Governance in America (V2)

Written by Frank Li

Governance is everything for a country built to last. Here is where America stands on governance:

1. America is practically governance-less!
2. America is becoming ungovernable!

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Let me elaborate on each …

1. America is practically governance-less

Four big examples:

1. COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.
2. Killing of George Floyd.
3. American carnage: how Trump’s mob ran riot in the Capitol.
4. Texas weather crisis deepens Chinese belief they’re ‘on right path’.

2. America is becoming ungovernable!

Four big examples:

1. Healthcare: We spend about 17% of our GDP on this, more than any other country! Yet, many Americans are just one serious illness away from personal bankruptcy. Worse yet, read US life expectancy is still on decline.
2. Violence: We top the developed world on violence (List of countries by firearm-related death rate), as well as on police brutality (U.S. police shoot, kill and imprison more people than other developed countries. Here’s the data).
3. Incarceration: We top the world. For more, read U.S. incarceration rate – Wikipedia.
4. Defense: Read The U.S. Spend More on Its Military Than the Next 10 Countries Combined and Jimmy Carter Lectures Trump: US ‘Most Warlike Nation in History of the World’. Yet, we keep spending, regardless of the party in charge. For more, read The Evil Military-Industrial Complex.

A real government must take care of all its citizens, especially the poor. For example, the indigenous people may no longer have a strong voice, because they have been almost wiped out. But the African-Americans do, as they count for about 15% of the population. They must be treated fairly, according to their standards, or the country is not governable. For more, read Racism in America.

3. Summary

The image below shows one example of how America has failed in basic governance.

To understand why America has been so poorly governed, we must go all the way back to the founding days …

4. America was founded by/of/for the rich!

The rich wanted a limited government, which would not only leave them alone to become richer (e.g., without paying taxes), but also support them with slavery and colonialism. They got it, as shown by the image below.

Specifically, America was chiefly governed by two big schemes at its inception:

1. Freedom: Free land and free labor (i.e., slavery) kept going – What a great deal for the rich! For those Americans who hate socialism, slavery is socialism supporting capitalism in the form of free labor. In other words, America has been socialistic since the inception.
2. Law & order: Guns and the Bible kept going, with some very positive additions, such as the U.S. Constitution.

5. America remains by/of/for the rich!

Thanks, chiefly, to Thomas Jefferson, [Jeffersonian] America has, over the past 200 years, focused little on governance. As a result, America remains essentially unchanged. For example, today America is still by/of/for the rich, as highlighted by the image below.

The image below is worth more than 1,000 words.

6. Discussion

Everything is relative.

Simply put, America is behind China in governance by a few decades at least!

Two key examples:

1. “All men are created equal”. It was a powerful statement to declare independence from Britain in 1776, but it is fundamentally wrong – It was wrong then, when slavery was still harbored in America, and it is wrong now, when equality includes equal outcomes. In contrast, China got it right 2,000 years ago: meritocracy is key to any country built to last.
2. The Federal government remains weak, resulting in much trouble country-wide, from healthcare, to immigration, to gun control, and to pandemic control. In contrast, China got it right 2,000 years ago: The Federal government (aka the “central government” in China) must be strong, with the confidence in government being everything, as highlighted by the image below.

Bottom line: Confidence in government is everything, or the country will fail.

Now, let’s look at the difference between China and America in terms of the government approval ratings (The Harvard Gazette: Ash Center research team unveils findings from long-term public opinion survey):

1. China: 95.5%.
2. America: 38%.

Still wondering why China will claim the 21st century?

Here is a list of America’s big failures this century so far:

1. 2003: The launch of the Iraq War.
2. 2008: Financial crisis.
3. 2014: Ukraine – Read Three New Kingdoms.
4. 2020: Killing of George Floyd.
5. 2020: COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.
6. 2021: American carnage: how Trump’s mob ran riot in the Capitol.
7. 2021: Texas weather crisis deepens Chinese belief they’re ‘on right path’.

In contrast, American propaganda notwithstanding (Top 10 American Misconceptions about China), can you name one significant example of China’s failure this century?

Question: If American politicians and the MSM could have lied so much about “Stop the Steal”, is it possible that they have been lying about China for a long time?

Read this to find out: What Is China, Anyway? (V4).

7. Closing

Governance is hard.

All signs indicate America is just yet another failed state in the making, because it is failing in basic governance!

It’s time for America to learn from China, before it’s too late!

For more, read my new book forthcoming (Introduction to “History 2.0”).

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