Events in the 1950s up to around the end of the 2000s have affected and still continue to take effect on the United States in modern times. There are so many events between the 1950s and 2010 that are ample enough to meet the criteria to be put under this category, but like in most great, or in this case under average yet attempting the best, works one must choose from the many to a select few. In this circumstance out of the many events that have happened between the 1950s and 2010 that would be sufficient enough to explain the significance of, three have been chosen.
Not all great things are separate besides this fact. Just like how the United States has formed together a union between the states and federal government explained with ex pluribus unum or in other words out of many, one. Similarly, this paper is out of many three. The three that have been chosen are not just any three; they are the three that have proven to be affecting the United States still today despite its already affecting the United stated when it occurred in history.
Themes that were formed from these events and the events that will not be included but fall under this created category are still laced in American society to this day some more than others but never the less they are present. The Civil Rights Revolution that ranged roughly from the 1950s to the 1980s though it can be rightly justified that civil rights are still striven for in today’s society. Equality was and still is a major theme in America.
People of the United States are doing so much to fight for equality amongst everyone and everything that inhabits America or even the nation if they have a large enough mind set though it isn’t on everyone’s to do list. The fight for equality is a tricky one and in looking back in history it has always been a difficult struggle to attempt equality on the scale most want it, especially when not all citizens want to be equal or have all things be fairly done or opportunities given identically to each and every person.
With that in mind, most in the United States who are setting their goal to help create equality amongst all things are on a more realistic scale striving for less discrimination as a first step towards achieving their main goal. In history when the Civil Rights Revolution was befalling those in the United States the goal of less discrimination was barely if not at all achieved by the people. Like previously stated some citizens do not want equality. They believe that equality in its ways would take away privileges given to them previously in order to reach the equality however that is not exactly how it worked in history nor in modern times.
Efforts to stray from “separate but equal” and go towards “everyone [being] entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in [the Declaration of Human Rights], without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status,” (Hoffman 364). Despite the major breakaway towards attaining the latter that has caused it to be called The Civil Rights Revolution, full equality has yet to be acquired.
People of the United States continue to strive for equality in modern times with activist groups and just personal encouragement to not discriminate but to see everyone and thing as deserving of a fair start to life and equivalent opportunities as others in America. In 1980 Reverend J. Falwell wished to bring America back to the basics, or in more enlightening words, he wished to bring back the connection of the protestant Christian religion and the state. Despite the fact that religion and state should not be one Reverend J.
Falwell proclaimed that the “sins of America” or the problems that the United States faces will not be rectified if the union between religion and state is not recreated (Hoffman 470). The sins of America as he puts it are all issues that were at the time of his call out problems yet are still problems in today’s society and most likely will not be fixed or remedied in the near upcoming future. And with the issues still thriving in modern times so are the Reverend J. Falwell’s who find the Bible as the answers of how to rid the United States of the so called sins.
The cause of the sins being the lack of leadership in America in way that the people of the United States are not voting in and out the right people, though it is hard to know exactly who that person or persons are until after the fact when they are put to the test American’s in Reverend J. Falwell’s view the people must know though it is impossible to know. Besides the acknowledgement that there are many sins in America seen by the Protestant Christian belief, he speaks of five major topics that are still all very prevalent in modern times as issues or sins though it is hard to hard link them to being caused by a lack of good government.
The five major sins of America in his belief are abortion, homosexuality, pornography, humanism, and the fractured family. After confronting that these issues are issues he concludes that if everyone would just read the Bible and be a Christian than all of the problems would cease to exist. In today’s society many have tried to remedy the issue how he says it will be cured and it has not had a great outcome. Which leaves the United States with those five major issues that are still such huge problems that have yet to be solved as well as with the rest of its issues that are in need of resolving.
The Patriot Act is the third of the three events that have been chosen out of the many that lie under the designed category. The Patriot Act was signed in 2001 and renewed later in 2001. This act is still in place today despite the seemingly high demand to be rid of it by many American citizens. In the act “the overly broad definition of “terrorism”—A definition that could easily be used against many forms of civil disobedience, including legitimate and peaceful protest,” is used and does not prove comforting to those who wish to have security but still value their privacy (Hoffman 506).
Terrorist being what the act is supposed to be used to help secure the people against leaves the need to define what exactly is qualified as a terrorist. Which has been defined in a vague manner that many that most wouldn’t see as a terrorist as being one. The act is also in place to give the government unlimited access to putting immigrants into jail. Likewise the Patriot Act has “expanded wiretap authority,” of the government to use to help find the terrorists though it has been found that it is not only limited to that (506).
Sneak and peak searches are also permitted by the Patriot Act to be admitted by the government. A summary of what exactly a sneak and peak search entails is that, “law enforcement officials could enter [a resident of America’s] home, office or other private place and conduct a search, take photographs and download [their] computer files without notifying [them] until after the fact,” (Hoffman 506).
The Patriot Act is more for the people of the United States that value security over privacy. But for the people of the United States who would prefer that they have privacy over being safe and secure, the act is seen as an infringement on their rights as a United States Citizen. All of these events in history, the Civil Rights Revolution that can be argued that it is still occurring, the back to the basics call out given by Reverend J.
Falwell and many after him, and the Patriot Act that is still in effect to this day, were prevalent at the time they occurred and are still seen in today’s society. They may all still be in the society and the culture of the United States well until today’s generations end and beyond unless the United States attains equal rights for all, solve the five major issues or sins of the United States, and find a way to give all people of the United States security against domestic and foreign terrorism.
That may be setting the bar a little high in what should or would like to have achieved in such a short time but like the civil rights activist who want equality across the globe, solving these problems in the United States is on someone’s to do list and will inevitable get crossed off that list as a completed assignment.