Foundation
for Better Government
(www.bettergovt.blogspot.com)
May 2, 2012
Time for a Second Look
By T.S.Khanna, May 2, 2012.
History of
civilization is, in great measure, the displacement of the prevailing “truths”
and replacing them with new “truths” of those in greater power. The new truths are used either to capture the
less powerful or to overthrow those in power.
For social
stability, some belief system is necessary based on the truth in currency. Under different types of belief systems,
humanity has experienced four types of governments in recent history:
- Communism; dictatorship with public ownership of
wealth,
- Fascism; dictatorship with private ownership of
wealth,
- Socialism; democracy with public ownership of
wealth,
- Capitalism; democracy with private ownership of
wealth.
Out of the four
systems, capitalism in the USA has shown the greatest success in human freedom,
in scientific progress, and in uplifting the standard of living of the common
man. Never before in history, had the
common man enjoyed such a high standard of living and the quality of life as in
the USA. The system has continuously
provided wealth producing incentives, opportunities and rewards for those willing
to work.
However, now even
this system has started showing signs of fatigue.
Those who hold
the US Constitution in veneration, accredit it for early American success. However, history supports the view that the
political mindset of the Anglo-American people, ripened prior to settling in
the USA, was the real cause of success as it intersected the opportunities.
They established their own economic and political norms for their new pattern
of struggle; freedom of action, personal responsibility, self-reliance, pride
in work, pursuit of excellence in competition, and courage to explore new
resources. The constitution, in words
and spirit, was in rhythm with their mindset.
Unfortunately,
now some segments of the large and diverse population in the country are not in
rhythm with the constitution. The
constitution warrants a second look.
To ignite
political thinkers’ mind, a few points are discussed hereunder.
Among the
premises of the 1770s reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill
of Rights (first ten amendments), the then prevailing “truth” of human
equality, and human rights were asserted in the constitution without attendant
obligations.
Experience
indicates that while as an ideology human equality is highly appealing, it has
its adverse effects as well. The
conviction of human equality has become the main cause of revolutionary
feelings. People with less wealth do not
tolerate others having more than theirs.
Those who conceive themselves as more deserving because of their harder
or smarter work do not tolerate the idea of sharing their wealth equally with
the non-deserving or the less-deserving.
These feelings
generate both revolutionary and socialistic forces. One-person-one-vote is also a corollary of
the “truth of equality”. The “truth of equality” has certified moral
equivalency between the most wealth producing and the least wealth producing
people. This has now become the cause of
discontent rendering more and more people ungovernable. In fact, this is catching on around the
world.
Among all living
species, societies are hierarchical with inequality, not flat with
equality. People are born with varying
levels of energy, intelligence, potential, and looks. Logically, they cannot be equated and placed
on a Procrustean bed. In fact, mindset
of equality delivers inequitable justice by treating the unequal equally.
The emphasis
should be on equality of opportunity, not on human equality.
Freedom of thought,
speech, expression, action, and privacy are essential for the development of
mind. However, unregulated and unlimited
freedom at an immature age can eventually turn the society into a human jungle. Freedom works best in the culture of
discipline and integrity. Using freedom
as a justification, parents and teachers have abdicated, for quite some time,
their responsibility in teaching discipline and integrity to the children. The result is evident.
The Right to bear
arms by every citizen was a reaction to the fear of no protection against the
government forces of King George III at the time of the adoption of the
constitution. This Right is now a great
boon for the criminals and would-be criminals.
In no other country so many people get killed in schools and on
trivialities as in the US. It has robbed
the school children of their innocent pleasures of their years.
Fifth Amendment,
regardless of its original intent, has become a sanctuary for the criminals and
the corrupt from being convicted. Investigation
of facts and truth, are obstructed by such individual rights at the cost of
justice.
In the absence of
any constitutional provision protective of classic human values, the Supreme
Court judges, with their training of “blind justice”, have used the “equal
protection under the law” clause in equating the best of human culture with the
worst of human nature. This has resulted
in departure from the commonly expected decency in human behavior and language
toward pornography resented by all decent Americans.
Distrust of power
prompted the Founders to divide the power into three branches of government. They further divided the Legislative power
into two branches. The Legislative power
divided into the Senate and the House representing diverse populations now
creates gridlocks and deadlocks at a great public expense. At the time of adopting the constitution, no
such problem was anticipated and no organization was designed in the system to
resolve the gridlocks and deadlocks in Congress. Some non-partisan organization seems
essential with powers to resolve gridlocks and re-establish social cohesion in
the nation.
When we emphasize
individual rights, without attendant obligations towards the society, we create
a self-splitting society. Individual
turfs grow, deadlocks are created, and even the families start splitting. The family relations have become the weakest
in American society compared to others.
These few
examples are indicative of the need to take a second look at the constitution
to protect this great nation from the disastrous abuse of the constitution by
the population not in tune with the spirit of the constitution.
