Is it bad that what Barton just said about slavery and the American Revolution is somewhat similar to an alternative history timeline I've been coming up with lately? At least my version is deliberately unrealistic.
Considering the immense stupidity and anachronism of what Barton is claiming now, and yet people still believe him, I have no choice but to give you all the list of fourteen points I think must happen in order to save America from stupid Americans.
As things currently stand, the United States of America is in dire straits. The super-rich and the corrupt politicians have managed to take control of the government, leaving the average hard-working American behind. In addition, Americans are appallingly uneducated and are far more likely to be religious fanatics than people of other countries. Very few Americans actually care about politics or what is happening to this once-great country. There once was a time when Americans were respected throughout the world as liberators, but now they are hated as oppressors and ignorant boors. I have identified what I believe to be the most major contributing factors to the current sorry state of the U.S.A. I have thus proposed fourteen points, quite deliberately the same number as the Fourteen Points which President Woodrow Wilson had proposed for Europe after the First World War, which I believe, if enacted, would go a long way towards rectifying these problems and improving the reputation of the U.S.A. in other countries.
1. Term limits are to be placed on Congress. At the current time, Congress has a vanishingly low approval rating, yet individual Congresspersons routinely get reelected even though it is common knowledge that they are not doing their jobs. Thus, in order to prevent incompetent people from coasting through the federal government for years, I propose that all Representatives and Senators be limited to a single term in Congress. They cannot succeed themselves, nor can a Representative run for Senate (or vice-versa) immediately after finishing his term. This will also prevent people from making politics their career instead of doing it for the good of the people.
2. All religious influence in government is to be completely and totally eradicated. The United States has more religious fanatics than any other civilized country. Only in the U.S.A. do politicians speak favorably of such pseudoscience as creationism. In France, the concept of laïcité, which is absolute separation of church and state, is the law of the land. There are no religious fanatics in France, so the system should be adopted in the U.S.A. as well in order to reduce the influence of religious fundamentalists.
3. The education system is to be completely overhauled. Currently, a disgustingly high number of Americans know nothing about the world outside their borders, or even much of the world inside them. Most Americans would fail the citizenship test if they had to take it. Most Americans know very little about science, and fall for logical fallacies. This is also the reason why only in the U.S.A. are politicians able to pander to religious fundamentalists without committing political suicide. Anti-intellectualism is considered a virtue in U.S. culture, and this must be changed, immediately.
4. The Swedish model, or, if the exact details are unworkable, a similar welfare state, is to be adopted in the U.S.A. Every civilized country in the world provides safety nets and universal health care for its citizens. The U.S.A. is the only exception, which means that the poverty rate in the U.S.A. is higher than it is in any other First-World country. Thus, the education system must also speak of the virtues of these other countries, and point out the difference between socialism and communism. The U.S.S.R. was never socialist. Scandinavia, on the other hand, is. However, most Americans are completely ignorant of these facts which are well-known to every citizen of Western European countries.
5. No wars of aggression are ever to be fought by the United States. Another war like Vietnam or Iraq may never be allowed to happen again. In addition, U.S. foreign policy is to become complete and absolute non-interventionism. Only if at least two-thirds of all N.A.T.O. countries (not counting the U.S.A.) agree to a foreign intervention shall American troops be sent abroad to act as world police.
6. The U.S.A. should become much closer to Canada in terms of culture. A political union between the two countries is probably impossible, but if it is ever proposed, it should happen.
7. Corporations are not to be considered persons according to the law. C.E.Os who commit crimes are to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and no amount of money can remit their sentences. Furthermore, ultra-draconian penalties should be imposed on white-collar crimes. Embezzlement ought to be punished by life in prison. Bribery should be the same, but without any possibility of parole. The U.S. government is currently among the most corrupt of all democratic countries, so such extreme measures are necessary. Of course, any politician who engages in such scandal is to be impeached (and removed from office if found guilty) immediately.
8. All lingering traces of prejudice and discrimination, whether based on race, sex, color, creed, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic situation, are to be completely and totally destroyed. The U.S.A. is still far more racist than Canada or Western Europe. This is to be rectified immediately.
9. Much stricter gun-control laws are to be enacted as soon as possible, in order to bring the number of deaths by firearm in the United States down to the low level it is in all other First-World countries.
10. Climate change is to be fought immediately by every available means. The Kyoto and Copenhagen agreements are to be ratified by the U.S.A. immediately.
11. A government program to combat obesity is to be immediately put in place. Currently 75% of American adults are overweight or obese. This figure is completely unacceptable.
12. The section of the National Defense Authorization Act which allows for the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens by the military without trial is to be found completely and totally unconstitutional. The U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, which President Barack Obama allowed to be renewed despite clearly being unconstitutional, is also to be immediately repealed.
13. Any politician who got elected mainly by corporate donations or voter fraud, instead of by the will of his constituents, is to be immediately impeached and removed from office. Furthermore, his citizenship is to be permanently, absolutely, and retroactively revoked.
14. The richest 1% of Americans is to be taxed much more than the remaining 99%. Income tax should be proportional to one’s income, after all. This would also allow the appallingly wide gap between the rich and poor in the U.S.A. to narrow.