I pledge allegiance to the republic.
The United States of America: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
I wonder how well the crop of candidates for the most powerful office on the planet would fare in a return to high school civics class. It might prove an adventure in malicious hyperbole to substitute 4th grade social studies in said pondering (though I can think of a number of them who might benefit from that kind of generosity) so I won't. "Unelected judges" - "criminalization of Christianity" - "erode our right to religious liberty" - "legislate from the bench" - "only the latest example of an activist Court" - I mean come on!
14th amendment much? Heard of it? No? I don't believe you.
Forgetting for a moment the altogether high bar of wisdom to know the difference, our politics are constrained by what is and isn't possible under statutory and case law. More than just from celeb du jour the Donald, the citizenry is continually under bombardment by claims of the way things are which historically have proven more popular than good for the republic.
Roads, schools, airports, stadiums, libraries, regulations against the excesses of unbridled profiteering and environmental damage, standards for safety, retirement security, health care for the disabled and near indigent, utility rights of way (this list is glaringly incomplete) are steeped in "socialness," a term I prefer to "socialism" by removing the specter of full-blown Leninism or anti-capitalism in pursuit of an eventual state owned means of production. Had we had more of it the past 50 years, our atmosphere might be suffering way less Venus envy.
