Prompt: Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the government–rather than individuals–should always come up with the solutions to society’s ills may have made us less-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.
Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general?
In general, people should take more responsibility for issues affecting their communities that those plaguing the entire nation. A single person can make a much greater impact on their immediate community because they know it inside and out. On the contrary, attempting to solve the nation’s problems is nearly impossible because of its multi-dimensional nature.
It’s no secret that the national government, representing the people of the United States, is often ineffective in serving the needs of everybody. Take for example the Affordable Care Act, a law which aimed to provide healthcare to every single one of America’s 350 million-plus citizens. This one-size-fits-all solution was a failure because it attempted to address too many needs at once. In fact, it ended up raising people’s premiums and lowering their deductibles, ironically making health insurance even more unaffordable. Another instance of government trying to solve a national problem is immigration. Recently, presidential candidate Donald Trump promised to build “a wall” along the border with Mexico and deport illegal immigrants. This is without any consideration of the livelihoods of millions. Both the issues of health care and immigration reveal the inefficiency of a bloated bureaucracy and need for local communities to solve their own issues. After all, who’s better in judging whether illegals need to go - their neighbors or some assembly halfway across the nation?
The American Revolution is another example of where big government failed to meet the needs of people. England, ruling the colonies from across the vast Atlantic, levied takes and waged wars involving the colonies without engaging them. Of course, local bodies saw the toll that taxation was taking on their communities. Britain, however, did not realize the colonists’ hardships. It was only when the colonists took responsibility for their communities into their own hand that positive change was made.
All in all, people need to take responsibility for issues affecting them directly rather than makes ones for places they’ve never stepped a foot in. For me, trying to change the country’s climate change strategy or foreign policy is a futile exercise. I do know, however, that I can help fix the potholes on my street or stop the neighborhood vandals if I direct my energy into solving the problems facing my community.