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What is Nations Agenda about?

Information worthy of decisions, not propaganda.

Nations Agenda is not a political party. It is a place of information. People currently feel powerless to affect legislation in Washington, trapped between two political parties that are so far apart they can't get together on most legislation.

The problems in Washington are too numerous to mention. These will be discussed in the pages. Hopefully solutions will be found that most people can agree on, and create guidance.

To break the Congressional voting along party lines, and overcome the 60% Senate vote rule, the hope is to get enough people into Congress so that no party can obstruct the process. 50% would be ideal. Obstructionist government, and being ruled by a minority, must end.

Ideology

In general we plan to give guidance from multiple sources, not support any ideology. There is rarely a "best way" known for any human endeavor. Everything has a tradeoff, balancing goals against negative repercussions. If there is any ideology, it is found in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution.

The Preamble of the Declaration of Independence states clearly the people's responsibility. "...governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government..." "...all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." "But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government...."

This movement is not about destructive change and armed revolution. The cost in blood and lives is way too high, as witnessed by the Civil War. If anything, this site's intent is to create the necessary change before people's frustration becomes so high that it spills over into highly destructive violence. There are many tinderboxes, growing in population, that would only take a spark to unite and inflame.

One notable study indicated that the public has not had any, not one single bit of, influence on this nation's policies since at least 1982. Attempts at change have been frustrated at every turn. In the past, electing new people to Congress hasn't created the change people have hoped for. Younger people, who are very idealistic, get very disillusioned with the process, and often stop voting.

Congress has an internal system that prevents newcomers from affecting change. It is highly resistant to change. The two parties maintain a lock on power. Currently (2014), 71% of Americans are eligible to vote, and 60% of the voting eligible population votes during presidential election years, and about 40% votes during midterm elections. Only 9 to 20% of Americans determine who the candidates will be in primary elections. Independents are not allowed, in most States, to vote in primaries. This puts the power in the hands of only 9 to 20%. Independents are 42% of voters, which is larger than either party.

Independent or not, most voters are left out of the system that decides who can run and what they stand for. The idea that primaries get candidates who are representative of the population is total nonsense. Once politicians are elected, we have little control, so we have to influence the right targets. We can only gain control over primary elections, where the process starts, by creating guiding platforms, and attracting voters of all persuasions.

"Taxation without representation" was one of the major conflicts that started this nation. It was a rallying cry for revolt. The "long chain of abuses" in current times, is the complete lack of people's influence over the policy decisions of the government, and the obstruction of government by a minority and the polarization caused by the two parties that makes agreement on most issues impossible.

The US Constitution

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The Preamble to our Constitution has five specific charges for our government to establish a more perfect union:

1. Provide for the common defense - the US does an excellent job, with the finest military on the earth and high principles.
2. Establish Justice - There are some problems here, but the US justice system is on of the finest in the world.
3. Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity - Each generation since the establishment of the US has given the next generation a better world... until now. We have problems.
4. The problems we have are represented by: "...insure domestic Tranquility... promote the general Welfare..." 

"Insure" is one of those major words in our language that has inescapable meaning. It doesn't mean "assure" or even "ensure." It means "secure or protect someone against." Insure literally means, "Internal peacefulness; lack of disturbance within a country."

Insuring domestic tranquility is a very large responsibility that has been opposed by many policy makers from the very beginning, through the present day.  They don't want the responsibility of knowing about and understanding problems, and finding solutions for our internal security, outside of police action.

If you look at the causes of many of the problems in our nation that end up in rioting or armed conflict, then you see a myriad of causes that the government can take the lead in doing something about.

Policy makers and legislators have even greater conflicts over "promote the general Welfare." Welfare doesn't mean creating a "Welfare state" of giveaway programs. It means, "The health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group."

The situation with healthcare was 47 million people uninsured by health insurance,  insurance companies throwing people off policies when they became a little expensive to maintain, people with pre-existing conditions finding it impossible to get insurance, hospitals gouging patients with exorbitant medical bills, people steadily going off insurance because it was too expensive, companies steadily transferring more costs to employees, or dropping insurance, and insurance costs increasing at rates in the teens for over five decades with insurance companies, and the overall medical community unable or unwilling to do anything about it.

The government program requested by the people, and was a campaign plank, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was signed into legislation in 2010 by the entire Congress. After Obama's reelection, polls indicated that the American people do not want to get rid of this program. Despite the American people's preferences, the Affordable Care Act is now rabidly opposed by many Congressmen and constituents, influenced through a process of polarization.

But... the program has placed 7 million uninsured people in medical coverage, stopped insurance manipulation of who gets insured, so people keep their insurance, and held the increase in medical costs to around 4% for several years. It is only certain political ideologies that oppose  the Affordable Care Act. This has to stop.

Another major example is the steady gulf between the wealthy and the rest of us. The middle class is slowly but steadily sinking into poverty. At the same time, the wealthy are getting wealthier. Nothing against the wealthy, but this is economically unsustainable. Very few constructive solutions are being legislated in Washington. Some groups are clinging to the ideology of Supply Side Economics, which most economists no longer see as the solution.

Supply Side Economics had some effect on the economy under Reagan, but coupled with tax cuts and military spending, it ramped up the National Debt to incredible levels for the first time in modern history. Some Presidents managed to get the debt under control, but under Bush, coupled with the Dot.com bust, an un-financed war and increased military spending, the National Debt went up like a missile.

In the last four years, spending cuts have been deeper than under any President in history, and the debt curve is again bending. The promise of Supply Side Economics, "trickle down," has not been happening in reverse, "trickle up," since 2001.

Masses of people lost their good paying jobs in this decade.  The emphasis by companies is record breaking "merger-mania" that eliminates jobs. Replacement jobs in the economy are 23% lower in wages, and job growth has not kept pace with the need for new jobs. Yet financial institutions, which caused the Great Recession in 2007, are having record years, companies in the stock market are flush with cash, and investors are getting more wealthy on record setting stock.

The economic system is fundamentally flawed by systemic problems. There are 3 important legs of the system, and when you remove one leg, the system fails. The failure of the economic system is very likely to trigger a revolt in this country that could turn violent. This was demonstrated in Ferguson, Missouri, where the killing of a young man triggered riots, and in some people's minds, the issues of police mistreatment  of blacks was blended with the problem of 50% unemployment.

Domestic Tranquility and Promoting the General Welfare, are fundamental charges in the US Constitution. They are both under grave threat in the current political situation of a Congress that can't agree or legislate solutions effectively. This has to stop. The US economy has to be fixed for the good of us all.

The Constitution

The US Constitution is a living document. It can be changed for the good of the people and the nation. The framers gave us two devices for making major changes: Amendments and a Constitutional Convention. Lesser mechanisms include legislation that creates laws that can exist under the Constitution. And sometimes the Supreme Court can make decisions that reflect changes in conditions. If the court goes too far, it is called an "Activist Court," by one party or the other.

Strict interpretations of the Constitution leave the US lifeless. It was written in reaction to conditions many had fled in Europe, or lived under in the Colonies. These are still valid concerns. For example, we wouldn't want Christians or Muslims to suddenly decide we would live under Old Testament or Sharia Law, in which people had limbs severed for crimes, or were stoned to death for adultry. We wouldn't want our President dueling his opponents over insults.

These were conditions prior to the Constitution, and dueling occurred until it was illegal in 1804. People at the time of the framing of the Constitution are considered today to have had a very practical, utilitarian attitude, and weren't very open to other concerns, if they could even grasp them. But today we have other concerns that are equally important, even vital to us, and these need to be addressed.

This is not about radical change

This site is not about left, right, populist, Libertarian, gun toten', abortionists, religionists, conspiracy theorists, against religion, against corporations, against financial institutions, trying to overthrow the government, or any of that nonsense. The US system of government is in a crisis, and needs improved. Just offering guidance won't accomplish that. This is about finding ways to make it all work.

If you liked the parties of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower, you will probably like this Web site.