Our republic seems perilously close to its decadent phase, in which anonymous bureaucrats of a bloated central government connive with political demagogues to establish a tyranny in which they think they will rule forever. They are wrong about the last bit of course, but their actions may well destroy the country we know and which most people who don’t think like Ilhan Omar love, for the best of reasons.
It seems like the time for modest corrections is past. In light of the corruption of our educational system and one of our major political parties being seized by advocates of racial segregation, social division, and denial of the nation’s nature and history, only radical revision will serve.
Let’s begin with citizenship. The era of birthright citizenship is over. We no longer have a continent to fill up, nor an economy that grows at a rate which would support the unlimited illegal entries we are now witnessing. Instead, at a predetermined age – 21, say – citizen candidates would take a test of 30 questions drawn at random from the citizenship exmination now given to immigrants who have gone through the process to become citizens. A passing grade should be 27. Those who pass could step forward and pledge their allegiance to their country. Those who do not pass would be eligible for a retest in two years. In the meantime they would be legal residents with all the legal protections, but none of the privileges, of citizenship. Any candidate could take the test four times. Six years’ military service would substitute for a successful test score.
Voting should change as well. Henceforth, only those citizens who own property should vote. Husbands and wives who own real property in common and those businesspersons whose holdings sum up to an agreed-on value would legally be considered property owners. The principle is straightforward: henceforth, if one doesn’t have skin in the game, one doesn’t have a say in how it’s played. The era in which politicians could bribe some voters with money taken from others should be over.
Note that neither of the above restrictions poses an insurmountable obstacle either to citizenship or to voting. Rather, they encourage knowledge about the history and politics of their homeland, and personal responsibility and industry. Both are good for the individual and for the nation.
There should be changes as well to the processes of our Federal government. Take spending. The Federal government’s budget should incur no more deficits, save during a national emergency – about which, more below. This is not only reasonable and prudent, it is moral: beggaring one’s grandchildren to fund excessive present spending is the hallmark of corrupt 18th century libertines, who are now either figures of fun or of disgust. We should all heed the lessons of their dissolution and ruin. A Constitutional amendment would be necessary for this.
We should also halt government by decree. “Statista” lists 41 declared States of Emergency in effect now, all promulgated by executive orders; they include E.O. 13219, “Intended to combat extremist Albanian insurgents operating in North Macedonia;” 13611, “Blocking Property of Persons Threatening the Peace, Security, or Stability of Yemen;” and one of my favorites, E.O. 13897, “Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government To Provide a Unified and Effective Response To Combat COVID-19 and To Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security.” Which shows Executive Orders require neither a sense of reality or of humor.
In future such executive orders and declarations should have a sell-by date, after which they could not be extended save through an act of Congress. Say, 100 days and the mischief license expires. This might serve as a brake on improvident or mercurial chief executives.
There may be other necessary improvements; doubtless others will have their own favorites. But something, probably significant, will have to be undertaken soon if we are to retain any vestige of the constitutional republic which has for two and a half centuries provided the world with its best example in millennia of a self-governing republic, enriching and enhancing the lot of humankind remarkably in the process.
We’ll miss it mightily if we let it slip through our fingers; the alternatives may be many but they are worse, or much worse.
