State constitutions and the Pledge

The Constitution of California:

We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure and perpetuate its blessings, do establish this Constitution.

We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the great Legislator of the universe, in affording us, in the course of His providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new constitution of civil government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain and establish the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

We, the people of the State of Alabama, in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution and form of government for the State of Alabama

We The People of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our Freedom, in order to secure its blessings, DO ESTABLISH THIS CONSTITUTION.

TO THE END, that justice be established, public order maintained, and liberty perpetuated; WE, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to ALMIGHTY GOD for the free exercise of the right to choose our own form of government, do ordain this Constitution.

The People of Connecticut acknowledging with gratitude, the good providence of God, in having permitted them to enjoy a free government; do, in order more effectually to define, secure, and perpetuate the liberties, rights and privileges which they have derived from their ancestors; hereby, after a careful consideration and revision, ordain and establish the following constitution and form of civil government.

"While America slept…"

Story.

There are some major flaws in this, but it's worth a read.

What I actually wanted to say about this, is as follows. There are two underlying problems that have lead to this situation: firstly, the failure to manage the transition from Empire to nation in Africa (Britain, France), India (Britain), South and Central America (Spain, Portugal); and secondly, the failure to move to establish international agreements enforcing common labour conditions.

While it is the United States that must take a lot of the blame for the latter, the latter is and would have been impossible had it not been for the former. The responsibility sits on the collective madness that overtook Europe in the aftermath of WW2 to divest themsevles of their colonial posessions. In the scramble to allow self-determination, we neglected to udnerstand that these countries were not READY for independence. Of those former posessions, how many have developed into mature, stable democracies without immense division between rich and poor? Only two, South Africa and Brazil, even come close to that measure, and only those in certain measure. It was our failure to understand that having taken these countries as colonial posessions, it was our resonsibility to oversee their political and economic development until such time as they were ready to be made independent. We failed, on a collosal scale, and the result has been death and suffering on a scale unimaginable. India and Pakistan should be seen as a salutory lesson for any who now foolishly advocate an early withdrawal from Iraq. One doesn't just go into a country and uproot its long-established order, arrange for some elections and then leave, which is almost exactly what Britain, France, Spain and Portugal did, in criminal negligence.

The result, fifty years later, is the current mess that is the Third World. The lack of political and economic maturity when left to stand on their own has led to a quagmire which allowed for the outsourcing of jobs to labour environments where working conditions standards are lower and thus pay can be lower. It is unfair to place all the blame onto US corporations for seeking to cut costs while raising profits: that's precisely what a corporation is there to do. That's its function. You and I will criticize them for it, and question their right to exist in that framework, but for as long as they do, you might as well chastize a dog for barking. Dogs bark, and corporations seek to increase profits while driving down costs.

In order to understand what must be done to correct the problem, first the environment in which the situation arose must be understood, the blame correctly apportioned, and the scale of the problem revealed. It was clear in, for example, Wilson's survey results that she does not understand the nature of the problem: yes, she supports higher taxation on the rich, yet remains ambivalent on public money for overseas aid development. This is not about America; it is not an American problem (although America - with its high salary high living standards culture - will suffer the most as a result). The root cause is not America. The root cause is Europe. We can't change the pass, but we can learn its lessons, and in understanding the history, more accurately devise results to the problem.