To All Elected Representatives of the United States of America,
The nature of this letter is one of simplicity. I, as a concerned citizen of the United States, desire only the best for our nation, a nation which has the utmost ability to be among the most influential in the history of mankind. However, I admit very readily that we have not harnessed this ability properly, and as of this moment fall short of our potential.
There are three primary categories under which American has struggled, and through this struggle its progress and influence has been hindered. These categories are Education, Social Upkeep and Cultural Innovation, and Economic Pragmatism.
Locke instituted the cause for the creation of government was to protect the life, liberty, and property of the people whom it governed. While this remains to be true, it is surely only substratum of the modern purpose of government; to protect the governed and aide its progression, be it cultural or technological. The term "progression" used assuredly, as in a modern society remaining idle would prove as deadly to a country as the same stillness would a Great White,
However, within the American political system, our two differing parties have drastically dissimilar visions as to the nature of this progression and how to achieve it. I concede; neither party's vision is faultless. The average citizen has come to realize the nature of this truth, thus the rapidly growing moderate population. Despite the evidence of this dilemma, the parties in question have only furthered themselves from the moderate, as opposed to realigning their policies to fit this class of constituent.
Addressing the institution of nationwide education, the United States has a system which harbors a world of capability. Nevertheless, the United States ranks 17th in worldwide educational performance. If education is the fire in the hearts of children, what remains when all else has floundered, the safeguard of liberty, and the progressive discovery of our own ignorance, 17th is simply not an acceptable title. This is not to say sixteen countries ahead of the United States in rank are undeserving of their placement, only that America has potential to push far beyond the standard she is currently holding herself to.
The nature of the United States' shortcoming rests in the structural make up of the United States' educational system, its history, and how it effects its sociopolitical standing as a subject matter.
The history of the United States is riddled with corruption, injustice, and the mistreatment of the people it was designed to safeguard. Over the course of many decades, many of these injustices have been slowly mended through government action and citizen guided social change. However, the scars of discrimination will forever remain a staple in the mind of the people, as it should. Still, in many territories of education, under the pressure of these historical weights, we have overcompensated the idea of equality as a baseline standard. Make no mistake to the theme of this statement. Educational opportunity should be equal and, overall, emphasized. However, the Common Core standard of education is one of low expectation and, ultimately, low yield.
This outcome derives from introducing institutionalized bureaucracy into the mass system of nationwide education. Bureaucracy is a necessary evil, nevertheless an evil, which must be utilized to run the mass of cogs and springs that is the 320 million people whom make up America. Yet when established within a process so reliant on true emotion and mental stability to the degree of as the education system, bureaucracy is a potent toxin.
Through an anecdotal need for nationwide equality, more closely related to a counter intuitive strain of Egalitarianism, the rise of a lackluster method of standardized testing has been applied to the people's methods of edification. Due to this application, the vision of raising national standards has instead translated to degrading the same standard to the lowest factor. As opposed to teaching a subject matter as deemed necessary by those educated in the field, a curriculum and standardized test can be drawn out by a bureaucrat in the Department of Education. This leaves those teaching the subject with no alternative but to teach based on what these tests encompass, in contrast to teaching the matter in its true entirety.
Naturally, through human nature, there will be outstanding characters no matter the degree of education they're given. This makes the principle of holding exceptional pupils on a pedestal as the fruit of the new method redundant, as it is likely the student would have excelled in the absence of Common Core.
Ultimately, through this canopy style of education, the outcome is a much closer to absolute equality, but in turn the quality of education received is greatly sacrificed. If any American political analyst is at odds in search for the cause of America's falling behind in social and educational categories, let me assure you the state of our education system is the primary cause.
Furthermore, there is the long withstanding issue of America's inability to encourage Social Upkeep. This is to say the other industrial and technologically advanced nations have proven to be much more progressive in their societal policies, and although this portion of this letter does not address America's resigned attitude in social progression, Social Upkeep and Cultural Innovation have a mutualistic relationship. Put shortly, to make the Microwave Oven, you must discover microwaves.
Therefore, in order for the United States as a collective, as well as its individual citizens, to be pioneering, the country and its government must keep well with a general standard of culture accepted by other countries throughout the world. By no means does this mean it is the responsibility of the government and citizens of America to concede to the will of other countries, but we must see the moral sincerity in other nations' efforts. The United States was among the first countries to outlaw slavery (to many's discontent), but lacked the momentum, for many years to come, to accept the now freed African Americans as proper citizens. Thus, white supremacy ruled as a de facto measure for a hundred years following their newly granted "freedom". Through this, we should see the danger of being Innovative without Upkeep.
To clearly define the difference in the two proposals is as follows; Social Upkeep is a nation's ability to establish the policies which keeps it abreast with competing nations, but Cultural Innovation is the strides it take to seize first. Nevertheless, both are necessary components to a proper modern society, and must also be referred to as separate entities.
Social Upkeep can best be defined through community action. Recently, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution dictated in favor of marriage equality. Simultaneously, the United States has dragged its feet in the legalization of marijuana for medicinal usage, despite a multitude of studies illustrating the positive outcome for those with chronic pain and terminal illness. The reason for such hesitation? Nothing beyond anecdotal stories of the danger or marijuana and traditionalist mindset against drugs, notwithstanding America's rampant usage of tobacco products and alcohol. The primary distinction between the case of cannabis and that of alcohol and tobacco is the latter's authentic, immediate danger to the health of a person.
These are two contrasting scenarios on the issue of Social Upkeep; that where the United States has kept pace, and that where it has not.
Meanwhile, the necessity of Cultural Innovation must be stressed proportionately, as it is simply not adequate to solely maintain equal position with other nations, but we must strive to exceed commonplace status. Greatness cannot be born by meeting expectation, You must excel!
Thus, the question is proposed; what is innovation in this very broad category of culture? Again, we must look to community example. America's role in stimulating development of the Age of Technology cannot be over exaggerated. While Lawrence Roberts was unlikely aware of the immense impact he was generating when he began development of the ARPANET for the United States military, his invention would later grow into the single most influential creation of the past hundred years; the Internet. American ideology flourishes with an abundance of idealism and radical thought which is nurtured in its cradle of free-thought and comparatively undisturbed freedom of expression.
However, the United States, yet again, falls short of its potential, as it selectively applies its passionate romanticism. While she excels in technological creation and scientific thought, America falls short with her inability to recognize need for attentive application of social, political, and economic reform. Within the breeding ground of progression, the fear of progress is an undeniable tendency in the heart of the American citizen. It is not the responsibility of the elected to craft the desires of the public, yet these men and women are the leadership of a nation and the hearts which they represent, and often aim to not only avoid endorsing progress, but deter it altogether.
Furthermore, there is a constant dilemma throughout American society, primary in the areas of the general population as well as the political representatives of the people. This issue is Economic Pragmatism.
This portion of this letter will not be as complex or lengthy, as it is simply not necessary. America, though she is not the sole offender, has locked its people into a mindset of extremities in the way of economics. Many leading figures in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Race have released their official tax plans, only to then have them mocked as unrealistic. This phenomenon derives from the overwhelming outcry for tax cuts on the working class.
The Republican answer to taxes, in recent months, has been a flat tax plan, which would apply an equal percentage rate across all classes of citizen. The idea is simple enough, but heavily flawed. The GOP has advertised these plans as a way to cut taxes on the middle and lower class. However, a plan which relies heavily on tax cuts simply will not raise the same amount of money, despite most right-wing plans to cut government agencies. Cutting government agencies by five percent is not a simple enough process to rely on, let alone forty percent. An approaching inevitability would be a rise of the aforementioned flat rate. The danger here lies in the raising of the lower class taxes far beyond what they currently pay in income tax. While the debate over what a "livable wage" is is something I will not touch on, lowering an already bedrock income level is a dangerous concept.
The left is not clean of this sin either. There is an undoubted atmosphere of elitism within the Democratic Party, while they simultaneously clutch the idea of fighting for those who cannot fight for themselves (e.g. the poor, the disabled, etc.). What this has led to is a system in which those who make the most income pay little to no taxes, while they rest in a tax bracket where they should be paying 39.6%, and the middle and lower class is asked to make up the difference. This has left the Democratic Party with two branching levels of semi-extremism taking root; extremism and complete collectivism. Neither method, on its own, is a perfectly oiled system, bred for success.
We, as a society, have found ourselves disgusted with the premise of taxes, and refute their necessity. Of course, no one cherishes the concept of having a percentage of their income being taken by the federal government, but it is essential to the preservation of the very government our founders fought to establish.
Fiscally, we must find a delicate compromise of Capitalistic ideals and Socialistic ideals. Absolute Capitalism and Socialism have been attempted throughout history, and neither is realistic as a long term solution. Americans have tendency to wince at the word "Socialism", but this is entirely unwarranted. As in all things, Socialism can be successfully or unsuccessfully applied based on the will and intelligence of the people.
I hope my letter finds understanding in your heart. We have the most outright ability to become the leading figure of greatness in the world, and I ask only that we harness this ability. I ask that we endorse peace, provide example of opportunity, and endorse the cooperation it takes to build a truly strong republic. We must have momentum from not only the people, but their representatives. I ask these things of you not as a high school student, not as a constituent, but as your fellow American brother, who craves the best for our beautiful, proud nation.
Yours for the cause of American and Human Prosperity,
Christophre Dennen
