The rampant capitalism of the United States encourages the gathering of excessive wealth to the detriment of the public good. Those who have managed to hoard large amounts of money are given vastly inflated influence on government policy. The primarily use this influence to reduce the amount they are required to contribute to the running of this country.
This system leads to extremes in income inequity, and requires that for each extremely wealthy person there are many who are struggling with insufficient means. The United States has always valued individuality and this has contributed to the idea that the collective wealth of the country is the province of individuals. The Republican party is wholly sold on this, scrapping democracy for a full blown plutocracy.
More and more young people are rejecting this and embracing the ideals of socialism. They see the wealth of the nation as a resource to be used to benefit all. The role of government should be centered on helping those who have the least, and regulating those who would act against the public good.
The United States is already a very low tax country, yet the call for lowering taxes even more is heard every election cycle. The benefits of lower taxes does not offset the loss of services to lower income people, and serves to increase the disparity of wealth in this country. Private for-profit entities jump in to fill the void of disappearing services at a higher cost to both the individual and the country as a whole.
There is still enough vestiges of democracy left in the United States to reverse the slide into a free for all where few win and many lose, but upcoming elections are crucial. The direction most people in this nation want to go is forward, and we need to elect progressive representatives to take us there.
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