America is not a better country than it was in the 1950s

There ar m both people in the United States that claim the estate is break out instantly than it has of totally time been. The country has underg cardinal two centuries of transformation, as people affirm more and more gained more than and more rights and freedoms, technology has made the lives of all the Statesns markedly easier, and its citizens go through elected its first African-American chair whole a century after slavery ended. However, despite all this progress, it comes with a noteworthy cost as people be forced to deal with little terrors wish terrorist act, unchecked scientific experimentation, and the dissolution of the American nuclear family.It bes that much of the trustworthy line of thought in the American national came during the social innovation of the 1960s, when sex, drugs, and rock and roll were utilise in conjunction with far more important social issues. The social rebellion of the 1960s, along with the unpopular wall in Vietnam, gave w ay to the depressing decade of the 1970s, and the selfishness of the 1980s, which still seem to nominate the public in its grasp in the quest for empty consumerism. For a look endorse at a time when America delineate the ideals that country was constituteed upon, one would sport to look all the way rump to the 1950s.During this decade, America took its place as a respected introduction leader, family set were still salutaryly in place, consumerism and technology were used to advance the country and humanity in general, and while thither were still threats to the safety and sanitary being of American citizens, on that point were far fewer threats than each American is forced to deal with today. In evaluating the position of the United States in the being today, it is still a world leader. However, many of the events of recent years be possessed of scarcely made the country a target of derision, criticism, and worse, even from its allies.In the 1950s, the world was still reeling from the horrors of the Second World War. America emerged from the turmoil as one of the worlds great superpowers, along with the Soviet Union. America was seen as the champions of democracy, responsible for allowing the Allies to win the state of war and bringing freedom and recreation to millions around the world. However, much of this good lead and power have been soft eroded in the decades since, and al intimately completely removed after the events of the bygone decade.After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, America had the good will and countenance of the wide-cut world. However, poor leadership quickly take these same supporters to accuse America of being imperialistic and ignorant. President George W. crotch hair did little to help discourage this view, and in fact contri scarceed to Americas decline more than any president since Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. Though the election of Barack Obama has brought a fair tally of good will back t o America, the damage done by Bush is long and lasting.While Christian conservatives supported Bush, his personal beliefs seriously held up scientific discoeries in the way of stem cell research by refusing to support federal funding he denied social advancements to people conflict for comp be rights he spearheaded a renewed campaign to take away womens rights he also was instrumental in creating a new paranoia everyplace immigration, despite being the president of a country made of immigrants and, the rupture between the rich and the poor continued to grow until the country found itself poised on the brink of depression.But, his greatest shortcomings were concerning the war on terror, which needlessly expanded, and his flippant abuse of federal power concerning the privacy of U. S. citizens. For a president that used the word freedom so frequently, he did more than most presidents to take it away from his fellow countrymen. A man who avoided serving in Vietnam, Bush learned non e of the lessons and started a war in Iraq that has been comp ard by many as the Vietnam War of this generation. For someone that touted simple American determine and hard work, Bush and his administration did a great deal to meet America and make it weaker.This is very different than the strong leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower who used his military experience and knowledge to make sure that America remained strong and vigilant in the postwar world. Additionally, Eisenhowers presidency also adage the emergence of a modern American system of strong family set that have all but disappeared in recent years. American family value have certainly fallen come to since the 1950s, and things like disarticulate as well as drug use have grown to epizootic numbers.One of the key differences is the fact that couples are no eight-day staying together, divorce range have gone through the roof, and the traditional nuclear family no longer seems to exist. According to an analysis of new ce nsus come ins by The New York Times, matrimonial couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a proportion of American households, have slipped into a minority in the United States. The American Community Survey, released in October by the census Bureau, found that 49. 7 percent, or 55. 2 million, of the nations 111.1 million households in 2005 were made up of heterosexual wed couples with and without children just shy(p) of a majority and down from more than 52 percent quint years earlier (Hurley). This trend shows that less and less heterosexual couples are choosing to get married, instead preferring to cohabitate and have children without marriage. These figures do not include divorce rates. In the United States, it is widely believed that one in two marriages will end in divorce, though these figures are debatable.This rate has since been revised down to roughly 43% by the National Center for Health Statistics but was moved back up to around 50% by the Censu s Bureau in 2002. Most recently, according to the New York Times, it has been revised down to just over 40% ( decouple Rates). This lower figure could be due to the fact that less people are get married, but it cannot be denied that in a society of increasing par and civil rights, less people are getting and staying married than ever before.This is quite different than the 1950s, when the nuclear family was something that most people aspired to create close to all accounts of the 1950s stress the great importance attached to home, family, and children Indeed, widely read authors and commentators and well-known political leaders in the 1950s all extolled the virtues of a traditional family life. Womens magazines published a steady pelt of articles praising the homemaker and warning women of the perils of trying to combine marriage and accouchement with work outside the home (Cherlin 35).Today, usually just to make ends meet, parents are often both forced to work, leaving very li ttle direction for the simple family activities that were so valued in the 1950s. This leads to a society that is increasingly more isolated from each other and living with more aid and anxiety than ever before. This has also led to an increase in the sum of money of drugs that Americans consume, something which was virtually unheard of in the 1950s. The war on drugs was started in the 1980s helped along by Nancy Reagans slogan, Say no to drugs. While this continues to defy to illegal drugs, in the years since Americans have answered with a resounding yes to legalized drugs. This displays how the war on drugs is not really how it sounds and is really a hypocritical creation. Drugs have become a part of the American fabric, and that is no more presumable than the recent explosion of popular legal drugs. Today, Americans use drugs to remedy everything from fadeout hairlines, to erectile dysfunction, to the boredom of everyday life.Federal regulations are strict in regards to adv ertisements of such(prenominal) legal drugs like cigarettes and alcohol, but not pharmaceuticals. Ads for various legal drugs seem to be all over the television, print media, and the internet. In America, the war on drugs could really be renamed the war on drugs deemed undesirable by the government, because there remain many, many potentially harmful and addictive drugs in the public marketplace. In 1998, Americans spent $66 jillion on these drugs, including $39 billion on cocaine, $12 billion on heroin, $2.2 billion on methamphetamine, and $11 billion on marijuana (ONDCP). During that same year, Americans spent more than $long hundred billion dollars on legal drugs, not including the staples alcohol, nicotine, or caffeine, and this number has only continued to grow. And while America is fighting a war on drugs that was not even a concept in the 1950s, it is also fighting an open-ended war on act of terrorism. Few things show the differences between today and the 1950s as the stat e of internationalist terrorism and the venerate it invokes in people. Even in the 1950s, where the U. S.fought in Korea and there was a constant threat of nuclear annihilation, the level of fear that American citizens felt during that decade pales in comparison to what it feels in the post-9/11 world. The entire country has been in a frightened and angry state, with the threat of terrorism going mitt and hand with government intrusion, religious hatred, and economic failure. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, fear of terrorism became something of a way of life for government, first responders, and many citizens, even though no additional attacks on the American mainland have occurred (Smelser 124).The threat of terrorism has not only affected the American psyche, but it has also led to the deaths of thousands of American soldiers who are busy fighting the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And, unfortunately, there appears to be no end in sight for either war, and casualties only continue to mount on both sides. Despite all the international turmoil that followed the Second World War, there was always perceptual constancy and dominance in America.Now that the confidence is eroding, one can only hope that stability can continue to be achieved. The United States was far better off in the 1950s than the country is today. While it had the Soviet Union to contend with, there was hardly more fear than there is today over the faceless and suicidal terrorists that threaten the very fabric of everyday life. In addition to all the added fears, there are not even the traditional support systems to help alleviate any of the anxiety, as family values are at an all-time low.People are choosing to no longer get married and when they do get married, they are getting divorced at a pace that continues to grow each passing year. With the drug epidemic, war, moral decay, and fear in the current America, one can only think back on the simpler and more stable times that ma rked the 1950s. Works Cited Cherlin, Andrew. Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1981 Divorce Rates. Divorce Reform Page. 2009. Americans for Divorce Reform. 12 July 2009. . Hurley, Dan. Divorce Rate Its not as High as You Think. The New York Times. 19 April 2005. 13 July 2009. . smudge of National Drug Control Policy. What Americas Users Spend on Illegal Drugs 1988 1998. ONDCP Publications. 4 March 2002. 13 July 2009. . Smelser, Neil J. The Faces of Terrorism Social and Psychological Dimensions. New tee shirt Princeton University Press, 2007