Time for a Second Look By T.S.Khanna

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:

1. Communism; dictatorship with public ownership of wealth,
2. Fascism; dictatorship with private ownership of wealth,
3. Socialism; democracy with public ownership of wealth,
4. 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.