Saving America: Part II

I've been reading American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present by Philip Gorski. He articulates two ideals, radical secularism and religious nationalism, both of which he believes are misguided.

In his conclusion, Gorski gives a vision for drawing our polarizing country together:

1. Banish big money from the political process. The marketplace of ideas cannot work properly if some people are allowed to buy giant bullhorns to shout down everyone else. The Preamble describes the virtues of freedom and equality, which I now view as competing ideas. Too much of one drowns the other. Likewise, allowing for the freedom of businesses to donate unlimited amounts to campaigns makes political influence unequal.
2. Make civic holidays into holidays again. This space for civic reflection and celebration has been gradually eroded for the sake of commerce...removed in the name of freedom itself. In other words, all non-essential businesses will be closed. Remembering our fallen, celebrating the Declaration, and giving thanks for our blessings would be good for civic spirit.
3. Make character education a part of civic education. The U.K. has introduced a program of character education in its public schools, based on research done by the Jubilee Center at the University of Birmhingham. It's purpose is to instill basic civic virtues such as honesty, courage, and generosity. This would help greatly with public discourse.
4. Establish a universal system of national service. Many countries require citizens to perform a national service. Ours should include men and women, military and civil service. If more families had children in the military, it would temper our trigger-happy instinct toward war. One of Nassim Taleb's examples of "skin in the game" included politicians not being able to vote on war efforts unless they had a direct family member in active duty. This would be a good start. It would give young Americans first-hand experience with our nation's diversity and instill an ethic of service in our youth.

Venn Diagram

What ideas here do liberals and conservatives agree on? I think 2 will work. Conservatives value tradition, sacredness, and respect. Liberals would get behind the anti-consumerism. Plus, those who are forced to work on holidays tend to be the working poor. This would be a good opportunity to stand on their side and against "oppressive" capitalism.

I think 4 would work too, as long as people can choose between military or civic service. Conservatives love the military and liberals love community service/social justice. Only libertarians would disagree with forcing individuals into this, but they're used to being the minority. 

I really like 3, but it's already super hard to get any changes done to the public school system. What would be displaced by this new program? It would be hard to get both sides to agree on what constitutes "character." Is it social justice? Self-reliance? Personal restraint?

1 just raises more questions. Do we make super PACs illegal? That would be a good start but I don't know how many non-rich conservatives would support it. Do we publicly fund campaigns? I can't see conservatives getting behind more taxes and government.

Gorski says John McCormick has a third option: wealthy citizens would be relieved of all tax burdens but in exchange would give up their rights to vote, to stand for office, or to contribute funds to political campaigns. I like the idea and how it fits in with "no taxation without representation" but I worry about the huge impact it will have on tax revenues.