THE NATION"S SITUATION !!!

The US. government regularly prints money, as it is doing now to finance a colossal national dept, a direct result of a huge tax cut and a disastrous policy of waging wars. This is not a partisan rivalry or dispute; it is a condition decried by both liberal and conservatives alike, our children will pay for these decisions, and poor children will pay twice.

The idea that "for those able, the virtuous thing is to give voluntarily to the needy, unlucky or unable" is bogus, unproductive and unrealistic in a country and society as complex and large as ours. You can do this only with the help of institutions. Social planning is neither desirable nor undesirable; it is unavoidable and an absolute necessity in our world.

A decent society would order national priorities, it would make explicit decisions in diverse contexts and format, about national security, economic growth and employment, caring for the poor and sick, and for the environment.

We could for example, track existing experiments and policies in countries comparable to the United States that had nationalised health care, strict gun control, and social-protection programs.

Begging and charitable giving is not and should not be the policy nor part of the solutions.

What would happen if we took seriously the state-of-nature view romanticised by critics of social protection programs ?? Imagine the unregulated state, it is a dark and an impossible world, a world of food poisoning,drug fatalities, rampant crime,deceptive marketing, a world of unlimited ponzy schemes, chaotic highways, unaccountable sexism and racism, financial ruin caused by unscrupulous entrepreneurs, and constant fear in response to it all.

In a nation whose average household income, so far, exceeds basic needs, it would be a wonder if we weren't among the happiest of nations, and that should make us wonder why more than 70 percent of the US. population - mostly the poor and middle classes- struggle to ensure some of the most basic achievements of modern democracy, and why other liberal democracies are happier with far lower mean household incomes.

Now a days the administrative obstacles to construct a good and better society are greater than ever before. Again, there is a big difference between democracy in an early American village and democracy in a multi cultural, technologically sophisticated country of 300 million citizens.

In order to recover our trust in government, we need to see public officials constantly proposing enterprising ways to make our lives better, proposals to make us healthier, provide more leisure and vacations, more health protection, and in general, more real and effective opportunities and policies to correct the actual huge imbalances between the lower and higher echelons of citizenry, rather than mere freedom from the interference of others.



As usual I'm grateful to J. D. for his insight and inspiration, thanks and salamat