I admit that I was wrong - well, early - in my interpretation of the 2008 election. At the time, I thought that we had already reached the point at which we now stand. In reality, American "voters" (i.e. idiots who spent far more effort watching reality TV and vetting fantasy football picks rather than vetting then presidential candidate Obama) elected Mr. Hope & Change without truly knowing his beliefs and intentions for our once great republic. Again, anyone with a brain and a few hours of research would have been able to learn what a truly unconstitutional figure Obama was and still is, in spite of a complicit media providing more covering fire than that provided by the U.S. Navy during the invasion of Iwo Jima. This time around, things were different.
Conventional wisdom said that there was no way that Obama could win re-election. The rules of engagement for presidential elections made it impossible, as long as his opponent was anyone short of Satan himself. There was simply no way that any sitting president could overcome an official unemployment rate at 7.9% - in spite of more administration manipulation than a year's worth of a Bangkok motel's happy endings, real under/unemployment at around 17%, gasoline at nearly $4.00 gallon, home heating oil well over $4.00 gallon and over five trillion dollars of debt accumulated over fours years (while hundreds of billions per year less was being spent on the wars that allegedly drove our climbing debt.) This didn't even begin to take into account things like Fast & Furious, Benghazi, unconstitutional edicts like amnesty for illegals and Solyndra.
Unfortunately, the conventional wisdom and the rules of engagement that we were using applied to America V1.0 This was the America that existed from the American Revolution until November 5th, 2012. This was the America where a majority of voters still believed in capitalism, personal responsibility and the Constitution. November 6th marks the birth of America 2.0. This is the America where a small majority of voters and an even larger percentage of Americans in general, have thrown in the towel and surrendered to European, secular socialism. This time, the electorate knew full well what Obama and the Democrat party truly represent, and resoundingly exclaimed: we want more!
What we witnessed was the final battle in a long war that begin with the socialist, progressive movement in the early twentieth century. There were many major battles along the way, and the left won all of them. FDR's socialist policies and programs, especially Social Security, was one. JFK's allowing government workers to unionize was another. LBJ's establishment of a general welfare state as well as Medicare and Medicaid, Ted Kennedy's pushing of the Hart-Celler Act "immigration reform" act, and finally, the pestilence known as Obamacare. Remember, the ultimate goal of the progressive elite is a world under the control of a single government, where everyone is equal - of course with the exception of themselves, who will become the ruling class that benevolently (in their twisted minds) rules the well-cared for serfs of the manor. Think Eurocrats running Huxley's brave new world.
With each of those major, and many minor battle victories, the left intentionally increased government control of and intrusion into our lives. With each bite of the American elephant, they increased the percentage of Americans dependent on them and decreased the percentage of those who were not. This was all done intentionally, with the goal of engineering the destruction of America V1.0. As they intended, we have now crossed the Rubicon where 50.1% have decided to vote themselves what the other 49.9% earn. Something predicted by many philosophers and historians throughout the ages. Going forward, the gap between those numbers will only grow.
So, what do we have to look forward to in America V2.0? Here's a hint: All of this has happened before; all of this will happen again. We need to look no further then Europe to see what awaits us. Massive government spending, massive debt (yes, even more massive than now), perpetual unemployment in the plus 15% range, out of control energy and food costs, and an ever growing bloc of users clamoring for a larger and "fairer" share from an ever shrinking bloc of producers. Fortunately, America 2.0 will not last anywhere nearly as long as America 1.0 for the simple reason that as Maggie Thatcher said: eventually, you run out of other people's money. It is the ultimate irony that the cost of achieving the tipping point of users and producers for which progressives have worked so long and so hard will ultimately lead to their downfall. Like a spoiled trust fund child inheriting his family's wealth at the tender age of nineteen, America 2.0 will collapse within one to two generations - at most.
Knowing how America 2.0 will fare, I would prefer to focus on what I have termed America 3.0 - a nation that will someday hopefully emerge somewhere on Earth, or if technological advances allowed it it, on some other world. My hope is that America 3.0 will look at America 1.0 as a shakedown cruise. A dry run from which to take the lessons learned and apply them to ensure that the abomination that is America 2.0 will never repeated.
To that end, I have some suggestions as to what some of those lessons are. They are in no particular order, and are dependent on what form of government an America 3.0 adopted, but they are based on the assumption of a Constitutional Republic, similar to the one enjoyed by America 1.0. A good starting point would be our original Constitution and bill of rights, as well as most of the subsequent amendments (with some obvious exceptions) and the adjustments needed to safeguard against the perversion of our Constitution that has occurred over the past 100 years. Note, an asterisk indicates that this would be a part of the new Constitution that could not ever be changed.
- Emphasize in the new constitution that it is a restricting document.* State explicitly that the document specifically details what the government being formed can and cannot do, and that anything not directly addressed within the constitution is out of the purview of said government.
- Eliminate the 18th and 21st amendments. They are obviously superfluous; no government should ever be in the business of controlling personal behavior.
- Eliminate (and prevent a facsimile of) the commerce clause.* The commerce clause is the most bastardized segment of the constitution, Virtually every single power and/or money grab that has been foisted upon the individual citizens of America 1.0 has been done so under the guise of this minor clause meant to grant the federal government the power to settle commercial disputes between states.
- Eliminate or modify the 16th amendment.* Taxes on incomes, salaries or wages should never be allowed. A government can obtain all of the funds it needs, for the tasks which it is constitutionally obligated to fulfill, from consumption and usage taxes. However, I could see allowing for such taxes under the following circumstances:
- There would be no withholding of any kind. Income taxes would be due on a certain day of the year, and taxpayers would have to feel the pain of making that payment in full, instead of the current system where the federal government takes an interest free loan on our backs and then placates the simpletons by giving them a "Free refund!" - of their own money.
- Elections would take place no later than two weeks after the day said taxes were due. People would make their electoral choices faced with the consequences of their previous actions.
- Anyone who was not required to pay income taxes in any one of the years (since the most recent election) prior to a given election, would not be allowed to vote in that election. If you are not pulling the wagon, then you should have no say in how heavy a load it will carry.
- The decisions and opinions of foreign courts may not under any circumstances be considered or referenced in any decisions made by any courts of any kind in America 3.0.* That this would even need to be codified helps explain our current predicament a great deal. Justices like Ruth Bader Ginsburgs invoking decisions made by courts in corrupt, pygmy nations is an abomination.
- Disallow organized political parties.* Yes, all off them. Too often politicians vote to support a party line. The loyalty of elected officials should be to their constituents.
- No more than one family member may be in the employ of any government, at any level at the same time.* The system of government hacks and patronage suckling on the teat of the taxpayers can be somewhat stymied in this way. What qualifies as a family unit is open to discussion but I would say it starts at grandparents through grandchildren.
- No more than one family member within four generations may run and hold office at any level of government.* This means that if John Smith becomes mayor, his great-grandchildren would be the first generation to be able to run and hold any office. If one of them happened to win, then another four generation waiting period would come into play for his or her line. Political dynasties and "royalty" are both un-American and anathema to freedom - the Kennedy crime family being the greatest example. Cheer up moonbats; under this system, Dubya would never have been able to run!
- Term limits.* Even the best-intentioned politician, when they remain in office long enough, fall into the trap of having to do things (see: spend tax dollars) to justify their re-election. The longer they are in public office, the more powerful the become, and the more damage they can do. Using our current electoral system for comparison, perhaps adding limits of twelve years to senators, and eight years to congressmen to the current ten year limit on presidents is a good example.
- Judicial restrictions.* Judges should not be lifetime appointments. While a long-term appointment of say fifteen or twenty years is reasonable. spending thirty to forty years removed from the real world and the consequences of their decisions is not. Predefined terms of service would also help curtail the practice of decrepit justices hanging on until a particular presidential candidate is elected. To prevent the same gerrymandered results due to early resignation by justices, any appointments to fill such vacancies would be temporary, though the end of the resigning justices, term. Also, judicial nominees can not have held elected office prior to their nomination, nor can they hold elected office after their terms end.
- No government employee unions.* No unions, guilds, etc, of any kind at any level of government. Ever. Do we really need to discuss why?
- A voting age of 25. This is a difficult one. An eighteen year old sent to to war should in theory also be able to vote for or against the politicians who decide the wars. At the same time, the lack of experience and knowledge of the young means that their decision-making logic is at best, flawed. Also, the age of that Rubicon varies through time. Two hundred years ago, an eighteen year old was already an adult, already experienced in the realities of life. Today, that age level is (scarily) approaching thirty.
- All tax increases of any kind would need to be approved by a three fifths majority of the legislative body, and whatever taxes are levied would need to be voted on every two years.* Imposing taxes should be difficult, not easy for government. Some might object that such short-term tax policies would make things difficult for people and businesses to do long-term planning. However the protection against the confiscatory and double taxation that we endure today far outweigh that inconvenience.
- No federal involvement in schools.* At a minimum. I would go as far as to say that there should be no government-run schools of any kind. The pathetic state of America's public schools despite spending (by far) more per student than any other country should be reason enough. Public schools are inefficient because as with anything government runs, government runs them poorly. Aside from efficiency issues, allowing the ability of government to indoctrinate children with a values system - of any kind - is too Orwellian. If communities do want to institute local public schooling, then they may vote to do so, but under no circumstances should a federal government ever have any say in the matter.
- Property tax freeze trade-off. This more likely a local issue than a federal one but it does bear mentioning. If property taxes of some kind are levied, than anyone who takes advantage of a freeze in increases (e.g. retirees at age 65) loses the right to vote on the expenditures paid for with those taxes.
- All federal laws must apply to government employees and politicians as well as citizens.* A legislative body should not be able to impose programs such as Social Security and Obamacare on citizens, yet escape the impact of such laws (yes, congress has its own, special retirement and healthcare programs.)
Sic semper tyrannis.
