A prescription for a better America

Over the course of this upcoming year, I plan on writing a series of editorials laying out what I believe is a solid plan to improve life for those of us living in this country.

In our nearly quarter millennium of existence, we have seen tremendous changes in not only how people live day to day, but how we relate to one another. We have also seen how those who crave power, have corrupted this nation in order to become exactly that which our founders fought against. We aren’t much different from the country we fought for our independence. In England, wealth was amassed in the hands of the few. You had very rich landowners who held great influence over the king and in all aspects of the government. You also had a very poor population that was treated no better than slaves. Today, we see much the same thing happening in our country.

There has been a terrible rise in power and corruption. Money has been put in the hands of a few while the middle class has all but evaporated. The chasm that exists between rich and poor in this country is staggering. This sets us up for a socialist, if not communist uprising. This too would be bad for us as we have seen over the course of recent history, the appalling atrocities committed by these communist and socialist systems.

This is why I will be writing about the changes that will need to take place in order to ensure that we return to a country where the individual is truly free and able to live out a life where they can pursue their God given talents without government interference, as long as they don’t infringe upon the rights of their fellow citizens.

Our society should also ensure that there is a safety net for those citizens who are unable to pursue their God given talents, but doesn’t encourage those who could actually work, from doing so. We cannot be like so many others in history who have valued human life so little as to kill those who are deemed inferior.

People should be allowed to become as rich as they possibly can, or be free from oppression should they decide to find riches in life in other places than money. However, people should not be able to play games with money, create giant corporations, and otherwise become large enough to influence politics and use their power to oppress their fellow citizen.

Corporations are paper fictions. They are a conglomeration of money creating unbelievable power, and these corporations have twice in our history, shown that they can be powerful enough to change how the government of the people, treats those people. Teddy Roosevelt understood this and busted up the large trusts. However, within a century, modern day robber barons have returned and we all see how badly these large entities have corrupted our government. For a society to survive, the voices of its citizens need to be equal, even if their life circumstances are not. Socialism has tried to accomplish this by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. What I hope to outline here is another way of doing this, without making everyone’s lot in life the same.

Another thing that I have learned in my 40 years on this earth is that many people are corrupted by power. We need to ensure that nobody ever tastes power long enough to be corrupted by it, or if they be corrupt, that they cannot leave a lasting mark on society. Ronald Reagan lamented that he was prevented from running for a third term because of term limits. Term limits are a good thing. While you may have a good leader who would benefit from the lack of term limits, a tyrant could also use that same lack of term limits to wreak havoc on a country.

We have seen in this 2016 election how political parties have made the system such that the votes of the lay people mean little. The real power is in the delegates and political powers behind the scenes. George Washington warned of political parties. The constitution currently allows people to form political parties. I like the system that towns here in Iowa use, where you cannot run as a democrat or republican. I need to think on this some more before postulating a position.

Our judicial branch is out of control. You see it all too common for judges to legislate from the bench. The power of the judiciary needs to be curbed. Instead of interpreting law, they need to decide if law applies or not, and if it doesn’t, then they should defer to the legislative branch to produce legislation that addresses the issue. This would fundamentally change how our three branches work, but that is the point of my editorials, our government needs an overhaul.

I hope in the coming months, you’ll read and consider my suggestions for a revamped, improved America. I will label the posts as “PFBA – Topic”. PFBA means Prescription for a Better America.