What are the Greatest Challenges Facing America?

What is America’s biggest challenge in 2024? 

Last week I posted a video arguing that America is the best country in the world. I used polling data and immigration statistics to defend my argument. Not surprisingly, I have received a lot of blowback—from people in other countries and from people who live here but are mad at America.

This week I want to take a look at what’s wrong with America. What are its greatest problems and challenges? I offer five.

The first problem that plagues America is the decline of the family. Reading and understanding divorce rates can be a challenge but everyone agrees that the rate of marriage failure has risen dramatically in the past three generations. As a result, a vastly higher number of children are being raised in single parent homes. 40% of America’s children live in a single parent home. That number was under 10% in 1950. Every commentator agrees that this is a catastrophe. Every social pathology goes up when children don’t have two parents—decline in educational achievement, crime and other anti-social behaviors, poverty, increased use of recreational drugs, and a host of other behavioral and social problems. There are some great and successful single parents—see Ben Carson for example—but the stats are against them.

Second, the birth dirth. Quite simply Americans are not having enough children to replace our population. This is not a uniquely American problem. It is world-wide. By now you have heard that a woman needs to bear, on average, 2.1 children to replace her and her husband if population is to remain stable. Only one country in the developed world is at or above that rate—Israel. The latest numbers put the U.S. rate at 1.6. There are dozens of countries that are lower. In other words, without immigration our country would begin losing population. And even with immigration our population is aging. Our entitlements like Social Security cannot survive for long without a change in population patterns. It is interesting to read the many reasons given by pundits for the decline in the birth rate and it is equally interesting to read their remedies. But nothing seems to be working. Lots of nations offer bonuses to women if they will have children but it does not seem to help. In my opinion, only religious revival will change this pattern. For example, Christians have far more children than atheists.

Speaking of atheists, a third major problem facing America is the large number of nones; that is, people who tell pollsters when asked about their religion reply, “none.” One of the great questions of our age is can Western, Christian, culture survive without Christians who believe and practice their faith? We don’t know yet but my guess is the answer is “No.” The absence of religious belief leads to a host of other problems—family decline, amoral behavior, and susceptibility to Leftist propaganda.

Fourth, a major problem facing America is the mindless faith in the climate cult. Many Greens make apocalyptic predictions—extreme weather events, species extinction, an unlivable planet. It leads to numerous social pathologies. Anxiety—the younger generation is terrified of the future.  Poor allocation of resources—trillions have been spent on renewable energy projects without making a dent in carbon emissions. Many young people claim that because of a terrifying climate future they have decided not to have children, a dreadful decision that many will come to regret. And investment in renewables harms the electric grid, threatening many places with destructive blackouts. All of this is based on absurd claims of climate destruction that will occur many decades from now. But like all the other apocalyptic predictions—overpopulation, global cooling, depletion of the ozone layer, etc., none of this will come to pass. 

Fifth, and worst, the capitulation of our cultural elite to Marxian, Progressive, Left-wing paganism.  The Marxist Left has taken over many major American institutions. Higher education in the social sciences and humanities is completely under their control. Even the STEMs are threatened.  They are at war with the family—see gay marriage and transgender rights, and more broadly, a feminism that is at war with the traditional family. They have replaced faith in God with belief in government. Upon losing the last election they became hysterical in their ravings. Why? Because it was not just a political loss. It was a loss for their religion. It undermined their theology. The Marxist Left also controls our government bureaucracies, secondary education, most of our big tech platforms, and our entertainment complex. Name a Hollywood studio committed to crafting entertainment that reflects the Christian perspective. The Progressives hate Western culture, hate America, and are conducting a full-scale assault on our culture and all its blessings. Blessing they enjoy. In my view, they are America’s biggest problem.

In other videos I will elaborate on the above but this is a general list of five major problems facing our country. There are others—the immigration crisis, drug addiction, crime, our gigantic and growing national debt. Lots of viewers last week argued that America’s healthcare system is inferior to other developed nations but that is a controversy with both sides weighing in. I can’t resolve it other than to say that the nations of Western culture enjoy the best healthcare in the history of the world. 

America has problems and challenges but do not despair. I think the problems will be defeated by the positives I mentioned in my last video. Most importantly, the God of the universe is in charge and He will govern the future of America and direct it toward His ends. That alone, should fill us with hope and confidence.