Form and Function
Things tend to have an original purpose but, after time goes by, they often take on a new and different function. As an example, the original purpose for the internet was so that communications could continue for members in science (and military) in the event that normal lines of communication were destroyed. However, after some time, the internet has taken on the new function of connecting everyone, instead of just military generals and scientists at CERN, or whereever.
A thing performs its function well only if it has the proper structure or form. If a wheel was formed in the shape of a square instead of a circle, then it would not perform its proper function--that of "rolling"--very well. When the United States was founded, it was set up to have a certain structure which would support its original purpose: Creation of a social system with checks and balances which prevent the kind of power concentration which can lead to tyranny.
However, after about 150 years of working well, a key structural change was made in US governance in the 1930s with FDR's New Deal. For the first time in our history, the federal government of the United States was spending more than the combined spending of all of the states and localities. For 150 years, there had been a situation of federalism--where the states spent more than the federal government.
This fundamental shift in the structure of US governance then led to new and "different" (different from original purpose) functions of federal government: the rise of the welfare-entitlement state. Now that ramifications of bloated federal governance are becoming ominous, such as an out-of-control national debt, it would be better to return to the federalism which characterized our early success as a nation.
We need to make a structural change in governance in the USA. Our growing problem is not the "personnel" problem of simply not having the right people elected, but it is a structural one, instead. The current structure is set up so as to lead to a certain outcome, an outcome of either national bankruptcy and/or war. The protection of peace and prosperity requires reform. A very rough outline of the path forward is provided in my blog: Federalism.
Attribution for top image:
Sheba_Also 43,000 photos [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wagon_Wheel_Silverton-1_(5142216156).jpg
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