Being American means to live, breathe, and exalt freedom to the extent of the founding fathers' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Our government should
Our government should exist to protect us from instability and anarchy. It should wage war when it is just to do so, and it should be malleable to the point that whenever it becomes destructive to the means of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness it can be abandoned and reconstructed anew just as stated in the declaration of independence.
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
I would put my life on the line to preserve it and plan to do so for the rest of my life. I plan to travel the world and change it for the better. I plan to spread the knowledge and exaltation of freedom to those who don't have it. I will stand for the United States of America for now and forever. I will not hesitate in any instance for the freedom that we have achieved in our nation or for the world. Our nation is just the beginning, our freedom is just the beginning. We have the entire world to free and it is our duty and honor to be the nation to spread the freedom since we have become the sole superpower.
Democracy is not the final form of government. It is merely an evolved form of the state of nature just like all of the other forms of government. The importance of democracy as a medium for government is more important than democracy as the government itself. Essentially, democracy is a tool that is put into practice in varying forms. The government of the USA is actually a republic much like the Roman republic of its day. A true democracy is the tyranny of the majority over the minority. It is a dictatorship of the majority. That is why true democracy does not work well and is why we do not use it in the USA. The importance of a government matters to the people, to ethics in general, and to the morals of everyone acting upon, within, or about the people to be governed. That is why our form of government should be constantly refined into a precise machine to fit the ethics and times of our society. I wrote an abstract essay about the abstract form of the republic called "The Elegant Republic" on my blog "The Syncretic Divine". In it the abstract, I wrote about how our republic is a just form of government, but is lacking in certain respects. In the near future and far future, we will need to reconstruct our government into a new beast and our society should look to all aspects of all forms of government for ideas on how to create the perfect government. A perfect government may not exist, but a near-perfect government can be achieved if it is designed well. I think the Utopian society will look to all forms of government including socialism for efforts in achieving this most perfect society that can solve all problems it encounters. Communism with the proper checks and balances would achieve success. The problem with communism is that certain people in government become the ruling authorities. If the proper checks and balances were to occur in republican methodology while wielding the effective communistic and socialistic values in a society, I think it could work to a certain extent. However, for true success, a hybrid of sorts would wield the best balance between all forms of government as directed by scholars, practitioners (of government), and the people in a way that would achieve economic, social, and peaceful stability. Currently our republic is doing quite well for its design. I would put the lifespan on our republic at another good 100 years at least before we even consider to disband the republic for a more improved system of government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republicanism_in_the_United_States
America should never ignore anything. It should look in all directions and try to anticipate all problems and devise solutions to correct the problems. We are entering the global era where globalization is beginning rapid acceleration. America needs to bear witness to this globalization and act upon it by becoming a global member. It needs to root itself into the fabric of the global community so it can compete at all levels of globalization. This is something that our country's inflation, labor unions, and the combined outsourcing of jobs and subsequent lack of retraining for the manufacturing community has contributed to the national economic plateau. If we had anticipated the manufacturing outsourcing and fought the labor unions with proper legislation limiting their powers, we could have solved the problem and prevented the economic plateau. We should have provided abundant training for people losing their job. We should have devised plans to create jobs to replace the ones lost. We are at the mercy of the global capitalistic forces (survival of the fittest) and we became less fit because others in the world became more fit. We aren't lost and the economy isn't in a downturn. We are still rich and powerful and the possibilities are endless on what our country, economy, and people can do to change our plateau into a steep climb again.
The US originated from people in the "old world" looking for a new start. They colonized our country escaping the despotism in Europe. They came looking for opportunity. Unrest grew between England and the colonized land in present day America and we declared our independence from England in a bloody war. We fought the Spanish in a bloody war for our southern border. We let the french and English fight the northern border war for us. We gathered as much land as possible and with our grand foundations and policies in place we proceeded forward. Westward expansion occurred because of the need for more land and through government promotion to expand westward. Many people believed in "manifest destiny" and in many respects I think they were somewhat right in obtaining the land, however, I believe many of the human tragedies of the native Americans are overlooked as just. We stole their land and there isn't any other way to look at it. Generations upon generations of Indians lived in the USA before we took their land from them. Some of it was out of squatting on the land, some of it was taken in bloody war. War was inevitable since the driving westward expansion was unrelenting. After expanding our land conquests, we settled down into the 50 states that we know today. We had set up foreign policy such as the Monroe Doctrine establishing a discrete relationship with any European powers and began to expand our nation economically. Alexander Hamilton does not get much credit for being the guy who essentially laid the concrete for our nation's industrialization. He foresaw so many things accurately that one might be inclined to think that he had traveled to the future. He federalized our economy and brought it to the modern era. Our military was formed into the modern military later on during the world wars, but had been created and used since the very beginning. The civil war was a result of unethical treatment of humans and strong economic progress. Essentially the south was under economic attack by way of claims of unethical treatment of human beings. The north realized the ethics behind the southern economy and began to disband it since the north and south were part of the same nation. It tried to do so legally while many people were doing it illegally. Eventually, the southern states decided that they did not like being criticized for the ethics of their people on economics the north had benefited from, so they seceded and thus began the war. The battle was pretty evenly matched for the most part, but the north had G*d, ethical righteousness, and a strong organized military with more money which gave way to the outcome of the war. After the second world war, the USA gained an upper hand since it had not been bombed and had not been war-torn like Europe or other countries. With the new found elation from winning the war for a just cause and the economic powerhouse of a warring nation, we established our presence upon the world as a superpower. The only other nation also to do so was the USSR (CCCP in Russian). They had not suffered nearly as bad as Europe and had a larger amount of land (resources) and a numerous amount of people that were under the iron fist of communism wielded by dictators. Because the people were controlled in such manner, the government was able to bring about a curtain and shadow itself as a strong nation while only focusing on the military and giving a facade of strength. Instead of lasting, it collapsed under the improperly wielded form of communism. Greed is too powerful and needs to be checked and balanced. That is why republican forms of government work, but non-republican forms of government fail to last beyond the dictator's legacy.
Freedom has enabled our progress and success. I don't understand why you would ask whether the US has made progress in spite of the freedom. It made the progress because of the freedom. The US can offer as much freedom as possible and still be the USA. Freedom is our foundation. Without freedom, we would not be the USA. The more the merrier. There is a limit in certain applicable areas on exactly how much freedom is usable, but the foundations gave good guidelines on the future of freedom. Times change, and freedom can change with it. What would be better than trying to restrict freedom, would be to educate everyone better about their freedoms and why they have those freedoms.
If I could change the USA, I would get rid of our debt and start a national savings. We need to change our economy and educate our citizens on how our country can achieve this. Letting the markets decide is not a perfect solution. Letting the markets decide is only part of the solution. Letting the markets decide is similar to natural selection in nature. We must make a push upon the people about realistic ideas that are thoroughly researched that will enable us to achieve an economic stronghold. We must be able to look past our own selfishness as individuals and as groups of similarly idealized people and zest for an economy based upon reason and strategy that is appropriate to meet the desires of our people as a whole and individually. It is a very, very, very difficult task at hand. Only if it is solved on a major scale and understood to be a correct solution to the masses of people will it become a policy of our national government and actually get solved. Until then, health care, social security, and everything related to economics (which is everything) will have used Alexander Hamilton's name in vain. I think we should get a national program called "living within your means" to help people actually live within their means and limit their spending and debt. I have forsaken my own policy because I fell victim to not being educated on the matter fully enough. It was too easy obtainable and was not mentioned to me much before I became indebted to my own desires to live outside of my means. The solution to debt is a troubled one, but starts with acting. I am slowly resolving the issues and moving forward as the country should do also.
I would put forth plans to align the USA to compete in the new global environment at the highest level and I would strategically align us with the unified global government that is going to eventually take shape. The United Nations is just merely version 1.0. We all live on this planet and we all must work together. There is no such thing as race. Race is only a social definition and is blurry at best. The nation-state is dying in this new worldwide region. Land is closer to everyone and more connections are being made. Economic trade knows no boundaries. The development will continue and our world will begin to evolve into one world instead of many nation states on multiple continents.
For example, I would solve the immigration issue by getting everyone illegally here in the USA to come forward and become accountable on a realistic plan to citizenship. They need to pay taxes. They need to be sheltered from neighborhoods they have gone to live in because they fear the police and government since they are illegal. They need to be taught the language and be properly educated. If they cannot make the grade, they will be deported. These people can be a better asset than they are by making them legal and finding out how many people are actually here. We can better account for their presence and actually charge them for being here. If they remain illegal, they don't pay taxes. Unless we actively go out and deport everyone that is illegal, then we are just contributing to the problem and not acting upon a solution. Deportation needs to be in strong enforcement. We need to control the new immigration and prevent any future illegal immigration. We should increase our immigration quotas to meet some of the demand. We need to invest in stimulating growth in Mexico, so that immigration is not a first option for most people living in other countries. There isn't a massive immigration from Canada to the USA for a reason. It is NOT race. It is the economic policies and industrialization that Canada has done to make it's country industrialized. Corruption and dictatorships have waged a battle upon the people south of us and have caused a distress that has enabled a massive immigration. Our grand success has also given allure to opportunity just like it was alluring for Europeans to make the trip to here. If we can help bring Mexico to our world, Mexican citizens won't be fleeing in large numbers to the north.
That is just one more detailed viewpoint I have on how to solve the many problems facing our country.
I wouldn't want to live anywhere else besides the USA as a permanent residence. I would like to visit almost the entire world and I would like to live in a few areas for a limited amount of time such as France, China, the Caribbean, and maybe Dubai, but I would not want to live there permanently.
Dictatorship is not a good form of government. If a dictator is a decent leader and does not pick a good successor, then his nation will decline and his people will suffer. Also, if a decent leader is in power in a dictatorship, he or she is at risk of being vetted against by someone wishing to have the power. A dictatorship does however breed strong leadership. Aspects of a dictatorship are applied to the executive branch of a republic because of this need for leadership in a nation. If we truly went to a democracy, we would be at the mercy of the popular opinion which can easily be swayed. If we only went to the values of a republic democracy, we would be at the mercy of congress and no decisions would ever get made in a timely manner. Thus, the executive branch exists to steady the nation in mainly short-term decisions compared to long-term decisions held for the judicial and legislative branch. It eases the decision making process and makes it more decisive.
Communism is an extension of utilitarianism thought into government. At its purist form, it is ideal only if the human consequences do not outweigh the benefits. Because humans are so dynamic and are held just above animals, but just below G*d and angels, we are considered to be sentient and unable to actively suffer indoctrinated communism, so we must elaborate upon pure communistic ideals to bring about any success with it. Since the only forms of communism have been executed in poorly managed forms of government that used tyranny to wield the power rather than setting up a republican form of communism, nothing has ever become of it. China is only successful because of its strong economic might. The communism will fall when India takes China's back burner on manufacturing the world's products in the next 10 to 20 years. China has proven that communism is at least minimally successful within certain restraints. The only problem is that freedom was withheld from the foundations of the government and therefore has suffered so.
Pure democracy does not work. The majority of the people will always win and the minority will be ruled by the majority unjustly. Representation of the minority must exist to justify democratic principles on a diverse and vast group of people such as a nation in the form of republicanism.
Socialism is communism with less economic communism and more social responsibility for the government to bear. I think it could be successful if managed correctly and is more what China is because China wields capitalism very strongly as their economic policy while underlining social policies in a communal form. It fails when the social responsibility is a greater burden than the government can handle. Because the problems to social responsibility involve everyone in society from economics to the military, socialism is not a broad enough form of government to handle its own claims of strength nor handle any other forms of problems that would plight a nation-state.
Anarchy is where we came from and existed in the "state of nature" as quoted and understood very thoroughly by Thomas Hobbes, one of my most favorite philosophers and political scientists. It only worked for humans as animals and does not apply to humans as people with unalienable rights. Nothing can be provided in the way of security or stability that is necessary for large society, especially when other societies with greater abilities begin to evolve around them and exist. Survival of the fittest and so anarchy is killed off by communal contracts, then dictatorships, then oligarchies, then democracies, then republics. However, anarchy is exactly where humans are taken if the moral and ethical spirit of humans are taken away. Humans become animals when we lose civilization. We were animals and still are under our fleshy skin. We only exist above animals because of the creation of civilization and the desire for stability beyond anarchy.
