Gangs of the United States

Devlin Bronte Rachele

Bedford, Pennsylvania

Saturday, October 3, 2020

Dear Evan,

In your last letter you had asked me if I thought Biden or Trump would be the better choice for America. You asked which had the better idea, which could lead America to a place of greatness. You also asked which one’s plans would create a situation of long lasting greatness for our nation. Unfortunately I can’t give you a simple answer. Just to say this man or that man has the better idea would be meaningless to the point of impotency. These are serious times and we need the best answers we can find. The best answer I can give is one which will shed a light on our situation and truly help you to understand it as well as the solution to our nation’s ails. I feel it would be better to break it down into parts. Once you have all the parts you will be able to put it all together and fully understand my answer to your question.

In this first part I think we should start with a look at the situation. Now, I’m not talking about the current issues. I am talking about the current situation of our politics. In many cases this situation is the cause of the current issues. In this first section I think we should take a close look at our government itself. I will be calling this first section…

The Gangs of the United States

In November of 1830 Simon Bolivar wrote that America is Ungovernable. About a month later the Liberator was dead. Of course he was talking of the America he had known and for which he had spent years fighting. This was a vast area which covered much of the Northwest Corner of South America and extended into Central America. This was his Gran Colombia. It was a nation he had fought to liberate from the authoritarian control of the Spanish Aristocracy. However, his Gran Colombia had much in common with the newly formed nation to the northeast.

Like Gran Colombia the United States covered a vast area of land. Just as there were major differences between the Isthmus of Panama, the Andes, Rain Forest, and Coastal Regions in Gran Colombia there were major differences between the New England states and those of the South. There were difference between maritime towns and inland towns. Each area had its own geography, climate, resources, and challenges to meet. Even though most people in the United States spoke English and were influenced by English culture the isolation from England and creating a life with what their region had to offer had created many different smaller sub cultures. A fisherman in New England had very little interest in what was important to a Georgian farmer. Even colonies that were neighbors had many differences. Lord Baltimore had founded Maryland as a refuge for his fellow Catholics while William Penn after his own experiences with religious intolerance opened his colony, Pennsylvania, to all seeking religious freedom. By the way the state is named for his father not for William Penn as if it makes a difference. There were other major differences Maryland was centered on the huge Chesapeake Bay while Pennsylvania was mainly farmlands and mines or quarries just west and north of Philadelphia.

Our Founding Parents found that the colonist had learned to face and deal with their unique set of challenges which came with their respective area. They had learned to carve a living out of the wilderness. They had learned to survive and make decisions far from the direct influence of the British Crown. It could take months even a year to get a response from Parliament or the Crown. They did have governors and other agents appointed by the Crown but the main interest of these appointments was what was in the best interest of the Crown as the Crowns agents interpreted and were able to understand these interests. In many cases the Crown and Parliament who were more concerned with pressing issues of Europe were out of contact with what it was like to be a colonist. In some cases they simply did not see what was important to the colonist as being of an interest to the motherland. Many colonial communities started to create their own response organizations and created their own colonial government such as the Virginian House of Burgesses in an attempt to create a body which was in touch with the specific needs and concerns of the colonist. When the Crown attempted to bring the colonists under control according to the interests of the Crown the colonists decided it was time for a change.

As with anything the colonists stood up to the challenge and fought a war for freedom from the British. They had grown tired of being told with whom they were allowed to do business and trade. They were tired of being ruled by a government which was about three thousand miles away and seemed to be even farther when it came to the mindset and concerns of the colonists. They were tired of having to seek approval from this distant government. They felt it was time for a country and government of their own. Our Founding Parents may have acted out of their own greed but they understood what it took to turn the colonies into a country. They had learned from the likes of Plato, Locke, Descartes, Hume, Rousseau, Hobbes, and many others. They learned from their own experiences. They had not liked being imposed upon by others and wanted to be free to live their own lives. They also learned a lesson that Simon Bolivar wouldn’t until over a half century later. They learned that you do not govern America. You cannot create a one size fits all. They knew that if they had made the mistakes of Great Britain it would only be a matter of time before the colonists turned on them. Our Founding Parents realized you needed to listen to and help guide America and tailor the government to the needs of the Americans.

They decided to create a government which had the ability to hold the nation together but yet allowed each state to maintain its own. They wanted to create a government that had the ability to not only work for their situation but to adapt and grow with the nation. They wanted a government which protected individual freedoms. They wanted a government which could bring the nation together for the benefit of all concerned but at the same time would not hinder the abilities of the nation or individual. They create an experiment known as the Articles of Confederation with a Congress as the Main Organ. This turned out to be too weak and flawed which was pointed out by Shay’s Rebellion of 1786/87. They went to work to fix the problems. In the end they had scrapped the Articles of Confederation in favor of a Republic formed under the Constitution. Again the centerpiece was a large venue known as Congress which had two independent chambers in which ideas would be presented and debated. They created a Supreme Court to ensure that the rules of the Constitution were being followed and a President to be a representative of the nation as a whole and to offer guidance and protection. States were still their own entities. It was as if they were individual cells taking care of their individual needs but they came together to form the body. For the most part the states would run their own internal affairs while the Federal Government would take care of international affairs, protect the nation, help with interstate concerns, and set the standards for money and weights and measures.

This was a system with a lot of advantages. Many times when you have to find a solution by yourself it can be difficult and even seem to be insurmountable. Many times when you do find a solution you may have missed things which could prove to be a problem in the future. When you have the help of others it could still be difficult but you have more experience and perspectives to draw on towards finding a solution. You may realize potential problems or solutions you would have missed. With the help of others you may find a real solution which answers the problem once and for all. When working on a solution together you have a real chance to learn about yourself and understand others far better. There is a potential for real self discovery and growth. You have the local governments to handle the unique needs of that locality. You have a state house in each state to workout statewide issues. Each state can look at one another for ideas on how to handle their own issues. They can see what other states have tried and how it had worked. They can borrow ideas from one another and tweak it to suit their own unique needs and the other states can learn from them. You have a Congress with a House of Representatives bringing their perspectives into the debate for viable solutions. They can look at the states and see how they had fixed similar problems. They could present an idea and have it placed under extreme scrutiny. Perhaps the solution will work or maybe it needs to be tweaked. Perhaps it is good for some regions but a hindrance to others. The states can learn from the Congressional Debates and decide for themselves. Perhaps the idea is just too flawed and dies but gives life to other better ideas. It is then all repeated in the Senate. If it passes the Senate then it goes on to be law with the approval of the President. If the Senate, President or Supreme Court sees a change is needed then it goes back to the House to be debated again. It all has the potential to create an enlightened populace and enlightened laws. It is a government which doesn’t govern the people but in fact is governed by the people.

But things have drastically changed since the late summer of 1789 when the Constitution was hammered out in Philadelphia. To illustrate let’s look at an example of the change. It is easy to declare that Robert E. Lee was a traitor when you apply current understandings of America on what he did. However, if you look at his time and how the people of this nation saw themselves you would be able to understand that Lee was doing his duty to defend what he considered to be his homeland which was the state of Virginia. People from the beginning of our nation until the mid 19th Century saw themselves as a citizen of the state they lived in first and of the nation secondly. Citizens of a state were far more interested in what was going on in their town and state capitols than they were in what was happening in Washington. Each state was its own entity within the larger. Most people looked to their family, friends, neighbors, and their state for what they needed. The nation as a whole was in the backdrop and there to help settle interstate and foreign issues. But instead of an enlightened people and government creating enlightened decisions from the bottom up, we have Washington as the center of it all imposing its will on the people. We basically have exactly what our Founding Parents had fought the Revolutionary War against. We have a nation of people pitted against one another instead of working with one another for the mutual benefit of all or at least as close as we can given the situation and with what we have to work. It should be noted that pitting people against one another is a very lazy form of leadership. Basically it is an idea of its us against them so cling to me.

So, what has happened to change from a land of limitless possibilities to the quagmire we have now? Well, again this is where the various parts explaining what all had occurred which made this rut we are spending our tires in possible. A lot has occurred which all came together and created the situation where Robert E. Lee found the need to defend his beloved homeland of Virginia. We will cover most of what has happened over the next few letters and eventually all the parts will bring the overall picture into view for you. But for this installment we are focusing on gangs.

In our system of presentation of ideas and debate it does require a lot of work, a lot of effort, a lot of preparation. In order to present an idea which can weather the debates and be accepted you must have a very good understanding of the situation and be able to present it effectively. You have to understand your opposition and what is their main motivation. It has a safeguard against people who wish the system to bend for them. It is very expensive and hard to reach and bribe enough individuals to back your cause and not be found out. But if you could create a platform of various ideas and goals and then get various like minded politicians to back your platform you will be able to create a party. The party as a whole can do the research and create the policy it wishes to present and have all party members back it. There is little need to do the work, the research, the debate. It is simple, if you want the resources of the party to back your political aspirations you need to back the party. You find that if your party gets enough seats in Congress you don’t even need to have hearings. If you have enough votes you can just impose your way on the whole. So instead of doing the work politicians were gathered into groups centering on their special interests and their understanding into parties to bully their proposals through the government. Eventually parties came and faded away or were absorbed into the two main parties in the limelight today. Each with their platform and each able to pass it through Congress and impose it on all when they gather the majority of the vote in the chambers. Bullying in this way is just a lazy form of governance.

Now we basically have been reduced from unlimited potential to just two approaches, two points of view, two ideas, two choices. Sure there are other parties and they shouldn’t be dismissed because from time to time the ideas of other parties have influenced the platforms and marketing of the Democrats and Republicans. But for the most part we vote Republican and they push their agenda on us. When we tire or are disillusioned by the Republicans because very little has changed we vote them out and bring in the Democrats. After a while we tire of them and bring back the Republicans only to remember why we voted them out in the first place and bring back the Democrats. It is just back and forth with little change. The Democrats undo the programs and policies of the Republicans who sabotage the programs and policies of the Democrats. One gains the upper hand only to lose it. It is just back and forth with little to no progress. They waste time trying to hamstring one another to reduce their chances of regaining seats. We the people are given our options from these two gangs and we only see these two options so that is for what we vote. Remember being a good salesman isn’t a matter of finding what your customer needs but getting them to buy what you want them.

Do you realize that we have been arguing about the immigrant situation since the election of 1800? Yes, we do have an illegal alien issue in this nation. In fact there have been many cases of legal aliens being changed to illegal status just by the back and forth policy changes of each party. There have been cases of American families who have been in this land since before the inception of our government who have been declared illegal and deported by policy changes. But yet the fear of illegal aliens has given the parties a lot of power as we look to the ones who helped to create the problem for solutions. It is just another thing to milk and to pit us against one another. Pitting us against one another is the lazy form of leadership and through these two parties we have sunk to it. Not to mention it is far easier to bribe two parties with generous donations to protect your interests than it is to bribe or win over 500 members of Congress and many more in state houses. Do you honestly believe when it comes down to it that either the Democrats or Republicans are going to harm businesses? It is their bread and butter. No, we pay for it. They have created a situation where those with the ability can easily gain support of our representatives at an expense to us. We are right back to where we were before the revolution.

So, here we are on the eve of another election. We have two parties bullying each other and doing all they can to stack the deck in their favor. To answer your question as to which would be better? I don’t see how voting for the same old thing will bring in an improvement. It will just bring in the same old thing. Fighting for Trump or Biden is not fighting for the United States. It is just fighting for Trump or Biden. Then this brings us to another point. I definitely don’t see how pitting a nation against itself is a way to greatness in any sense. It is just one side forcing its will on the other only to be overthrown the moment the opposition gains the majority. Dividing a nation is the best way to invite invasion and to conquer it. And whether we know it and are willing to realize it, we have been invaded and conquered by these two gangs.

By the way, I should mention this bullying is what caused the secession of southern states from the Union. Yes, slavery was a major issue however, it was the idea that Northern States had voted Republican (a newly formed party at the time) and due to the North’s population had a far larger representation in Congress than the South which had voted predominately Democrat. Now the Republicans, in the election of 1860 had also gained the Presidency. (It should be noted that in his inaugural address Lincoln stated that he had no ambitions of ending slavery. He also went on to reaffirm this in several executive orders and other messages. It was only when it was seen as a military necessity he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which was an executive order freeing slaves in territories which were in open rebellion to the Federal Government. This was to help draw Confederate Troops from the frontlines to protect the home front weakening the South’s ability to wage war.) Basically the North had the representation it needed to get what it wanted passed into law. Much of this benefited the North at the expense of the South. The South had lost its voice in the Federal Government. It was rendered unable to stand up for itself and be represented. It decided to form its own government. Lincoln saw this as illegal and he decided they didn’t have the right to secede from the Union. When he refused to surrender Federal Forts in Southern territory and started to resupply and increase their strengths the South fired on Fort Sumter on 12 April 1861 erupting in a full scale war. It should also be noted that during the shelling of Fort Sumter there had not been one casualty. The only deaths occurred when Fort Sumter attempted to fire a salute.

Is there any hope? Sure there is but it isn’t to be found as Simon Bolivar or King George III had found in trying to impose your will on others as in a one size fits all ruling when there is so much diversity. As we go over the other parts which have contributed to this spinning of America’s wheels I will explain what I call Americanism. A true hope for America which either we have the courage and ability to do or not.

Sincerely Your Friend,

Devlin