Gun Ownership and Gun Control in American
In American culture today, guns are worshiped. Children play with toy guns, television and film glorify gun violence, teenagers show off guns to one another in order to get respect, and powerful lobbyist groups keep…
Civic Values in the U.S. Restoring Democracy
Restoring democracy and civic virtue in the United States will require major reforms that reduce the power of corporations, elites and special interests in the whole political process. Right now, there is a radical disconnect between the political and economic elites and the needs and interests of the ordinary voters. Most people today realize that the country is in its worse crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, but government and the political system seem dysfunctional and incapable of dealing with it. Removing the power and control of big money from the political process forever would be the most important step in revitalizing American democracy and making the system more representative and accountable. So would eliminating the Electoral College and electing the president and vice president by a majority of the popular vote. Despite the protests of small states, only this type of reform might actually pressure presidential candidates to campaign more widely for votes instead of concentrating on a few large states, or visiting big cities where the wealthiest donors reside. In addition, the Senate seems particularly dysfunctional and more responsive to the needs of elites and corporate interests than the people. Its use of the filibuster was always an absurdity, especially when the South frequently united in a bloc to prevent blacks from obtaining civil and political rights, and the system today simply maintains a kind of status quo that concentrates all wealth and power at the upper levels of society.