Is America Over?

In recent years, America’s standing title as the world’s number one nation has come to a

falling finish. Some analysts say that America is over, while others agree with the contrary. The

ongoing debate could be settled with economic statistics or production rates, all fast that appeal

on paper. However the real answer to the question of “Is America over?” cannot be answered

through facts on paper. If you really want to know if America is over, ask Americans.

America’s public has experienced it all, the election of an African American president,

the rise in technology, the advances in medicine, and a higher economic power over almost every

nation. All these factors, which Alan Dowd believes in, can lead to the idea that America is an

emerging country of production. Through Dowd’s essay, Decline and Fall of Declinism, we can

believe that America isn’t at all in a decline. However we are in the steepest decline since the

postwar era. Bob Hebert, author of Fire in the Basement, reveals the corruptions that Americans

are faced with. He point out that in Truman’s successful postwar run “We built schools and

housing and highways, and over the next few decades, developed a standard of living that was

the envy of the world.” Herbert also denotes the fact that somewhere, in the late moments of that

postwar run, America took a wrong turn. Even when a nation faced a tough reconstruction era

after the effects of the Great Depression, WWII and the Cold War, America’s schools did not

close. America was built upon the principles of defending the unalienable rights of its citizens,

thus making it a world leader. However, in our modern day recession and society, America

turned into a nation which focuses only on injustices towards Americans.

Instead of pushing for advances, we are hindering our own future by taking backward

steps into the past. The youth of America, the future of the nation, is suffering the unfair

consequences of the recession. School closings throughout the country are causing many young
Americans to be displaced, and linger along the streets at such young ages. As Bob Hebert says

in Ai Fire in the Basement, this displacement of education brings danger to the factor of

unemployment, because in this day and age, without proper education the possibilities of a

rewarding career path are limited. Another danger brought forward through this displacement of

education is the rise of violence. Through the closings of schools, many people take to the streets

as their new home, causing disturbance and fear among millions of neighborhoods. America’s

youth, the movement suffering from national budget cuts, are the future. Ironically, they are also

the ones which the government expects them to keep the nation on the high pedestal. Without an

emerging and advancing future, naïve Americans like Dowd will soon realize that America will

progress into and remain in a great decline.

Similar to other countries, our American government embodies many unfavorable flaws.

However, most of our government’s flaws hurt the majority of their own people and public.

These counteracting weaknesses have grown in the multiples, and budget cuts are just to name a

few of the most impacting. However, one of the government’s greatest blemishes, that severely

impact millions of Americans, is the nation’s flawed and corrupted law enforcement system. In

A Fire in the Basement, Hebert exposes just one among many examples of the law enforcement’s

multiple wrongdoings. In particular, he brings light onto a controversial occurrence that had

happened in Tulia, Texas. This incident included the actions of the police and investigation

force, who arrested multiple innocent people, mostly African Americans, without proper

justification. The law enforcement discriminated against tem because of their race and where

they lived, assuming that all these people were related to a major drug crime. This senseless act

brought despair among several families, who knew that their innocent son or daughter was

accused of a shameful crime based on the color of their skin. Instead of a law enforcement
avoiding discrimination and enforcing the safety of the American people, they’re punishing

millions of innocent Americans. This sense of double standards is a prime example of how our

government is allowing corrupt actions to go unchanged.

The American government also embodies a major corruption, an influence of paranoia

over the country. In The Meaning of 9/11, author Morris Berman reveals the true story behind the

decision to go to war after the attack of 9/11. Through the attacks on 9/11, that were directed to

the country’s most coveted government headquarters, a reaction of extreme defense and paranoia

took over the nation’s policy and control. Berman explains that “In effect, the goal becomes war

itself, war without end…But none of this is about Iraq per se; Iraq was merely the target of a

convenient, if paranoid, psychological projection.” The government, in particular the paranoid

Bush administration, advertised a propaganda campaign that favored the idea for war. They took

the opportunity to fuel nationalism back into the country, tricking Americans to lean toward the

overall agreement and decision to engage in a “war” against Iraq. However the war was based on

faulty evidence. This faulty evidence was a product of the government’s persistency to find a

criminal of the nation shaking crime. Even when C.I.A informants notifies the government that

there was no evidence that members of the Taliban in Iraq were the ones who attacked the Twin

Towers, they simply responded with “keep looking”. Nevertheless, years slipped by and an

unprogressive war was still persistent. Reality soon struck Americans, realizing that there would

be no sense of progression in this “war”. Americans needed the crucial attention of their

government to be focused on its own issues, which was the importance to bring an end to a

deficient budget and war.

If the war were to come to an end, not only would Americans benefit from it, but also the

suffering Muslim world. As author Handy Amr states in Kidnapped in Pakistan: The End of
American Ideals?, American influence in the Muslim world only generates more hatred against

the cold hearted country. Americans are viewed only as hypocrites, examples of their corrupted

government, which has hindered the safety of many American Muslims living in the Muslim

world. As an example, Handy speaks about the story of his kidnapped and murdered friend

Ayesha, who was an American Muslim living in Pakistan. He explains how “Ayesha and her

family felt that when push came to shove, the local Pakistani officials had better stature from

which to approach hr kidnappers than our own government.” Even if their lives were to be on the

line, they would feel safer to engage in the help of local officials instead of the productive U.S

government. America was once considered a beacon of light, but now most nations are disgusted

with us and don’t want the cursing, light shining onto their lives. Ayesha’s story is just one

among the millions of stories heard throughout the Muslim world. Stories of how innocent

American Muslims are murdered daily, only because of the word attached before the word

Muslim, American.

Through budge cuts, law enforcement, faulty government influence, and hatred by the

world; Americans have suffered enough. If America was to be over, it would have to begin with

the morality of the Americas. Although we do have the luxury of a “democracy”, this sense of

government and representation needs to be refined. Democracy is meant to aid both ends of the

spectrum, enforcing that the rich should not be getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

Balance between American government and the American public needs to become evident and

change that the developing impatient American people are waiting for.