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

There atomic number 18 m whatsoever a(prenominal) mint in the fall in States that claim the sylvan is better(p) today than it has ever been. The democracy has undergone devil centuries of transformation, as people befool increasingly gained more(prenominal) and more rights and licenses, technology has do the lives of every(prenominal) the Statesns markedly easier, and its citizens work elected its first African-American chair alone a century after slavery ended. However, disrespect entirely this progress, it comes with a significant cost as people are labored to deal with threats wish well act of terrorist act, unchecked scientific experimentation, and the dissolution of the American atomic family.It seems that much of the current line of thought in the American public came during the kind revolution of the 1960s, when sex, do drugss, and quiver and roll were used in conjunction with removed more important social issues. The social disintegration of the 196 0s, along with the un pop war in Vietnam, gave focusing to the depressing decade of the 1970s, and the selfishness of the 1980s, which liquid seem to boast the public in its grasp in the request for empty consumerism. For a look back at a time when America represented the ideals that untaught was founded upon, one would construct to look to each one(prenominal) the counseling back to the mid-fifties.During this decade, America took its place as a respected cosmea leader, family determine were still soakedly 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 well cosmos 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 world today, it is still a world leader. However, many of the even upts of recent years look at still 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 being War. America emerged from the rumpus as one of the worlds capacious superpowers, along with the Soviet Union. America was seen as the champions of democracy, creditworthy for allowing the Allies to win the war and bringing freedom and peace to millions around the world. However, much of this good volitioning and power have been slowly eroded in the decades since, and almost completely removed after the events of the onetime(prenominal) decade.After the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, America had the good will and support of the entire world. However, poor leadershiphip rapidly led these same supporters to accuse America of being imperialistic and ignorant. President George W. scrub did lesser to tending dissuade this view, and in fact contri barelyed to Americas decline more than any chairman since Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace. Though t he election of Barack Obama has brought a fair come in of good will back to America, the damage do by chaparral is long and lasting. charm Christian conservatives back up Bush, his personal beliefs seriously held up scientific discoveries in the way of stem cell research by refusing to support federal funding he denied social advancements to people fleck for equal rights he spearheaded a renewed campaign to take away womens rights he in gain was instrumental in creating a new paranoia over immigration, despite being the president of a country made of immigrants and, the gap amongst 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 need littlely expanded, and his flippant profane 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 hi s bronco buster countrymen. A man who avoided serving in Vietnam, Bush learned none of the slightons and started a war in Iraq that has been compared by many as the Vietnam War of this generation. For someone that touted simple American values and hard work, Bush and his administration did a great deal to legal injury America and make it weaker.This is very different than the strong leadership of Dwight D. Eisenhower who used his military experience and association to make sure that America remained strong and watchful in the postwar world. Additionally, Eisenhowers presidency to a fault saw the emergence of a modern American system of strong family values that have all but disappeared in recent years. American family values have certainly fallen off since the 1950s, and things alike(p) come apart as well as drug use have grown to epidemic numbers.One of the call differences is the fact that couples are no longer staying together, divorce rates have gone through the roof, a nd the traditionalisticistic atomic family no longer seems to exist. According to an epitome of new census figures by The unused York Times, marital couples, whose numbers have been declining for decades as a balance wheel 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 straight marry couples with and without children honorable shy of a legal age and down from more than 52 percent cardinal 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 non 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 downward to roughly 43% by the National Center for Health Statistics but was moved back up to around 50% by the Census Bureau in 2002. close recently, according to the New York Times, it has been revised downward to just over 40% (Divorce Rates). This dismantle figure could be due to the fact that less people are get married, but it can non be denied that in a society of increasing relation 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 Nearly all accounts of the 1950s stress the great importance prone to main office, 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 spud of articles praising the homemaker and warning women of the perils of trying to ruffle marriage and childbearin g with work outside the home (Cherlin 35).Today, usually just to make ends meet, parents are oft both forced to work, leaving very little room for the simple family activities that were so valued in the 1950s. This leads to a society that is increasingly more uncaring from each other and living with more dismay and anxiety than ever before. This has overly led to an development in the amount 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 apply 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 apparent than the recent explosion of popular legal drugs. Today, Americans use drugs to remedy everything f rom receding hairlines, to cavernous dysfunction, to the boredom of everyday life.Federal regulations are strict in regards to advertisements of such 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 unenviable by the government, because there remain many, many potentially harmful and addictive drugs in the public marketplace. In 1998, Americans spent $66 billion 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 $ great 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 f ighting an open-ended war on terrorism. hardly a(prenominal) things show the differences between today and the 1950s as the state of international terrorism and the business concern 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 hand and hand with government intrusion, unearthly 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 fi ghting 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. patronage all the international turmoil that followed the Second World War, there was always stability and confidence in America.Now that the confidence is eroding, one can only take to 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 spot with, there was hardly more fear than there is today over the faceless and suicidal terrorists that jeopardize 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 incomparable low.People are choosing to no longer get married and when they do get married, they are getting disjoint 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 echo back on the simpler and more stable time that marked the 1950s. Works Cited Cherlin, Andrew. Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage. Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1981 Divorce Rates. Divorce remediate Page. 2009. Americans for Divorce Reform. 12 July 2009. . Hurley, Dan. Divorce Rate Its non as High as You Think. The New York Times. 19 April 2005. 13 July 2009. . Office of National Drug accountant Policy. What Americas Users Spend on Illegal Drugs 1988 1998. ONDCP Publications. 4 process 2002. 13 July 2009. . Smelser, Neil J. The Faces of Terrorism Social and Psychological Dimensions. New Jersey Princeton University Press, 2007