by Martin Jacobs

Created on: March 25, 2009

Will the US still exist as a country in 100 years?

It's hard to predict what will happen in this world we live in a hundred years in the future. Hey who's kidding who here, it's hard to predict what will happen FIVE years in the future.

The way our population is growing and the way we are misusing our natural resources (not JUST the U.S. but the world as a whole) no one may be here in a hundred years. This sin't supposed to be a rant about conservation though and it isn't.

What will have to happen if the U.S. is to survive for another hundred years as a nation? A lot of things I imagine.

First, we as a country will have to come together and stop fighting amongst ourselves. We need to put aside our differences and learn to co-exist as A people. We should have learned from our past mistakes but we haven't. Abraham Lincoln said that "a house divided cannot stand" and truer words were never spoken. We have too many little cliques and indicidual factions in our once grand country to be the strong power we once were. Individuals are going to have differences. That is what makes us individuals isn't it? The thing is we need to learn to work together despite (or because of) thos differences. This country was founded on the basis of freedom and tolerance. We need to come together and work together as a people in order to make our country better and stronger.

Second, we need to use the resources we have more wisely. Repair, recycle and reinvent. Repair what we can of the the damage we've done to the environment. Recycle the thigns we can in order to keep from continually misusing the natural resources we have left. Reinvent ourselves as a people and become what our forefathers truly envisinioned two hundred thirty-six years ago.

Third, we need to work with the rest of the world to ensure that the planet itself is still here in a hundred years. I'm not just talking conservation either. I mean the continual squabbles that we read about in the paper or online and see in the news daily. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a "peace dove" but I am not a "war hawk" either. I believe in a strong national defense program. I believe that America should stand up for herself and defend herself when she needs to. I also believe that we need to get along with others. There's an old adage that any football player knows; the best defense is a good offense. We have to be strong but not a bully. We must show that we won't be wronged or taken advantage of without retaliating. We also need to be forgiving and understanding. We also need to be the defenders of the weak that America was once famous for being. I know it's a fine line and we as a country have been walking it for over two hundred years.

We can still exist as a country in a hudred years if we return to being what America used to be. I won't go into the religious aspects that we need to return to God in order to last. That is a different topic for another debate. I won't go into the economic side of what America and the rest of the world has to do in order to keep from fallinf into complete chaos. That too is another toipic for another debate. If Americans can come together and work for the common good and for the good of our once proud nation then yes we can still exist in a hundred years.

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