Issues → September/October 2007 → Interact → Web Exclusives →
Speaking My Mind: What do you think is the most significant problem of the 21st century?
Submit your answer and read others
Click here to tell us what you think.
Sharon Faerber -- Complaisant. We've given our country to the enemy.That enemy is the former and current administration, immigration and its lack of rules, schools that are failing our children because there are so many issues they must address besides the academics that should be the main focus.Global warming, what is it about people who still do not believe it's a real threat. The list goes on and on, but I will again say COMPLAISANT.
Dawn Lincoln -- The biggest problem has been the steady creeping away from the freedom and liberty that our founding fathers so carefully and methodically worked to protect. Too many of us have fallen down on the job of doing the eternal vigilance that they warned was essential to protect our freedom. I do not believe that all is lost though. New Hampshire has the ability to turn this around and take back the freedoms that have slowly been taken away. Registering to vote and voting for candidates who will protect your rights and respect the constitution will be a giant step in the right direction.
Valerie Madden -- I think, along with other readers, that global warming is the greatest issue to date. I am not looking forward to the upcoming year for campaign slashing and promises to be unkept. This administration has not even recognized the problem until recently, if then. There is more concern for who will be in charge then of what will we do to help our future which is our children and our children's future. To quote Peter, Paul and Mary, "When will we ever learn?"
Jill Herendeen -- Lack of jobs which pay living wages--the direct result of Congress being beholden to corporate interests, probably; good jobs being sent overseas, or given to commuters from the third world (because they'll work for less, as it costs less to raise a family that's in Pakistan or wherever than it does in American suburbia). So both parents are FORCED to work for ever decreasing wages, while the cost of everything rises and the kids are being raised, so to speak, by bureaucrats, who are out to keep their own nonproductive jobs, and by TV and computer games, wherein basic decency is rare, if there at all. The teachers are too busy getting the kids, who come from essentially, if not literally, parentless homes, to jump through ever-increasingly more stringent academic hoops, so as to push more kids into Special Ed., so as to get extra funding for the school districts, so the taxes have to go up more, so the parents have to work more to pay for them, the better to disable theThe American Family (which might, if it had any time to itself, have more wherewithal to reign in unbridled gov't). Together with the Bush Administration, and a Congress which goes along for the ride, giving tax breaks to the rich and starting wars of aggression to pour money into Haliburton et al.'s pockets...a scene created largely by voting fraud, via computerized voting machines, which are SO EASY to hack. High rates of immigration, even legal immigration, are fuel to the fire. The medical-industrial complex driving up cost of living and taxes to fill the pockets of Big Pharma. Basically, the wealthy have figured out legally how to rob everyone else, with the government to aid, abet, and enforce it. No wonder folks -- the sort whom one would find in grocery stores -- are short-tempered...
M. Monette -- The Bush Administration.... I won't lay it all on just one person. It's the actions of a privileged group dismantling the Constitution at the expense of the people.
Robin Martin -- I think the biggest problem is the over spending on everything. There is no balance. We have bridges falling apart. Schools are failing our kids even though the spending percentage is more than ever before in history and billions of American dollars are going to other militaristic governments or funding a war in the Middle East that we may never get out of. I don't have the answers, but it's a grim picture.
Michael Moen -- The biggest problem is the lack of concern for other people. The focus is to much on self, not family, future generations, the world, people in other countries. We need to leave the attitude of what can I get for me now, who cares how and at what cost, and become more caring, kind and honest. Myself included.
JC Nowlin -- Radicalism on both sides...too much hate and not enough people remembering that we are all Americans. And if I had my druthers someone would let the dopes in Washington know this is an English speaking country. And that it's ok to believe in God. Sure I feel sorry for the folks who don't speak English but can you imagine them going to France and demanding that they change their schools and include Spanish or Lithuianian or Polish or Italian as a separate language? If you live here you need to learn to speak English period.
Susan Bass -- If we don't get a handle on global warming, there won't be anywhere on earth that man can go to get out of the way of Mother Earth. We are only stewards of this earth and we are not doing our part in preserving it for future generations. We all need to conserve, conserve, conserve, or ELSE!!!
Anne Welch -- Liberal politics...Letting the terrorists that want to kill us get away with all they could during the Clinton administration.
No name given -- I guess I am looking at a more simplistic nature when I present my answer.....an increase in rudeness and disrespect from individuals towards others. And this includes children! I was amazed at a recent trip into the City of Boston. So many people pushed past us (we weren't doing a thing wrong, we were just in "their way") bumped into us, grabbed at something beyond us, all with out an "excuse me" or even a "move"! Children were just set loose (at the Aquarium) and one little girl about 10 or 12 yrs old knocked me out of the way because she wanted to walk where I was walking. What has happened to basic interactions and respect. So often in grocery stores and other places of service (restaurants, gas stations, etc) there is no eye contact from clerks, no smiles in those "Happy Place(s)," items are just tossed into bags, and heaven forbid if you ask a question, you are interrupting their "gossip" time. It truly is sad. What future does this country have, what type of leaders will our intelligent children become if they cannot understand and practice simple acts of decency towards other human beings. This all makes me feel old, and I try very hard not to say "in my day....." (gosh, I'm only 50) but I find myself doing just that, and becoming infuriated while my groceries are smushed together in a bag while the cashier is busy chatting with another one about what she said and he did the other night. I am on my own little mission. I say Thank you. I let someone know if they have been kind or helpful or have made a difference in a simple way. And I remember to smile. No matter how many wrinkles I may show, I smile. Would be a sad world if that is a forgotten, lost "art".
David Garrecht -- Lack of certainty about what is true and what is false. Most other problems issue from this.
Anita Garnett -- Close Minded Publications are the problem. I'm glad that I no longer subscribe to Yankee magazine...inferring that liberal politics can be a problem in asking the following question "Global climate change, decline of the family, liberal politics, apathy... What do you think is the most significant problem of the 21st century?" Poor choice on your behalf.
Lisa Hackett -- I felt offended when I read your opening sentence about liberal politics being a concern. It changed my entire feeling about Yankee Mag. I may never look at the magazine again. Though I do consider myself a liberal, I don't think it would have been appropriate to say that right-wing conservatives were a problem either. Not a good move on the magazine's part.
Helen Dotts -- The biggest problem faced in the USA today is THE PEOPLE! Instead of blaming the President for everything, all the time, take a look in the mirror and in your own thinking. Too easy to blame some one else. There is not a shred of real evidence to cause concern about global warming, the liberal agenda has destroyed the family with its free thinking attitude, Christians get blamed for all the good they do instead of the deserving praise. And yes! We do have those who wish to destroy the US and all it stands for. There has long been a policy in place to re-think what the country was founded upon and it was not what far too many would have us believe! Bring back God and leave G. W. Bush alone!
Jim Burns -- I find it offensive and one-sided that your opening question would list liberal politics as a concern.The real problem is intolerant Christian conservatives who have systematically destroyed this country,harmed families and our system while enriching themselves and thinking like the Spanish inquisition.
Judy Ries -- A huge problem is that there is no accountability.
Bill Roche -- George W. Bush
Gordon Osborne -- I have to agree with Heather Janis. The Family, being the cornerstone of society, is very much under attack. Maintaining the Family should be our foremost goal in America for the 21st Century.
Lloyd Danforth -- I think the most significant problem of the 21st century, particularly in the US, is that my 'Baby Boomer' compatriots are buying the same Government stories about the Mideast like they sold our parents about the Communist Domino Theory. The claims made that got us into Vietnam certainly changed our lives and today's reaction to our government's claim about terrorism is changing the lives of many Americans today, and not in a positive way.
Bess Clarke -- The illegal immigrant invasion into this country. It's astronomical and no one seems to care that our cities and towns are ever increasing with illegals.
DP -- The biggest problem today is the "All for me & screw you" attitude that so many people seem to have.
Lisa White -- Liberal Politics. What's the point in rules and laws if they're not followed and enforced? Too many individuals and organizations (corporations) just do what they want, right, wrong or indifferent, and without regard for others and consequences, and our elected officials endorse these behaviors. Too often good judgement and following the rules is cast aside. Where is that getting us? Higher taxes, fewer freedoms. Is this what we really want? I don't.
Heather Janis -- My biggest concern is the decline of the family. A person's moral, spiritual, physical, and emotional backbone is their family; it is the foundation of society and we seem to be losing it.
Susan Sickler -- The stupidity and apathy of the American people. We have allowed a monster to run our country for the last 8 years. He has run it right into the ground. Retail is down and will go down further. A lot of stores will be closing their doors. We had Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and probably Clinton again. That is 20 years worth. Americans need more choices. We need about 4 to 5 more parties to run. And what is it with a party anyway? Why can't an individual run without being part of a "party"? We have a lot of problems in our own country and shouldn't be trying to "fix" the problems of other countries until our own house is in order. We have kids killing kids. We have children without health care. We have young men giving their lives to what purpose? Our crime rate is higher than any other country.
We need people to run our country who are concerned with alternate energy supplies; with the future of its citizens; with employment; we can thank the predecessors of Bush for free trade and outsourcing. But it all began with Regan and was finally signed into being by Clinton. Most of our stuff comes from China. Wow. Lots of problems and we need smart and savvy people to fix and heal us.
John Rosenfelder -- I am concerned about climate change.
Deb Bizzozero -- Biggest problem of the 21st century: George W. Bush
Dana Biscotti Myskowski-- Answer: Global Climate Change. It sounds like I'm jumping on Al Gore's coattails to proclaim something so obvious, especially after his efforts to bring the issue to the spotlight have been rewarded by the Nobel Peace Prize awarding committee. And while I'm not a scientist, nor have I played one on TV, I did have the opportunity to interview several global climate change researchers while conducting interviews for a planetarium show on global warming that I was hired to write for the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, NH.
The massive undertaking, for it takes a large team to produce a 45-minute show directed at junior high students and their teachers and families, was underwritten by a grant from NASA. Knowing I had that level of backing, I went to my interviews aware that the problem was more than just cover candy to sell tabloids.
After speaking with more than a dozen environmental scientists, astrophysicists, glaciologists, meteorologists, cartographers, and a skateboarder (I needed help with my junior high vernacular, after all), I became a believer that not only are we humans to blame for our current run-away carbon emissions that are wreaking havoc worldwide, but that each of us has the power to help heal the earth with the choices we make TODAY; choices as simple as the car we drive, the lights we choose, and the laundry we dry.
(Yes, there are BIG changes needed, too, at the governmental and corporate level, but rather than scapegoating or wishing someone [else] would do something, we can each address our own carbon output, without being completely overwhelmed.) The problem, of course, lies in convincing everyone to pitch in, for this is a calamity that will take all of us to correct.
Reader Comments
Registered users can add comments.
Registration is free, and just takes a moment.
Login or Register.