The Grand Experiment has failed
It has ever been my hobby-horse to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and a prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them. You say it is impossible. If I should agree with you in this, I would still say, let us try the experiment, and preserve our equality as long as we can. A better system of education for the common people might preserve them long from such artificial inequalities as are prejudicial to society, by confounding the natural distinctions of right and wrong, virtue and vice.
John Adams, 23 Feb 1786
I wonder if John Adams would be pleased or dismayed that the experiment continues. His dream of two or three hundred millions of freeman has been realized, if you only consider chattel slavery as a means of bondage. Equality is farther away for most, than during his own life. Kings no longer wall off lands. Peasants no longer travel for weeks to pay their taxes. Our kings hoard the wealth and control most governments. Their decisions are no longer represented as wooden figures on a table but in spreadsheets and based on algorithms. Peasants still work their entire life hoping to achieve a few years of comfort. The level of inequality continues to increase as the wealthy hoard more gold and jewels in their online vaults and the poorest among us work as much as possible in the hopes that one day, they’ll be able to acquire some measure of comfort. The American constitution was created by the top minds in America and Europe during a very different time. No system in the world was like it and no one knew how it would work. From the very beginning compromises weakened the lofty ideal that “all men are created equal”.
One of the hardest parts of designing an experiment is creating the endpoint. Analysis of the perceived benefits versus harms caused is weighed heavily. A drug trial would not continue if more people were harmed than society would potentially benefit. Even if the designated endpoint has not arisen, once the harm is designated excessive, continuing the experiment is untenable. In well-designed experiments, the parameters for the experiment are clearly stated and there is no ambiguity in the conclusion. Drafting a constitution is a bit different as the measure of success is the continuation of the experiment. Therefore, we need to look at the desired outcome of the founders. What are the parameters they set for a successful outcome?
It is clear to me that it’s time to admit the truth, but it doesn’t have to be sadly stated. Let’s celebrate the amazing things America created and influenced. We can celebrate the ideals she was built upon and acknowledge the dark side of those hopes. Our history is full of such tragedies, genocidal leaders, and tyranny under the name of protection. The sectionalism within the U.S. looks different from 1860 but that doesn’t mean it is less pervasive. In a time of echo chambers online, the divisions between progressives/liberals and conservatives sound awfully familiar to any scholar of the mid-1800s. South Carolinians began calling for secession before the ink of the Constitution was dry and those calls have not ceased, they’ve spread to other corners of the country. The lands that were gobbled up during Imperialism, the countries inhabited by American soldiers for generations, and the territories that continue to be shit upon by their overseers should be relinquished. It’s time for a new experiment. One in which we take the best versions of governments known to man, combine them, and form a society that values humanity over greed.
The circumstances of our lives under social distancing give us time and space to consider what we want. What is the purpose of a Federal government? Why do we pay them so much in taxes? If they cannot adequately perform their duties, shouldn’t they be replaced? It’s hard to change. Moving or changing jobs is a huge source of anxiety and changing the structure of America is exponentially terrifying. However, this holding pattern of not progressing towards our ideals while sliding into a feudal society again is unsustainable. Life is pretty awful for most of us and never before have the poorest among us had so much power. What comes next?
