What are injustices in the United States?

The trillion dollar stimulation package.

An abandoning of the constitutional protections.

“Hate crime” legislation.

Wealth distribution by the state.

The growing disparity between the rich and everyone else. Corporate CEOs making billions while working class people lose their jobs.

Those who take issue with the levels of CEO pay are simply jealous. If they say otherwise they are deluding themselves.

That the line between Church and State is becoming blurred.

The Fed forcing the US’s citizens to bail out American auto companies while giving toyota an unparalled verbal thrashing.

If i had wanted to pay for a Chevy I would have bought one.

Putting a 19 year old in prison and listing him as a sex offender for life because he had consensual sex with his 16 year old girlfriend 2 weeks before her 17th birthday.
In NY, age of consent is 17. Their mutual act is considered Rape 3rd. What a sad waste.

How so-called double-blind studies for prescription medications are funded and pushed through legislation

We blindly accept that the only rights we have are the ones the Government grant to us.

We are not entitled to life, health, or oxygen : A person who smokes for 30 years, giving themselves emphysema can find affordable health insurance, but someone born with asthma cannot.

I second @worriedguy‘s issue.

Religious organizations are exempt from paying taxes. Why are nonreligious Americans forced to subsidize the very organisations that support the restriction of human rights and the destruction of our public education system?

I am enlightened every time I log on, I hope that everyone does not mind that I kind of just sit in the bleachers and observe for awhile. Thank you for sharing ;-)

Health care. Is there anyone who doesn’t think the system is broken now? (Except for guys like Cleve Killingsworth, chairman and chief executive of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, who received 3.5 million and 4.8 for 2008 and 2009. He can’t reply. We know he thinks everything is fine.) Remember there are CEOs for every state and some states like NY get multiples. Also there are the VPs, the Asst VPs, the CFOs, their cousins… Heck, even fired execs like Mike Unhjem, N Dakota, collect $2.2 million. How many billions per year is that? And not one nickel of it goes to actual health care.
We’ve tried this system for so many years and look how it morphed into a get rich scheme for a few very powerful individuals. Isn’t it time to at least look at something different?

Meanwhile millions go without healthcare because they can’t affortd it.
You can do a search and check out the top dog’s salary in your own state. Unless he’s a relative of yours, the numbers will make you sick.

(You can find your own sources. They are all public and readily available. Just google your state and BCBS CEO salary”.) That looks like a pretty big injustice to me.

Lufrano’s package included $808,635 in salary, $2.35 million in bonuses and $1.56 million in other compensation, the Washington, D.C.-based health care publishing and information company said.

The CEO was not made available for comment, but Randy Kammer, vice president of regulatory affairs and public policy at Blue Cross Florida, defended the compensation as “fair and equitable” in a “complex market.”

Of course it’s fair to pay one dude almost $5 million when he’s in the middle of firing thousands of other people. Sure.

That race hustlers like Sharpton and Jackson are allowed to ply their exploitative trade.

@Seek_Kolinahr you have a good point. Too much credit is given to those already in CEO positions and not enough is given to us pawns.

America’s being a victim of it’s own success causing some people to develop a sense of entitlement making them believe they deserve CEO pay after two weeks in an entry level position.

That any two adults can be parties in a legal contract, except when it comes to legal marriage, then they must be one man and one woman in most states. Why does the government get to choose the gender requirements for a legal contract?

Recently there was a new bill signed that is trying to even out drug sentencing in the courts. Previously, crack cocaine had much higher minimum mandatory sentences compared to cocaine, which wound up displaying itself as blacks being jailed up way more often and for longer stays than whites. There are also laws that have convicted many women for being accessories to drug deals, and getting years in jail, when their boyfriends who were doing the actual drug dealing made deals with the DA to get a reduced sentence because they traded information to get people higher up in the drug organization. The women sometimes were not even a party to the drug deals, they only had answered the phone where they lived, not knowing they were answering th ephone call of drug buyers, and taking a message for their drug dealing boyfriends to have him call back, the women had no info to trade with cops, because they were not in on the drug dealing. I know Pres. Clinton commuted at least one of these sentences. I think the sentences for these women are highly unfair.

That a child born in MS has different opportunties for public education than a child born in NY.

The life of the working poor. Working hard, full time, doing everything right, and one medical problem or job loss can mean they are on the streets again. I think everyone should be able to make a decent wage for doing a good job.

The massive and growing prison population. 25% of the worlds prisoners are in the US. That’s not something to be proud of.

I think our prison system is probably the greatest injustice today. I’m not sure I’d call it racist, but blacks are certainly disproportionately represented—one in ten black males in America is incarcerated. If a defendant has lots of money, he or she is much more likely to avoid prison, so our prisons disproportionately affect the poor (many of whom are black).

The prisons themselves are extremely corrupt and do little to rehabilitate prisoners. The conditions inside our prisons are essentially human rights abuses—rape is accepted as a normal, accepted condition. We certainly don’t accept these kind of conditions in, for example, Iranian prisons. It’s especially appalling because, for a huge chunk of America’s population, prison is essentially where they live for most of their lives.

Historically, America has committed many injustices. Slavery is the obvious one, but something I don’t think is talked about enough is the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny, morally speaking, was indistinguishable from Nazism. It’s the civilized white race’s “destiny” to conquer the continent, because of its superiority. First we relocated the native Americans, then we committed genocide at them. Our government paid lots of money in exchange for native American scalps. (I say “we” despite my ancestors not being in the country yet). I think the fact that Manifest Destiny is so often glossed over in modern history books, and our past so often whitewashed and idealized, is itself an injustice.

I also think the idea that the wealthy people @MeinTeil is cheering want to pay no taxes while disproportionately enjoying public benefits (such as police protection from theft, public infrastructure such as roads to transport their goods and airwaves to advertise, the legal system) is an injustice.

People’s wealth does not exist in a vacuum. Rich people depend on the government more than poor people do.

injustices in the United States….. let’s see:

An unchecked Capitolistic market.

Capital Punishment…. ie… death penalty

Institutionalised racism…. DON’T even pretend it doesn’t still exist…

Greed over value of human life…..

Then there is the involvement of state offices in foreign affairs like what happened in several countries in South America in the 60s 70s and 80s…. and probably continues on….

And what they turn a blind eye to… in regions of Africa….. Asia….

@MeinTeil, fyi, part of the reason Steve Jobs company is able to sell you your computer for the price is because it relies on Foxconn to manufacture its, a Taiwanese company that exploits its extremely poor Chinese labor force, forcing them to work 12-hour shifts in factories every day, and driving some of them to suicide.

Your ideal of unregulated industry existed in America. It was the time of corrupt monopolies and child labor in factories. Fortunately, America has more regulation and protection in its labor laws, but other countries do not have such protections, and many American corporations are able to “compete” because they exploit these conditions and treat foreign workers like slaves.

Perhaps you are morally okay with this—after all, impoverished Chinese factory workers should pull themselves up by their own boot straps and become multimillionaires like Steve Jobs. The problem is that they actually can’t go through with this conservative fairy tale, because it’s a fairy tale. What they can do is go on strike, or appeal to their government to offer them protections and regulations against abusive and exploitative corporate practices. The problem is that people like you seem to believe this goes against the laws of God or Nature or something. Your righteous indignation about this subject is pretty bizarre, frankly.

@MeinTeil, no they don’t. Some infrastructure is owned by public utility companies. Key word: public.

Not owned i said, manufactured.

What on earth is your point?

My point is that corporations and governments depend on one another.

Also, corporations don’t manufacture highways or public airwaves… but I’ll let that slide.

About Foxconn and the people that reported their practices:

“This behemoth company employs a small army of employees, over 300,000 in its Shenzhen factory alone. The problem is that there have been 11 suicide attempts in a span of just over five months, of those attempts only two survived. The allegations of the management’s military style conduct and inhumane treatment of employees was brought to light by two reporters from the China Business News earlier this year. Since then, they have been sued by Foxconn for Disambiguation and Defamation, and won the court’s decision. The journalists had their assets frozen and a whole slew of drama took place since their story was published. It wasn’t until the intervention of Reporters without Borders’s persistence, to urge Steve Jobs (CEO of Apple) to take action that reduced the $3.77 million dollar sentence against the journalists to just a symbolic 12 cents. Since then all reporters in China are very cautious on the reporting’s of this company, rightfully so. I guess it pays to have judges in your pocket.”

Holy crap, is this accurate?

That you are at the mercy of the rich and powerful, when it should be the other way around.
In a democratic country, the sovereign is supposed to be the people. But in the US, the sovereign is a small economic and political elite. It is democratic in name only.

In the USA, our country fighting war after war, and we cannot pay the bills!

I like @BoBo1946 suggestion. I saw Alan Greenspan on Meet The Press yesterday and he said we need to let the tax cuts expire, even if it might hurt growth a little, because borrowing money to pay for a war and other spending is unnacceptable and eventualy disasterous.

Disregard of the 10th ammendment

@josie Interesting. I feel like the states ignore the consitution all too often, and try to undue/ignore supreme court decisions.

The one that comes first to mind are laws written with punishment of a fine OR jail time—court’s discretion. I find these inherently unfair toward the poor. For some it’s no big deal to pay a $10,000 fine and keep on trotting. Others who have no resources will do the time. I think the punishment should be the same regardless of financial resources—in other words jail.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/death-penalty-facts/death-penalty-and-race/page.do?id=1101091
Death penalty… which is meted out quite differently depending upon what your race is.

With all the problems and injustices listed above. We are much better off than living in China.

A society full of pussies.

@JLeslie The Constitution was not written for the States. It says what the Federal Government may do, and in the case of the Bill of Rights what it may not do.

@josie But, wouldn’t you agree that our states have to follow the constitution as well? That a state cannot create and enforce a law that does not agree with the constitution?

@JLeslie The tenth ammendment says specifically that the powers NOT enumerated in the articles… What the heck, I will quote it to you: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Thus the States can do pretty much what they want as long is those powers are not already delegated to the federal government (BTW, that is the basis for the fed suit against the state of Arizona).
People can hate it and protest against it and even ignore it which all three branches of the federal government routinely do. But that is what the ammendment says. I know better than to believe that after nearly a century of pretending that it is not there, people are going to have a lightbulb appear over their head. Fair enough. But that is what it says. And it is not ambiguous.

@josie But I thought that immigration and protection of our borders is delegated to the federal government?

@JLeslie Please re reread my last answer regarding AZ.

@josie I’ll reread it, and I will read up on the amendment. One comment from me regarding the AZ law. I don’t like the law because I think people in the local community should feel safe to report a crime, or be a witness to a crime without concern for be deported. If people become nervous to talk to the polics when they are someone else is in danger, it reduces the safety in the neighborhoods as a whole. Just my two cents. I don’t get the feeling the local police down there is going to be arresting people who serve a purpose, even if they are suspected to be illgal aliens, I think they will continue to turn a blind eye to those people, and the new law can help them get rid of the trouble makers. But, the media, and gossip might create fear in the community to cooperate with the police in any way.

“I think people in the local community should feel safe to report a crime, or be a witness to a crime without concern for be deported.”

I will remember that next time I am robbing a bank. And, the pizzeria next store is being robbed. I should not fear having my whereabouts explained, because I reported a crime. :-)

@JLeslie The reason that the Federals are suing Arizona (other than the obvious political suck up for the Hispanic vote) is that there are elements of the State law that appear to be delegated, by Constitutional authority, to the United States (the federal government) and not to the individual states (like Arizona).
A chief framer of the Constitution, James Madison said this: “Security against foreign danger is one of the primitive [meaning basic] objects of society. Without providing for our own security, we could never hope to control our own destiny or command or own fortunes.”
The federal government will argue that the border issues are national defense issues and therefore it is the fed’s job, not the state’s.
Arizona, if they are smart, will argue that not all states have a foreign border, but those that do are entitled to be their own “front line of defense” if they need to be, and they should not have to wait for the United States to decide there is a problem (there clearly is one in Arizona). You can be sure that if an armed enemy crossed the border in Arizona, the Arizona state militia (National Guard, state police, even private citizens) would take action without waiting for the US Army.
Same principle.

@ChazMaz If youa re robbing a bank I doubt you are going to report another robbery to the police. Some aliens have been living in their communities for 20 years. They may be breaking our immigration law, but they are not all theifs or violent gang members. I agree we should tighten up our borders and enforce our immigration laws. But, I have empathy for those who have lived here for many years.

I recently saw 20/20 or one of those shows about a serial killer, well he did not always kill, he would set up a time with a call girl, and then force them to do things, tie them up, I think rob them, can’t remember the full detail, and then killed several of them. One of the girls he did not kill, she after the crime called the police. She said they treated her with respect the whole time, took her seriously, even though she had told the whole truth that it was a meeting for sex, which is illegal in that city. She wound up helping the police find and identify this guy. I think it is important we overlook some “crimes” for the more important issue at hand.

@josie I don’t see what being a border state has to do with whether a state has the ability to arrest illegal aliens legally or not? If it is found that AZ can do it, I would assume any state in the nation can do. They are talking about it up here in TN.

If California can go against Federal law (marijuana).
Then Arizona should be allowed to make similar decisions as they feel fit to benefit the people of their state.

@JLeslie Because as a border state, Arizona’s position in “National Defense” is easier to argue than a state like TN. the Feds can argue that as a border state, Arizona is in the National Defense (that is the Federal Government) sphere of influence. The Feds would have a tougher time suing TN, because their interests are clearly more “local” than National Defense.

Anyway, the Feds won’t sue TN, because TN does not have a big Hispanic voting constituency to impress.

@ChazMaz good point !

@josie I have to think about everything you said. Border control is one thing, illegal aliens working in a state is another. Obviously border states most likely have higher percentages of illegal aliens, but they are everywhere. I heard it is something like 15–20% of illegal aliens in the US have overstayed visas, but wikipedia is saying something close to 50%, which would include people living in non-border states, and certainly they are not running across the border at breaks in a fence, they are coming in through immigration. Wikipedia has an interesting breakdown by state also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States

I wonder if the government has any sort of notification system and task force to look for people when their visa’s run out?

I’m sure there is something to your comment on voting constituency, although I will tell you my Mexican sister-in-law, and many of my Ecuadorian friends fully support the AZ law.