Most people will agree there are problems in America. The real controversy begins with how do you fix the problems. The present system is certainly not moving us toward an answer. In fact the American Dream is in danger of morphing into a Nightmare. If the present path is not changed America is in danger of falling into a financial abyss from which there may be no return. It is time for a change. Not Obama's change you can believe in, It is time for change we can see and measure. There are solutions but not with the present leadership in America. Here is the simple reason why. It is as simple as the definition of Insanity, which is, "Doing the same thing, the same way, over and over and expecting to get a different result." Americans keep electing leadership from two opposing parties. With two opposing points of view that never change, and then expect some new outcome that is going to fix the system. It "Ain't Gonna Happen."
The only way a change will happen is by either introducing a new party with a completely different point of view, or a different way of looking at the problems and that comes up with a completely different solution. The only other way is to start a revolution tear it all down and start over. That one might be the quickest way to get rid of America's debt problem. Just wipe the slate clean and start over. Of course that may start a World War which will make a solution a moot point. As there will be no one left to care, if there is, or is not, a national debt problem.
I tend to favor the new party solution. In fact I have a platform for the new party on my blog which you can see by using the search bar. It is called the Constitutional American Reform Party. The acronym is CARP which means to complain. Which is something most Americans are good at. As the name implies it would be a Constitutionally based party. Which would be a novel way of running the government. The Constitution gave the newly formed government five duties or responsibilities. 1. Establish Justice, 2. Insure domestic tranquility, 3.provide for the common defense 4. Promote the general welfare, and 5. to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. As I see it the present government has scored as follows so far.
1. D, 2. D, 3. C+, 4. D-, 5. D+ Let me explain how I arrived at each grade and you can make up your own mind as to if you think they are fair.
1. Establish Justice... By Webster's definition of upholding what is fair and just, we have fallen a bit short as a nation. There have been some improvements over the years, but the courts have misused their power to try and legislate morality. They have turned a blind eye, and even aided an abetted in taking away civil liberties that they had no right to mess with. Some of the founding fathers grew hemp as a cash crop. Yet the courts helped take that right away. In the process they have incarcerated millions of American citizens for no good reason. Taxing the products would have been much more effective. The war on drugs is an absolute and total failure. It is draining billions upon billions of dollars to fight a war it can not win. Actually at the present time the department of justice is being questioned about its facilitating the war on drugs. The one it says it is trying to win. I will not even touch on civil rights, or the taking of our personal freedoms and invasions of privacy by the government. I think the D is more than generous. If I included pre Civil War decisions that led up to and caused the civil war, which the end result was Federal rights trumping States rights it would be an F.
2. Insure domestic tranquility. Some of the justice issues overlap here. However the fact that over two million of Americans citizens are incarcerated says a lot. The prison system is a total failure and is more of a boot camp for learning criminal activities than a place of correction. The failure to provide a system that actually punishes criminal acts. The failure to educate the public in a way that may allow its citizens the hope of making a living wage. Allowing a system of wages that borders on slavery while turning a blind eye on the injustices performed by businesses and the wealthy. Allowing American companies to participate in almost slave labor operations overseas to benefit themselves and make an increased profit at home. While failing to provide standard of living that will let the average American lead an average life. Supporting a wage system that basically makes the lower classes slaves of the wealthy.
3. provide for the common defense... This is a hard one to call. America has an awesome volunteer military and it has done an outstanding job. It has come up short a couple times. In the war of 1812 when the White House and the Capitol were burnt. Most of its shortcomings have come from Congressional budget cutting and downsizing after wars to the point we were not ready for the next one. Now the government has taken to calling up the National Guard to fight wars half ways around the world. Wars that have no justification against enemies that are not really in any danger of attacking America. Groups that hate America for using Islamic followers to fight a war against a common enemy, but at a cost of Islamic blood. That hate America for overthrowing an duly elected democratic government to protect Britain's oil interest in the Middle East.
A really good book that tells the how and why of our involvement in the Middle East. is Power, Faith, and Fantasy. in the Middle East 1776 to present, by Michael Boren, published Jan 2007. The book makes clear that we would not even have a Constitution if it were not for events in the Middle East. A really eye-opening good read.
4. Promote the general welfare....Understanding this one requires reading the Constitution at least Article 1. Section 8 which describes the powers given to Congress. This section tells what the duties are. Like raising taxes and charging duties, paying the bills, raising the military, providing for the welfare.(Taking care of the governments needs, like buildings, roads and etc. It is the part where money was appropriated to purchase land, build the capitol and the white house and to rebuild them after the War of 1812. To build military bases and provide equipment and maintain the infrastructure) In this area the Congress has failed miserably. giving a D- is being generous. Considering they have kept up the buildings in Washington, DC and provided for the building of the Interstate system, but beyond that they have failed. Upkeep is part of the job, not build it and forget it. I will have more to say on this later, but I want to finish explaining the grades first.
5. secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Well we may have an abbreviated amount of liberty, but the government is quickly and thoroughly trashing the idea of freedom. They are making the people of America slaves to a system of over taxation and poorly managed budgets that have made America into a debtor nation. Which I will leave alone, before I go on a rant.
How Do We Fix It?
If you read all the above and agree with most of it, then you realize the present system has failed us. A strong third party may be able to turn it around, but it has to be a party that will make hard and tough decisions. Unlike the Dum-ol'-Crats who own the poor. Or the Republi-can'ts who are owned by the Rich. Decisions based on the Constitution. That will start in the area of justice by returning the Supreme Court to seven members as it originally was. Make laws that eliminate lifetime appointments and force retirement if one can not perform his duties which is not the case today. The extra justices should be removed by attrition which means hopefully there would be no new appointments till the laws can be changed. That would be the shot across the bow of the Supreme Court to get back to enforcing the law and quit trying to create law from the bench.
Another thing the third party could do is to push legislation to start fixing infrastructure. If you look back the building of the interstate system was what helped build the boom in America after World War II. It needs to be maintained as do government buildings. This creates tax paying jobs, and stimulates production of materials to do the maintenance and upkeep. It is contractors who do the work not the Federal Government. The Postal system needs to be updated and revamped and take it out of the package, junk mail and passport businesses and let it simply deliver personal mail. Let private companies do the package and flier deliveries.
Legislation to ban government bailouts of businesses should also be put in place. Government handout and give away systems should be reined in. The welfare system needs to be totally revamped so those that know how to bleed the system can no longer do so. It would make a lot more sense to spend the money fixing infrastructure and creating jobs to do it. Instead of paying people to sit on their butts and do nothing. It is not a good system and needs to be changed. Supporting the needy should be turned back over to the churches and community civic groups. Maybe it would turn America back toward being a God fearing nation it used to be. Which would not be all bad.
I will not touch the medical system problems in this post. That would and has been done in some of my other blogs. There are ways to fix it and still make sure every citizen gets the care they need. Obamacare is not the answer for sure. I have a friend who sells health insurance and he told me several companies that sell medical coverage are no longer going to offer it at all, because they think the cost will be to high. That just means the remaining companies can charge what they want.
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