Seeking a root cause is something journalists, scientists or
statesmen do. Not politicians. Mark Twain once said the difference between a
politician and a statesman, is that the politician is thinking about the next
election. The statesman is thinking
about the next generation. Here in lies
the popularity of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, both unpredicted front
runners in the upcoming election. While supporters of each may claim the mantel
of statesman for their favorite candidate, the root cause of their popularity
is now hotly discussed. But one root
cause is never mentioned.
A basic understanding of earth quakes is helpful at this
point. We are now witnessing a
significant tectonic political shift. Geologists refer to it as the “stick-slip”
phenomenon. Over a long period of time,
minor tensions continue to build below the surface. Eventually something hidden slips -- and the
ground above that we all saw as predictable suddenly trembles. The severity of disruption and sometimes
violent upheaval is dependent on four factors; the location of the slip, its depth,
the quantity of the stress released, and the characteristics of the ground above. Interestingly, the trembles can be detected
everywhere in the world. The Trump/Sanders
slip is no different.
We can now see the results of the underlying tensions that
have been building for years if not decades.
Economically we have troubling inequality, astronomical debt, and fear
of another recession. Our privacy is
increasingly lost in hopes of preempting terrorist threats that are escalating
both at home and abroad. The return of tensions
between superpowers and the alarm of global consequences from failed states – linked
to terrorism and the exponential growth of dual-use technologies that are providing
increasing affordable means of WMD production and proliferation. Add in a rational fear of ecological
calamities or health risks due to global warming, species extinction, or lethal
toxins in our food, air and water. Or, the
growing anxiety over the inevitable emergence of a Spanish-flu like pandemic
after already experiencing traumatic and unresolved perils of Ebola and Zika outbreaks…and
don’t forget the militarization of our police and overflowing prisons
associated with a war on drugs and lack of domestic job opportunities … the
list continues. And, the tremors are not
over.
Each insecurity contributes tensions to the slip that we are
now witnessing. But they are not root
causes. What largely goes unnoticed is
that each of these troubling domestic factors has an irreversible and
increasingly important global factor – each with another root cause. Here’s
the troubling reality. The root cause is
obvious and has been acknowledged throughout history -- and then routinely ignored
by U.S. politicians. Why? Because,
these global factors cannot be resolved using our existing political system and
structures. The structure that each U.S. politician has
given an “oath” to “preserve, protect, and defend” is our Constitution. It
doesn’t help that these politicians also have a short term vested professional
interest in re-election. An election
determined by a general public that has been taught to worship our nation’s founding
document, celebrate our “Independence” every 4th of July, and told
repeatedly that our ‘national sovereignty’ is key to preserving our freedom and
security. An assertion that is patently
false on every level. Sovereignty is a
God given individual characteristic. ‘National
sovereignty’ is an archaic idea based on 600 year old treaty that suggests
governments be allowed to do as they please within their own borders.
Understanding this makes identifying root causes easier than
expected. And, they are increasingly
self-evident once one looks at the forces freely transgressing all national
borders. Addressing these root causes at
the source will not be so easy. But
addressing them there will be infinitely cheaper and more effective than
building walls or deporting undesirables we must find who are within those
walls.
So, our Constitution and Bill of Rights is flawed. Since its creation several flaws have been
corrected. One we did the hard way --
after the horrors of a civil war. The
other was through nonviolent citizen action giving women their rightful vote. The flaws that remain contribute greatly to
our political dysfunction that persist in inhibiting us from effectively
addressing a growing array of unprecedented threats to our freedom, security
and prosperity. As smart as the Framers were, their Pleistocene brains were like ours. They had way of understanding the pace of
change that would come from the exponential growth of new technologies on transportation,
communication, criminal activities, weapons development and environmental
impact. Many Americans still don’t.
The US National Intelligence Council Global
Trends 2030 report’s overview in the “Game changer” chart under “Governance
gap” asks, “Will
governments and institutions be able to adapt fast enough to harness change
instead of being over whelmed by it?” The
answer is a clear and resounding, “No!” Given
the Congress we have today…”Hell no!”
During a September 24, 2015, Senate hearing on Intelligence
and Cybersecurity issues Senator Angus King (I-ME) questioning of National
Security Agency Director (Admiral) Michael Rogers. Senator King stated “There’s a survey I
commend to your attention and I’ll submit for the record. [It was] done late last year -- of national
security professionals across the government….one of the fascinating results is
that US political dysfunction, they ranked as a higher threat to
national security than a nuclear armed Iran, Vladimir Putin, China’s military
buildup or North Korea. The only thing above political dysfunction
was Islamic Extremism. So that is a shocking…Political dysfunction
being a national security threat! You
know Pogo. ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’ ”
Our Constitution was created to resist change. Its framers clearly understood the risks associated
with making quick and easy repairs.
They intentionally made structural repairs to our Constitution slow and
cumbersome -- but not impossible. They
understood that adaption to change was essential to survival –a fundamental law
of biology.
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions,
but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human
mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are
made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of
circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We
might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy
as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous
ancestors." Thomas Jefferson
It is now the
rigidity of both major political parties that threatens us. Without sweeping change within both parties that
can lead to significant changes in our laws and Constitution our future is
increasingly impearled. Optimism would
be foolish. Historically our system only accepts grand changes
after catastrophic consequences.
There are additional flaws Congress has created with an
overburden of laws – laws that if enforced, diminish both our freedom and or security
[not the prosperity of contractors]. Just
looking at our government’s procurement procedures for computers, weapons systems,
vaccines, antibiotics, or electrical transformers - any delay in acquisition
could mean millions of deaths, not to mention the chain reaction impact on our
economy and Bill of Rights.
From the perspective of our nation’s debt and budget
deficits (which many experts claim is our greatest national security threat),
our capacity to finance the maintenance and protection of our critical
infrastructures isn’t possible. Building
new infrastructure to maintain a competitive economic advantage with the rest
of the world is suggested only in frustration.
Focusing just on education;
US graduates in math, engineering, computer science and foreign
languages…each essential to our national security for weapons design,
intelligence gathering, efficiently running our government, and generating
wealth to purchase these things…are urgently needed. Many must be recruited from abroad. (See:
France’s shortage of laborers while building the Maginot Line, and
hiring of Germans to assist in construction)
Immigration reform is needed, but with the largest number of
global refugees now seeking a new home since World War II the threats of
immigrants taking our jobs, blowing up our cities, or raping our women -- the
proposals for building a wall is mentioned frequently while any proposal for building
a global system to prevent the growing global insecurities that create refugees
in the first place, is never mentioned.
Thus, the popularity of Trump/Sanders. Unfortunately, no President can or will
change anything of substance regarding these menacing global factors until “we
the people” change. So sit back and
watch the underlying global pressures continue to build even after 2016. An
unprecedented shift is coming. The only
question is. Will the greater ‘slippage’
be in the direction of our own choosing?
Or, will we be totally at the effect of the unmanaged and unprecedented ground
shaking to come when rational thinking and wise actions are unlikely to
prevail?
At the very least we must stop our existing political system
from passing more laws that create additional resistance to change. And then, undo those already enacted. Like gerrymandering or ‘money equals speech’. Or
revert to the Constitutional mandate that “The number of Representatives shall
not exceed one for every thirty Thousand.”
Today most U.S. Representatives have over 700,000 constituents making it
more difficult for citizens to effectively lobby or petition for change. This
ratio does make it easier for well-funded lobbyist groups to do it. This single glitch may be one reason most
people feel disconnected from ‘government’.
The math alone even makes each
vote less important. But this flaw
should not be used as an excuse for the public to virtual abandon our daily
opportunity to urge specific changes in government policy. Or government is still responsive to “we the
people”. Unfortunately, most of us
point to favored moneyed interests as the government’s main problem and have
never even met with an elected official to request action.
Both Bernie Sanders and Trump have proved that people with ideas
can be as equally as effective as unlimited PAC money. Every politician rightfully askes for our
help at the ballot box. Few ask us to
meet with them once they are elected. We need not wait for them to invite us.
But what would we ask for once we meet? I’m confident that every U.S. citizen,
immigrant and most people worldwide want three things. Freedom, security and prosperity. And that these three are intimately related.
Senator Ted Cruz remains a GOP Presidential contender. He recently announced his three fundamental
goals if elected. “Freedom, security and growth’ for all
Americans. It’s unclear why he used the
term ‘growth’ instead of prosperity.
Cancer grows, but with enough prosperity we could cure Cancer. Cruz’s grand error was stating that ‘defending
our national sovereignty’ is essential to achieving them. Unless he expands these three fundamental human
aspirations to the global level, we U.S. citizens will sustainably enjoy none.
In June of 2015 the Commission on Global Security, Justice and
Governance (co-chaired by former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright
and former UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ibrahim Gambari) released
its report titled “Confronting the
Crisis on Global Governance”. In
summery it says our international system and structures have failed us. And, unless we restructure our global system
to jointly pursue ‘justice and security’ for all, no one in this increasingly
interdependent world will have either.
If we really value sustainably maximizing our own individual
freedom, security and prosperity, we must put to rest the idea that our independent
institutions/structures (the major foundational flaw in our Constitution) can
resolve our greatest national/international problems. Problems that are interdependent by definition
will require a global solution. And
only by addressing root causes will we find affordable, non-violent,
sustainable solutions.
So what is the one root problem that fuels local, national and
global unrest in our hyper globalized era and world? Injustice.
I’m not going out on a limb suggesting
that the Bible, The Torah, The Quran, other books of faith, our own Declaration
of Independence, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have all
affirmed the importance of treating people fairly and equally. Love one another. Protect the innocent and the weak. Do unto others. Thou shalt not murder… They all point the same direction…toward
justice.
If Martin Luther King Jr. were alive today and understood
the evolution of weaponry our species now has available to all, he would probably
say we are reaching the end of that long arch.
Other great orators, thinkers, statesmen, philosophers, spiritual
leaders and even a few politicians have offered the same ideal. It is even inscribed
above the entrance to the US Dept. of Justice, Washington DC. “Justice is the great interest of man on
earth. Wherever her temple stands, there is a foundation for social security,
general happiness and the improvement and progress of our race.”
It is in our DNA to
distrust government. Governments nearly
always become abusive. Separation of
powers, openness, electoral accountability, and a bill of rights that puts the
protection of individual freedoms above the rights of the government or state
-- are fundamental elements of a functional and sustainable government. Without these the ‘rule of law’ on the global
level -- the ground we all share will continue to shake violently anywhere we
stand. Until we build a new global
system and structures based on justice, no President, no Congress, no military
power, no prayers, will cure our dysfunctional state of governance.
***************
Justice is
itself the great standing policy of civil society; and any eminent departure
from it, under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy
at all": Edmund Burke
"An
injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - MLK
"The
fundamental source of all your errors, sophisms and false reasonings is a total
ignorance of the natural rights of mankind. Were you once to become acquainted
with these, you could never entertain a thought, that all men are not, by
nature, entitled to a parity of privileges. You would be convinced, that
natural liberty is a gift of the beneficent Creator to the whole human race,
and that civil liberty is founded in that; and cannot be wrested from any
people, without the most manifest violation of justice." -- Alexander
Hamilton (1757-1804)
Source: The Farmer Refuted, February 23, 1775
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where
ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an
organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor
property will be safe". Frederick Douglass
True peace is not merely the absence of war, it is the presence of
justice. Jane Addams (First American woman to win the Nobel Peace
Prize).
"Justice and power
must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and
whatever is powerful may be just." - Blaise
Pascal (1623- 1662) French mathematician and
philosopher
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have
chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a
mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your
neutrality." - Desmond Tutu
