The following is a fictional presentation of how America could become truly exceptional, the great things it could accomplish if by some miracle this government would be transformed into one with a positive vision of how to turn this country in a new direction; one in which the interests of this country and its people would be paramount in all government planning and functions.
In this fictional scenario America has already risen to the level of an exceptional nation and we are depicting how that happened; how that process to turn America in a new, positive direction was initiated and then evolved. It all started in 2018 with this breaking news that electrified our nation’s capital and the entire country.
December 1, 2018: “Today the White House press secretary announced that the administration was initiating a massive job creation program by which the government and the business sector are collaborating on the development of new industries and jobs for millions of Americans; details will be released very soon. The objective of this program and methods of funding have been finalized and the Congress, Democrats and Republicans, are now on board and fully support the endeavor.”
This great initiative signaled a new start for America. It was all made possible when the Congress, with Republicans and Democrats compromising on the issues involved, came up with a plan to totally overhaul and reform the U.S. corporate tax code; included in it was a significant lowering of the tax rate, closing loopholes that had allowed certain powerful corporations to evade paying taxes, and the establishment of tariffs on specified foreign imports from countries that had long imposed strong restrictions on their imports of U.S. products and services.
The massive outsourcing of jobs that America had been experiencing for years was greatly diminished in the following years and has become negligible. Exciting new industries have since emerged and millions of American workers now have good paying jobs. Corporations reacted positively to the lowering of tax rates and also came to the realization that the sale of their products here in America was greatly dependent on consumer purchasing power; and that they were hurting themselves when they outsourced jobs to overseas nations.
The effect on the economy was very significant as the sharp increase in new jobs served to greatly increase consumer purchasing power; the stale, stagnant economy was replaced by a vibrant, growing one.
The rebuilding of our nation’s once strong manufacturing sector and job creation helped immensely in addressing and mitigating the massive problem of inequality of wealth and income in America. It gave millions more Americans the opportunity to make a better living, the housing industry boomed along with purchases of consumer goods; the American Dream was given new life. While this inequality is still present to some degree it has been greatly relieved.
Then, in a series of subsequent announcements over the next several years here is what the American people witnessed:
A very ambitious program began to develop new forms of alternate energy; solar, wind, geothermal and others, to eventually replace petroleum as America’s chief energy source. Millions of new jobs were created in this exciting new industry; America now is the world leader in solar energy, solar panels and associated products all of which have significantly increased U.S. exports. The wars and conflicts over the control of oil are receding. The U.S. military and empire of bases have been substantially scaled back as the need to protect our oil interests and supply routes overseas has diminished. This program of energy development will go hand in hand with new government initiatives for dealing with Climate Change and Global Warming.
The work to repair and rebuild our national infrastructure is well underway utilizing the $1 trillion dollars of funding that was appropriated for use over the next ten years. Millions of new jobs were created to repair bridges and highways; we are seeing the development and implementation of high speed rail, new forms of mass transit, and bullet trains. The utilization of modern rail systems across the country will result in a great reduction in truck traffic which will make highway travel for Americans far safer.
A government spokesman just reported that the U.S. and China will begin talks relating to joint ventures in selected regions of the world; it’s an effort to decrease tensions between the two countries. The White House has announced that its “Asian Pivot” that was designed to greatly strengthen U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region and to minimize that of China will be cancelled. This, again, will help to further decrease tensions with China.
The U.S. and their European allies have decided to bring an end to the era of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; the nations of Europe have plans to create their own military defense organization. NATO’s aggressive agenda to attempt to surround Russia with military power has been an abject failure and the costs of maintaining this military organization can no longer be justified by the parties involved.
With the substantial amount of funding that has been transferred from military operations into domestic purposes the following additional government initiatives are now in effect.
*The plan to vastly improve America’s education system and, once again, make it world class, is swiftly being implemented, with the greatest areas of concentration being math and science. America now has free college tuition for those who attend public and community colleges; and, for those who need student loans, there is a government program whereby they will receive very low interest rates.
*Attention to the massive problem of violence and terrorism in America has now become a very high priority; every aspect of this problem is being addressed in order to come up with effective solutions. The mass shootings can no longer be tolerated. This program is being progressed by the nation’s most prominent experts on violence, its causes, and ways to deal with it; there will be no stone unturned until this vexing problem is brought under control.
*America’s disjointed health care system, including the Affordable Health Care Act, has been replaced by a Universal Medicare System which will make health care services available to every American; no American will ever be without medical coverage. This system has been patterned after those typically found in European and Scandinavian nations but is unique to the needs of the American people.
*America’s War on Terror is over. The bombing of Iraq and Syria and the drone attacks on Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia were ended when the U.S. government finally came to the conclusion that this war has accomplished little to nothing to end terrorism and has, in fact, created thousands of new enemies including many here in America who have strong ties to those overseas countries which have, for some time, been under constant siege.
*After a new president, Bernie Sanders was elected in 2016 and after he made two new appointments to the Supreme Court, that newly reconfigured court heard a challenge to the Citizens United Case in which corporations were given free license to make unlimited campaign contributions; and then it decided to reverse its former ruling. As a result the Congress passed new legislation that completely banned all corporations from any involvement in the functions of this government and the country’s election process. The process of ridding the Congress of its deeply embedded corruption has been very successful.
This may be merely a vision of how America could become a truly exceptional nation, one that would return our country to its former greatness and standing in the world. But visions often have become reality by providing a path for making dramatic changes; in this case turning this country in a new, positive direction. We need to make this vision become that reality.
COMMENTS