Editor’s Note: The writer is a 6th grader at Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts.

The current state of this country is not only affecting Americans but the rest of the world as well.

Donald Trump is saying all is well but I think all of us know all is not well. Trump is starting a war so he can ignore the fact that he is being impeached. As president, I will try to make our relationships with Iran, Mexico and the NATO countries a lot more peaceful and not try to start a war to ignore our country’s problems.

This country has problems like multi-billion dollar companies like Amazon not paying taxes. Like people with disabilities struggling to keep their home. Like politics ignoring the fact that our planet is dying. We need to cancel student debt and ask the higher class to pay a little more to help fund the government.

We need to make the lower class pay less so they can have enough money. Let the middle class pay their fair share. We need to raise the minimum wage significantly because if McDonald’s is making billions of dollars each year, I know they can pay their workers at least $22 per hour.

We need to have funding for retired people and extend black rights, women’s rights, and LGBT rights. We need to provide homeless people with more food, water and shelter for a price significantly lower, if not for free.

We need to remove automatic weapons so we can keep people safe.

We need to create millions of jobs that can help make these problems significantly less threatening. Like jobs to help clean this earth. Speaking of which, we need to declare climate change as a national emergency.

We need to take this country back and fix the problems Trump has created or expanded.

_ James Cook