This essay was written on the 250th anniversary of American independence. It is not intended as a prediction of America's decline, but as a reflection on the relationship between democracy, constitutional institutions, and fiscal responsibility. A free society survives not only through political rights, but also through wisdom, restraint, and responsibility toward future generations.
An
Institutional Reflection on the 250th Anniversary of the United States
By Wu Chenmou
On July 4,
2026, the United States marked the historic milestone of its 250th anniversary.
Two and a half centuries ago, representatives of the thirteen British colonies
gathered in Philadelphia and, after intense debate, jointly signed the Declaration
of Independence, giving birth to a new nation. The colonists then fought a
bloody eight-year war against the British Empire to secure the independence and
liberty of this land.
Today, the
world's leading superpower celebrates with dazzling fireworks, music, and
festivities. The beacon of liberty still shines brightly. Yet, in the author's
view, what deserves greater attention than the celebrations is not the
fireworks illuminating the night sky, but the long string of silent, cold, and
rapidly growing national debt figures on the federal balance sheet—numbers that
are relentlessly consuming America's future.
In 2020, I
published an article entitled On America's Constitutional Crisis:
Challenges, Solutions, and the Path Forward. In that essay, I argued that
although the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution
affirm that "all men are created equal," they do not suggest that
individuals whose contributions to society differ substantially should
necessarily possess exactly the same political influence over the nation's
destiny.
The
principle of equality should be understood primarily as equality of human
dignity, equality before the law, and equality of opportunity. It does not
imply equality of wealth, nor should it be interpreted as absolute
egalitarianism in determining who exercises political power over the future of
the nation.
The tragedy
of communism, I argued, lies in its pursuit of absolute equality in
distribution, which ultimately produces shared poverty. The weakness of
capitalism, by contrast, lies in the doctrine of absolute equality of the
ballot, which, if left without institutional safeguards, can ultimately lead to
disorder within a democratic system.
When the relationship between an individual's contribution to society and his or her tax obligations becomes seriously disproportionate, constitutional design should reexamine the historic principle of "no taxation without representation" from within the institutional framework itself. This may require restructuring the system of checks and balances between the House of Representatives and the Senate, or establishing higher standards of professional competence and rational deliberation in decisions involving public finance, so that the constitutional principle of fairness between citizens' rights and obligations is better upheld.
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