America needs a 21st Century Bill of Rights - an updating of the 1791 Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the American Constitution. The 1791 Bill of rights were intended to protect the rights of the citizens from potentially overpowering government authority. Now, 225 years later, a radically different world faces the American citizen who once again seems to be forgotten and de-prioritized (viz., "Citizens United") and where corporations are close to having the right to vote! America desperately needs to revitalize its commitment to its citizens' (the rights to a quality of life as the unique rights of actual living persons as contrasted to imagined 'rights' of abstract legal constructs). America must update its commitment to the 'Common Weal' (Common Good) - the right of an alive citizen to 'quality of life' (health, education and economic security) in the face of modern technology and global interactions.
Currently, in 2017, America has no plan to change itself regarding its neglect of the Common Weal, and more sadly, America seems to have something against self-examination and planning changefor the future, and seems stuck in place and losing ground. Amazingly, in many areas of the America and among a sizeable voting segment (the new nationalism), this American stasis or even reversing of history is something to be valued and pursued!
To provide insurance for the future, America needs an modernization program for its national air, rail and roads infrastructure. And America needs an industry modernization program to review, prioritize and plan in phases of short, intermediate and long term.
America especially needs a social makeover - a self-analysis and understanding of itself to finally resolve its racial (and gender) tensions even as America has become, increasingly, multi-racial and multicultural.
In all, America needs a self-examination, review and restart like never since 1791. While the 'first Bill of Rights intended to offset and balance the powers of the State, for nearly 150 years since the Industrial Revolution, deep changes have happened in America and the world around us while we have neglected the Common Weal. And, for almost 100 years since the 1940s, we have neglected our industry and the people who work in it. This is the crux of an August 14, 2017, Washington Post article by Seva Gunitsky who analyzes the spread of American Fascism in the 1930s.
Since 1791, times have changed...and radically changed. It takes a fool, or one who is deliberately self-delusionned, not to see this. Times have even changed substantially since 1950 which indicates that life is not waiting for the slow to catch up, whether individuals or nations. It is time to make national policy course corrections with a updated Bill of Rights and a 'Plan' for America's future (hopefully, a long term plan not just a 30-90-360 day profit-loss accounting).
America's 21ST Century Bill of Rights must emphasize self-examination and review, planning and implementation...for the immediate, intermediate and long term. This will be a 15-20 year program. (It could be a series of 10 year phases with major reviews each decade). This idea struck Pericles21 after reading today an excellent article that highlights America's current economic and social paralysis -our national, dysfunctional stasis - that compares our 2017 status with dynamic destructive forces of the 1930s. To 'break through this impasse, America needs a 21st century 'makeover' however difficult that might be...not to accomplish this will see America increasingly sink into the mire of past history as we beecome more and more clownish in our economic distress and our simplistic, bad political choices.
We need to catch ourselves up from long neglect of our quality of life, investment in our human resources (one-payer health coverage and subsidized higher education) and as well looking elsewhere while our antiquated industrial base rots away and dies out from neglect and our lack of planning for future industries and sources of employment. America needs a Bill of Rights for the 21st Century if America is to remain a global leader, have a stable, competent, satisfied (high quality-of-life), and invested citizenry, and be prepared to exist 50 years from now.
At the 'bottom' of this thought lie critical questions about America, and Americans, in the 21st century - how to measure national 'success', how to 'successfully' govern a modern nation and how to plan for its future, continued success?
These questions make up a set of choices:
where does the citizen rank in priority vs other institutions and measures of national ranking such as military might, industrial GNP and GDP, etc; does the 'Common Weal' (Common Good) come second to socio-economic hierarchy, the 'betters' of Old Country feudal ways, are Common Good programs (health, education and economic resources such as jobs) far secondary to military spending, or second to ...something(s) else? And what is a valid measure of a 'sucessfull' nation'?
America's seemingly has adopted a preferred measure of success, the national 'Profitability' metric (GDP, GNP, the various Stock indices, etc). But, profitability as a substitute for moral ethics (regard for the human element in the mix, without which there is no meaningful national purpose) is a sad, destructive substitution because it defines America as having little or no moral direction and implies minimal concern for its citizens relative to the rest of the planet's developed nations. An example of America's drifting about is its 200 year old, continued, unresolved moral paralysis about its racial history and current racial relations.
America's current prioritizing of 'profitability' indicates America has lost the Founders' 1791 regard for the Public Weal, the Common Good, the whole purpose of the original 1791 Bill of Rights. But, the concepts found in the 1791 Bill of Rights currently seem the whole purpose of havng a modern nation.
America must correct from its current dangerous emphasis almost wholly on military ascendancy. This change is especially important as the pace of life and the rate of changes in life especially are accelerating beyond our capacity to keep up, as a nation and especially its citizens.
And this acceleration of life seems (No! Does come!)from Washington, DC in the person of America's current, new POTUS (President) whose ever changing, randomly focused, capricious, vengeful, shifting and shifty personality is affecting Americans (even those who voted for him) and the rest of Earth's living creatures (as America, under new POTUS directives, has chosen to withdraw form human quality-of-life resource protective international accords, animal habitat preservation policies, water and air regulations, etc).
Our remaining industries are increasingly antiquated, or dreamed about as miraculously being born again, even though the rest of the world is replacing them with totally newer technologies, products, and services.
More time, it seems is spent crying for reincarnating our industry relics (eg, coal mining) and 'gold-strike' beating of chests over fracking and shale oil than developing fusion, wind and solar power. (Fusion power is so much a worthwhile goal yet one rarely hears about its development and/or funding, except in Europe, China, Russia, etc...in other words, the rest of the planet.
Why is America caught in this stasis condition - where there is no plan for the future of our industry (employmemt sources), education, a healthy citizenry to function in the new 'industries'? Imho, America is prevented from modernizing because America has been seduced, misled and deliberately derailed from modernizing by allowing (voting for) our national leadership to substitute a facade (false or at best, incomplete)way of judging value and success of programs, businesses and people by the measure of its profitability.
The measure of 'Profitability' over real ethics is a sad and destructive substitution because it says America has little or no integrity, moral direction and concern for its citizens and has lost the Founders' regard for the Public Weal, the Common Good - the whole purpose of the original 1791 Bill of Rights.
, with a dangerously abbreviated (but easy as heck to handle mentally) business 'ethic' of 'what's good for business is all we need to knowi.e. our capitalist 'milk cow' sentiments (don't invest in something s long as it's surviving and generating profits, and move to the next market when it dies).
America's new 'ethic' since Reagan or since Nixon, has been 'What's right for business, is what's right'!
Ideological resistance (current Republican Party) to the notions of the PUBLIC WEAL (from the earliest colonial times) and the general consequence of decades of, again by conservative ideology, economic impoverishment and dumbing down of the working American, Doubt the latter claim - then examine the purpose and result of America's 3 to 5 decade old policy of selectively thieving the ready-made, technical human resources of foreign countries rather than investing in improved math and science teaching, and free or subsidized education for American-born kids.
As for education, health and the general Common Weal of America's human resources, America has for 50 years cannibalized-by-neglect its own children.
And 'Thank you' that, Republican conservative ideologies mixed with bitterness from a lost Civil War!! There, it's said...one day America will heal itself from the left overs from the 1860s Civli War that supposedly, but not, ended going on 200 years ago!!!
Some day, perhaps not soon, and not soon enough, America will take the time and make the effort to ponder the effects of the Civil War, heal the wounds, salve the bitterness and face the future as a diverse, true equality for gender and race, multicultural, modern and united America - mutually tolerant and restored in dynamism...ready to look outward.
Meanwhile, 'Life' is now immensely more complex and becoming more complex at an accelerating rate of change..
For example, America's industry, what is left, is piecemeal a dwindling, unplanned, or even un-envisonned, set of 19th century fragments and dinosaur bones whose final deaths are being postponed by 'upgrades' (actually'delay' strategies destined to die away ...soon ).
America not only needs a 'Plan' for new industry (employment 'platforms' of whatever shape they might be sustaining a satisfying quality of life for everyone - either by a basic income for everyone, or minimally a basic Common Weal threshold..of health care and education. With those two 'basics' a small family can work at serving burgers yet have self respect and a future for its children.
Change is the new mantra and essence of life. Now, it seems we can only take a quick breath before the next 24 hours brings even more changes. Now we can best describe our lives in terms of change but no longer over a decade but in 24 hour cycles. We now must adapt ourselves to a new concept of 'second order' living where change is replaced by the need to cope with accelerated change, a rate-of-change. If one has been calculus-trained, this concept is familiar...when designing machines, jet planes, international space stations, etc. Never before have 'we' had to test our mental capacity to function like a machine under stress from a 'hard' accelerating pace of life. By 'hard acceleration, one means the substantive changes that are coming over not the next decade or even year, but tomorrow, literally.
And this acceleration of life seems (No! Does come!)from Washington, DC in the person of America's current, new POTUS (President) whose ever changing, randomly focused, capricious, vengeful, shifting and shifty personality is affecting Americans (even those who voted for him) and the rest of Earth's living creatures (as America, under new POTUS directives, has chosen to withdraw form human quality-of-life resource protective international accords, animal habitat preservation policies, water and air regulations, etc).
There is now a clear call for a new, 21ST CENTURY BiILL of RIGHTS and National Plan. Such a framework will serve to remove desperation and social instability and economic stagnation by installing three basic pillars of a healthy society...sound public education, a national long term economic plan for new industries (not just focused on benefitting the stock-owning class) and a one payer, universal health coverage. These programs, after 2 generations, will have created a physically sound workforce with minimal sick-out 'downtime', an educated citizenry prepared to adapt to, and invent, new global technologies, and make enlightened political choices, and overall a physically healthy, employed, positive society at peace with its diverse history and with a confident vision of its future as a modern nation.
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