Band Aid approach

In spite of the opportunities, in spite of the greatness of this land, we do have problems and they are not going away easily because of our band aid approach. We have crime. So, we add more police force, build more prisons. The number of super expensive defense lawyers goes on increasing. Those who can afford one, go free. The petty criminals go to jail. Equal justice for all - huh! There is traffic jam in the city. So, you widen the highways so that more cars can pack the super highways creating more pollution. Do we ever think of the root cause of these problems? Do more police forces, more prisons, more lawyers not mean that we are heading in the wrong direction? Should a civilized society not work towards needing less police force, less prison, less lawsuits, less concrete pavement? Some fanatics fly airplanes into the twin tower. So, we take revenge by destroying that whole country and killing innocent civilians. Do we ever think of what drives someone to commit suicide by blowing him or herself up? We say our schools are failing; drop out rate, juvenile crime, school shooting, drug use is all up among kids. So, we issue bonds to build more fancy school buildings with more security police, bigger stadium. High school football takes precedence over three "R"s. Who wants to be a nerd? Does any one think about putting the resources for root cause analysis and finding a permanent solution to the problems?

Perhaps this is a global phenomenon. No one anymore wants to diagnose the disease; just reduce the fever and have a false sense of cure.