Newell-Fonda High School
Newell, Iowa
Teacher: Connie Doonan
The Ideal Society
By Kristen Culp
12th Grade
What is the ideal society? This is a question that can raise a variety of answers. Many people that live in other countries think that if they lived in America, they would be living in an ideal society. They see our freedom and prosperity and think that it must be perfect. This is far from the truth. Instead of America moving closer towards an ideal society, it has been moving farther away. Children have rebelled and stretched the morals that their parents taught them. Then, once they become parents, their children rebel and stretch even further. This trickle-down effect has caused our American society to move farther away from the ideal society to a society that is on the decline. It has lost its foundation and is headed for self-destruction. In order to have an ideal society, people need to change their moral character.
In an ideal society honesty would be a top priority. Today people are lying their way through everything. They lie about their age, weight, income, family, and jobs just to name a few. They even lie when it would be better to tell the truth. As a result, it is hard to trust anyone. Laws have been written to control dishonesty such as truth in labeling laws. Yet, our courts are full of cases where one party has lied to another. The lies continue and are destroying our society. For example, when Nixon lied during the Watergate scandal, it changed people’s view of the presidency. Today presidents are treated with less respect and dignity. The press watches the President’s every move and waits for something negative to report. People used to trust the president in running our country and now they question every decision. In a perfect society honesty would be the rule, not the exception.
In an ideal society, hard work would be valued and rewarded. The economy would thrive because everyone would be working to the best of their ability in order to achieve great things. Today many people are just sitting back and doing nothing while they expect the government to give them money. I went to the Ozarks in Arkansas this summer. Half of the people there live in shacks, as most of them are unemployed. They fabricate some reason that they can’t work then ask the government to give them money. This is where our tax dollars are going, to people that don’t even try to work and just expect a handout. In the ideal society people would realize that they get what they work for, so they would strive to do their best.
The ideal society has people who care about others more than themselves. Some people believe that when everyone in the world looks out only for himself or herself, everyone will be happy. This is a very self-centered attitude and leads to a meaningless life. All people need to have the feeling of love and acceptance and the only way to get this is through working together and helping others as they help you. If everyone in this society thought about others more than themselves then divorce, stealing, lying, and other issues would be less of a problem.
In the ideal society, people take responsibility for their actions. Everyone makes mistakes; it is human nature. Whether people take responsibility for these actions is another story. Just think of all the single parent families. What if all of those spouses had stayed to help raise the family? Wouldn’t our society be a better place? Not only do people need to take responsibility for their family, but they also need to take responsibility in their jobs. In today’s society employers have to worry about firing [employees] because they might get sued for discrimination, whether employees [were] doing their jobs or not. The family and workplace are just two of many places that people need to take responsibility.
In the ideal society, people would also have self-control [over] lust, money, eating, and gossiping just to name a few. Because people don’t control their lust, families are being torn apart, and the divorce rates are climbing. People also need to experience self-control with money. Today many people are going bankrupt or into credit card debt as they don’t discipline their spending and saving. Even the lack of self-control with a simple thing like food has caused Americans to be obese. This obesity has had dramatic affects on people’s health. Another area people have a hard time controlling is gossip. Gossip has many negative affects such as wrecking friendships and destroying reputations.
If people’s moral character would change, our society could one day be the ideal society. In order to achieve this goal people need to be more honest, work harder, care for others, take-responsibility, and use self-control. Americans need to go back to the era where they based their lives on these moral standards and stuck by them. It is unrealistic to say that our society will ever be perfect, but I think we could move closer to the ideal society. With higher standards of moral character, many of our society’s problems would disappear.
Answers To Questions Re: The Required Reading
Q1 - Number the “fault lines” in paragraph one, #1 to #7 according to your personal priorities.
1. Abortion
2. Role of government
3. Taxes
4. Health care
5. Welfare reform
6. Gun control
7. Environmentalism
Q2 – In paragraph three, what is meant by “defeat of community”?
In paragraph three “defeat of community” means that people are so worried about their own morals and customs that they argue with anyone who doesn’t believe the same things they do. They let the differences in opinion break them apart. This prevents them from forming meaningful relationships with other people.
Q3 – Do you sense “the pain of isolation” in the adults in your community?
Explain.
No, I do not see the “pain of isolation” in the adults in my community. I see adults interacting with each other all the time, especially at ball games. They are usually laughing and having a good time together. I think that this true because I live in a small community where people are more apt to interact with each other. If I lived in a big city, I don’t think I would see adults interacting with each other as much and the “pain of isolation” among them would be more noticeable.
Q4 – Discuss your feelings about the SAT in light of paragraph six.
I disagree with Gabel’s feelings about the SAT. He thinks that taking the test damages the self-esteem of the child and is not necessary. I think it is necessary because a child needs to test to realize their strengths and weaknesses to guide them in future educational and career plans. The SAT is given to older kids who should have the maturity to deal with the results. There also needs to be some way to evaluate the education received, and standardized tests are a way to do this.
Q5 – In considering a future career, what are your “prime motivations”?
One of my main motivations in finding a career is being able to find something challenging and interesting to me as an individual. I want my career to be fun and enjoyable. I also want to find a career that will make enough money for me to live comfortably.
Q6 – What do you think about a less “objectified” legal system?
I don’t think we should have a less “objectified” legal system because people would base their decisions on feelings more than the actual law. Because the law should be the same for every person, this is not a practical or fair way to handle society. It cannot be based on feelings as that could easily lead to discrimination.
Q7 – Would you describe yourself as an idealist? Why or why not?
I would describe myself as an idealist because I believe that anything is possible if I put my mind to it. I like to make sure that everything is done to perfection. I also have a lot of standards that I set for myself that I try to follow no matter what the situation is.
Q8 – Share an anecdote about a local idealist over age 40.
My Grandma Olsen is an idealist. She believes in doing things to the best of her ability and in a correct way even if it isn’t very important. A small example is just setting the table for her and my grandpa to eat. Even though it is just the two of them, she still uses placemats and separate dishes for fruit or Jell-O. It takes more time and effort but she does it anyway because she feels it the right way to serve a meal.
Q9 – How does Scruton describe the differences in political culture of Islam and the west?
Scruton describes the West as a place where the government and church are separate. People are expected to be loyal their country. In the Islamic culture, the church and government are together. The people are more loyal to their god and family than to the government.
Q10 – What does Scruton suggest are the prerequisites in Western societies for citizenship?
Scruton suggests that living within the physical boundaries of the nation is the only the requirement for citizenship.
Q11 – What is the danger to the Western social contract that Scruton identifies in the last paragraph? Do you think the Western social contract involves “patriotic self-sacrifice”? Should it do so, in your opinion? Why or why not?
Scruton identifies that if people quit viewing themselves as members of the same country and see themselves as individuals then they will not be willing to fight for their country. They won’t feel the need to serve their nation or the other citizens of it. I think that the Western social contract involves “patriotic self-sacrifice” because in order for a country to be successful it needs loyal citizens who are willing to defend it. In a nation such as ours where the government is chosen by and made up of the citizens, the government won’t survive if the people don’t participate.
Q12– Comment on the quote taken from Ayn Rand’s book, Atlas Shrugged. Do you agree with it? Why or why not? Have you read Atlas Shrugged?
I think that the author is a self-centered person that thinks he can do everything by himself. I do not agree with his philosophy of living only for himself. He doesn’t realize that everyone has their own set of strengths and weaknesses and we need each other to work together for great things to be accomplished at any level. I have not read Atlas Shrugged.