Change Constant for USA

Looking at the news recently, it is hard not to pick up a paper and read about how America has failed as a nation. Listening to the presidential candidates debate over the past few months it seems like all any of them speak about is bringing change to this country. Looking to the economy, all there is talk of is about the eminent, or current recession, and the failure of the large investment firms, losing billions selling loans to those that cannot afford it. We hear of the increased budget deficit and how more and more foreign nations are buying American companies.

Now this is overtly bleak for a reason, because it is mostly nonsense. Yes, we may be heading into some hard economic times; yes, our politicians have been as irresponsible as the millions who have taken loans they cannot afford; and yes, it will be my generation that has to live with the mistakes of our parents. However, there is one important fact that anyone proclaiming that better days are behind us seems to forget that this is the United States of America.

As a nation, the United States is better at reinventing itself than any other country on the face of the planet. We are a nation that is bonded together by an idea, an idea that has driven generations to persevere under tremendous adversity, and my generation is no different. America will succeed because we believe in the fact that anyone can rise to the top through innovation and hard work.

The presidential candidates are correct in stating that change is coming to America, but that is like saying that the sun will rise again tomorrow. All that America has ever done is change, and we would not be the nation that has caused millions of people to leave their homes for an uncertain future and just a promise of opportunity if that was not the case. The challenges that are facing America today are no worse than what we faced in the 1770s, the 1860s, the 1930s or even the 1970s.

Americans have recently come under fire for our reckless spending habits and how we have indebted ourselves to other nations. Many claim that we are a nation of consumers, with an economy focused more on consumption and services than on the production of goods to exports. Although this may be true, more Americans are seeking higher education, our universities are still some of the best in the world, and our corporations are still succeeding internationally. 

Anyone who is looking at our supposed failures and proclaiming that America is in severe trouble is failing to see how individual Americans are stepping up to fill the inadequacies of the government. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have contributed to improving inner city education, financing schools to give children in the cities a chance to receive a good education where the public systems have failed. Mike Bloomberg left his job at the media giant he founded to become Mayor of New York City and Arnold Schwarzenegger left a movie career behind to become Governor of California.

Additionally Yale University was recently criticized for announcing the construction of two residential colleges for $600 million, yet little press was made of the how the university has been working with the city of New Haven for years to redevelop the city, spending university money to improve public infrastructure. The university even hired a real estate developer, who had worked on the Baltimore Inner Harbor redevelopment, to help lead their capital projects and redevelop the neighborhoods around the university's campus.

America is in trouble, but it always is, new challenges arise and when a particular generation has failed it is the responsibility of the next one to clean it up. Change isn't coming to America because some candidate says he or she will bring it, America is always changing and always will be to forget that is to forget our history and our identity.