Entry # 1 "A Fire in the Basement"

Bob Herbert titles his essay "A Fire in the Basement" - it is a metaphor, because the problem he speaks about lies at the very building of this country - the basement. This is the point that Bob Herbert is trying to argue. "At some point in the post-war run, we took a wrong turn," according to him. America became the strongest and greatest country in the world. Now the whole building is starting to burn from the bottom "and we're behaving as if we cannot even smell the smoke". This fire is fueled by all of these problems in America and Herbert expresses that the flames are growing and this fire is "beneath the surface". These are important points and should not simply be "swept under the rug" as if the problems do not exist. Herbert wants people of America to care about the pitfalls of the nation if we would like our future to be prosperous, as it was before in America's history.
Herbert provides many examples of people suffering, in trouble or being treated unfairly. His view of the United States is that there are "too much corruption, abuse of power and waste of money". I strongly agree with this viewpoint. I think we need really honest people to run this country. Unfortunately, it was allowed the rich to become richer and the poor to become worse.
Herbert speaks about many aspects of American culture including race, class and political situation. He protests against the abuse of power and social injustices and reflects how the lower class majority simply does not care enough how to fight this situation. Herbert focuses in his essay on America's downfalls since WWII. He speaks that America needs to take a step back instead of seeking countries struggling: "the war in Iraq, immorally launched and incompetently waged, will not be characterized by history as the noble campaign of powerful nation striding toward greatness. It will be seen as the tragically foolish act of a nation unwilling to learn the lessons of Vietnam". Americans need to fix their own troubles within the country before they can attempt to fix other nations.
And I fully agree and support Bob Herbert's point of view on these very actual matters.