Governments should focus on solving the immediate problems of today rather than on trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future.

The government is entitled to the responsibilities of enhancing the welfare and well-being of the citizens although the focus on which to undergird may differentiate at times. The imminent or foreseen problems may be allocated unequal attention depending on the situation of the country and although the recommendation suggests that the immediate problems be handled with priority, this essay will contend that both types of problems need to be dealt with equally earnest effort.

Admittedly, a myriad of people argue that the immediate problems deserve a higher allocation of attention since inept dealing with the alleviation of pressuring hardships may lead to the threatening of the stability of societies. As in the case of the epidemic diseases such as the Ebola virus or MERS, the containment of the infected patients are of utmost importance. If the containment is delayed, the number of people that contact and get affected by the disease will increase exceedingly. Similarly, immediate international conflicts also require instant attention as the hostility could exacerbate at any moment. For example, South Korea and North Korea have declared armistice, but such truce does not promise the perennial peace between the two countries. Although South Korea had tried to make amends and pursue a peaceful co-existence with North Korea through actions such as the sunshine policy and with constant discussions of unification, North Korea still threatens to launch nuclear missiles if the financial support ceases even to the current year of 2019. Thus, if imminent problems such as epidemic diseases and the international conflicts are not dealt with urgently, instability will dawn upon societies.

Nevertheless, anticipated problems also deserve equivalent attention germane to the currently prevailing problems with the same line of reasoning for the latter. Prospective problems determine the long-term stability of the society and without the adequate dealing of such issues, the society can suffer in the future. This can be seen in the example of the biodiversity problems regarding the cane toads. To solve the imminent problems eradicating the beetle pests depleting the sugar canes, cane toads were introduced in Australia. However, because of their toxicality, the indigenous species of Australia were harmed and vastly reduced in quantities due to such toxic perils. Thus, the biodiversity in Australia regarding its native species with had dire future consequences for the sustainability of native species. Another case is of providing a sustainable environment for the future regarding the International Space Station. Although environmental issues are not palpable to many at the moment, their impact has already become potential disasters. The aberrant climate changes and temperature anomalies of the sea surface such as El Nino and La Nina present increasing threats to the hospitality of our current living environment. Thus, future living situations need to be investigated and that is what the International Space Station has been doing by examing alternative habitats for humans in space. Therefore, the allocated attention for future problems should be tantamount to the present problems for the stability of societies.

After examining the necessity of attention to long-term and short-term problems respectively by the government, it may be logical to say that the two are closely related and can be solved with the handling of one. The issue of privacy has become increasingly problematic at the status quo and was heading for more dire consequences in the future. In 2018, Europe had set a unified guideline of the collecting, processing, and retaining of personal data for all that derive from or go through Europe called GDPR. This set a explicit and limpid guideline of whom to charge in the case of a data privacy violation and also set the standards for the prevention and violations of data privacy in the future. By dealing with the problems occuring now and preventing anticipated ones, the stability of the society is being established. Consequently, finding solutions that can alleviate both the long-term and short-term problems are recommended for the government.

In the light of above deliberation, the author’s claim has some truth within it; however, it is undeniable that it does not always hold true for all situations. Both problems need to be dealt with sincere effort and since they are intertwined, the most efficient use of effort may be achieved by implementing the measure that could deal with both types of problems.