In its time as a nation America has made many mistakes that have caused the public to keep a wary eye on the governement. Some of the actions our government has taken that have supposedly been in our best interests have in truth hurt our nation. Some mistakes may not be viewed as so by everyone, but everyone is entitled to their own opinions of our government. We have flaws in our foreign policy that have caused other nations to express hostility or distrust towards our nation. Our economy is not the most stable anymore and the value of our dollar is currently only worth .78 euros. There are some nations though that are much worse off in their economy than America is, but still there are countries that have a much better economy than the United States has. We have made mistakes in our past military actions going to war or supporting military efforts when we need not do so.
Vietnam was one mistake the United States made in past times. We spent to much time on aiding the South Vietnamese in their fight against the communist North. What we did, at first, was worthy of time because we were halting the spread of communism through out the world. Our extended time in Vietnam was a costly one, and brought about many anti-war protests. These protests caused a morale drop in our troops overseas and brought about an unwillingness to fight for a cause they felt was lost. The war was devastating for all sides the death tolls were high and many villages were destroyed by bomber runs and napalm explosions.
 Photo provided by www.sixmag.com |
 Provided by www.veteranmuseum.com |
 Photo provided by www.ecplanet.ch |
America has had many struggles with its economy over the years. Many times it is stable and one of the best economies in the world. As of late though the national deficit has been increasing by leaps and bounds. The current U.S. debt is $7,757,824,559,756.40 and is accurate as of 5/10/05, the debt in 1989 was only at $2 trillion. America has had a rich get richer and the poor get poorer economy for nearly as long as it has been a nation. Regardless of many attempts to amend this economic status American citizens are still struggling with money unless already wealthy. With the recent increases in gas prices the public will only become poorer and the economy even less stable.
Image provided by http://www.federalbudget.com/
One large mistake the United States has made is allowing some of the media practices to go on. News stations have formulas that dictate the shows they can show every day and what type they are and the number of times each type can be shown. This puts our nation at an often less than informed state because we don't always get the most important information. We don't receive some of this information because it might be a depressing or upsetting story. The media is attempting to brainwash this nation by imposing their views upon the public. They express their opinions and show little to know information for the othersides stance. Stations take a view and report on this side of the issue. There are not stations that are neutral and show both sides of an issue. Our views of issues become horribly misconstrued and we begin to show hostilities towards others.
Our involvement in the Bay of Pigs incident was a mistake as well. We should never have supported the attack to remove Fidel Castro from power. If we were held responsable for the attack then it would surely have sent the world into World War III. The Soviet Union had been transporting Intercontinental Ballistics Missiles(IBMs) into Cuba which could be launched towards the United States and arrive within 6 minutes. These missiles could have devastated most major cities in the U.S. and caused pandamonium. In turn we would have struck with our missiles in Turkey and World War III would have begun. We were lucky that Castro did not show hostilities towards America after this invasion, but he did proceed to watch us with a wary eye.
