Voice of Democracy - 2019

“What Makes This Country Great”

Magdalena Ochoa
October 25 2019
AVID 11-4

What makes America great. The first thing that came to mind was, of course, President

Trump, with the slogan “Let’s make America great again”. Like we’ve retreated and become a

lower society than we used to be. People think that the money and privileges are what make this

country great. I find that to be a general stereotype. Or they say the way it all started is what

makes it great. Our history does not make us great, what we do in the present concerning the

past, makes us great. Our country is flooded with problems day after day. How we fix those

problems is what reflects on us.

Immigration has always been a big problem although this is the land of immigration.

People from countries all over, come and travel hours over hours to reach shelter from their

poverty-stricken and crime influenced countries, to give themselves and their families a better

life. Yet, we refuse to give them that right. We refuse to let them in and have them fill out

paperwork to be able to live in the US from a month to years later. Immigrants are what make up

this country, the forefathers of this country immigrated from Europe to America and just took the

land like nothing. They believed it was their destiny by god to expand into America (Manifest

Destiny). They also came to America to leave behind European oppression. It’s hypocritical. The

most common argument about immigration, states that people don’t want their jobs taken, if you

work hard, you wouldn’t have to worry about it. Another is that immigrants are a major source

of crime. A reason for moving to the US is to get away from the poverty and crimes their home
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“What Makes This Country Great”

country has. Terrorists. People assume they are terrorists because of past incidents with their

race. Their race does not define them as people. Anyone can become a terrorist, anyone can

influence crime.

Society and culture go hand in hand. Society is affected by the creation of culture and

exposure to each type. Sometime’s it goes too far. It’s taken to the point where American culture

is practically taking over the distinctiveness and diversity of another and parading it around as

their own. Society and social media takes this influence to a whole new level. They tell us that

wearing cowboy boots are weird, hijabs are ugly and cornrows are not attractive. But when a

white American with high status starts styling their hair in that manner or dressing in that certain

way. It’s suddenly defined as beautiful. They laugh at us for expressing our way of life but praise

those who aren’t affiliated with the culture. Although, now society is more understanding of

diversity. We still face these problems today.

With social media and society comes technological advances. Multiple big companies

have started in the US such as Apple Inc, Google, Facebook, and Disney. Some of the most

powerful American companies which affect our everyday life. Thomas Edison created the

lightbulb, Alexander Grahm Bell created the telephone, Martin Cooper created the mobile phone,

John Blakenbake invented the first personal computer, The U.S Department of Defense created

the GPS. All made in America. We had a country and decided to make something of it. To make

it memorable. We are a very technologically advanced country, something that other countries

don’t really have.

The Bill of Rights. Signed September 25th, 1789. Created to prevent the abuse of power

that the government obtains. We are given the freedom of speech, to express our religion,
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“What Makes This Country Great”

thoughts and to protest. We are protected from unreasonable searches and are protected to chase

life, liberty, and property. We have the right to a fair trial as well as a quick one, These are a few

privileges we gain from the Bill of Rights. As american citizens, we have other privileges such as

having an education, no matter race or gender. In other countries, it would be classified as only

males have the chance to chase an education.

The United States isn’t bad, but it just isn’t great. We face problems just like every other

country, we just tend to have a better understanding of all our misunderstandings. The United

States of America, also known as the Land of the Brave, Home of the Free and the Land of

opportunities. This isn’t the land of opportunities, we don’t hand them out as we do with

privileges. The opportunities I have are the ones that I create. There’s just a better chance of

achieving them in the states. No country is great on its own. We are what make up this country,

we are that makes this country great.