Below is the first of numerous submissions wherein I suggest ways our country, our government, and the world can be made better. I am an old fart in my 70’s and have seen much: the turmoil of the 1960’s; Vietnam (where I served as an infantry officer and was awarded a purple heart and other medals); the anti-Vietnam protests (in which I participated while still in uniform); Watergate, the rise of the right wing attack on the poor and powerless during and after the Reagan years; the continued wars in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan and pretty much everywhere else; the Clinton years, the invasion of Iraq in 2002 and the never-ending war since, the brief glow of sunshine during the Obama years, and now Trump. While my dog in this fight is getting long in the tooth, I still deeply care about three things: my country, my country’s honor, and the future we leave to our descendants. My personal history, other than military service, includes college teaching, computer support, hospital IT supervision, consulting, and now — in my retirement — substitute teaching.
I make my recommendations in all seriousness, recognizing that most of them are not immediately attainable. Nevertheless, if we elect people who share our values as our representatives at all levels of government, we can accomplish much.
Toward a More Perfect Union: A Prescriptive Approach — Prologue
Prologue
During the presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, our nation confronted and blunted the vested interests of the steel, oil, railroad, and other monopolies. This can be attributed primarily to the reformist efforts of TR himself, along with the work of reformists like Lincoln Steffens, Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, and the contributors to McClure’s journal around the turn of the century. A virtual force of nature, Roosevelt faced down the monopolies and gave working Americans a much better chance at making a good living. While he did not accomplish all he wished, he did at least open numerous doors that were previously barred. And while he was far from being a suffragist, he set the tone for popular resistance that led to the success of the 19th Amendment in 1920. Although he mostly worked within the Republican Party, he was a Progressive who saw his duty to all his constituents as trumping any party loyalty. Today he would be opposed to what the current GOP is doing. (The Roosevelt wing of the GOP was more effective in its progressive initiatives than the progressive/populist wing of the Democrats – under William Jennings Bryan – in those days. Both parties also sported reactionary wings.)
Probably, the most significant reform he made was to use the Federal Government to intervene in what were previously state and private activities that went largely unregulated and were anti-union, anti-woman, and anti-working man. Federal intervention was required because no other authority was able or willing to take the necessary steps to improve the lot of the common person.
There are so many things that cannot be done at the private level and that require government to operate: the military; public schools; the postal service; police and fire protection; roads, bridges, and highways; public libraries; garbage collection and landfills; government agencies like the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security; the IRS; government officials’ salaries and health care; environmental protection; Social Security; museums; prison system; corporate subsidies and bailouts; VA health care and GI Bill; public parks; food stamps and free lunch programs; welfare for the needy; sewer systems; Medicare and Medicaid; S-chip; vaccine development against public threats like bird flu, ebola or AIDS; the court system; the FDA that protects us from dangers in foods; zoos; disability and unemployment insurance; beaches and parks; national monuments and parks; public transportation; snow removal; public broadcasting; FEMA; NTSB; Amtrak; OSHA; census; customs and border protection; secret service; national weather service; agricultural subsidies. While some of these are accomplished at the local or state level, others require federal control. All of the above can be labeled as “socialistic” to some degree, which begs the question of why so many Americans react to “socialism” with such knee-jerk fear and loathing.
Today we face many threats to our society and democracy. We have an administration that is unquestionably racist, anti-union, sexist, uncontrolled, corrupt, and treasonous. Privatization of public lands, schools, and universities is turning us back into a nation where only the wealthy have a real shot at the American dream. The current makeup of congress is such that, rather than providing a check on Presidential totalitarianism, it is complicit in supporting and forwarding that agenda.
The administration of the 45th President – with its corruption, collusion with foreign powers, pathological lying, obstruction of justice, nepotism, ignoring of the Constitution’s emoluments clause, attempts to subvert or overturn the Constitution, and sycophantic appointees – has abundantly shown that our Constitution needs to be strengthened and that it has flaws which need to be amended. That administration has also shown that our legislation falls far short of protecting our people and providing for the common welfare.
One of Theodore Roosevelt’s arguments for stronger federal powers, in his first annual message as president, was, “It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to require that when men receive from government the privilege of doing business under corporate form,” that they assume an obligation to the public. In short, he was aware that the government has the responsibility to insure as much equality of economic and social opportunity as possible via regulation, oversight, and punishment where necessary. That is as true and as salient today as when he uttered those words.
The next installments are suggestions that, if enacted, would go a long way toward providing that “more perfect union” that Lincoln sought. A strong Democratic or even Independent congress would go far toward fulfilling those goals. Even if we recover from the current abuses of power, however, these recommendations still need to be taken seriously to avoid a recurrence of our experiences in 2017 and afterward.
In Part Two (Voting), we begin the discussion with voting-related issues
Other options:
Go to Part 3 — Gerrymandering & Courts
Go to Part 4 — Congress
Go to Part 5 — President and DOJ
Go to Part 6 — Campaign Financing
Go to Part 7 — Lying and Ethics
Go to Part 8 — Sexism and LGBT
Go to Part 9 — Abortion & Church/State
Go to Part 10 — Guns
Go to Part 11 — Healthcare & VA
Go to Part 12 — Big Pharma
Go to Part 13 — Environment
Go to Part 14 — Energy
Go to Part 15 — Education
Go to Part 16 — Economics
Go to Part 17 — Unions, Safety Net
Go to Part 18 — Homelessness
Go to Part 19 — Trade, Tariffs
Go to Part 20 — Media
Go to Part 21 — War, National Security