I’m sorry America, but you seem to be screwed. In future, when people apply to become citizens of the United States, there will be a $100,000 fee which will be thrown toward the national debt. This will be added to the fact that each taxpayer and that taxpayer’s children will already have a lifetime of payments to make toward a deficit which increases at a faster rate than it can be paid. Eventually, the benefits of being a United States citizen will be outweighed by the costs, though it is hard to imagine there are very many benefits even now.
As it is, U.S. students score well below other developed nations. In a 2006 international science and mathematics test, U.S. 15-year-olds scored 30th in Science and 35th in Math (behind Latvia and Estonia). The money for Social Security has been spent. One in every 31 Americans is either in jail, on parole or on probation. Meanwhile, the government keeps handing out trillions of dollars to corporations who had a hand in the current financial crisis.
Internationally, the US government (on behalf of it’s largely ignorant populace) has carried out simultaneous wars around the globe, maintained its military presence in over 70 countries and has engaged in assassination and torture.
The revolution is coming.
How long can a population have their productivity taxed, their savings stolen, their good name tarnished and their children retarded by an ever-growing system of incompetence and corruption? How far will the American Empire stretch before it totally collapses? All I know is, it can’t be much longer.
America is a geographical location, no longer an idea like it used to be. However, the principles America was founded on are no longer visible, except as a horribly disfigured Dorian Gray contortion of themselves. Freedom used to mean something, not just the right to shovel as much food in your face as possible. Somewhere along the lines, true freedom was bartered for 24-hour movie channels and the strong, independent-minded American just became the loud, obnoxious know-it-all whom everyone despises, yet no-one will tell to shut up.
So where did it all go wrong? We don’t know the exact date, but we do know that the system was broken long before either of the Bushes, though they did more than their fair share. What we do need to focus on is the solutions. Here are my top ten:
1. Wake up. Address reality, not the fiction you mistake for reality. Americans have long believed that they were number one, that what they are doing is right, that they can do no wrong and live however they please. Rationality over mysticism, facts over opinions and science over religion.
2. Halt the income tax, replace it with a flat tax on spending. Why, oh why do we tax income? Hard work should be encouraged, not punished. Income tax is not only unnecessary and immoral, but it’s also the reason your politicians can redistribute obscene amounts of money to their corporate friends.
3. Tie down the currency. You must realize that as you read this, you are being taxed invisibly. Each time the Federal Reserve prints new money (ie. all the time) the value of your money goes down. That’s a tax on savings. It’s immoral and it’s like a credit card with no limits in your name being spent on your behalf by politicians. Link the currency to a commodity like gold and then the politicians can’t spend money they don’t have. Simple. Surprisingly it’s our old commie friends Russia and China who have offered this up as a logical way of bringing stability to international markets. You know things are bad when the communists know more about capitalism than you do.
4. Bring home your troops. Yes, all of them. America, you do not own the world. Nor can you afford to maintain your world empire. Even if you could, you’re not welcome. If your presence was a positive influence, then maybe. However it has long been known that you have long conspired against foreign governments to further your own interests while creating more conflicts than you solve. Your military help would be better on-call and then, only if it’s absolutely necessary.
5. Update education to a 21st century methodology. Old laws and regulations keep new thoughts and ideas from being implemented. Teachers’ unions make the education system both bloated and ineffective. Any field in which competition is discouraged suffers from the same falling standards. Less regulation, more independence and the demolition of the DoE. Allow the market to provide schools which will be rewarded or punished depending on their quality. Just like we do with food.
6. Decriminalize drugs. Where in your constitution is the right to dictate what others do with their bodies? In the interests of “public safety” your legislators have helped the drug lords to get rich. Were drugs legal, they would be placed on shelves and served to adults in controlled amounts and of a predictable quality. Contrast this to now, where people of all ages are dealt drugs of unpredictable quality to be used in secret for fear of discovery and legal consequence. Drug dependence is a health issue, not a criminal issue. Addicts need help and adults in a free society need not be told what they can or can’t do with their own bodies. It does seem that this one is catching on in the mainstream media, albeit slowly.
7. End the culture of violence and paranoia. In line with #4, you have a lot of work to do at home to correct the pervasiveness of weapons and violence in your own culture. It’s almost impossible to find an American movie that does not have a gun featured at one time or another. Gun control is one answer. Education and a culture of brotherhood addresses the bigger picture of aggression. We have lost our sense of community, not just in America, but in most modern societies. We need to find ways to repair the social fabric of which we are all a part.
8. Stop blaming capitalism and let insolvent companies fail. The system of capitalism is the fairest and most efficient economic system devised by man. ’Capitalism run amok’ has been blamed for the current crisis. Companies have been bailed out because of some apparent shortcomings of the system. Excuse me, but capitalism is just fine. Capitalism is a system whereby foolish moves are punished. If you’re a bank and you bought some bad assets, then you lose. When you fail, others will capitalize and then grow in your stead. Capitalism made America great and gave you the lifestyle you currently enjoy. Learn what it is and what it’s not. Bailing out companies with public money is the very antithesis of capitalism as it rewards stupidity. It should come as no surprise then that the current system is not capitalism and hasn’t been for a long time. We live in the age of corporatism where companies lobby to receive favors and funding from the government. Where excess legislation creates barriers to new entry, thereby reducing competition. Your Founding Fathers would turn in their graves to know that the majority of Americans today still think they live in a capitalistic society.
9. Take personal responsibility. Educate yourself on politics, the correct way to educate your children, on healthy eating, on philosophy, the world, on history and science. Reality is all around you and you are personally capable of understanding it all. You just have to open your eyes and try.
10. Get on the metric system. If anything is a more glaring indicator that America is still way behind in science, it’s the fact that they still use the arbitrary notions of feet, inches and gallons when the entire world uses metric (Myanmar and Liberia excepted). Wouldn’t it be nice to have a system of measurement which is easily convertible between units and which is based on the dimensions of the world, not of some ancient king’s shoe size? Are you guys just jealous because France came up with the idea first?
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