A Not So Perfect Union
...chools. The framers of the United States Constitution made no room for political parties because they believed such parties were a source of corruption and an obstruction to the freedom of people to judge issues using their own values. It was thought that one party could be able to seize power of the government if it became strong enough, much like the Nazi party of Germany that Hitler had belonged to. Within a short time though, the Federalist Party, which favored a strong federal government, and the Republican Party, that favored a limited federal government involvement in economic affairs, were formed. As new parties came into existence and older ones lost popularity, it became clear that they all had one thing in common; they wanted power. To hold the majority in Congress and have one of their own as president became their main concern, not the well-being of the American citizens who had entrusted the same government officials to protect their rights. It is only common for people with similar beliefs and outlooks on life to stick together, but opposing viewpoints should be used to better our society. Instead of using differences of opinions against the other party, they could be using opposing viewpoints to settle conflicts reasonably. Currently in the United States government, Republicans, the party that holds the majority in both houses of congress, are threatening to ban filibusters, the use of obstructionist tactics, especially prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action, because Democrats will not approve of several judicial nominees. Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to get these judges into the Supreme Court because they would gain even more political power, scary thought isn’t it? If the filibuster is eliminated, 200 years worth of checks and balances would be thrown away just to get judges on the bench who previously could not achieve approval from both parties. While Congress is occupying itself with such petty manners, there are still the matters of the almost pointless war we’re fighting, the energy crisis, and the fact that man kind is destroying itself. Nearly all of the citizens of the country would agree that these issues are more important to our country than determining how powerful one political party would become. Although the United States of America is among the richest and most prosperous countries in the world, there are still many problems in this great land that are supposed to be solved by the government, as stated by the Constitution. Violence is one of the main problems in the world, but statistics show more homicides occurring in American than any other “uncivilized” country in the world. In 1996, the murder by handgun rate in Germany was 211, 15 in Japan, 30 in Britain, and 9,390 in our great country. These are figures that should not be tolerated by the innocent citizens dealing with this violence. Police forces hired to serve and protect have become a separate power that stages a war against ordinary citizens; rarely taking into account whether or not a person’s speeding was caused by their criminal intents or an honest mistake; making them more than happy to fill their quota book in order to meet their monthly requirements of offenders. In this time of poverty and destruction around the world, America gives away only .1% of our $8 trillion gross national product to those less fortunate. Greedy people in our society are frowned upon and labeled as Scrooges, yet Americans wonder why many countries in the world despise us. Much of the money that goes to our government is spent on building more weapons, while many countries that came close to rivaling us have begun disarming and reducing their amount of weapons. The arms race of the Cold War was senseless, but the idea of a one-country race is absurd. The United States of America produces the most pollution in the world, yet only 5% of the earth’s population lives here. Heavy industries are not to blame, having the strictest of regulations on their pollutants released. American pollution comes from the consumers, the wasteful citizens who consume more products then the rest of the world and think they did their part because they tossed a few aluminum cans in a recycle bin. All of these problems could easily be solved if the American Government would put its foot down and do its part to protect the governed. It is stated in the United States Constitution that if citizens become unhappy with their current form of government, they have the right to abolish it and start over. This may be a drastic solution, but it is proof that the founding fathers indicated that it is ok for the governed to stand up and fight for what they believe in, even if it went against their government’s wishes. Today when a person opposes the government they are seen as unpatriotic, even as terrorists. Are these labels just ways of preventing changes in the government? Many people in this great country see the decline of our government, yet they do nothing to stop it. C...