I set out to understand our problems, here are my conclusions

We the people of the United States of America have sold our national soul to protect ourselves. The perversion of our form government started nearly four years after the US Constitution was ratified and has continued through to our modern day. It is at this time we face the potential for great strife if we do not act soon.

The People and Popular Sovereignty
The people of our nation are capable of a great many things, but sadly use that potential too infrequently. America had once a great tradition of thinking critically. We used to hear information and opinion and we used to think about it. Now we hear information and opinion and think it. This has created a society of parrots whom follow the party line, no matter the party (I do think dems are more grassroots though). There is little truly independent thought in America today and it is too often ignored. Blame partly lies with the "infotainment" style of news. Still more blame lies with our meager school system, which teaches children facts but not how to understand those facts. More blame lies with parents, whom do not care for their children in whole families leaving a single parent the work of two (Note: Two of any sex combination including two men or women). In general, we all are to blame for little interest in the vital of affairs of nation. It has been slow decline, but it has been a decline. We may be richer, do less physical work, live longer and healthier lives, but it has been at the expense of understanding those lives and our founding principles. Ignorance of the natural rights of people leads to tyranny. Tyranny is now forming our nation. Blame however will do no good. We must make haste in our efforts to restore our government to ability and stability.

• We must know our natural rights.
• We must question constantly all assertions, and not with venom or ill will.
• We must assure news organizations are balanced; including the full political spectrum in their debate and reporting. Reporters should make no secret as to their inevitable political feelings, unless presenting cold hard fact.
• We must endeavor to raise our children in whole families when at all possible.
• We must make certain children are educated in thinking not merely fact.
• We need to be self-motivated, if we depend upon leaders to motivate us we are no better than communists or people in other autocracies. Our nation is one where all the people are supposed to be in charge, not a select few.

The Legislative Branch
There has been an unprecedented concentration of power at the federal level. It is impossible to have 300 million people agree on issues of importance. Even worse is the lack any minor minorities or major majorities. One faction clubs the other over the head when it gains enough power to do so. This ultimately creates a backlash. There is a sort of pendulum motion in our nation where politics is concerned. For a while the nation is more conservative than it is liberal and then vice versa. The period of swing has shortened recently and this has created an element of instability.

Legislators have too frequently passed unconstitutional laws. Unfortunately, the check of the people has been disposed of and there is very little self-restraint in our society. We need to remember that discretion is the better part of valor. If the people were to have discretion, legislators whom pass unconstitutional laws would not be elected again and a new legislature would repeal the unconstitutional laws.

The legislative and executive have recently been acting as a single branch of government. This has happened because the factions are so united that when they gain control of two branches they act in unison. The concerns of the legislative and the executive are supposed to very different. One is supposed to be concerned with legislating while the other is supposed to carry out the legislation. The roles have been so grayed is difficult to find the division between the branches.

Legislators have attempted too often to interfere with the judiciary, blame is not solely upon them, but they have stepped over a very dangerous line. When one attempts to interfere with the court and sway its opinion, and that interference has more sway than any other party to a dispute, the very principle which leaves unquestionably fair judgments has been compromised. This has lead to even more instability in our nation.

• Overreaches of federal power should be corrected in all possible areas.
• The people need to exercise control over the legislature. This provides a check and balance. It will ensure that unconstitutional laws are not passed.
• Legislators should have more restraint, though I admit this is highly unlikely.
• The political parties should be divided in two at the national level. The two new parties must not share money with the ones they were split from. This will restore the tension between the legislative and executive branches even if parties with the same ideological leanings are elected to both branches.
• The legislative should not call into question the judgments of the judicial, but that is only if my recommendation on the judicial are held to.

The Executive Branch
We do not have rights because they are outlined in the Constitution; we have rights because our Creator (which may be evolution or in general nature) bestows them upon us. The executive branch when headed by members of either faction, has repeatedly overstepped its duties and privileges. The executive should be reminded of its place. It does not create laws. It should never draft legislation in secret as it has on numerous occasions. The President is not the legislator-in-chief. It is very disturbing, the concentration of power and the disregard for the rule of law (again when headed by members from either faction.) Presidents are not kings, and I am surprised that many structures are standing in the east, in light of the number of founding father's rolling over in their graves.

Congress should declare war; it is not the place of a President to do so. In our nation today this has effectively been legalized although it is unconstitutional. For nearly fifty years there has been no formal declaration of war. In Iraq this would have been possible.

The executive has continually misunderstood the bill of rights; it is not to be interpreted as the only rights of free people. I believe those who were opposed to the creation of a bill of rights have been proved correct in their assumption that those rights enumerated would one day be the only rights of free people. It is bad enough that this alone is true, but that the enumerated rights would not be upheld is even worse. This of course has happened again and again. The denial of the rights of free people is the most intolerable of the charges I levy against any of the branches.

• The President and the branch over which he presides should perform its duties alone. It is not Congress. The executive should never declare war.
• The executive is bound by the Constitution to uphold at the very least the rights enumerated in the bill of rights. It should however include the unenumerated ones as well. It should not use any power not explicitly provided for in the Constitution.

The Judicial Branch
Nowhere in the Constitution is the Supreme Court given the power of striking an unconstitutional law. Nine men and/or women should not be the safeguard of freedom. The people should have enough restraint to throw out any legislators whom pass such unconstitutional laws. The people should elect new legislators and demand that the law is repealed and any suffering because of the law be repaired. Making freedom the business of a few has been the single most important part of the public being uneducated about its rights.

The court has decided that so many laws are unconstitutional that a political element has been introduced. This has made the court subject to criticism of politicians and has affected the impartiality the court is supposed to have. When it can no longer be said, "I had a fair trial" our nation is doomed. Now even matters that are not even political are in doubt. This is not good. As former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor noted, and independent judiciary is vital to a democracy.

In the defense of minorities the court has stricken many laws. While it is difficult to protect minorities when an entire nation may disrespect them, it is not much easier when 9 people have decided in their favor. It is much more appealing to change society and then the law, but it is possible that such a change is impossible.

I was once a big fan of the practice of courts protecting minorities, now I think we the people should be good enough to protect minorities. The only real power the government has is derived from the governed. If the government must strong arm the people to do the right thing, what hope does our country have? I think the fact the government did strong arm our people before may one day be used against our people, as well it should.

I think, when the court chose to not follow a law or that it could strike standing laws, it may very well have set a precedent which allows our President to commit illegal acts, as he has done. Call it executive review. When the President breaks the law, he admits to it, and his own party does not denounce him, but actually attempts to make him look good, our nation is trouble. This is because the only a few lawyers understood the law the President broke. Now that the freedoms of people are the realm of a select few and not the people themselves that is why the President can (or at least he thinks he can) break the law.

• No more striking of laws.
• No more political questions.
• Judges should be as independent as possible so that all parties have the same favor and opposition and may say they had a fair shake.

The Imperative
These recommendations may very well be able to reverse the decline in our nation, but only if we do something now. Later will be too late. The decline may not be apparent yet. However, just as few come to see the setting of the stage and rehearsal of a play, many do watch the actual play. When we see future events play out it will too late to change the script.

I beg of all those who read this to take it seriously. We all have the power to do something about these problems. We are the guardians of freedom, not a select few. It is our solemn duty to protect our form of government.

Welcome to DU!

of how we got into the mess we're in.

For the good comments. Now, what are going to do to fix these problems? There is too much praise and not enough action. I set out and thought for weeks on this, now what are you and I and all of America going to do about this? We do have the power to change things so let's do it!

Establish DU coordinators for cities and towns, and create activism groups that focus on ONE PARTICULAR ISSUE so we can be more effective and productive.