If secession is treason (and it is) the U.S. was founded by treasoners. The only difference is that they won; the South lost. The founders even maintained slavery while England abolished it. So let's keep some historical perspective.
I agree with most of Bacevich's changes, but a few are off the wall and bespeak an ignorance of how things work, and have always worked. First, mandating a balanced federal budget is dumb. Running a deficit is how you get out of a recession. Second, you can't get rid of the two party system, unless you change the way they are elected. Any winner-take-all, must-live-in-district system will necessarily be two-party. Of course if we're getting rid of the Electoral College and gerrymandering we might, at the same time, change to preference voting or some other change that would allow third parties - but I don't think that's a really good idea either. The founding fathers recognized that having a third party gives too much power to minority groups. Third, there seems to be an unjustified assumption that we can't raise the level of education to match our level of technology. Why can't everyone learn enough to find useful and rewarding work?
I agree with that sentiment, but I think it is not democracy that must be protected, but rather individual rights. Democracy, just meaning rule of the majority, is also mob rule unless it is constrained by constitutionally guaranteed individual liberty. The American founding fathers were very concerned in avoiding this. As James Madison wrote,"Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates; every Athenian
assembly would still have been a mob."
If secession is treason (and it is) the U.S. was founded by treasoners. The only difference is that they won; the South lost. The founders even maintained slavery while England abolished it. So let's keep some historical perspective.
I agree with most of Bacevich's changes, but a few are off the wall and bespeak an ignorance of how things work, and have always worked. First, mandating a balanced federal budget is dumb. Running a deficit is how you get out of a recession. Second, you can't get rid of the two party system, unless you change the way they are elected. Any winner-take-all, must-live-in-district system will necessarily be two-party. Of course if we're getting rid of the Electoral College and gerrymandering we might, at the same time, change to preference voting or some other change that would allow third parties - but I don't think that's a really good idea either. The founding fathers recognized that having a third party gives too much power to minority groups. Third, there seems to be an unjustified assumption that we can't raise the level of education to match our level of technology. Why can't everyone learn enough to find useful and rewarding work?
I agree with that sentiment, but I think it is not democracy that must be protected, but rather individual rights. Democracy, just meaning rule of the majority, is also mob rule unless it is constrained by constitutionally guaranteed individual liberty. The American founding fathers were very concerned in avoiding this. As James Madison wrote,"Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates; every Athenian
assembly would still have been a mob."