POLITICAL CRISIS IN AMERICA By T.S. Khanna, February 14, 2020.

Foundation For Better Government,

Political Crisis In America

By T.S. Khanna, February 14, 2020.

American political crisis is rooted in the wide gap between democratic ideals and their practice.  In the 1770s, the Constitution was adopted on certain assumptions of expected democratic behavior of people then living under oppressive conditions.  Since then, there has been a significant gain in knowledge of human behavior under democratic conditions.

The empirical knowledge of human behavior under democratic conditions does not support the assumptions of expected behavior of people.  As a result, Congress is not able to harmoniously accommodate the diverse rival interests.  In fact, representative democracy and elections emphasize differences among people, generate hate and set in centrifugal forces within the society that keep dividing people into smaller and smaller segments of non-compromising diverse interests.

In the process, we have discovered the recipe for dividing people: Representative democracy +Bill of Rights, without attendant obligations +Elections with freedom of speech without accountability+ Media freedom for advocacy journalism.

Our prevailing ignorance about the adverse effect of certain individual freedoms on the society is endorsed by the slogan, “Democracy is the best form of government”, implying there is no room for improvement.

Since the 1950s, solution for every political problem has been more democracy without identifying-monitoring the adverse unintended effects of the individual “Natural Rights” on the society as a whole.

In political circles, democracy has gained popularity as opioids have gained popularity in medical circles.  Each is addictive and becomes a problem bigger than the one it intended to treat.

More and more people are becoming undisciplined, disconnected, intolerant, irresponsible, disrespectful to lawful authorities, ignorant, easily incite-able, and ungovernable.  Government has become a children’s playfield for elected officials to compete in turf by temper tantrums and fabricated facts, ignoring the public interest that finances it.

Political conditions have been deteriorating since the 1960s.  Now we have reached a point from where we can see that democracy is not panacea to all social ills and the problems created by democracy cannot be solved by democracy.

What we are experiencing now is portentous of what is likely to be much worse ahead.  It does not have to be a Cassandra to see what is ahead.

Our preliminary search for a solution indicates that the prevailing political crisis is not resolvable by the solutions available under the Constitution: Hospice condition.

As a starter, two measures are suggested to evoke interest among political leaders, political thinkers, and well-wishers of the Nation:

MEASURE 1. Modify the Government Structure:

Create a15-member, non-partisan Supreme Council to be elected at national level on a six-year term; with highest two vote getters serving as president and vice president of the Council. Abolish the Senate and the President and the Vice President positions and transfer all responsibilities and powers to the Supreme Council.

The Supreme Council may take all political decisions.  The House of Reps may act as an advisory body to the Supreme Council.

The Supreme Council may adopt national goals and political parties may compete in pursuit of those goals rather develop their own agendas.

MEASURE 2.  Quality Control of Public Officials and Voters:

Adopt prerequisites for candidates to qualify for various elected positions laying emphasis on personal character, public character, and knowledge requirements for the job.  All candidates for elected positions may be citizens by birth between the age of 30 and 70 years and must have paid income taxes for at least five years.

Adopt prerequisites for voters as well laying emphasis on personal character. Voters may be citizens, 25 years or older, must have paid income taxes for at least five years.  Voting rights of felons and those on social welfare may be suspended.

                      Details to be worked out on request.
NOTE:  No political philosophy or solution has a permanent shelf-life.  The suggested measures, if applied today, will also wear out after some time.

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