July 4th – How to Achieve another 244 Years
The United States is now 244 years old. During most of this time we were looked on and admired by the rest of the world because of our democracy and our achievements. We did some things wrong but overall, we did much better than the vast majority of countries in the world. And we also did our best to maintain democracy and stability throughout the world, especially during World War II.
So, what was the source of our strength and stability? It was the fact that our country was founded on moderate principles. Democracy is a moderate form of government and our Founding Fathers were moderates. The moderate that we are referring to is related to ideology.
However democracy is a fragile thing. For an example of the alternatives you just have to look around the world. Left-wing extremist China is destroying democracy in Hong Kong against the wishes of their people, incarcerating Uighur Muslims, and building a surveillance state to keep an eye on everyone in the country. Meanwhile right-wing extremist Russia made Putin president until at least 2036. This in spite of the fact that according to reports between 21 and 58 members of the media have been killed over the past several years and Putin has somehow amassed a fortune reported to be between $60 to $200 billion. Meanwhile it attempts to interfere in our elections and destroy our democracy.
But the impact of ideological thinking is also evident in our country.
- Gridlock is the result of the right-wing left-wing war going on in Congress which has resulted in the will of the majority of Americans not being implemented.
- Climate change is quickly impacting our country and our world. Over two-thirds of Americans want the government to do more about climate change, including imposing tougher fuel efficiency standards. Unfortunately, we are doing just the opposite.
- Our federal debt is out of control but our government can’t agree on how to increase taxes and cut spending.
- We pay twice as much as every other developed country for health care while having the worst health care system, but some in Congress won’t even allow us to copy what every other country already does.
- In spite of the on-going and worsening pandemic, many states have still not imposed mask mandates.
Our democracy today is under extreme stress. This is in part due to the fact that the approximately 40% of people in the U.S. who are moderate conservatives and moderate liberals have little say when it comes to running our government. We don’t even have a political party. Moderate conservatives and moderate liberals have much more in common with each other than they do with the far right and the far left.
The only way to change the direction that our country is going in is for Independents, moderates, and millennials to have input in governing our country. Join with others who understand that the problems that we are facing are due to our failing two-party political system. There are several fledgling efforts out there whose goal is to give moderates a say in how our country is being run. These include the Alliance Party (theallianceparty.com), Represent.Us, and Unite America. Volunteer and support these organizations before it’s too late. Nothing will happen without people like you.