If you were to ask the average US Citizen they would say that the United States was formed based on the idea of freedom. At first this meant freedom from taxation without representation in parliament. After that the idea of freedom in America took on a life of it's own. People wanted Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of the Press, etc. But, how have we as a modern American society managed to stand up to our ancestor's vision of America? The answer is complicated. In terms of Freedom of the Press America is tied for 9th behind 20 other countries (1). However, in terms of Freedom of Religion we are doing much better. We are ranked 4th in terms of government restrictions on religion(2). In terms of social hostilities based on religion we are ranked 4th as well. The areas which I find most interesting, however, are not the traditional freedoms of which we think. I'm more interested in freedoms of choice. How free are we to choose for yourself what we like to do. Personally, I feel that as long as one is not directly bringing harm to others. The government should stay out of one's personal affairs. For example, if a man chooses to shoot up heroin I do not feel as if the government has the right to dictate to that man what he can do in his own time. This is obviously an extreme case, but one which I do feel strongly about. This man has harmed no one other than himself with his vice, and if he handles himself properly will harm no one else. Obviously if one looks only at drugs the US is not best in terms of freedom, however things are changing. Medical pot is becoming more and more socially accepted (3), however, this is a topic for another blog. My main point is that in terms of freedom of choice America isn't bad. We may not be able to walk down the street naked or snort cocaine in public, but we also don't have any state mandated beliefs, women are free to lead the lives they wish to live, and we are allowed to choose which form of artistic expression we absorb. The choices we are free to make far outshine the choices we are not allowed to make, and the choice which aren't currently legally allowed are being fought for by others.
When it comes to voting I'm a talking contradiction. I believe that everybody should vote but have no plans to vote in the immediate future (the reason I choose not to is personal and I do not wish to go into detail on it here)
. Not only that, I believe that every citizen in a democratic society should be obligated to vote even though this flies in the face of my beliefs on freedom of choice. First let's examine mandatory voting. Currently there are 32 countries which have a mandatory vote, of which 19 actively enforce the mandate (4). Egypt for example has a law requiring all men to vote, but does not actively enforce the law. In a pure democratic society the government is merely an extension of the public conscious. If the majority of the public wishes for speed limits to be eliminated then this is what the government does. Obviously, at the moment this kind of response, and understanding, is impossible, however, perhaps the way to get closest to this ideal is with compulsory voting. When an average of around 50% (5) of the population turns out to a presidential election how can we be sure that the president is truly reflective of the nations desires. The pros and cons of compulsory voting are well documented (6), and the decision I've come to is that I would prefer compulsory voting with little to no enforcement. In my view this would help increase voter turnout, with a minimal limits on voter freedom. Obviously, this is an untested thesis, but one which I feel has some merit. The only other issue I have with the American electoral system is the American Electoral College. In this day and age the entire concept of the electoral college seems outdated. With the advent of digital, well, everything why we can't digitally tabulate votes to determine presidential elections boggles the mind. I understand people's fears of tampering, but also feel that a technologically advanced society such as ours would be able to come up with effective anti-tampering measures. Voting is an essential part (some would say the essential part) of any democratic society. As of 2008 The United States is the 18th most Democratic Country in the world (7) with the electoral process, political participation and civil liberties being three of the deciding factors. Clearly there's room for improvement.
Foreign policy is clearly one of the most controversial topics in America; especially during the Bush years, and during the 2008 election. This would probably be my least favorite aspect of the US Government. It's not totally that the US interferes at all on a global scale, but also the fights which the US chooses. For example, not only have reports shown that Saddam Hussein had given up on WMD creation in the mid 1990's (8)(documents found after the war that is), but it's also true that no clear link has ever been found between Saddam Hussein's regime and the 9/11 attacks (9). I just believe that America can choose it's battles better. I've detailed in an earlier blog the atrocities being committed in Darfur, but one must not forget the resources used in Iraq which could have been used in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. There's also the issue of American soldiers stationed in foreign countries. In 2004 there were 116,400 units stationed in Europe (10). I can't say I know the specifics of these arrangements, but I would like to see studies examining how necessary these arrangements are. Shouldn't our goal as a country be to get as many of these men and women home to their families?
Thomas Jefferson wished for an agrarian society. That is, a society in which the economy was based on farming and the federal government had little to no involvement in the matters of the individual. Obviously, an agrarian society is one which is just not possible at this point. Technology has advanced too far for an agrarian society to exist. However, the idea of a minimalist federal government (on an individual level) is still a possibility. This idea is an extension of the idea introduced in the first paragraph; the idea that we limit the federal government's power to dictate our actions. However, I also believe in the federal government's power to more strictly regulate the economy. I believe in higher taxes on the rich, stricter regulations on banks, and corporations, and even a bit of redistribution of wealth. For too long, I feel, the government has allowed the corporations in America to run amok. Just this past year, for example, GE managed to not pay any taxes to the US government (11). In fact they profited during tax season. This is bad for everyone. GE generated 10 billion dollars worth of income last year, and the taxes on this could have helped to fund floundering US businesses. From another study:
"The Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined samples of corporate tax returns filed between 1998 and 2005. In that time period, an annual average of 1.3 million U.S. companies and 39,000 foreign companies doing business in the United States paid no income taxes - despite having a combined $2.5 trillion in revenue."
America is not a perfect country. In fact, there is no such thing as a perfect country. When I look at America I see it's faults, and how I think these faults could potentially be changed; in this way I show my patriotism for America. I believe patriotism is the act of recognizing a country's faults, and then attempting to improve them. This is not to say that I wish for America to be No. 1 at everything, or even No. 1 at anything. It's more that I see room for improvement and if I can I would like to help America on it's way towards improvement. All of this has not stopped me from wondering about life outside of America. Canada seems nice; Scotland seems beautiful and is the land of some of my ancestors; Denmark is the happiest country on Earth; the English have awesome accents. All of this is true, but for now America is where I will be for the foreseeable future.
No comments:
Post a Comment