The American Dream and Achievements in Leadership
The American Dream has become a major cornerstone of the country's growth and prosperity. The founding fathers and former presidents enacted and upheld the principle that every person has the freedom to achieve their own version of happiness. America has seen fantastic presidents, such as John F. Kennedy, who introduced many professionals into the administration. Andrew Jackson boldly took the best legislation to the public by not relying entirely on Congress. James Monroe, who avoided war at all costs while acquiring many states without resorting to force (Mailer 121). Thomas Jefferson was successful in obtaining the Louisiana territory. He cut on the army and navy expenses in order to retain enough money for other developments. Theodore Roosevelt who is also the youngest to ever take the oath of office. He fought against the exploitation of small business and workers. He is also recognized for saving most of America's natural resources. Abraham Lincoln was elected when America was facing the hardest time and during the civil war. He ensured the Ban on slavery which he believed was the most fundamental thing for America's Unity and growth (Dilbeck 178).
Donald Trump's Presidency
Leadership during these president's tenures was not a walk in the park and was punctuated with numerous issues and challenges. Similarly, Trump's governance is faced with a number of issues both negative and positive amid his vision of making America great again. Donald Trump's ascension to power stirred a controversial debate across the world and his critics due to what was cited as his support of contentious ideologies and his oomph against immigrants in the US and especially the blacks, Muslims and Mexicans. He was also the gay marriages and the Obama care. His opponents and critics also insisted on his discrimination against women. During his Campaigns, he emphasized on the provision of jobs to the American citizens and the reduction of tax to attract more companies to invest in the USA (Trump 123). This paper serves as a persuasion and illustration of Trump's vision for America and the issues facing his leadership.
Securing America's Boundaries
One of President Trump's visions was securing the American Boundaries and its citizens. He highlighted his bid to build a wall between Mexico and America. This was, however, met by funding challenges from Congress after they refused to grant the requested $1.6 billion for the wall construction in the 2018 budget. Currently, the southern border has a fence which is permeable to both pedestrian and cars. According to the latest statistics, only 17% of trespassers are caught (Trump 191). Trump argues that the secure fence act indicates the need for a double-layered fence along the American borders (Mills and Rosefielde 77). However, such a fence is much expensive but also sufficient to keep of illegal immigration and smuggling of drugs and other illegal commodities (Mills and Rosefielde 114).
Challenges and Alternatives
A good percentage of American citizens believe Trump is right. However, other than the financing the border has also elicited talks about deteriorating of the bilateral relationship with the Mexican government. It will also be physically impossible to put up one continuous fence along the border due to the topography and natural falls and rises along the border (Mills and Rosefielde 152). Several Republicans in Congress are of the idea of the construction of a virtual wall based on surveillance as opposed to a physical barrier. According to Mills and Rosefielde (120), this sounds like an innovative option but it has been going on along the borders over a long time without much success. Several governments including the previous Obama government have tested the usage of a variety of surveillance technology including sensors, cameras, and drones and are considered as expensive quiet failures. This hence vindicates Trump's idea to have a rigid and good wall erected to solve the problem once and for all.
Financing the Wall
When the secure fence act was passed, it was estimated that the installation of the double fence would cost an estimated $50 billion and done for an average of 25 years on all the required boundaries. This shows that Trump's estimates are significantly low and. Trump's presidency made a request for a $3 billion supplementary budget to commence the construction, get immigration and customs agents, institute the detention and deportation programs but was successfully blocked by the Democrats (Mills and Rosefielde 190).
The Implications of the Mexican Wall
During his campaigns, Trump made promises that on ascending to the oval office, he would make Mexico pay for the wall. This, however, seems unrealistic despite him insisting on a later date pay. One of the policies that would lead to the Mexican government pay for the wall's construction would likely be a border adjustment tax and placing a tax on the remittances sent by the Mexican people to Mexico (Mills and Rosefielde 215). The government can also raise import tariffs as well as raising travel visa and border crossing fees (Trump 216). The significance of the wall is to protect against instances of terrorism, penetration of organized criminal networks, crossing over of illegal immigrants and the smuggling of drugs and other contrabands (Trump 187). Mexico has over the years played a major role in intercepting and preventing such activities in the bid to maintain the multilateral trade relations.
Immigration Policies
Other than the Mexican wall, Trump's presidency has embraced the August 2017 Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act (Koger and Lebo 153). The act is intended to lower the levels of legal immigration by half. The act will impose restrictions on the issuance of green cards, put a restriction on the number of refugees admitted annually to 50,000 and bring to an end the visa diversity lottery. However, Economist claims that in the long run the act will lead to a fall in the gross domestic product and reduce the percentage of jobs (Koger and Lebo 171).
Economic Policies and Job Creation
Trump has also been quoted saying that he will ban all Muslim travel to the US, a statement that has given rise to a lot of controversy and critics from both the local and international opinion leaders. Trump's idea was based on the assumptions that many terrorists are linked to the Islamic religion without ignoring the already dangerous ISIS group (Koger and Lebo 215). During one of his campaigns, he suggested that he would institute a mass deportation of all illegal immigrants. He set out a plan to have a deportation force. This will, however, be met with challenges considering the fact that the immigration courts already have a backlog and the possible fiscal cost that will be incurred.
Trump has also vehemently criticized any free trade agreements that are not in favor of American citizens' Interests such as the NAFTA (Mills and Rosefielde 178). This means that any new trade negotiation might not include the reinstating the current one. In 2008 a big percentage of Americans had no faith in globalization as a solution to America. In fact, they considered it a source of job insecurity (Mailer 175). This justified Trumps plans to cut off the Multi-lateral free trade deals. Trump also assured all the former miners that their jobs would be reinstated with his vision of a return to the 19th-century economy. This includes the revitalization of the production of steel and fossil fuels.
Taxation Policies
He also has the highlighted the reduction of Tax in a bid to attract foreign investors to the US. In his campaigns and rallies, Trump lamented that most companies and industries have shifted to China due to unfavorable business climate and high taxation (Trump 219). Critics claim that this move will hurt the middle-income earners in the US as they benefit foreigners. However, Trump categorically states that it will solve the unemployment rate in the United States. The tax policy would lower the middle-class earners a total of $660 annually which only represents a one percent increase in their income annually. The same policy will lead to a 2.4 percent income increase to the top 20% income earners and 5.7 percent to the top 1% earners. However, we cannot refute the fact that there will be an increase in every earner's annual savings despite the increasing gap between the poor and the rich (Koger and Lebo 193).
Conclusion
Donald Trump's presidency has been one of America's most controversial terms. His charisma was evident during his campaign rallies and talks. He gained massive following despite critics relating him to a number of vices. On ascending to power he embarked on a rigorous execution of his campaign promises but has faced challenges and legal refrains by the Congress and the judiciary. However, his vision of making America great again is in line with the American dream and ensuring the success and superiority of America to the world. From the above essay, it would be right to persuade the judiciary and Congress to offer support and legal advice for the achievement of some Trump's policies and the rectification of the wrong ones.
Works Cited
Dilbeck, D H. A more civil war : how the Union waged a just war. North Carolina: The University of North Carolina Press, 2016. print.
Koger, Gregory and Matthew J Lebo. Strategic party government : why winning trumps ideology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2017. print.
Mailer, Norman. An American dream. New York: Random House, 2015. Print.
Mills, Daniel Quinn and Steven Rosefielde. The Trump phenomenon and the future of US foreign policy. Hackensack: London World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., 2017. print.
Trump, Donald. Crippled America : how to make America great again. New York: Intaread, 2016. Document.
