Governments of the modern age exist to serve their Peoples. It is, therefore, the responsibility of government to protect citizens from threats to their lives, health, and overall wellbeing. It is also the responsible of government to provide for the general welfare of the People by ensuring individuals can provide for their own needs. Defining proper governance with limits on government is, however, essential in order to prevent government overreach and oppression. Education and healthcare are two critical areas where Americans struggle to define proper governance, which means they provide two excellent opportunities to discuss critical elements of proper governance. This writer has argued for a shift away from the “lifetime learning” model, which feeds an explosion of unsustainable academic spending and infrastructure, to a skill-building educational philosophy rooted in “learning to learning,” but the question of whether government should pay for alternatives to public schools, i.e. charter schools, still remains a major focal point of reform debates. While there are many who believe in privatization for the sake of privatization, there should be a compelling reason for government to privatize one of its function; otherwise, privatization becomes an excuse to ensure government remains dysfunctional. If the private industry can do it better, the government should be able to do it better as well.
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Martin Luther King Jr. Day is the holiday that commemorates the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the Civil Rights Movement. It is not, however, just a day dedicated to the struggles of minorities and the working poor, which are groups King often represented. It is a day dedicated to the struggle for the civil liberties of all Americans, for “equal protection” under the Law, and for more responsive government. Where the Civil Rights Movement is traditionally considered an effort to further the interests of minorities, women, and the poor, it was actually a political campaigning to ensure government serves all US citizens.
Through writings, speeches, and demonstrations, Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. championed the need for democratic representation and more responsive governance. Instead of resorting to violence in their pursue of the interests of blacks, disenfranchised workers, and women, the Civil Rights movement used peaceful means to demand the government protect the freedoms and rights of all. In relying on civil disobedience and actionable demands, even in the face of violence, the Civil Rights Movement was able to successful lobby government in service of the disenfranchised. MLK Day reminds the world that it still needs a Civil Rights Movement to ensure government serves the People. Fake news, information wars, and the general poisoning of the internet with widespread misinformation are transforming the Information Age into the Dark Misinformation Age. Where the World Wide Web promised to empower mankind with an ever-expanding library of open knowledge and a platform for global discussion, those skilled in the science of IT and the art of propaganda have seized control of cyberspace. Combating those who abuse the power of their technical skills and cyber infrastructure requires a new Age of Enlightenment. It requires a revolution in how people across the globe consume information.
Ultimately, the driving force behind the global Information War is a lack of trust in civil institutions, such as governments, national security agencies, news outlets, and the sciences. Instead of trusting traditional, and necessary, sources of information, people tend to trust their own preconceived notions and more familiar sources of information, which are more sympathetic to their views. This makes it very difficult to both dispel misperceptions, as well as misinformation, and much easier to use bias to manipulate groups of individuals who share similar views. In recognizing humanity is geographically globalized, yet remains intellectually and ideologically localized, solutions present themselves. The Fake News Epidemic has taken a turn for the worse. It has widely been reported that US President Donald Trump had been briefed on the possibility of Russia blackmailing him over a secretly recorded sex tape showing the new President with prostitutes in a Russian hotel. If the allegations are true, the scandal would likely force Mr. Trump from office and represent one of Russia’s boldest attempts to influence the White House. If the allegations are false and simply a brazen example of fake news, as Mr. Trump asserted when he was confronted about the allegations during a CNN interview, it seriously erodes the already damaged credibility of professional news outlets and calls into question the already suspect motives of America’s national security apparatus.
Fake News is a tool in a far broader global Information War being waged by faceless combatants who seek to propagate confusion and distrust in order to hide the pursuit of their own self-serving agendas. Unfortunately, there is not one enemy nor is there one goal behind this threat. The threat can come from anyone while the threat is against everyone. The threat comes from governments, national security agencies, criminals, corporations, and every other sort of actor imaginable. War has also included an “information war,” but the nature of the Information Age and social media has empowered the already influential to operate on a global scale without culpability. To fight this threat, the mechanisms of an information war must first be understood. US President Donald Trump campaigned on a platform that questioned the value of NATO, the UN, and the International Community in general. Given the inability of the UN to resolve high-profile conflicts around the world and address mutual threats like globalized terrorism, this kind of pessimism is reasonable. Recognizing the sentiments behind decisions like the Brexit and broad rejection of the International Criminal Court across the African continents, others clearly share the same doubts as the US President. These sentiments result from a spreading lack of faith in international institutions; however, they also stem from a failure to understand the value of the International Community and reasonable expectation for what international institutions can do.
The US alone spends roughly $8 billion a year on the UN. It also spends between $50 and 65 billion on the US State Department, which is responsible for America’s diplomatic representation throughout the world. Without the UN, the US would likely have to spend a great deal more on diplomatic and trade infrastructure to achieve the same level of interaction it enjoys with the representatives of other nations. More importantly, the US spends $8 billion on the UN and roughly $60 billion on the US State Department, but around $600 billion on the US military. Even if the UN helps prevent a handful of conflicts between the US and its rivals while helping to diffuse the potential for even more wars, i.e. the need to buildup military forces, it saves money and lives. |
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April 2020
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