Foundation for Better Government

The goal of this non-partisan Foundation is to present and invite ideas for improving the structure and the quality of government performance on a continuous basis. Every government must be responsive, responsible, efficient, economical, and free of corruption.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

TEENAGE AND THE VOTING RIGHT

 

TEENAGE AND THE VOTING RIGHT.
BY T.S. KHANNA, FEB 10, 2024,
FOUNDATION FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT,



On March 23, 1971, Congress proposed 26th Amendment to allow voting rights for the teenage. On July 1st, 1971, 3/4th of the states ratified the proposed 26th Amendment, lowering voting right from age 21 to 18.

The narrative used as the main argument to lower the voting age was: “if a citizen is old enough to fight in a war, he/she is old enough to vote also”.
The narrative sounds logical to the common man without being so. For carrying out orders to fight, a different mindset is required than to make an independent judgment for voting.

 

When our logic is not in order, the more of it we use, the greater is our cultural ignorance.

 

Now take a look at the non-partisan insight of the medical science of the teenage brain.

 

·       It is wired differently than that over the age of 22;

·       It is a confounding organ;

·       It’s quotient of grey matter --- neuron filled responsible for cognitive and emotional functions --- peaks only in age well into the twenties.

·       It is short on the white matter (cerebrum) that ensures coordination of various thoughts and emotions within the brain.

·       The connection between the frontal lobe and the rest of the brain does not fully form until the age 22 or more. Frontal lobe is the part of the brain with ability of foreseeing the consequences of one’s actions and the difference between good and bad.

·       Generally speaking, the young brain is the brawn that gradually ripens into brain with age.

 

We recommend that the minimum voting age should be raised to 25 years with certain prerequisites discussed elsewhere.

 

Sunday, December 31, 2023

NON-PARTISANS OF AMERICA: POLITICALLY HOMELESS By T.S.Khanna, DECEMBER 31, 2023.

 

Non-Partisans of America: Politically Homeless

By T.S. Khanna, December 31, 2023.

Foundation For Better Government

 

The two-Party political culture in America has fanatically divided the American polity making the non-partisans politically homeless.  In a mode of anger and vengeance, one can harm himself more than others.  Each party struggles to be in power, even at the cost of national interest.  Centrifugal social forces activated by rep democracy keep up the divisive stress on the society.  There is no centripetal force in government design, or otherwise in operation, to protect and promote the national interest.

 

Under the present political culture, America is hemorrhaging.

 

Moreover, there has been noticeable erosion in the American public character during the last few decades.  In democracy, it is the public character that keeps the quality control of elected officials and governmental operations.  Lacking quality is obvious in many of our elected officials.

 

Public character is destroyed with no or little liberty, or, with too much liberty and individualism at too young an age without appropriate guidance and discipline.  Here it is too much liberty.  Children brought up with too much liberty miss out on certain human values that generate sense of responsibility and social cohesion.  Eventually, it has an adverse effect on political climate. 

 

Still valid is the old saying: “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost something is lost; when character is lost, everything is lost”.

 

Fair solution to America’s internal political problems can be generated only by non-partisan mindset. The Congress and the President are urged to rise to the occasion and save the nation with a non-partisan mindset, giving national interest the highest priority.  

Monday, December 18, 2023

THE PIVOT POINT By T.S.Khanna, December 18, 2023.

 

The Pivot Point

By T.S. Khanna, December 18, 2023.


 

We have moved into a time of disbelief and distrust. Religions have turned into political parties.  Faith in God has changed its meaning to seek victory to dominate others.  Human intelligence has outstripped human wisdom.  Children are being taught to hate other religions. The trajectory of increasing hate content is going to fast replace the prevailing goodwill around the world.  The developing situation is likely to result into perpetual wars around the world.

 

Surrounded by modern weaponry and religious conflicts, we are living in an explosive time of constant floating anxiety and uncertainty.  Scientific progress without ethics is disastrous but there is no uniformity of ethics due to the religious differences.  Ethics-free power impulse of scientific wonders now have a scope to meet the demands of people with an easy ride to power in a religious conflict.

 

With an on-going inexorable scientific progress as well as religious conflicts, we are at a pivot point marked by both hope for a great future and a warning of a great disaster for humanity.  Transformative events are now compelling us to usher in a new worldwide civilization with universally acceptable common values.

 

Looking thru historical and current events, we can reflect with greater clarity and objectivity our values, our principles, and our experiences that have benefitted us or harmed us over the years.  We must reexamine our values for the sake of our survival.

 

The United Nations is the only representative organization of humanity that can logically undertake the responsibility of ushering in the worldwide civilization by resolving differences in religious values.

 

The UN may now be equipped with a Dialectical System to identify the religious values that cause conflict and may also be empowered to resolve them.  It is doable.

 

    

Sunday, November 26, 2023

SYNCRETIC RELIGION By T.S.Khanna, November 26, 2023..

 

 

Syncretic Religion

By T.S. Khanna, November 25,2023,

Foundation For Better Government,

164-Canyon Vista Place,

Alamo, CA-94507

 

In our hunger for knowledge, we float along with a wide variety of misinformation. 

“It is not what we do not know that hurts us.  It is what we know for sure that is not so”-----Mark Twain.

 

In the past, different prophets have perceived different ideal Gods and their edifices designed, including the hell and heaven.  In the process, they generated conflicting temporal and spiritual values, belief systems and customs.

 

Besides the perceived ideal Gods, there seems to be a practicing God who “often gives victory to the strong, crooked, and wicked; bestows wealth on the smart and intelligent; gifts superior living to the wise; gives courage without discretion to the foolish; gives optimism without insight to those in blind faith; gives an Overdose of morality and humility to the weak-minded; and, promises an illusion of heaven after death to the religion-obedient”.

 

Now in the advancing technology and changing culture, there seems to be a compelling need to minimize religious conflicts.  We need to scrutinize to the very roots of long-held, faith-based, cherished values, beliefs, and convictions with a purpose to rediscover, reinvent, replant and revitalize the conflicting values to shift their center of gravity within the acceptance range of modern people engaged in international affairs.

 

By softening and combining certain values, beliefs, and customs, we should be able to eventually evolve a Syncretic Religion, minimizing religious conflicts.  Imagine the positive effect of eliminating religious conflicts on humanity.

 

We urge the United Nations to initiate and complete this task.

 

 

 

Sunday, November 12, 2023

MUSLIMS' AND NON-MUSLIMS' PERCEPTIONS BY T.S.Khanna, November 12, 2023.

 

Muslims’ and Non-Muslims’ Perceptions

By T.S. Khanna, November 11, 2023,

Foundation For Better Government,


 

Quite often, public perception of certain groups of people or of happenings is developed thru short narratives or syllogisms, based on casual observations, not necessarily on true knowledge.  Negative perceptions, thus developed, are not necessarily of reality and cause public misunderstanding to a flash point.

 

Here, the purpose is to give sunlight to some of the prevailing perceptions or misperceptions so that they may be clarified at governments’ level for a better understanding between the Muslims and non-Muslims.

 

The perception or misperceptions are

·      Muslims believe in Shahada: There is no other God but Allah and Mohammad is the only Messenger of Allah.  It means, no other religion is recognized and all non-Muslims are non-believers or “Kafirs” (Arabic).

·      Muslim violence is driven by political ideology embedded in Islam: Muslims are soldiers of Allah and Kafirs are enemies of Allah.  It is the sacred duty of Muslims to capture, convert, or kill “Kafirs”---non-Muslims.

·      Jihad, involving killing, raping, conversions, to advance the power of Islam is rewarded in heaven.

·      Muslims believe that entire world population must be converted to Islam and eventually one Muslim Sultan will rule the world.

·      Women are denied equality with men: A Muslim can have four wives and may divorce any one at any time at his discretion.  Honor killing of women by male members of the family is morally accepted.  In order to “save women from promiscuity”, their organ is mutilated at a religious ceremony to diminish their sexual desire.

·      Under Sharia Law, in public view, women are stoned to death, men are beheaded, and thieves’ hands are cut off in full pain for adultery or apostasy.

·      The concept of Muslim-Brotherhood has been established and often referred to as a threat of Muslim unity against non-Muslims---Kafirs.

·      Islam cannot be separated from government: American type of Democracy, separating religion from government, cannot be acceptable in Islam.

 

United Nations is urged to bring tension causing perceptions in public for an open discussion to defuse tensions.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2023

BLUNDERS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY By T.S. Khanna, October 17, 2023.

 

 Blunders of American Democracy

By T.S.Khanna, October 17, 2023.

Foundation For Better Government,

 

History shows there are no permanent solutions to political problems.  The solution of one time can become a problem of another time.  The blunders being committed by the American Democracy are invisible to the people involved in the system operations.  They have become anesthetized to the sensitivities and the damage caused to the society by their routine operations and the two-party political culture they have developed.  

 

The Founders intended to make America (USA) a strong nation.  Currently, the nation is becoming weaker by the blunders committed inadvertently. Most of the problems are rooted in the barbaric freedoms without accountability; blind enthusiasm for equality; undefined and open-ended religious freedom, laying ground work for a future civil war; easy citizenship to foreigners and their eligibility to elected positions; and, absence of attention to defining, protecting, and promoting non-partisan American nation-building- interests.

 

Hereunder, the blunders, as we see, are pointed out.  Discussion of their causes and solutions has been excluded.

1.     Partisan President, bicameral congress, and the two-party system are dysfunctional and archaic.  Need a structural change in government.

2.     Deficit financing with a galloping debt and interest charges on the debt is nibbling the nation like a hidden termite.  Economists have warned that on the day of reckoning the dollar could collapse in value.  Governments are not charity institutions.

3.     Inability of the Government to protect its borders. Look at the past fifty years of party disputes, giving us out of control borders and estimated twenty million illegal immigrants. 

4.     No attention to improving the quality of elected public officials and voters.  There is a great need to revisit the Supreme Court’s ruling: “One-man-one-vote”.  The most deserving talent never gets a chance on elected positions.  What a loss!

5.     Allowing the Unions to highjack the economy by demanding wages in proportion to their power, ignoring the market value and competition.  Recent strikes by various unions are a reminder of Russia in 1919.  What is there to stop in America what followed 1919 in Russia?

6.     Look at our Income Tax Law; nearly 50% of the households escape paying income tax.  Some are being paid by the Government under the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program.

     Incidentally, top 1% of the taxpayers pay more than 44% of the total revenue and                 the bottom 50% pay less than 3% . 

7.     Easy availability of guns and weapons to the common man by selective interpretation of the Constitution by special interest groups, resulting in horrific and frequent crimes.  Now even the police officers are not able perform their regular duties without risk.  Where is the common sense?

8.     In Public Schools, kids grow up in an authority-defiance sub-culture, becoming hedonistic, ungovernable adults with difficulty fitting in an organized, disciplined society.  They are not developing the normal sense of obligation or loyalty for the family, friends or the nation.  Parents and teachers have abdicated their responsibility of proper care in the name of freedom of children. 

9.     Up until the 1960s, most of the immigrants were Europeans who were culturally transformed from Church-dependency to self-dependency during the Renaissance period.  Even the Founders emphasized self-dependency.  Since the 1960s, a significant number of non-Europeans have immigrated. 

However, the Government never programmed any cultural orientation requirements.  No wonder we see a significant expansion in social welfare program since the 1960s.

The size of taxpaying base should preferably not drop below 90% of the citizens.

     10.  The narrative:  “Diversity is strength of America”, has falsely gained currency in

America.  The reality is quite the opposite; the strength is in uniformity and unity.  Some diverse groups challenge even English as the national language and celebrate their old country’s independence day with a great gusto while passive on July 4th.   The diverse groups, unless brought in tune with the American political power, are weakening the American polity.

 

    

Sunday, August 27, 2023

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: QUALITY By T.S. Khanna, August 27, 2023.

 

Presidential Candidates: Quality

By T.S. Khanna, August 27, 2023,


 

Our current system of elections does not draw out the best candidates for public voting.  Voters can only judge the candidates for their oratory or looks, not on other qualities or qualifications essentially required for excellence in job performance.

 

To improve the quality of candidates, we need to adopt pre-requisites to qualify a person as a candidate for public voting.  Brief hints of areas for the candidates’ education, training, experience, personal and public character are indicated below to trigger the reader’s mind for more suggestions. 

 

Details of acceptable ideas may be worked out by analyzing the causes of the past presidents’ avoidable mistakes or missed opportunities.  Based on these studies, pre-requisites may be established and adopted for quality control of the candidates.

 

Suggested areas:

1.     Education: Political science; Sociology; Geo-political history of the world; Math; Economics; Budgeting; U.S. History; Various ethnic groups inhabiting the U.S., their religions and customs; Presidential manners, morals and social graces.

2.     Training:  One year understudy with the Military Chief of Staff.

3.     Experience:  One term as U.S. Senator and one term as governor of a state.

4.     Personal & Public Character:  Family life relationships; Personal character; Public character, credit rating (Keeping in mind that elected officials have a significant influence on American values and culture.  Ignoring this fact has caused a loss of good values that made America so great in so short a time).