... Everything.
The State of America is in disarray from the priorities of the average individual, to the elitist attempts of politicians to control the everyday decisions of Federal Subjects of the government. We must figure out, at least the major symptoms of what is wrong, and the causes. We must re-examine the body of laws on the books. And yes, we must also study the words, meanings, and intent of the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, through the prism of the Declaration of Independence. We must examine where we went wrong.
I've examined, discussed, and expounded upon the US Constitution several times and several ways before this. In short, the Constitution is not the problem. Ignoring the simple rules laid out by the Constitution by legislative judges, elitist power-mongering politicians, and greedy partisans is the problem.
The symptoms of the problem are myriad, far too numerous to discuss in a single body of work. Some of the problems have previously been discussed here: "policeing for profit," debilitating taxation, search and seizure of persons, papers, and effects without a warrant, and more.
The subject of the education system has been touched upon, and it is one of the key roots of the problem. Forty years ago, many children walked to school, while today even those that live next door to the school may be bussed to it, or away from it, to one further away, to mega-schools. While spending upwards of $250,000 per classroom per year, our kids are walking texting while driving away with a diploma that won't get them a job, and barely knowing how to read and write.
Politicians have turned the school system into an instructor of morals, and have used kids to pressure their own parents into behavioral change, while teaching to the test, but not the subjects. Parents have relinquished their parental duties of teaching morals, and accepted medicating their children out of kid behaviors. Parents are using the school system as a babysitting service and teachers have trended towards having the kids teach themselves, via technology, rather than actually doing their jobs. In these inefficient, expensive mega-schools kids learn that they are just another cog in the wheel, while attaining feel good awards for attendance.
Some school board somewhere should seriously consider trending back to the small, neighborhood schools. Schools, that are close enough that kids can and do walk to them. Not only would it have an effect of providing a little exercise for children, reducing the obesity epidemic, but would save the school system considerable money on fuel, as well as the purchase and maintenance of busses. More importantly, these smaller schools would re-build the personal relationship of parent-teacher-student and likely increase the accountability of teachers to actually teaching, and the student to actually learning.
Instead of moving back towards kids getting out and experiencing the world around them, we're seeing kids encouraged to withdraw from an insular, inside buildings lifestyle, to an inside electronic device life. I've literally seen the current generations sit at a party, and text on their "smart" phones the entire time, some of it to those around them, but oblivious to those across from and next to them.
Schools need to get back to the basics: teaching actual subjects, not morals.
Policeing needs to be re-evaluated. Citizens and Politicians need to recognize that the Police do not prevent crime. They catch criminals that have committed crimes. As alluring as it might sound to incarcerate someone before they commit a crime, it would be wrong to do so. But when those criminals are arrested, charged, and found guilty, they should not be allowed to walk back out through the revolving doors of the prison system. Yes, we need to prioritize who should be in prisons, but we also need to recognize that child molesters are not rehabilitated. It also means that we must stop criminalizing immoral behavior.
When the police, or the politicians, break the law, they must be held accountable, and due to their position, held to a higher standard. This needs to come from within their ranks, which currently have a reputation for protecting their own, even when one of their number has disgraced their profession. The badge is not a license to bully Citizens, nor to ignore the laws they claim to enforce.
When a policeman or police department goes on a rampage, shooting up neighborhoods and citizens, because a car happens to be similiar to that of a suspect, their fellow brothers in blue should condemn the lack of professionality, and call for that department to go back to the Academy to learn basics like "positive ID" of your target, announcing your status, and actually aiming your weapon.
And the use of technology to conduct policeing must be evaluated and regulated, in accordance with the Bill of Rights. The use of cameras, for example, is not necessarily an invasion of privacy, but the technology is being used beyond Constitutional bounds. A license plate reading camera that alerts police that a stolen car, or criminal's car, is in the district is not an invasion of privacy, but the maintaining of records of movements of law-abiding citizens does cross that line. Security cameras that record activity in case a crime is committed are not the problem, but use of those cameras and recordings beyond the documentation of crimes is wrong.
The use of the word "Right" has been abused, misused, and distorted. You have a Right to: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. You have the Right to Free Speech, to the Religion of your choice, to own Firearms, to not have your home, person, or papers Searched or Seized by the Government. You don't have a right to take someone else's life, or use the government to seize the property of others. You don't have a right to be guaranteed happiness, or to goods and services you can't afford, aside from a Lawyer when the government accuses you of a crime. You don't have a right to a play station, a job, a paycheck, or health insurance.
The word "Citizen" is misunderstood. A Citizen is equal to all other Citizens, including the Politicians, the Lawyers, and the elitist billionaires like Bloomberg. The Citizen is not a subject of the government, as Americans are becoming. A Citizen is not ruled by the Government, but is an equal ruler of the Government. A Citizen is not simply the resident of a locale, of a city, a state, or a Nation, but instead involved in the decisions of the servants selected to run those governments. And that comes with the responsibility to make an informed to decision about those politicians, and to monitor the actions of the employees they selected to run the governments.
Even "State" isn't perceived according to its definition. Israel, Egypt, Britain, and Russia are all States. State is not a synonym of Province, Department, County, or any other form of subordinate government. The States were united in a common defense and common foreign policy, not in an agreement to subordination to the dictates of elite politicians. The term State is regularly used with the adjective "Sovereign," though that is somewhat redundant, and most often used to emphasize that other States don't have the "right" to interfere in their business. "United Nations" means the same thing as "United States" but the UN has no authority to tell the US or any State within it what to do.
It is not better to have a bunch of cheaply made stuff that you bought on credit than to have a fewer quality goods that will last into your grandkid's lifetimes. It is better to have a business, than a job. It is better to be a stockholder, a co-owner, of a good company, than a gambler at the slot machines. It is far better to have quality goods that you can use to make money, than to have the money itself, and having savings and investments is better than having cheap stuff that'll break or be outdated in a month. And having cash on hand, or in the bank, is better than having debt to the bank.
It is better to buy something made by someone you know than someone you don't. It is better to spend a dollar or two more for something made by someone in a Factory in your State, than by kids in Pakistan. It is better to Buy American, than to buy cheap stuff made by political prisoners in China. The more Americans you keep employed by buying their goods and services, the better your own chance of finding and keeping a job. Not everyone needs a college degree. College does not and should not teach the skilled trades, like carpentry, electrical work, and plumbing. A factory worker doesn't need a college degree to push a robot's buttons. It is better to take your car to a mechanic with a HS Diploma, than to a Doctor with a law degree from Harvard as well.
But pointing out that you as a consumer are also responsible for your employment status, is me, using my Right to Free Speech, not me, calling for the government to make a law to force you to act responsibly. Your decisions on what to buy have an impact on the whole economy, but they are your decisions to make, even if your irresponsibility decreases your chances to earn a paycheck.
And me pointing out that the education system is broken is not me being against teachers. It is me calling for School Boards to look back to what did work, and fix it. More money thrown at the problem won't fix it. Better use of the money that is already there is the place to start. It is not me calling for Federal greater involvement of the Federal Government in the local government, but rather in calling for less.
And pointing at the oppressive trend of police forces is not anti-Police. I have great respect for most of my Brothers in Blue, but they need to rid themselves of Wolves in Sheepdog's clothing, and Citizens need to hold responsible the politicians that are ordering them to infringe on the privacy of the People. Ninety-nine percent of the Police Officers I know are upstanding members of society, and avoid even the appearance of wrong-doing, but the unions and administrators who priortize writing speeding tickets over investigating burglaries, or who are paying outsourced camera companies, so they can collect a portion of the fines, over cops walking the beat, have forgotten, or ignored, their mandate.
It is time for the American People to read George Orwell's "1984," and consider the parallels of "Big Brother" watching their every move, of the consequences of "double-think" and a diminishing vocabulary. It is time for the American People to read the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence, and re-think what they want politicians to do. It is time for us to stop infringing on the Rights and Liberties of others in order to attain the "free stuff" the politicians promise for subservience.
It is time for all of us to practice Responsibility, rather than to claim a right to infringe on others.
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