Bringing Back Ethics: "The Spirit of Law"

America needs to bring back morality and ethics into the private operations of corporations and in the mindset of individual citizens.

One hallmark of the modern world is that organizations, corporations and individuals try to find loopholes in the system that work for their advantage and then stand on the their principals and claim that they did nothing wrong when it blows up. This practice absolutely has to be ended.

The recent Wall Street meltdown is a primary example of this practice whereby the financial firms ultimately had a whole team of lawyers who tear apart every piece of legislation in order to find the gaps or the opportunities within the legislation that are open to them. They then proceed to find ways around the overseeing institutions such as the SEC in order to continue their actions. 

The obvious problem in this approach is that it undermines the intent of the legislation and results in border line illegal activities that benefit very few people but also serve to undermine society in general. Whether one sees intervention in the private sector as socialist or not it has been demonstrated time after time that if left to its own devices, the free market forces will do what is in their selfish best interest and then not be held accountable for any damage done to others.  They do this with a clear conscience as they are able to claim that they have technically done nothing illegal.

The issue is not that they have been able to usurp the legislation rather that what they have done, though not technically illegal, it is definitely 100% unethical.  Morality has gone out of the current American way of thinking.

However, in order to overcome this monstrous gap in America, weherby societal ethics have been abandoned by the "ME generation", what needs to be implemented are "Spirit of Law" provisions whereby the actual intent of the legislation is considered legally binding over and above the actual specifics of the legislation itself.

In today' world, it is pretty unrealistic to imagine that any legisaltive body would be able to create a set of rules that will cover every and all future situations that might arise or have yet to be imagined.

The "Spirit of Law" legal provision will make individuals and corporations legally bound to follow through on the intetnion of the legisaltion rather trying to find ways to circumvent it. Under the "Spirit of Law" mantra any entity that finds loopholes in legislation and then exploits them would be held criminally liable and subject to prosecution.

Americans have to embrace a mindset whereby they respect the intent and spirt of the US way of life rather than imagining ways to co opt it for their own selfish purposes. 

Marriage: It's Not Forever

As the divorce rate in America hovers around 50% it is obvious that many people do not like the idea of life time marriage.  This does not mean however, that people do not want to be married. The goal then should be to create a system whereby marriage is entered into without the lifetime commitment aspect already in place.

Therefore, a new system needs to put in place whereby the original marriage license would have a term of 7 years.

If the marriage is not to be continued beyond the 7 year period then all that needs to be done is that documentation be submitted by the parties involved. It does not matter if one partner wants to remain married, the other is able to end the marriage unilaterally. If the couple opts to remain together than nothing needs to be done and an automatic renewal period of 5 years would be added to the marriage period.

As a means of encouraging long-term marriage, a series of tax incentives would be developed by each of the individual states to keep couples together. As well, one time administrative costs of $2,500 per partner would be warranted at the time of marriage dissolution.  This fee serves as not only a minor deterrent but as a revenue stream to self-fund the cost of operations.

Distribution of marital assets would be conducted based on legal title holding and tax returns.  For example, if homes are in both names then it is split.  If the home is one persons name then they keep it. This deters splitting assets for taxation purposes and keeps them assigned as they should be. Income derived during the marriage remains the income of the earner.  Child support would be legally mandatory and cannot be over-looked under any circumstances by either party.

The goal of termed marriage licenses is two-fold. One, to decrease the spirit of acrimonious break-up between people and two, to reduce the costs involved to the individuals by reducing the involvement of the legal profession.  By removing the life time portion and making it easier to separate, people do not have to endure the strained and quite often prolonged impact on their lives.

The New American Dream: Crafting Ones Own America

The American Dream is changing to one whereby individual citizens have input and control over their world such that they have the opportunity to live free and define their own measures for success.

The traditional dream of being free and working hard which subsequently leads to financial success has become antiquated as most people no longer feel that the system is fair or accessible to them. America's domestic economy has evolved into a tremendously inequitable system whereby a financial oligarchy has complete control over it and manipulates the system to their advantage at the expense of the many.  Many Americans do not even have the ability to strive for an improvement to their existing situation as the middle class formula for growth has diminished. Even a minimal goal of home ownership has eroded for way too many people.

Americans now feel the USA is a place where they are manipulated and controlled to the point that they have no contribution or input into the current system.  This unease with the current system is the root of the social unrest we are witnessing. The Tea Party movement is a social movement to affect political control and the 1/99 movement is a protest over economic inequality. Though each movement represents a very different philosophy, both are the same in their origins in that all the members are asking for is the same thing...access and influence for more American citizens.

The evolving new definition of the "American Dream" is one in which individuals feel they have the ability to influence and craft their own immediate community so that they can have a platform for success.  Success itself  is also being redefined as less of a financial reward but rather one in which American culture, society and the economy is more equitable and accessible to everyone.