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The Biggest Problem Facing the United States Today
Glenn Heald
MPA Online Program
California State University Dominguez Hills
March 17, 2009
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The Biggest Problem Facing the United States Today
The biggest problem facing the United States today is our diminished sense of duty. As
citizens, as members of society, as neighbors and as individuals we must reinvigorate our sense
of duty to ensure our country will achieve its full potential and regain its standing as an example
of democracy’s unique ability to better mankind. Throughout our nation’s history our obedience
to duty has served to spur our growth and to quash our demons. It has been the impetus for
farmers leaving their fields and families to fight for independence and for millions to march in
peaceful demonstrations demanding civil rights for all. As citizens we have obligations to our
nation, as neighbors we have obligations to each other, and as individuals we have obligations to
ourselves, each of which is requisite to the healthy survival of a state dedicated to furthering the
great experiment of democracy as a fundamental right. Duty is the price of liberty.
We have a duty to ourselves to realize our full potential as individuals. Through
recognition of this duty we become better prepared and practiced for our role as citizens.
Socrates, speaking in Plato’s Republic, speaks of the necessity for good citizens, drawing a
correlation between good individuals and good neighbors, and, by logical extrapolation, good
citizens. Good citizens, posits Socrates, are best and most reliably produced through the
cultivation of good individuals. Honesty, integrity, forthrightness, opinions based on fact rather
than rumor or hearsay, emotions tempered by reason; these are the qualities required to become
and remain a valuable contribution to the citizenry. As Aristotle insists in Nicomachean Ethics,
these qualities must be learned and practiced for a lifetime. Compromise is not an option.
As members of society we must put aside selfish wants, ignore the temptations of wealth,
dismiss elicitations to an ill-deserved sense of entitlement, and be cognizant that the whole is
indeed greater than the sum of the parts. We must reject the siren calls of commerce urging us to
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behave as self-centered superiors concerned with only ourselves and dismissive of all others.
We are not units of one; we are but infinitesimal fractions of a single collective “one.” We are
all one, interdependent and inseparable. We do not have the option to ignore the needs of any
one, to callously disregard the suffering, hunger, sickness or fear of others, however unconnected
we may seem by way of distance, class, customs, language or lifestyle. We are obligated to
assist; to distribute the good and to share in the burdens. We are obligated to educate ourselves,
to behave with manners and maturity, and to rise above the petty suspicions and resentments of
our lesser nature. It is our duty to be an asset to society.
As a nation we have an ethical imperative to participate in the democratic process, to cast
ballots, to root out prejudice, injustice and inequity, and to disavow the divisive tactics of
partisan politics. We are obligated to practice collective introspection and open discussion of our
differences in healthy, vigorous debate conducted with respect and tolerance, eager to uncover
our failings and shortcomings, always willing to challenge our opinions and alter our
perspectives to benefit from our cornucopia of viewpoints. Our nation cannot sustain itself if we
as a people surrender to apathy or allow our sense of duty to be eroded by appeals to hatred and
fear. It is our duty to demand that our leaders preserve the integrity of our nation.
Granted, there is no immediate gratification in living up to one’s sense of obligation, in
doing what is right simply because it is the right thing to do. Indeed, those who consistently
behave ethically are often scoffed at by the majority who see selfless acts without personal gain
as empty gestures by naïve fools. No matter, those persons who recognize their duty and
shoulder their responsibilities need no reward. They consider it a privilege. As a nation we
ought to celebrate and encourage this commitment. It is the responsibility of every citizen of the
United States to recognize their duty to their country, to their society, and to themselves.
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References
Aristotle. The Nicomachean Ethics. In Pojman, L. (1996). Philosophy, the Quest for Truth (3rd
ed.). New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Plato. Republic. In Johnson, O.A. (1994). Ethics: Selections from Classical and Contemporary
Writers (7th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.