When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle's fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows.
CHECKS AND BALANCES
What are the principles of the United States? We have our "checks and balances" that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty.
"Checks and balances" is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not their property that they worked for; where are their property rights?
Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn't deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in America's Guantanamo Bay as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury?
The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped.
Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?
The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on.
Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us,
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."