Although “liberty and justice for all” is our nation’s goal, we are far from realizing that ideal.  The problem is, liberty and justice cost money and in the U.S., a lot of people simply don’t have enough money. We have liberty to freely travel, for example, but without money to pay for traveling expenses such liberty is useless.

The best definition for “justice,” I believe, is fairness. When we speak of a nation where there is liberty and justice for all, we are speaking of a nation where everyone is treated fairly. The good question is, “What is a fair society?” Harry Truman years ago wanted legislation, that included guaranteed health benefits for all Americans, to improve fairness in American society.  He called it the “Fair Deal.”  Truman thought that in a fair democratic society, health care would be guaranteed.

There is a great discussion that the U.S., as a democratic society, needs to have: How do we best organize ourselves as a nation so that we can best meet the goal of attaining “liberty and justice for all”?  In a fair society, what should be guaranteed to every citizen?

What is amazing is the great unused potential for wealth creation in the U.S.  Our system is severely underperforming.  Robotics, increased productivity, new scientific advances — it is reasonable to think that we should enjoy a future where every U.S. citizen is rich.  Can we create a system to fulfill our potential is the question: How Can The System Known As The United States Be Made To Work To Provide “Liberty and Justice For All”?

Reagan convinced a lot of people that the reason the system is underperforming was government.  Reagan convinced people that government is bad and that the less government the better.  But, the era of low taxes and less governmental regulations, from the Reagan influence, has left us with trillions of dollars in debt and with great disparity in wealth.  It has swelled the numbers of the working poor.

Sweden is a strong democracy that has chosen a path opposite of Reagan’s — high taxes on its citizens, greatly expanded government — in order to provide a generous life style for everyone in their society. Based upon how the average person in Sweden fares, I have to think, it seems a citizen in Sweden enjoys more justice than a citizen in the U.S. enjoys.

I once addressed a Kiwanis meeting and asked the listeners to respond to this question:  “Lincoln spoke of assuring that a government of the people, by the people and for the people should not perish from the earth. On a scale of zero to 100, to what degree do we have a government of the people, by the people and for the people?”

The average of the answers was 40%.  It seems pretty clear to anyone paying attention that antidemocratic forces in this country have the upper hand, and these forces look for ways to advantage their own special interest. An America with a vitalized democracy, I think, would put less stress on the individual’s responsibility in realizing the “American Dream” and, instead, put more stress on society’s responsibility.

America has had a long run now organizing itself politically by emphasizing that liberty for the individual should have first priority. Individual liberty, individual responsibility is part of the wilderness frontier mentality that still is very influential.

But no-one makes their own way. A good question:  Why Are We Rich? We are none of us rich simply by our own efforts or own merit. We are rich because of our connection to power within the system.

Individual liberty requires the support of an entire society. It depends on societal fairness. Only in a just society, a fair society, can there be liberty for all individuals — not just liberty for exceptional people. Only in a just society will the individual, generally speaking, have the financial resources to make the concept of liberty a meaningful reality.  Our big task as a nation is to become a more fair, a more just society.  Our hope, it seems to me, to get a system that works for everyone, is via a vitalized democracy. As I wrote, If We AreTo Have A Great Future, The Ascending Issue In Our Democracy Must Be Democracy Itself

Here is today’s test:

1. What does the phrase, “with liberty and justice for all,” mean to you?
2. On a scale of 0 -100, to what degree does the US live up to the ideal of “liberty and justice for all”? Please explain.
3. Which is more important, liberty or justice?  Please explain.

I wonder if seniors in our local high schools ever consider such questions?

Thomas Friedman points to coming disaster he foresees for the U.S., and says that in order to avoid a bad future, we need better citizens.  Better citizens. Friedman feels, for the sake of our future, we need increasing numbers of individuals who will become committed to better citizenship and who will demand better government.

To prepare better citizens — citizens equipped with an understanding of history, equipped with the capacity for independent thought — would seem to be a big goal for schools in a democracy.  But in all the commotion about school reform such as “A Nation At Risk,” or “Goals 2000,” civic education has not been emphasized.  Math and science education gets more emphasis than civic education.

This recent article from the NYT, “White House Pushes Science and Math Education” tells about the a new math / science campaign, “Educate to Innovate.”  And this video shows Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John P. Holdren talking about the  billions of additional dollars that will be spent on science and math education.

The push for math and science educational reform is based on the idea that, through improved science and math education, we can keep our economic advantage, we can preserve our “American way of life.”

When a system fails, the natural response is to find someone to blame.  But our nation’s decline has in no way been caused by high school graduates not knowing how to apply the quadratic formula, nor graduates not understanding why the seasons change.  Our country is declining because of system failure — and increasing math and science competence by citizens in the system is not the answer to the system failure.  We have disassembled whole industries and shipped them overseas because special interests had much to gain — not because our high school graduates didn’t know the Pythagorean Theorem. We have system failure because special interests are in power and seek ever more power and reward.  We have system failure because ours is a very weak democracy.

Friedman has it right, we need better citizens.  If there were enough better citizens, our system of representative democracy could be made to work.  If there were enough better citizens, antidemocratic special interests could be held in check.

The fact that our educational system fails to prepare individuals with the skills and capacity for effective citizenship is a much more serious shortcoming, in my view, than the fact that our educational system fails to prepare individuals with skills for global competition.  As Eric points out, Ohio is now revising its social study requirements.  I am going to research what all is involved.