This post is a response to "Is America too far in to start solving the problems that have been hundreds of years in the making?" @stonemasoner/week-14-questions-the-bigger-bubble posed by @stonemasoner
This is a good question. Sometimes, it really does seem as if the U.S. is "in too deep," and there is no hope of getting out of the debt and issues that we see today in the country. For much of my life, that is how I viewed politics. What is the point of caring and putting towards effort, if things are simply getting worse and it seems like there is no hope. This idea, however, is where the issue lies. So many people think that America is too far gone and the issues that are present just cannot be fixed. That is not true. Will it be difficult? Yes, of course - but most things that are worth it tend to be that way. The more that we choose to sit back and just allow for things to continue the way they are (whether that be positive or negative), the more we have this idea that there is no changing it. This idea, in psychology, is known as learned helplessness. If you do not think that you can change an outcome, and that is what you always think, then you will have a helpless mindset and struggle to see the potential. I feel as though many Americans have this mindset when it comes to the problems that it faces. The fact, though, is that there have been many amazing things that have been done by people putting forth the effort to change their circumstances - civil rights, equality, opportunities for women, etc. The same is true for economic issues that we see in America today. The more people that push forward for change and work towards that, the more it will start to make ripples. The danger, however, is when people simply assume that things will never change. When you think that way, you typically will be right. Also, many of the economic issues that we are seeing today have not really been hundreds of years in the making. Much of it is relatively recent in history, and that is just all people know because it is been part of their lifetime.