Chapter 4 Trent Williams – Does Government Work?

In chapter 4, the textbook talks mainly a lot about the diverse population of our country. Being that the United States is home to so many people makes it difficult for the government to meet the standards of all its citizens. The reason for such diversity is because of immigration.

Immigration has been a part of American history since the late 1700’s. The majority of the population was made up of white Europeans, black slaves, and Native Americans when the first census was taken in 1790. By the 1850’s, they were joined by Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany. By the 1870’s, Chinese people began to migrant to the United States. When the twentieth century came around, most of American emigration came from eastern, central, and Southern Europe. Now most emigration stems from Asia and Latin America. Latin Americans represent 17.8% of the population making them the largest group minority group (2015.) Between 2000 and 2010, the population grew almost 10 percent to about 309 million citizens. By 2014 that went up to 318 million making us the third most populated country in the world. A growing population is important for the economy in a country. More people become a part of the working and tax-paying paying class allowing the burden of national budgets of retired individuals to lessen. More businesses are formed, creating more jobs and opportunities.

Although a growing population can be good for our country, some worry that our resources, such as oil, may become scarce due to the amount of people that are using them. Also, more citizens will increase the likelihood of rising rates of pollutants. People also believe that immigrants that migrate to America are taking jobs, housing, and receive public benefits. President Obama started to take steps to solve immigration

Declan Horrigan says:

September 24, 2017 at 11:59 pm

One of your points that I find very intriguing is the one where you say that it is incredibly difficult for the government to meet the standards of all its citizens because of immigration. Today, as it seems, that no one is pleased with how the country is being run, it is never good enough. Obama supporters still had things they wished Obama did better, Trump supporters think that he can and needs to do more and change more. Obviously, people who didn’t support Obama and those who don’t support Trump, think the could have done and could be doing better respectively. Because of the incredible amount of diversity, which as you and the chapter mentioned, isn’t all that incredible, there is absolutely no way to please everyone. I believe that this will continue to be the case, and might even exacerbate because of the recent amounts of immigration. I believe that no matter who is president, no matter what their policies are, they will never be able to do enough to satisfy the entirety of the American population, or even close to that. I think that is just the nature of the job of being president or being a part of the government. They are forced to make decisions, all of which will never satisfy everyone. It literally is their job to do what, they believe, is best for the country, but it is guaranteed that some people will disagree with their decisions, as long as we have a government. Therefore, the role of the government is to do what is best for the country and therefore pleasing as many citizens as possible. The reality is that we do not live in a utopia, so someone will always be unhappy.