A message to our Leadership in America

[Energizer]

I'm not altogether sure that the American constitution is what everyone is claiming as the reasoning for why America is as it is. Sure it plays some role in it, but truthfully, it is easy to be pleased with the government when resources are so easily accessible to Americans and things are going so well.

We can be fortunate in America to be having debates of whether all people deserve medical treatment, where as some countries are forced into debates of whether or not to build a hospital with their scare resources.

I feel the resources and economics of America are what make it so great, and less to do with the constitution being that much better than any other democracy/republic.

[Bren122]

I'm not altogether sure that the American constitution is what everyone is claiming as the reasoning for why America is as it is. Sure it plays some role in it, but truthfully, it is easy to be pleased with the government when resources are so easily accessible to Americans and things are going so well.

We can be fortunate in America to be having debates of whether all people deserve medical treatment, where as some countries are forced into debates of whether or not to build a hospital with their scare resources.

I feel the resources and economics of America are what make it so great, and less to do with the constitution being that much better than any other democracy/republic.

there is a very good argument that in guaranteeing property rights and rule of law, the US Constitution made the necessary conditions for wealth creation possible. very hard to create wealth in some countries when the authorities keep leaning on you to pay 'protection' money and 'special' contributions.

[DuncanONeil]

The referenced document at time of its creation was unique. It retained that distinction for a little over 13 years, at which time the French began to develop their own constitution based on ours. It is possible that there now exist a few more documents based on ours, however, I am unable to name any.
It is entirely possible that Japans governing document is very similar, since it authors were not locals.

I'm not altogether sure that the American constitution is what everyone is claiming as the reasoning for why America is as it is. Sure it plays some role in it, but truthfully, it is easy to be pleased with the government when resources are so easily accessible to Americans and things are going so well.

We can be fortunate in America to be having debates of whether all people deserve medical treatment, where as some countries are forced into debates of whether or not to build a hospital with their scare resources.

I feel the resources and economics of America are what make it so great, and less to do with the constitution being that much better than any other democracy/republic.

[steelish]

I'm not altogether sure that the American constitution is what everyone is claiming as the reasoning for why America is as it is.

The American Constitution is EXACTLY the reason why America became such a great and powerful nation.

Excerpt from The 5000 Year Leap;

The Constitution [Benjamin] Franklin and his friends gave to us resulted in the greatest nation in history. With the adoption of our Constitution our nation became a nation based on law, the Constitution being the supreme law of the land. A quick review of our history as a nation certainly supports Franklin's observation that our nation represented a rising sun. Consider, for instance, that the United States represents approximately 5% of the world's population but has created more new wealth than all the rest of the world combined. Moreover, during this time period we have never suffered a famine, this in spite of the fact that even today famines continue to stalk the world over. Throughout the ages humans have gone hungry and many have starved, in spite of their fertile land and the manpower to work it. "The ancient Assyrians, Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks were intelligent people, but in spite of their intelligence they were never able to get enough to eat. They often killed their babies because they couldn't feed them. the Roman Empire collapsed in famine." For more than a hundred years the United States has been the food basket of the world.
During the past two hundred years the United States has outdistanced the world in extending the benefits of inventions and discoveries to the vast majority of its people in such fields as medicine, housing, education, power-energy, transportation, space, aircraft, and agriculture. Furthermore, Americans have been responsible for more discoveries and inventions in science and elsewhere than any nation on earth. It's young men and women have fought in wars throughout the world in defense of freedom, asking nothing for their efforts and sacrificing their lives in return. The U.S. is always the first nation to provide relief and aid to other nations that have had natural calamities, sometimes even providing aid to our enemies. We have given more dollars in aid and relief than most other nations combined. In spite of our largess we are the target of the hate and envy of the rest of the world.

[Energizer]

That quote din't say anything about how the constitution did, well, anything frankly.

All it did was state that there were now laws (which I'm not sure is any different than any other countries), and the proceeded by going on about how good America is economically.

[steelish]

That quote din't say anything about how the constitution did, well, anything frankly.

All it did was state that there were now laws (which I'm not sure is any different than any other countries), and the proceeded by going on about how good America is economically.

The excerpt (not quote) stated how much of a change in the world the United States brought about. Do you think the U.S. would have been able to wrought such change in the world had it still been under sovereign rule?

The constitution limited and defined the powers of the American Government, and gave the U.S. a balanced form of government. Rather than having a ruler's law, where there is tyranny...or a no law, where there is total anarchy, the founders placed the U.S. government directly in the middle. We have people's law, where most of the power is to reside with the individual, family, municipality/community and then moves on up to the state then finally with the federal.

We were formed as a Republic by our founders. A democracy becomes increasingly unwieldy and inefficient as the population grows. A republic, on the other hand, governs through elected representatives and can be expanded indefinitely. James Madison in the Federalist Papers, (No. 14, p. 100.) explained it thus;

In a democracy the people meet and exercise the government in person; in a republic they assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents. A democracy, consequently, must be confined to a small spot. A republic may be extended over a large region.

Equal rights, not equal things! The founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government the power to do anything except that which they have the lawful right to do themselves. For example; every person is entitled to protection of his life and property. Therefore it is perfectly legitimate to delegate to the government the task of setting up a police force to protect the lives and property of all the people. But suppose a kind-hearted man saw that one of his neighbors had two cars while another neighbor had none. What would happen if, in the spirit of benevolence, the kind man went over and took one of the cars from his prosperous neighbor and generously gave it to the neighbor in need? Obviously, he would be arrested for car theft. No matter how kind his intentions, he is guilty of flagrantly violating the natural rights of his prosperous neighbor, who is entitled to be protected in his property. Of course, the two-car neighbor could donate a car to his poor neighbor, if he liked, but that is his decision and not the prerogative of the kind-hearted neighbor who wants to play Robin Hood.
Now, suppose that kind-hearted man decided to ask the mayor and city council to force the man with two cars to give one to his pedestrian neighbor. Does that make it any more legitimate? Obviously, this makes it even worse because if the mayor and city council do it in the name of the law, the man who has lost his car has not only lost the rights to his property, but (since it is the "law") he has lost all right to appeal for help in protecting his property.
The reason I bring this up is because the equal rights doctrine protects the freedom to prosper...and this is what the constitution did for America.

There is more I could type, but suffice it to say that I recommend reading The 5000 Year Leap. It touches on almost every argument that has been leveled against the U.S. and it's founders in this thread. The book addresses welfare, it addresses religion and men's/women's rights in the bible. It touches on "re-distribution" of wealth, and explains the pitfalls of such...in logical terms anyone could easily understand.

The founders lived under tyranny. They lived under sovereign rule. They are the ones who designed this nation to (hopefully) avoid reverting back to such a tyrannical state. Read the book and you will understand the minute ways that the U.S. has been changing in the past 80 years (and much more swiftly recently) towards a nation the founders were trying to avoid.

[DuncanONeil]

That quote din't say anything about how the constitution did, well, anything frankly.

All it did was state that there were now laws (which I'm not sure is any different than any other countries), and the proceeded by going on about how good America is economically.

"the Constitution being the supreme law of the land."

[DuncanONeil]

"The Constitution [Benjamin] Franklin and his friends gave to us resulted in the greatest nation in history. With the adoption of our Constitution our nation became a nation based on law, the Constitution being the supreme law of the land. A quick review of our history as a nation certainly supports Franklin's observation that our nation represented a rising sun. Consider, for instance, that the United States represents approximately 5% of the world's population but has created more new wealth than all the rest of the world combined."

Just a little tidbit gleaned from the History Channel.
"At the start of the Revolution Americans has the highest standard of living and the lowest taxes in the Western World.