfs and lords.

Probably the biggest problem facing the world is overpopulation. While we face many problems a huge portion of them come down to there just being too many people. More humans inhabit the earth than it can comfortably and sustainably support. If we don’t begin to limit our numbers than things will continue to get worse until humans face a massive die off of starvation, disease, and wars over dwindling resources.

…..which will lead us back to a sustainable population.

I agree with both

True, but that is a rather brutal way of doing so. If we were smart we would do it ourselves. Kinda’ hard to get billions of people to agree not to procreate. As little as I think of China’s government I have to agree that the one child policy is probably the fairest and least painful approach to the problem.

I have to admit that I didn’t know that was how Scotland joined the UK; considering that I took world history in college I probably knew it at some point. Sadly most Americans probably wouldn’t even be able to tell you if Scotland was in the UK.

One of the problems with our school that existed even before the decline was tracks. Promising students were put in the college track; most were in the normal track, and struggling students in the remedial track. Having undiagnosed ADHD (the diagnosis didn’t even exist yet) I ended up in the remedial track. Kids who were consistently inattentive or hyperactive were thought to simply have behavior problems and moral shortcomings. The solution for these kids were easier classes and lower expectations.

When I graduated High School I knew very little about world history, geography, art, music, philosophy or religion outside the basic tenets of Christianity. I was expected to be one of the masses who worked in a factory, joined the military, or did manual labor and such knowledge would be wasted on me. The thing that I find unforgivable was that I never developed a love of knowledge until I went off to college. Until then it never occurred to me that learning things just for knowledge and understanding was valuable in itself even if it didn’t contribute to other ends.

I think America is great as well. We are a rugged hard working nation and our government formed from the highest ideals of the Enlightenment for all of its shortcomings and compromises is still the best. Americans have become too short-sighted, provincial, and complacent though.

Many people believe in American Exceptionalism or the idea that our government is or was unique in its greatness in all the world and throughout all history. To suggest any fault is an attack.

This is one aspect of the liberal conservative divide. Conservatives believe in preserving the Status Quo or returning to an earlier even greater time. Liberals want to keep what works and discard or replace what doesn’t and look toward a better future. Conservatives look back while liberals look forward.

Corporate lobbying of political candidates. Corporate donations = an obligation to sway laws in favor of the corporations and to appoint cabinet members from the corporate ‘ex-employee’ list. Halliburton made over a trillion tax-free dollars in Iraq and accomplished almost nothing in 9 years. Monsanto is embedding ex-employees in government agencies like the USDA to make sure their interests are ensured. Banks have had laws passed that were a major cause of the current economic recession. Because of corporate lobbying American jobs are going overseas.