Challenges and issues that the United States faces

1.  In recent lessons, you have been reading about some of the challenges and issues that the United States faces in both foreign and domestic affairs. The following chapter highlights from Chapters 39–41 underscore some of these challenges:

The high-tech boom began in the Silicon Valley in California, but the information economy soon shifted to a global phenomenon as U.S. companies began outsourcing production and services to other countries in order to reduce costs.

Demographic trends brought increases in the numbers of immigrants, changes in their national origins, more frequent illegal immigration, and a graying of America as the general population aged.

The North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) intended to stimulate trade with Mexico and Canada also stimulated debate and controversy as some Americans lost jobs.

President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, initiated an unsuccessful examination of health care and how it could be provided more equitably and efficiently.

Vice President Al Gore took the lead in addressing environmental issues and global warming, but as of 2011, the United States has not ratified the Kyoto Protocol that a world meeting had intended to limit greenhouse emissions

Cultural issues related to abortion, gun control, and gays in the military played out during the Clinton years with conflicts between liberals and conservatives, who brought differing perspectives to these issues.

Osama bin Laden helped found al-Qaeda, whose goals included driving Americans out of all Islamic nations, destroying Israel, and toppling pro-Western governments in the Middle East.

In response to the 9/11 attacks, U.S.-led troops invaded Afghanistan with the goals of toppling the Taliban regime and finding bin Laden.

Review the Looking to the Future and Charting Future Courses activity sheets from the Divisions and New Realities lessons.

Of all the challenges and issues that the United States faces, which do you believe is the most serious in terms of foreign affairs and which in terms of domestic affairs? Choose one of each and write an essay that describes each issue and explains why you believe it is the most serious.

There is no right or wrong answer—you will be graded, in part, on how well you make the argument that each issue you chose is the most serious. Refer to the rubric and scoring instructions on the next page to see how your teacher will grade this assignment.