Re-Establishing the United States

Has it ever occurred to anyone in government to step back, breathe, and reconsider trying to please everyone while only succeeding in pleasing no one? There are problems with this country – no doubt. There are problems with the infrastructure, immigration, employment, big business, and putting the country’s nose in places it doesn’t belong.

We are a country of 300 million people and no two of us agree on anything consistently presenting a reality of no one being happy with the outcome of anything our government has done. I believe that somewhere in there is a happy middle for which all parties and opinions can come to term but it is something that has to be worked for.

I am the first person to admit and voice my opinion regarding the handling of this country. I am also the first person to admit to voice disagreement with policies that appear on smaller scales because of the actions of our government over the last 50 years. I will even freely admit that sometimes I am wrong and that my opinion is based on my limited knowledge (after all, I don’t know everything). I am willing to stand corrected and to reexamine anything that needs further investigation on my behalf. That being said…

Education

I do not want to see our country evolve through a lack of education of mis-education. I do not like the dumbing down of our children or the lack of respect that they are taught. I do not like seeing history rewritten to appease those that it offends. Our past is what it is and is there to remind of the lessons learned from our mistakes; good, bad, or indifferent.

Immigration

Our country was founded on the immigration of people from other countries; our founding fathers were immigrants and descendants of immigrants. However, long ago there were rules put into play in order to handle newly arriving immigrants. Somewhere along the way we stopped enforcing the laws that regulated immigration status. Do I believe that we should close the borders? Yes, for a little while until we can re-establish and update the existing laws on the books. We then need to teach the people who deal with the incoming immigrants from the bottom to the top how to implement and enforce these laws. I have nothing against any person who wants to move to this country looking for a better life as long as they learn the language (as I am expected to learn theirs if I relocate to their country), obey the laws, and strive for citizenship without using their children as a way to gain a false version of citizenship.

Infrastructure

Our infrastructure is collapsing because we do not manufacture goods here anymore, not like we did fifty years ago. It is getting more difficult to buy American when everything is made overseas. In the little where I grew up there was once a shirt manufacturer, a button manufacturer, and a plastics company along with lumber mills, dairies, and mines. Our farmers actually grew crops instead of being paid to not grow them and people knew the value of a dollar and the satisfaction of a good day’s work. Somewhere, somehow we lost all of that. We allowed our industry to be shipped out of the country and started importing more than were made. Economists will be quick to remind you that we rate #2 on the exporters list, but are we exporting the goods that would better serve us here at home? The majority of our exports are culture and automobiles. It’s all well and fine to send McDonald’s overseas but it doesn’t serve a greater good. The United States doesn’t produce textiles, industrial foundations, or even equitable knowledge anymore. The majority of these items are requested from other countries.

Technology seemed to be an overwhelming invention that was supposed to make life easier and help the people working the jobs become more efficient. Instead we allowed the technology to eliminate jobs and replace industry. The rules that governed big corporations went lax allowing for them to export jobs and pay cheaper wages in countries with people that survive an a few hundred US dollars a month. People in other countries are not necessarily smarter than Americans just cheaper.

Employment

Should our government choose to think for a moment, they would realize that by encouraging to re-opening of manufacturing plants that several things would occur. First, there would be jobs again. Honest jobs that would be required to pay a fair wage that would allow people to live a beyond paycheck to paycheck. Second, the rules of education would change; instead of children dreaming of jobs behind a desk they would be taught skills that would help the country survive a worst case scenario. Third, by cutting back the money that is spent for imports we could begin to fix the financial mess that currently grips the country. Fourth, by making our country self-sufficient once again we have the opportunity to right our position and re-secure our standing as a world power and no longer be a fading starlet well past her prime.

Big Business

Big businesses and large corporations should be required to possess a majority of American employees. Laws should be put back in place that restrict the out of country outsourcing of manufacturing, business development, research and development, customer service, and the countless other items sent to other countries to be re-purchased back for use in our own. I understand that every business seeks to be profitable and it’s a good thing but it is hard to be profitable in a country that has no extra money to buy what you are selling.

There should be encouragements put in place to lead big business back into doing business in the United States, but there should also be fines and penalties for outsourcing over the limits. Furthermore, there should be clear, decisive separation between government and business. Government should not run private business and privates business should not run government.

Home

Instead of placing our noses in everyone else’s business, maybe we should stay out of it and work on our own problems. Our military was not designed and implemented to police other countries; it was designed to protect our shores and borders. Maintaining allies overseas is fine but trying to force other countries to beliefs and way of life is not fine. Some peoples have been warring for centuries and stepping in presuming to tell them the “proper” way to live does not settle disputes. The world is comprised of a multitude of cultures, religions, and values with none of them being any more right than any other. Every civilization develops and evolves at its own rate and cannot and should not be forced into a quicker evolutionary rate.

What makes us so presumptuous to believe that we can correct another country’s problems when we cannot seem to fix our own? We still have high crime rates, we have homelessness, we have hunger, and indifference. We have welfare and unemployment along with violence and racism. When did we become so evolved that we have the right to devote time and money to another country’s flawed system?

Before we can even begin to consider fixing the woes of the world we have to fix our own. When we have learned the lessons forgotten and the ones not yet learned only then can we be of any real help to others. Once we can stand proud as a country and state that we have defeated unemployment, financial support from other countries, hunger, homelessness, and reduced our crime rate to practically nothing, only then can we successfully offer help to other people without trying to convert them.

In Closing

For the sake of argument, I do not believe in forsaking technology; I’m rather fond of it. I am not stating that we totally ignore countries in need only that we can offer little help when our own country is broken. I do believe that our educational standards need to elevated and not brought down to the lowest common denominator as well as all classes in public schools should be taught in English. Immigrants that are seeking citizenship are required to learn English as part of their effort to achieve American status anyway, so why should we make special exceptions for their children. I further believe that citizenship not be a “given” just because you birthed child within this country’s borders. The child should be granted full citizenship at a certain age or when their parent(s) acquire American status, whichever comes first.

I believe that the government has let big business walk over them for too many years and dictate the direction of policy. If President Obama had placed even a fraction of the monies he gave to banks, Wall Street, and the automotive industry into restructuring textiles he would have provided jobs and helped to boost the economy. I do not believe that anymore funding should be allotted to businesses deemed “too big to fail.” Supporting a bad or outdated business model is just bad business in itself. I do believe that financial institutions should once again have regulations enforced and implemented to keep them from stealing the hard earned money of America’s working public. I do not believe that the government should continue raiding Social Security for whatever reason they choose; a system that would not be failing if it had been left alone.

I believe that if everyone would stop shouting and would take a moment to listen that we might find more in common than any one realizes. The majority of the parties want the same thing; a viable, functioning nation that provides a good home to millions without strife and desperation. The methods may be vastly different but the desired end result is the same.