Many conservatives love to claim that America is an “exceptional” nation, ignoring the facts that demonstrate just how backward we are, as compared to many European nations and Japan.
For instance, one third of single mothers are in poverty, doing minimum wage jobs that cannot support their children in an adequate fashion. The effect on their children of poverty is not easily measurable, but cannot be dismissed as insignificant. It promotes a sense of inferiority and depression in children at a very young age, and impairs their physical and mental health.
Also, veterans of our wars are horribly mistreated after their military service, with about 60,000 homeless on any single night, and double that total being homeless over a year’s time. Many are victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or are connected to substance abuse (alcohol and drugs). Forty percent are African American or Hispanic. Veterans who are homeless range from World War II, through the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War, and many are younger veterans, who did their duty for their country, but are now being ignored and dismissed as having any claim on government services in return for their sacrifices.
Not only is this unconscionable and unethical, but it is also a danger to the nation, when people trained in firearms develop a feeling of hopelessness, which can lead to bloodshed and violence against fellow Americans out of desperation and mental illness.
If we continue to mistreat our veterans, as well as make victims of single mothers and their children, we are losing our long term future of peace and tranquility, and the pursuit of the elusive “American Dream!”