The Greatest American Concern

apathy

The environment (global warming) is easily the highest concern, IMO.

The biggest problem this country faces is the onslaught of the homosexual swinging nudists who want to raise children and marry.

surferdude wrote:

Wait. I thought they were only the biggest threat to this board. I'm so confused now that I'm going home to drink beer.

Editing my post in your quote without acknowledgement? For shame.

the greatest concern in america is still the bush administration. not only bush, but the people around him. not to mention congress and the u.s. military commanders.

polaris wrote:

apathy

^^^ this nailed it on the head. all the things the original poster mentioned are concerns, but the public's apathy is the biggest of all.

As far as long term concerns go (not within the next 2 years that Bush has left as President) my biggest concern involves families. I think so many of today's problems could be solved by creating stronger family units. I'm not talking about christian family makeups or anything like that. What concerns me is the number of single-parent families that exist nowadays, and the reason for my concern lies in how the absence of a parent, usually the father, affects children. If you sit down and think about troubled youths, what comes to mind? For me the consequences include child suicide, high school dropouts, mental distress/depression leading to hospitalization, youth violence leading to incarceration, chemical abuse, etc. I think it would be hard to argue that any of these are desirable, and I believe these consequences lead to so many of the problems we see today in the world and especially our country. Granted, the majority of children grow up in traditional families but for me, being in a family, it seems as though the public opinion on what family entails has changed. Some people on the far left (a minority) argue that men are unnecessary in raising children, and while this opinion is far and away the minority opinion, I feel that somehow the importance of the family as a unit has been overlooked a bit in recent years. I am in no way pushing for male dominance within the family, but I am arguing that it's impossible to deny the influence that a father's presence has on his children. It doesn't matter to me who in a family is dominant because I personally believe raising a family and children is a completely joint effort, which means BOTH parties must be present. Over 25 million children in the United States grow up without a father. They just are never around. My own father was one those children. But the statistics are appalling. According to the Bureau of Cencus, these approximately 25 million fatherless children make up 63% of teen suicides, 70% percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions, 71% of high school dropouts, 75% of children in chemical-abuse centers, 80% of rapists, 85% of youths in prisons, 85% of children with behavioral disorders, and 90% of homeless or runaway children.

I know that this may not concern most of you as much as the Bush administration or global warming, but it scares me. In this country we have close to a third of all children growing up without intact families, and whether you agree or not with the values that certain families pass on, families in which both parents are around are more successful in having their children COMPLETE and education (more educated children lead to a better overall society) and become well integrated into society as adults. It doesn't matter if your child grows up to be a millionaire or life-time waiter, if they grow up with both of their parents present, they are statistcally much more likely to become citizens to CONTRIBUTE to society, rather than hinder it. The reason I have focused on men and fathers here is not because I think they are any more important in families than women are, because they are not. I believe a family cannot work unless all parties share equal priveledge and responsibility, just as I view this country. But unfortunately, it is usually fathers who abandon their children, leaving mothers struggling to turn to other family members, churches, schools, etc. to help raise their children, and the statistics SEEM to argue that these mothers are already put at a disadvantage by having the father absent. I'm sure the same would be true if mothers abandoned their children, leaving them to be raised solely by fathers, but that simply isn't how it happens most of the time. The issue isn't a race one for me or a problem between conservatives and liberals, it boils down to a family issue. You all may not agree, and I apologize for my very long post, but this is what concerns me. I think many of the countries problems can be avoided by aiding the third of the child population that grows up in single-parent homes. Remember, that third of the child population will one day be one third of the adult population, and they will be voting to make decisions that affect us all.

Milhouse VanHouten wrote:

The biggest problem this country faces is the onslaught of the homosexual swinging nudists who want to raise children and marry.

laughing my ass off.