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American Democracy

The United States began as a society determined that liberty is fundamental to life. That premise, carefully adopted by a newly formed nation, would provide freedom, prosperity, and security for many millions over the next 230+ years. Liberty as a preeminent value has never been common. It was not commonplace then and America's impact can only be understood by examining our heritage, political debates, and evolution of government. We created something new - a constitutional republic with democratic input and a novel approach to government as a protector of the rights of 'the people', put in place because we understood that the coexistence of liberty, prosperity, security, and internal peace is fragile. We bet the future of our country on the strength of those protections. And America became the most successful of countries if personal freedom and well being, are the measures.

• CW is an analysis of why that government appeared when and where it did, what made it strong, how it has produced its wealth, and how such a diverse society was able to live together peaceably. CW is also about how our government has evolved--occasionally for the good, but becoming increasingly intrusive in our lives, how that harms us all, and what we can do about it now. These discussions are spread across the following topic categories:
  • Independence

A discussion of the drivers behind America asserting independence when it had so recently been proud to be English subjects.

• Liberty and Constitution

The unique nature of America's Consitution and how it reflected what colonial Americans wanted from government.

• Economic Freedom

When we pursued freedom, it was very often economic freedom we were after.

• What Government do We Want

How do we want government to behave today?

Please also read about the CW mission.

Featured article

American Independence and English Common Law " 'Government is a conditional compact between king and people. A violation of the covenant by either party discharges the other from its obligation.' 'An Act [of Parliament] against the Constitution is void.' In these thirty words Patrick Henry and James Otis denied the divine origin of the British kingship and the legislative supremacy of the British Parliament, and substituted therefor the Common Law and the eternal rights of man."(Full article...)

Issues

• Big Government
• Bill of Rights 101
• Equality of Condition
• National Debt 101

Featured Issue:
Today, many people use the term 'big government' to describe what they believe to be government overreach and intrusion in our daily lives at every level. Wikipedia defines it “as a derogatory term generally used by political conservatives, laissez-faire advocates, or libertarians to describe a government that they consider to be excessively large, corrupt and inefficient, or inappropriately involved in certain areas of public policy or the private sector”. But, a recent Gallup poll found that 72% of us – including 56% of Democrats and 78% of independents – believe it to be a big threat. The basic problem is, Government has this innate dilemma of balancing between serving and interfering.(Full article...)