I think we're in a depression. Is that a straightforward enough a statement?
Let’s stop with the economic recovery talk that has characterized the Bush and Obama administration. We are in a depressions. It's global! The Bush “economic miracle” only worked for the very rich and the super rich (and some of them were slightly hurt by the housing and stock crashes), and the same policies have been carried over through the Obama administration, which is really a moderate Republican administration devoted to the status quo of the plutocracy, despite some masking rhetoric and the attempts of the fanatical Republican right to paint Obama as a liberal ogre (simple racism there).
For the middle class and the poor, there had been no hint of economic success for the past eight to ten years. Jobs have disappeared, income has stagnated, and retirements have disappeared in the collapse of the housing and stock markets and the assault of labor unions. The minor growth of the economy over the Bush-Obama period has been the result of statistical tergiversation and the amassing of wealth by war profiteers related to the two major wars that have occupied the period (and now the third war that Obama has added). A major mismanagement was throwing money at the banks and big companies that had the bad debts. This all started in the Bush administration and was continued by the Obama administration. There are two important issues with the depression that must be addressed: our military and our civilian economies.
Our military adventurism must end unless we pay for it as it occurs. Military actions must become part of the standard budget. Our occupation of foreign lands and nation building through force need to end and to be replaced with instant recognition and verbal and financial support for those who would overthrow the oppressive regimes in their countries. For instance, we must now remove our troops from Germany, Japan, and Korea, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq. Our foreign and military policies need to be completely rethought to support organizations that build social democratic republics and stop any support of repressive regimes and fanaticism. Long-time allies who have military regimes should no receive are support in any way without making significant reforms. Military aid must be reduced to a minimum. Change is mandatory in both state department and defense department policies and attitudes. Pakistan, Iran, India, China, and North Korea will have to do without any threats of U. S. military intervention.
On the military economic side, we must stop subsidizing the economies of Germany, Japan, Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq. By stationing hundreds of thousands of soldiers and military support organizations in foreign countries, we are providing support in two ways: 1) our soldiers spend their income in local markets, creating support for local economies; and 2) the presence of U. S. soldiers provides enough security so that the country hosting them does not have to maintain as much military or police force. In addition, we must also stop subsidizing the major corporations that have provided support for the military overseas. While I do not see a need to reinstitute the draft, I believe that all Americans should provide a period of service to the country, and one avenue for that service should be in the military for those who qualify.
As a temporary measure, the U. S. needs a Civilian Service Corporation (CSC) to invest in schools, infrastructure, cities, arts, national parks, and, in some cases, international projects. No one in the country should be unemployed or unemployable; there are too many things that need to be done. The CSC would have to be a quasi-military organization that provides skills and jobs to every person for a required period of three years for 17-25 year olds who do not qualify for the military or do not want to join the military and for those older unemployed who would normally draw unemployment checks. The jobs for the CSC would include those that are needed but not being covered by other governmental, private, and military organizations. The CSC would also build an officer cops skilled in training/retraining and deployment of CSC workers. Certainly some of the CSC workers would provide day-care (after appropriate training) for the children of those fully employed by the CSC and the military. Pay for work in the CSC would be low, but participants would be housed and fed, learning skills and a work ethic that would become necessary in their post-CSC careers.
Solutions for the civilian economy must include a restructuring of the nature of government work and legislation in the U. S. We have gradually built governments that rely on huge numbers of employees at the federal, state, and local levels. Our part-time legislators spend their time arguing and posturing for re-election under the guidance of staff and lobbyists. Several priorities need to be considered to make this change comprehensive: 1) increase the number of representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives to one representative per 1000 voters, to encourage states to get more citizens engaged in voting; 2) increase the number of Federal senators per state to 10; 3) do away with most of the Federal and state government departments and workers, so that our representatives will have to take up these positions, for instance, maintaining safety of food would require elected representatives to inspect food; 4) change the voting procedures on Federal and state laws to require a vote of three-fourths of the people using the internet and an automatic review of the supreme courts on the constitutionality of any law; 5) mandate the Senate and the House (on the Federal level) and outer legislatures to propose legislation (on which the people vote) and budgets (on which the people do not vote); 6) greatly expand the supreme court with justices elected based on specific qualifications for two terms of ten years; 7) build a temporary Civilian Service Corporation to invest in schools, infrastructure, cities, arts, national parks, and, in some cases, international projects; 8) repeal all laws that require more that five pages of text (12 point font); 9) simplify and streamline the tax and judicial code; 10) remove all legislation that targets moral issues between consenting adults, expect for taxes on such products and activities, for instance, all drugs should be decriminalized and taxed; 11) add a Constitutional amendment forbidding the regulation of sex acts between consenting adults and granting equal rights to all individuals regardless of gender and sexual preferences; 12) make voting on legislation contingent upon knowledge of the legislation and its consequences are evidenced by participation in online forums related to the legislation.
These reforms are designed to put more of the power back in the hands of the people and to make legislators much more accountable for their actions. In addition, only those knowledgeable on issues should be allowed to vote on them, rather than the current automatic ability to vote on everything enjoyed by elected representatives.
We need to get out of this depression. The economic policies of the Bush-Obama administrations have failed to get us back to work. We need something very different. So let’s work towards restructuring our whole government.
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