We are the richest, the most powerful and the most resourced nation on earth. But there are ear-piercing warning sirens of upcoming disaster—so much so that celebrating our birthday seems like tempting fate.
We are commemorating 250 years of what is called the “guarantee clause” in the Constitution (Article 1V, Sec 4) that promises our government will always be a republic, elected by the people and maintained by majority control. At its core are free and fair elections and the peaceful transition of power. The goals, outlined in the Federalist Papers, were to design a government that could provide fair treatment to its citizens, keep peace among the states, defend our country from enemies, and to set a standard for living comfortably and free.
So much for the ‘guarantee clause.’ In fact, so much for the Constitution. We’ve become a nation for the wealthy, where malice, vulgarity, and incompetence can win elections. Twice. After 250 years, here are some of our accomplishments:
- Forty-two million people are on food assistance (US Department of Agriculture).
- Thirty million people are without health insurance (statista.com).
- We have the highest incarceration rate per capita in the world (Wikipedia).
- We have the highest pregnancy maternal mortality rate in the developed world (World Health Organization).
- The average college graduate is $30,000 in debt with 45 million people owing $1.6 trillion in student loans (marketplace.org).
- The opioid crisis has killed more than 500,000 Americans and counting(Center forDisease Control).
- The housing crisis is so severe people can’t afford to live in the cities where they work (Freddie Mac).
- Our life expectancy is going in reverse (Center for Disease Control).
- Legislation is purchased by the rich for the rich and has little to do with laws actually needed or wanted by the public (quora.com).
- Massive income inequality has resulted in static working and middle classes that haven’t seen real wage growth in 30 years (humanrightscareers.com).
- Gun violence is so normalized and routine that we don’t act even when preschoolers are slaughtered (gun violence archive).
- We’re a nation of ‘super-patriots’—citizens who happily sing “God Bless the USA” while hating 90% of its people.
Where we choose to spend our money shows what we value. We allow college football coaches to earn forty times more than a science professor. A school that produces a state football championship gets new uniforms and a parade while a school that produces a Nobel laureate gets their budget cut. We spend money on tanks and bombs but veterans sleep on the streets. We have military bases in dozens of foreign countries but not affordable housing at home.
None of this is because we don’t have enough money. All of it is because of where the government chooses to spend it. It’s a conscious decision presumably based on value and worth. The gold-plated ballroom that will cost at least $300 million, the reflecting pool that is now a swamp cost $14 million on a no-bid contract, at least $60 million spent on a cage match to celebrate Trump’s birthday, and the Arch de Trump projected to cost at least $100 million. The money for all these vanity projects is funded directly or indirectly by tax dollars. Then there’s the Iran war we started which, so far, cost $114 billion, the lives of so many, and all the while gaining nothing we didn’t already have.
Trump is not the problem. Trump is the test. And those in and out of government have failed it miserably. Republicans in Congress, with few brave exceptions, cede their decision-making to the Executive Branch. They value their job more than the Constitution and country. The majority on the Supreme Court gave Trump his golden crown when they granted him immunity from prosecution. And we the voters committed the greatest failure by choosing a bigot, misogynist, narcissist, and compulsive liar as our leader.
This 250th celebration of our nation’s birth should be a time to reflect, renew and rededicate ourselves to the Founders’ vision. We’ve been through tough times before and come out better on the other side. We can again. We can start by choosing leaders who represent the best of us, who demonstrate our shared values, who love what this nation can be by respecting everyone in it because it’s everyone together, in appreciation of one another, that is the precondition for democracy. No one is inherently better than another. No group is worth more than another. It’s every one of us, respecting, caring, helping, appreciating one another that truly makes our country great. It’s we the people. All of us.
Marsha Shearer is a resident of The Villages and the author of “America in Crisis: Essays on the Failed Presidency of Donald J. Trump.”