The
USA Is Becoming A Failed State: 8 Simple Steps to Turn It Around
by
Rev. Paul J. Bern
As
I look around me today, I see the United States of America as a
failing country. There are just too many things going wrong with our
country today. Failing to adequately tackle the problems in our
economic system: Failing to reflect on the deep flaws in our system
of government: Failing to repair our image abroad: Failing in
education, in health care, in human rights, in religious tolerance.
In fact, we look a lot like the USSR in 1990 - except with more
big-screen TV’s. And we all know what happened to them. And so I
have written this article listing what I view as the worst problems,
followed by some helpful suggestions for solutions to the mess that
we Americans find ourselves in today.
You
may well take issue with my central contention. You may say that we
are prosperous because our GDP is so large. Or that our government
works properly (though I don't really expect many of either political
persuasion to seriously consider that notion), or even that we have a
great health care system? I respect anyone's right to those opinions
– freedom of expression is one of the few things our country hasn't
managed to screw up in the last couple of hundred years. But in every
case, the data backs me up. Allow me to try and substantiate my
claims first, before suggesting a few possible solutions.
First,
let's take a look at the economy: in 2009 alone, 131 banks failed.
The 2008 bailout granted billions of dollars – with strings
attached – to private companies who then used the money to
short-sell the market, make countless billions more, hand the
government back its money (removing the strings) and pay out lavish
bonuses while Americans lost their jobs. It is estimated that by 2016
our national debt will exceed one year's Gross Domestic Product.
Meanwhile, the median family income is less today than it was a
decade ago.
Our
government, meanwhile, is no longer run by competing ideologies but
by corporate interests (I include both parties in this category since
both are moneymaking enterprises). There are good Republicans who
would prefer that your cancer-stricken child had health insurance.
There are responsible Democrats who are horrified by our country's
spend-now pay-later approach to finance. But since they are beholden
to a higher power – the almighty dollar – they have convinced
themselves to vote with their wallets, not with their conscience. At
the Federal level, AT&T and Goldman Sachs have contributed over
$75M over the last 20 years, and the American Federation of State,
County & Municipal Employees, plus the International Brotherhood
of Electrical Workers, aren't far behind.
Across
the world America's reputation is tarnished, perhaps irrevocably, and
yet we find our President – in the words of former vice-president
Dick Cheney – following the 'Bush Doctrine' of a surge in forces
occupying a foreign country with seemingly little chance of
categorical success. We are seen as an economic and religious bully,
and we don't seem to care. We vilify our political enemies for their
human rights records, and import cheap goods from countries we know
to exploit child labor. We are, to much of the world, intolerable
hypocrites.
Apologists
for the American health care system, not to mention 'Obamacare', will
continue to defend those systems at all costs, claiming that
so-called 'socialist' states such as England, France and Sweden
(which, incidentally, is actually a constitutional monarchy governed
by a center-right coalition) kill their citizens at will in order to
save money, or make you wait thirty years for a kidney transplant.
Deflecting (especially with such utter garbage) doesn't make our
system any better, and it's always bad business practice to spend too
much time putting down the competition. When our own kids can't get
health care because mom and dad have no money to pay, something is
terribly wrong. Any anthropologist will tell you that we took care of
our young when we were Neanderthals – so what's changed? For one in
six of our citizens to be uninsured is a national disgrace. We deny
basic human rights to our own people! Whom you choose to marry is not
a matter for the government to decide, it is a matter for the
individual (“work out your own salvation with fear and trembling
before the Lord”). So it is for what religion to follow, if any
(although I will continue to vigorously preach pure Christianity as
the only true way to eternal salvation). Some may not like our
choices, but they are inalienable rights and you should be free to
exercise them as you will. Our US Constitution says you can (search:
first amendment).
As
far back as 2005, statistics showed that hate crimes against Muslims
were increasing 50% year-on-year (although one 2013 report shows that
the numbers are falling again). Even so, the FBI reported that in
2008 hate crimes against homosexuals had increased 9% from 2007, and
those motivated by religion had risen by 11%. This is outrageous in
the extreme as far as I am concerned. The track we have taken over
the last fifty years has been the wrong one (I use that figure
deliberately - the USA in the 'fifties was probably the happiest and
most prosperous state that ever existed). We have let corruption,
greed, fame, intolerance and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge our
problems almost ruin our nation. We are failing to live the American
Dream, and if we don't start now our children will never even know
what it was. I have a couple of fairly radical ideas. I'm sure you
have some of your own, and I welcome them in the comments below. I
have chosen not to expound on what I personally think the
consequences of these actions would be, as I would be diving headlong
into speculation that could easily (and should be) challenged.
1.
Immediately and totally stop all corporations from giving money to
political parties.
2.
Acknowledge that politics and religion do not mix well, for good or
for bad, and that the most powerful religious leaders tend to be the
worst ambassadors for their faith.
3.
Make a promise to our children: you will be well-educated, and you
will be treated when you are sick.
4.
Change the game. Capitalism is broken and must be replaced. Any time
you have less than 1% of America's population controlling the upper
99% of the cash flow, some legislated redistribution is clearly
called for (or maybe an executive order to that effect). We can start
with worker owned businesses instead of shareholder ownership. Public
business ownership will still exist, but smaller – such as a
cooperative – will be better in many cases.
5.
Take a page out of the Bible and just treat everyone else with some
genuine respect. If it was good enough for Jesus, it should be good
enough for you. Leave the gays alone. Leave the blacks alone. Leave
the Muslims or the Christians alone. When respect departs, enmity is
the next train along.
6.
Pay for it. Child labor is inexcusable. If it costs an extra ten
bucks, or extra hundred bucks, to buy something that was made by
willing workers, pay it. And the same goes for government. You want
health care? Pay for it. More troops? Pay for them. Tax breaks for
corporations? Not a chance, they have way too many of those already.
7.
Form coalitions based on issues, not parties. Not every NRA member is
anti-abortion. Not every tree-hugging hippie thinks that owning a gun
is wrong. When a party tells you how you should think, and what
issues should be thrown together into what bucket, you're a lot
closer to communism than you think you are.
8.
Buy American whenever possible. From what I can tell, the great
empires of yore – from Egypt to Rome to England – were
'first-to-market' with some manufacturing innovation or other, that
led to more innovations, and greater strides, that in turn led to
them becoming the largest producers of goods in their region. This
happened to the USA from the dawn of the twentieth century until the
'fifties. Then we began to transform into a service economy, just as
those others did. Producing goods is what is making China become a
world powerhouse, and if we are to compete, we must produce our own.
American goods are always equal to the best even though they are
almost never the cheapest, but if we are to reinstate our status as
the world's greatest country, we need to start by supporting our own
businesses and workers.
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