Introduction: On Problems

In the west and/or the US, we face such a wide variety of crises that at least require government attention, including but not limited to unaffordable homes, environmental destruction, climate change, biodiversity loss, the fertility rate, AI, debt, a broken judicial system, a broken political system, a broken healthcare system, child interaction with the internet, “doomscrolling”, porn, drug addiction, reckless consumerism, corporate control of institutions, retirement funding, planned obsolecense, performative activism, loneliness increases, overprotective/fear parenting, loss of civic participation, and many more things, even small things like what type of playground kids could have access to (such as adventure playgrounds). I think all of these things could definitely be tackled in a better way than the current political parties and the political system allows for, so this document is an attempt to write down all my ideas on what that better way would be. I don’t expect you to agree with me on every point, but I hope I can spur contemplation that could lead to my mind to change. To start, I will expand on the current political system.

In regards to the political system, here I am referring to the style of government organization used primarly in the west. These are multiple party systems with rotating parties controlling the government, often requiring coalitions, quick rotations of power, and a slow lawmaking process. Theres a famous quote along the lines of “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other ones” that will sometimes be used to back up western governments. The problem is that this quote acts as if the current form of “democracy” is the only possible form, thus using fear to avoid any talks of changing the status quo. I put democracy in quotes because I do not consider western governments (specifically the US as that is my primary focus) to be working in a true democratic fashion. The US government in particular is acting in a fundamentally broken way, prioritizing the interests of corporations and the wealthy without any long term planning (concerning the debt or climate change for example). No administration wants to deal with any long term problems, pushing these onto the next administration. This next administration, then has a choice. They can either attempt to solve it which will probably require raising taxes, thus facing backlash from the populus or their donors, or they can push it to the next administration, making the long term problems worse (Reaganomics).

Parties seem unable to even consider actual changes needed to fix our problems, changes that will be large scale. For example, let’s take the American health care system. Nearly every other country in the world has free/universal healthcare, but the US is alone, especially among its peers. In the 50s-70s, every western European country developed a government run healthcare system, systems that were so popular that even when right wing parties come into power they do not touch it. America is alone in its healthcare policy, most due to the fact lobbyists helped convince America that we need a private insurance run system, which then allows these insurance companies to upcharge the consumer, leading to what is the most expensive healthcare system in the world. It is no wonder that there are 3,216 lobbyists for the healthcare industry, spending billions every year to make sure our healthcare system doesn’t change.

If you hear this and immediately want change, you are not alone, as ~76% of Americans want healthcare reforms. Yet this issue was not mentioned once on the campaign trail for the 2024 election. Neither party remotely cared enough to even bring it up. It is not that these parties themselves are even necessarily the problem, it is simply that the entire system is broken, as I will expand on later, and the American public needs to wake up to the fact that sometimes major changes are ok. Change is hard, but it is also necessary. Big change is what led to the creation of America and with it a new beautiful and flawed form of government, big change is what led to the emancipation proclamation, and the civil rights movement, and big change is what we need today. All these changes were seen as radical at the time, but as time progresses, we are able to see that change is always necessary.

We must ask, what changes are neccessary in politics, economics, culture, technology, and society at large?