General premises
Purpose
The author, a citizen of the United States of America, paraphrases herein this synthesis the content of the book, Reforms, published in the United States. He wishes to exercise his freedom of expression, still in place, and warm everyone, that our nation is sick with a progressive corruption, which if not promptly cured, our American dream, our republican form of government, and our democracy may perish from earth.
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Premises
- This Nation created with the concept that all men are created equal, with liberty and justice for all, is sick with a corruption endemic. Benjamin Franklin anticipated such outcome two hundred and forty-four years ago when he said that, “we need a revolution every two hundred years because all governments become corrupt at that time.” We cannot deny that corruption infests our nation. The citizens of the United States (and of each nation) must act to reduce, eliminate, and ensure that corruption does not sickens the nation. This nation needs ethic and transparency laws for detecting, monitoring, capturing and punishing those who commit political crimes in the government. The cases of abuse of power and authority in the government and in police departments in the nation have grown out of control.
- The constitution mandates the people to form and more perfect union. Elected and or non-elected representatives of the people in the government ignore and violate the fundamental principles set forth in the declaration of independence, and in the constitution of the Union. Corruption is at every level of this nation, conceived with liberties and justice for all.
- There are obvious abuses of power and authority in the government and public institutions, departing from the path our founding fathers plotted for the Union and for all the people and our posterity. Clear evidence of abuse of power and authority highlights the weaknesses of our constitution, our form of government, and our democracy, driving our Union to its possible destruction. The presidencies of Donald Trump and Richard Nixon show those weaknesses, and the possibility that a strong autocratic president may turn the government into a despotic dictatorship or a monarchy.
- The political events in the last decades, or in the last four years, revealed injustices, rule of law violations, and embolden racism. The separation of power is broken, and presidential forces attack the freedom of press and public expression in the last years. We must reestablish that (1) the power of the people as the highest power of the nation, (2) no one is above the law, (3) the governments exist by the consent of the people, (4) the popular sovereignty is the will of the people, and (5) the people’s government must reform the constitution, the rule of laws, and the democracy as the evolution of the nation needs.
The Situation
- The current social, economic, and politic national situation is critical. Our nation is divided and the current executive power promotes the supremacy of a class of people. The idea to “Make America Great Again” has a hidden intention to further divide the people. The nation is going in the wrong and dangerous direction.
- Corruption in governments, like our US government, is a fact of life. Our current government is surrendering our freedom, democracy, and position to foreign adversaries.
- The republican party senate currently surrendered to the executive power, Trump presidency; thus, violating the separation of powers of our republican government. The executive power nominates Justices and federal judges clearly breaking de separation of powers.
- There is abuse of power everywhere, in city police departments, in the senate, in the federal government. Corruption is not new, but it is in the open since a few decades back. The president ordered federal forces to squash peaceful protest marches; and authorities kill citizens in the light of day. The presidencies of Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump painted an ugly reality.
- The people is tired of injustices, social and economic gaps created aided by the government. The law is applied in different ways to different people, and those rich, famous, and powerful buy justices. Social and economic gaps grow wider every day. We cannot deny this situation. Cases like that of Rodney King, George Floyd, and many others are evidence of injustices. The economic gaps widens with increasing cost of living, and the homeless population grows throughout the nation. The minimum salaries levels are not just, the equal pay for equal work is not applied to women, the access to health care, as the access to education, is not equal for all. There is no national tranquility, there is no general welfare, and without these there is no equal opportunities. The pursue of happiness is just a mirage.
Failures
Our Union, government and democracy, are failing and will continue to fail if we, the people, fail to reform our constitution, if we fail to reduce, eliminate and insure against the reoccurrence of corruption. The governments does not satisfy the six constitutional mandates written in the preamble of the constitution, since 1776, which are (1) form a more perfect Nation, (2) establish Justice (for all), (3) ensure national tranquility, (4) tender the common defense, (5) support general welfare, and (6) secure the benefits of freedom for us, the people, and our posterity. These failures are not in the system itself, the people’s representative’s unwilling to form a more perfect Union cause the failures. Corruption in the government supports or feeds these failures. Failure to reform the constitution, the fundamental idea of a perfect Union—Life, Justice, and the pursue of Happiness—will disappear in the mirage of general welfare—politicians want us to believe—.
Equality
The constitution envisioned and said that all men are created equal with certain inalienable rights, Life, Liberty and pursue of Happiness, but these rights are a mirage of the American dream. Condition of inequality is man’s evil ego’s attitudes—selfishness or egotism—, interfering. Equality in the United States is not real; some colonies kept citizens in slavery for a long time. People kept hidden hate, thoughts and feelings of class supremacy, frequently showing in public with murder. The government fails; equality is a mirage. Rousseau said, “it is precisely because the strength of things always tends to destroy equality, so that the force of legislation must always maintain it.” This is why we need to form a more perfect Union. Benjamin Franklin said in 1776, all governments become corrupted with time.
Constitutional Reforms
We have critical constitutional issues, which need reform for a more perfect union. The author synthesizes the reforms necessary, according to his analysis of the current situation. He, therefore, lists in this book and describes some of these critical issues, establishing:
- total separation of powers: We must eliminate the president power to nominate candidates judges to federal courts and justices to the Supreme Court; this power uniquely belongs to the people.
- true equality: Equality is an inalienable right endowed by the Creator to all men on earth; so, we must (1) provide true equal opportunity for all, (2) eliminate discrimination, racism, (3) allow equal access to education and health, and (4) foment sustainable general welfare.
- a nation free of abuse of authority and power: The government is responsible to establish national tranquility; the constitution must set laws to categorize high crime violations. We find (1) president Trump and president Richard Nixon’s actions obstructing justice, hiding and concealing evidence and documents, ignoring the power of congress, (2) police brutality across the nation; recent cases show evidence of these, like the cases of Rodney King and George Floyd, and many others.
- reliable Justice for all: The constitution considers that all men are created equal, having inalienable rights endowed by the Creator, Life, freedom, and the pursue of Happiness. The government fails to foment and sustain a society free of discrimination of minorities, fails to allow equal opportunities, and fails to service justice on equal terms for all.
- permanent and effective impeachment procedures: The constitution does not have, but must include, clear procedures for impeachment and trial, and must offer a clear typification of high crimes and misdemeanors, defining standard procedural rules that political parties cannot change at will (for any reason), including clear process to detect and punish the high crimes and misdemeanors.
- total general welfare: The government fails to foment, establish, and maintain the constitutional general welfare, as long as (1) homelessness and social-economical gaps and differences exist, (2) as long as ninety nine percent of the population owns one percent of the national wealth and the one percent owns ninety nine percent of the wealth, (3) as long as college education is not free or affordable to the ninety nine percent of the population, (4) as long as the principle of “equal pay for equal work” is not enforced, minorities are underpaid, the minimum wage and salaries is insufficient to meet the national standard of living, and women earns seventy percent of what men earns doing the same job.
- infallible truth that the popular sovereignty: The constitution must clearly state that the will of the people and national sovereignty, is the maximum power and authority of any nation, and the governments only exists with the consent—the will—of the people.
- Remove or reassign the militia: The militia, born with the intent to legalize and defend the possession of arms during the independence movement and war with the British crown, concluded its purpose, and it is now obsolete. The current militia is not structured militarily, trained, and do not offer a reliable defensive element to the nation or to any state. The possession of heavy, automatic, warfare weapons by non-trained citizens is a danger to the public (national tranquility, national defense, and general welfare). The constitution must address this issue immediately, and or sanction to remove the militia, or hierarchically relocated under the national guard component of the national defense.
- True participative democracy: As long as political parties create their own (biased) government program, people is excluded from participating in the governing process. We, the people, based on our popular sovereignty have the right and duty to determine what the government have to do, every presidential period, to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, foment the general welfare, and manage the benefits of liberty.
Until we, the people, implement these reforms, the corruption in the government corruption will continue growing and the Union may perish.
The author
