GRE Issue Topic 80

Sample 1:

A nation's general welfare depends on the welfare of its individual citizens. When every citizen can free himself from dependency on government assistance and make his own contributions to the economy, the entire population can benefit. The tax contributions of others can be abated leaving them with more discretionary income to purchase goods and services, funds to educate their children, and provide preventive health care for all family members. The providers of goods and services will react to increases in business by hiring more workers and ordering more inventory or raw materials. The trend is obvious; the general well–being of a society improves when all of its members are given the opportunity to advance.

Immigrants to the United States still believe its streets are paved in gold and that opportunities abound for anyone who is willing to work hard. However, many Americans fall into the demographic known as the working poor. According to research from earlier this year, America's total personal wealth is about $54 trillion. One percent of the population controls forty percent of that total. Eighty percent of the population controls a puny seven percent of the wealth. A significant portion of US citizens live below the poverty line which is set at an income ranging from $11,000–$12,000 per year for a single person, less than someone working full time for the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour. Those living at or near the poverty line must apply for Medicaid in their states of residence, a program supported by tax dollars. Those same individuals likely need food stamps, and they probably qualify for federally supplemented rental properties.

In her book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich writes about the working poor in America after experiencing first–hand the lives they lead. She left the comfort of her home in Florida to take on menial jobs in three locations around the country. She rented places to live based on the wages she would earn at each job with a goal of saving enough money to pay the next month’s rent. In most cases, she had to work a second job just to make ends meet. She came to admire the hardworking people – mostly women– that she worked with and recorded their stories along with her own in her book. She came to the conclusion that the workers who do the jobs that make life easier for everyone else were undervalued. These people didn’t have paid sick days or health insurance, so they went to work even when they were sick or injured. Losing a day’s pay spelled financial disaster for them. When citizens of a society cannot afford adequate health care or earn wages that do not allow them to scrape out more than a meager living, they cannot contribute to the overall success of a society.

Today, the citizens of our country are engaged in a great debate about health care. President Obama has led the crusade for providing affordable health insurance for everyone in the United States. His opponents believe that the Affordable Health Care Act will be too costly, that businesses will suffer from being compelled to offer coverage to their employees, and that jobs will be lost. Republicans, for the most part, want to de–fund Obamacare, and to that end, Senator Cruz delivered the fourth–longest filibuster in the history of the country in an effort to convince his fellow senators to vote against funding the program. The deadlock in Washington threatens to shut down government. On the surface, it appears that the Republicans believe that the overall success of society does not depend on the well–being of its individual citizens, while the Democrats and the President believe that the well–being of every individual in the country will ensure overall success for America.

When a country must supplement the basic lifestyles of a significant number of its citizens, that country cannot be considered to be thriving. When the general welfare of its citizens depends on raising taxes on middle–and high–income earners and postponing improvements to its infrastructure or military or educational institutions, the country begins to lose the ability to transport people and goods efficiently, to protect its citizens from enemies both foreign and domestic, and to provide skilled workers for essential occupations. Those whose general welfare is below par are a drain on society, and only by elevating them can the country achieve overall success.

Sample 2:

Why have there been numerous wars in our history? More often than not, the reason is the unequal status of two societies. The society which was developing faster was the one that attacked the society that was underdeveloped in a bid to annex its territory. Needless to say, the strong societies grew stronger and ultimately they were the ones which survived and the weaker societies gradually became extinct. Man’s history is testimony to the fact that societies have flourished and survived only when its people flourished. How do people flourish? They need to be happy and satisfied with their lives if they want to flourish. Whenever there has been a widespread revolt in a society, it has always been due to dissatisfaction prevalent among a particular section of the society. It is not possible for a society to move ahead on the path to progress in the modern world if it is plagued by internal problems. The solution to all problems plaguing a society lies in the well being of its citizens in addition to attaching an equal amount of importance to the overall success of the society.

Is it possible for any society to thrive if it imposes restrictions on its citizens forcing them to be dissatisfied with their environment? This dissatisfaction can lead to mass boycott of the rules and regulations of the society, thereby making it difficult for the society to thrive. There have been numerous examples of big countries which were split into smaller countries or states because there were sections within the society which were dissatisfied as they felt that they were a minority and they could not associate themselves with the society as a whole. Thus, a large society was divided into several small societies and this signaled the end of the erstwhile large society. The reason for this can be attributed to the fact that the interests of the citizens were probably not looked into and the society kept its overall interest in mind rather than catering for the well being of all its citizens.

On the contrary, there may be certain cases wherein the individual interests of the citizens have to be kept aside in the larger interest of the society. However, this cannot be taken as a thumb rule as this plan of action generally backfires and the leaders of the society have to go all out in order to pacify the individuals or groups who are dissatisfied. For example, it is a well known fact that smoking is injurious to health, but still there are a number of individuals in every society who are chain smokers. A society may have to take the decision to ban the sale of cigarettes in order to restrict the exposure of teenagers to smoking. There will be widespread opposition to this action of the society from the group of smokers; nevertheless this action will be beneficial in helping the society to thrive.

Therefore, the decision to ignore the interests of individual citizens in the interest of the society may be a harsh one, but it may ultimately lead to the progress of the society into the future. One cannot refute the fact that the success of a society is largely determined by the well being of its citizens. Hence, in order to succeed, a society should be willing to give due consideration to the interests of its citizens as well as be firm when it comes to choosing the overall success of the society over the interests of its citizens.