Western democracy appears to be in retreat around the world. Even the United States, the birthplace of modern democracy, is now flirting with the notion of overturning its own election to appease a select few with cult-like devotion to Donald Trump. The rise of Trump, however, is the symptom, not the cause of our current predicament. Whether you are on the “left” or the “right,” most Americans intuitively feel that their government has lost touch with common people and serves only itself. Democracy as we know it seems to be failing, but few can imagine a better system. …

The American democratic experiment was born in the New World where it was free of the vested interests and historical baggage that had slowed progress in Europe. It truly was a government built upon Enlightenment ideals, too far removed from Europe to be governed according to European laws and practices. When we colonize Mars, the Martian government will also be too remote for terrestrial control. Mars gives us an opportunity to experiment with entirely new forms of governance. Here’s how a Martian political structure might improve upon terrestrial ones.

The Need for Government

In the early days of a Martian colony, the governing structure would be based on crew responsibility and Earth-based commands. With guidance terrestrially, a small number of Martian residents would be able to self-govern, much how airplanes can self-govern at 50,000 feet. Prior to flight, rules and responsibilities are laid out and mission control on Earth provides the ultimate authority. …

And Who to Blame

So we all heard that it they were coming, yet no second stimulus check came before the end of 2020, what happened? After the hasty passing of the CARES ACT in late March, there have been a number of attempts at providing more stimulus for America. Yet, political polarization in Washington prevented its passing. Here is the stimulus story and why you didn’t get a second check this year.

The Opening Salvo

The story begins with a big bang. In May, the Democrats, led by Speaker Pelosi, passed a massive $3.4 Trillion stimulus package in the House. This bill included the popular stimulus checks, also about $1 Trillion in aid for state and local governments, and $600/week in supplemental unemployment benefits. …

The Covid-19 vaccine is here, but don’t celebrate yet. The vaccine is no silver bullet, and could very well backfire. While the global economy reels and thousands die each day from Covid-19, vaccines developed at record speed would appear to mark the beginning of the end of a difficult year. But not so fast, enormous challenges lie ahead, and the existence of the vaccine could make our situation worse.

Antivaxxers

With all of the misinformation that has spread alongside Covid-19 (it is a hoax, made in a lab, or just a flu….etc) there is no reason to think that this misinformation will not continue with the arrival of the vaccine. …

Government isn’t (always) the enemy of free enterprise. From Spacex to the Covid-19 vaccine, government money, combined with talent and entrepreneurship is a potent combination that can bring about world-changing technological breakthroughs. For America, a country where many citizens value rugged individualism and hold that government is a beast that must be tamed, SpaceX’s success (among others) suggest otherwise.

Groundbreaking Achievements

SpaceX has achieved a great many breakthroughs and firsts in its relatively short existence. SpaceX was the first private company to launch into orbit using its own money and technology. It achieved the first landing of an orbital-class rocket back on Earth, and now regularly reuses rockets to reduce launch costs. For the American launch industry, this has been a godsend. …

The Covid 19 pandemic could be the end of America’s technological and economic prowess. Historically, America has been the country that the worlds best and brightest have chosen to study and immigrate to. From Einstein to Elon Musk, immigrants and their direct descendants have been a vital source of economic productivity and an all too important source of technological innovation. But a perfect storm of ideological politics, coupled with a global pandemic, may have brought this era to a permanent end.

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Immigrants Are Vital

The United States was and is a nation of immigrants. But few understand just how vital the immigrant community has been to American prosperity. The steady influx of immigrants, who tend to skew younger, has provided an important source of labor, helping counteract the demographic crisis that have plagued other major economies, such as Japan. …

Many Americans are understandably fed up with both the Republican and Democratic parties. Increasingly, Americans are calling for a third party to emerge and take the country in a new direction. Keep dreaming. A third party isn’t coming. The mathematics that underlie the Constitution will only allow for two parties to be dominant at any one time. Instead, Americans need to recognize that their own binary extremism is to blame for breathing continuous life into the dysfunctional political machine that is DC. It’s time for Americans to drop ideology and labels, restore reason, and restore the center.

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Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results are unlikely to go very far, even so, the efforts at doing so have exposed gaping holes in the American democratic system that could very well be exploited by future authoritarians. It would behoove Americans to take notes and start plugging some the holes before it is too late. Here is how Trump is trying to flip the election in his favor.

Audits and Recounts

Thus far, Trump has pushed for audits and recounts in two battleground states, Georgia and Wisconsin. The Georgia audit yielded a net gain for Trump, while the Wisconsin recount yielded a net gain for Biden. …