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The tumultuous political landscape, record-breaking temperatures, and devastating mass shootings made it a turbulent year for the nation, leading to what feels like a growing pessimistic outlook for America in years to come. As the year draws to a close, a little over a third of the nation will resolve to improve certain facets of their lives in hopes of starting fresh. But perhaps the same practice should be applied to our nation. Here are the top four New Year’s resolutions the United States could consider committing to for 2024, with some honorable mentions:
1). Elect a leader who can galvanize the country. Appointing a stable leader to support and represent the people of the nation is critical. As of right now, it looks like I’ll have to choose between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election. Having that be my first experience voting is something I’m starting to dread. The election of either candidate into office will only further divide the nation, especially when, over the last few decades, the United States has only started to become more polarized. We need a leader who can galvanize and stabilize the nation. Someone who can win by a landslide and resonate with the majority of the people and restore the hope that so many have started to lose in the nation.
2). Tackle gun violence. Shootings have made headlines over and over in 2023. According to the Gun Violence Archive, as of Dec. 26, more than 42,000 people have died due to gun-related events this year, with 650 mass shootings taking place in 2023 — second only to the record-breaking 690 mass shootings in 2021. Addressing gun violence is important. More than 1,600 children and teenagers under 17 years old died due to gun violence this year. Surely, our nation can resolve to protect its youth. To put things in perspective, owning a gun is easier than being a legal driver in the United States. Imposing strict restrictions on purchasing firearms, and passing laws that actually reduce gun violence can save tens of thousands of lives each year.
3). Make health care free. Improving access to health care comes with first acknowledging the fact that the current system is inherently unequal: People from lower-income backgrounds are more likely to fall sick, and stay sick for prolonged durations of time as they may not have access to the necessary medical technology needed. Free health care can increase access to primary care, enabling more people to visit their doctors for preventive care, which can save lives by detecting health conditions early. When people of lower and middle class backgrounds stop going to doctors for health concerns, they lose access to preventive care, and end up using the emergency room as their primary care physician, increasing costs and risking more lives.
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Being able to afford health care shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be a basic standard of living for every individual.
4). Address environmental issues. To address the growing climate crisis, acknowledging its existence is important. Contrary to what some think, climate change is not a hoax. It’s a real issue with devastating impacts we are living through today. 2023 has shattered climate records across the globe, according to the United Nations. On a national level, July brought residents of Phoenix, Arizona, a 31-day heat wave with temperatures exceeding 43.3 degrees Celsius for over a month, and in Florida, the water reached 38 degrees Celsius. The United States is the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide, an important and prevalent greenhouse gas, making air pollution one of the largest issues in the nation. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for industry (23%), electricity (25%) and transportation (28%) as of 2021, which has only risen this year.
The government should consider expanding the country’s public transportation system to limit the number of cars on the road and curb the large carbon dioxide emissions, promote and invest in ways to make green energy accessible, and work to protect and restore key ecosystems.
Honorable mentions: curb growing drug addiction, protect human rights and grant women reproductive freedom. These are some of the several issues that will be tearing us apart, and what we all can consider adding to our new year’s resolutions for 2024.
Aakanksha Sinha is a senior at Aragon High School in San Mateo. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.
Aakanksha, thanks for your letter. A few simple questions…
1) Do you really think any other candidate outside of Trump will automatically cause a cease fire from rabid Democrats?
2) How do imposing strict restrictions on purchasing firearms and passing laws against law-abiding citizens help your cause when criminals, by definition, don’t care about your restrictions?
3) Who is going to pay for this free health care? Perhaps once you join the workforce, you’ll realize that money doesn’t grow on trees and learn somebody needs to foot the bill.
4) Climate change is not a hoax. After all it’s raining today when many other days it doesn’t rain. Man-made climate change is a hoax. As for carbon dioxide emitters, perhaps you can answer why the recent attendees at the COP conference get a pass. The one where folks took over 400+ private planes to the event, creating more carbon emissions than many of us will ever emit in our lifetimes.
I can only hope the limited world view you’ve been exposed to will dissipate when you leave the Bay Area bubble and take the time to learn the facts, as well as understanding the hypocrisy in the four resolutions you’ve described. Good luck.
Terrence, I have to disagree with one point, healthcare is free or basically free ($72 a month for a family of four) for those on the lower rungs of the ladder. Now it's not free for me and my family, but it's higher then it should be because the $2,300 a month cost covers those poor disadvantaged people who never seem to get ahead.
And Aakanksha, AOC in January 2019 gave us 12 years to save the world, what have you personally done to help save the planet? Have you emailed Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hollywood actors and the 70,000 who attended the UN Climate Summit and asked them to use Zoom for their meetings rather than flying their private jets?
And since you put yourself on the firing line, please reply to Terrence and myself, it's the right thing to do.
Westy, are you sure you want to use the excuse given by folks who cannot support their stances? You know, like folks pushing lower carbon emissions while completely giving a pass to COP conference attendees who took hundreds of private planes to the conference, emitting potentially more carbon emissions than many of us will ever emit in our lifetimes. Or the folks pushing for all electrical while conveniently forgetting that more than half their electricity, at all times, comes from natural gas power plants. Or the folks who conveniently ghost others because they’re unable to provide a cogent response. You’re welcome to respond to Not So Common and me… if you can support your stances.
Aakanksha - Thanks for giving us all some food for thought and discussion. My mother was around your age when she first started writing about the state of the world. I recently found her poetry from around that age and am amazed at how much wisdom she had at such a young age. One of her most powerful poems was written just after the end of WWII. While my mother and I had plenty of things we didn't agree on over the years, just about everything she said in that poem aligns completely with how I see the world today. I hope you'll keep writing and hope that you, like I, find a way to get to know the people running for offices both local and national, make your voice heard, and maybe some day even get into the race yourself! Your courage to put your thoughts out there inspires me. Thank you!!!
So very well put, Aakanksha, and so right on the money! And you are obviously bright enough to just ignore those who have no understanding of the problems you are writing about, and not a clue to the solutions! You have the educated, caring majority solidly behind you, including my Aragon-educated children! Happy New Year!
Jorg That’s why the SMDJ poll shows 51% of buyers will NOT buy an electric vehicle when they purchase their next vehicle. Just so you know 51% is a majority, so your “solid majority” comment is just another one of 100’s of your ignorant make-believe, hope-filled comments.
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(7) comments
Aakanksha, thanks for your letter. A few simple questions…
1) Do you really think any other candidate outside of Trump will automatically cause a cease fire from rabid Democrats?
2) How do imposing strict restrictions on purchasing firearms and passing laws against law-abiding citizens help your cause when criminals, by definition, don’t care about your restrictions?
3) Who is going to pay for this free health care? Perhaps once you join the workforce, you’ll realize that money doesn’t grow on trees and learn somebody needs to foot the bill.
4) Climate change is not a hoax. After all it’s raining today when many other days it doesn’t rain. Man-made climate change is a hoax. As for carbon dioxide emitters, perhaps you can answer why the recent attendees at the COP conference get a pass. The one where folks took over 400+ private planes to the event, creating more carbon emissions than many of us will ever emit in our lifetimes.
I can only hope the limited world view you’ve been exposed to will dissipate when you leave the Bay Area bubble and take the time to learn the facts, as well as understanding the hypocrisy in the four resolutions you’ve described. Good luck.
Terrence, I have to disagree with one point, healthcare is free or basically free ($72 a month for a family of four) for those on the lower rungs of the ladder. Now it's not free for me and my family, but it's higher then it should be because the $2,300 a month cost covers those poor disadvantaged people who never seem to get ahead.
And Aakanksha, AOC in January 2019 gave us 12 years to save the world, what have you personally done to help save the planet? Have you emailed Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hollywood actors and the 70,000 who attended the UN Climate Summit and asked them to use Zoom for their meetings rather than flying their private jets?
And since you put yourself on the firing line, please reply to Terrence and myself, it's the right thing to do.
I can assure you, she has more productive uses for her time than to reply to you.
Westy, are you sure you want to use the excuse given by folks who cannot support their stances? You know, like folks pushing lower carbon emissions while completely giving a pass to COP conference attendees who took hundreds of private planes to the conference, emitting potentially more carbon emissions than many of us will ever emit in our lifetimes. Or the folks pushing for all electrical while conveniently forgetting that more than half their electricity, at all times, comes from natural gas power plants. Or the folks who conveniently ghost others because they’re unable to provide a cogent response. You’re welcome to respond to Not So Common and me… if you can support your stances.
Aakanksha - Thanks for giving us all some food for thought and discussion. My mother was around your age when she first started writing about the state of the world. I recently found her poetry from around that age and am amazed at how much wisdom she had at such a young age. One of her most powerful poems was written just after the end of WWII. While my mother and I had plenty of things we didn't agree on over the years, just about everything she said in that poem aligns completely with how I see the world today. I hope you'll keep writing and hope that you, like I, find a way to get to know the people running for offices both local and national, make your voice heard, and maybe some day even get into the race yourself! Your courage to put your thoughts out there inspires me. Thank you!!!
So very well put, Aakanksha, and so right on the money! And you are obviously bright enough to just ignore those who have no understanding of the problems you are writing about, and not a clue to the solutions! You have the educated, caring majority solidly behind you, including my Aragon-educated children! Happy New Year!
Jorg That’s why the SMDJ poll shows 51% of buyers will NOT buy an electric vehicle when they purchase their next vehicle. Just so you know 51% is a majority, so your “solid majority” comment is just another one of 100’s of your ignorant make-believe, hope-filled comments.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.