Rationale

Rationale My textbook revolves around what affected the people of America most, since America’s history is made up of people. Therefore, the top five events that impacted Americans were Hurricane Katrina, the progression of cell phones, Barack Obama getting elected, the state of the economy, and the impact of our actions on the environment. Hurricane Katrina was a huge natural disaster that impacted the whole southeastern part of the country, causing $250 billion of damage. This greatly impacted our economy and the people. It was much more brutal than just a normal hurricane. Not only did it injure people physically, it injured our nation mentally. Since president Bush did not respond right away many became unsettled at what the government really cares about. Not until Bush realized the urgency of the situation did he take action, and by that time he could not do much more. The hurricane killed 1,833 citizens, and injured many more. 30,000 people had to migrate to the superdome to be taken care of and lost their homes. Along with their homes these people lost all of the prized possessions that were in them. Even conditions in the Superdome were poor; food was scarce, there was a lack of plumbing, and many resorted to drinking contaminated water. Five years later the population is only 80% of what it once was; the city still has not completely recouped from its past. It raised awareness that the US must be more prepared for such a natural disaster, and measures have been taken to avoid such demolition in the future. No other natural disaster has caused such havoc and change in the US. The technological advance of cell phones took over the nation as the demand exploded for the new devices. I purposely left out other inventions because the cell phone progression is what has changed America the most. Today, over 50% of Americans own a cell phone. In other words there are 180 million people in this country with at least one cell phone. The market for cell phones has expanded exponentially with more and more cell phones coming out for different reasons. This creates many successful businesses that drive the economy. Today people have created phones that can play music, take pictures and record videos, access the internet, and call and text people. The convenience for cell phones is what drove this boom. Parents need cell phones so their kids, as well as businesses they work for can always reach them. Likewise, kids need cell phones so parents can know where they are at all times; this makes parents feel safer because their kids can call if there is trouble at any given moment. Phone booths are virtually a thing of the past, and today one cannot walk into any public place without seeing people on their cell phones. The current American society relies on their cell phones, and if somehow all cell phones stopped working society would crumble and the economy would drop fast. Compared to computers, cars, and other inventions, cell phones have dominated the cyber world. Computers, mainly used for internet, are becoming obsolete to phones that can do the same thing except they are more easily portable. The new president, as well as the economy, is one of the biggest influences that affect Americans. Americans vote for the president as a representation of their beliefs and where they want the country to go. How citizens vote shows how they want the nation to be changed. This also means that they trust the president to drive the economy so that they can make money easily. Obama campaigned claiming he would raise taxes for the rich and lower them for the middle class, which ultimately was one of his main points. He also promised to pull out of Iraq and give money to support programs to fund environmental programs. The fact that Obama was elected showed a few things. First, the nation was unhappy with the previous republican president. Second, racism in the US was going down and still is. Since the democrats also won five seats in the senate and 20 seats in the House of Representatives, government control shifted a lot. Healthcare is now a main focus in the Obama presidency as well, affecting almost all Americans. Since his presidency unemployment rates have stayed relatively high at almost 10%, while five years earlier is was 5% under Bush. Obama funded businesses to help them thrive and employ more people under the American Recovery and Reinvestment act, which was to create 3.5 million jobs. The environmental aspect in today’s world has been a big issue. If the US is to continue doing what it’s doing, than global warming will continue to worsen causing much havoc to nature’s cycle. First off, more extreme temperatures would change life in societies, as well as nature. Animals would be at risk and would be forced to migrate in order to stay in a suitable climate. This would throw off the food chain, and from there nature’s beauty would diminish. In order to protect, many avid supporters of the environment have raised awareness and searched for new ways to help conserve energy. This is a big part of American life, because everyone in the nation is forced to work together in order to preserve our world. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico raised more awareness, and the response was thought to be too slow by many Americans. Now a lot of money in our economy is funneled to help the environment. I purposely left out foreign policy because in today’s society it is not as important as it once was. 9/11 raised security issues in the US, and caused us to prepare for the future in order to stop it. Today the government is still ensuring that we are safe from such attacks by increasing security and keeping peace with other nations. The Iraq war is coming to an end, therefore making it less important than the above events and issues. Although North Korea has broken the nuclear weapons pact, we continue to ensure peace by trying to dismantle all nuclear weapons. As long as this nation remains safe it is not a problem, however it could become a big problem in the future.