Imagine if the founding fathers were able to come to 2014, to see the modern United States. What would they say and think about the country that they fought so hard to gain independence? The way things have been going lately, it is safe to assume that they would be disappointed. A nation that once stood for independence and personal freedoms is slowly turning into a police state governed by an overpowered federal government run by corrupt officials.

The first concern is who has the power in this country. Once it was the people of the United States, but that’s no longer the case. The cycle of power can be compared to a puppet controlled by a puppet master. The puppets are our elected officials. Their campaigns are funded by certain groups and corporations. Once the official is in office, they are expected to carry out the agendas of said groups and corporations because they helped fund the official’s campaign, making them the puppet masters.

This brings up the next point. There are no true political parties. Republicans and Democrats don’t matter. They are practically the same thing because candidates from the parties are funded by the same “puppet masters.” How did this happen? It starts with one word. That word is sovereign. This word has been associated with the United States since its founding. You’ve probably heard the United States declared as a “Sovereign Nation”. To show how the use of this word has changed, we have to look into the meaning of this word and its use throughout the history of the United States.

In the dictionary, sovereign means independent of all others and above any ruling power. The founding fathers had originally put that the people of the United States are sovereign, not the United States itself. Therefore, the people should have the true power in deciding laws and how the government works instead of elected officials being controlled by lobbying corporations.

The next cause of concern is the gradual limitations being put in place on constitutional freedoms. One of the biggest battles being waged is against gun rights. Limitations on citizens’ rights to bear arms have slowly been limited in light of recent events. If we look back in history, other governments have tried to limit citizen’s gun rights, like in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. The right to own a gun was so important to the founding fathers that it is the 2nd amendment, just under free speech.

Another disappearing freedom is personal privacy. With the NSA surveillance of citizens calls, texts, and internet searches recently brought to public attention, people are becoming more aware of this loss of freedom. It is supposed to help protect “the interests of the nation” but it’s not doing so. I don’t see how spying on average citizens will help the government take down terrorists. Instead of spying on everyone, they should only be allowed to spy and record internet history of certain individuals that have had history with certain groups.

State vs. Federal is also a big debate. People all over are wondering when to draw the line on how much control the federal government should have over state government. According to Thomas Jefferson, the federal government should have as little control as possible, and should be used to just keep the union together. Nowadays, the federal government is overbearing on state decisions such as medical marijuana legalization. The dispensaries that distribute the marijuana have been raided by the DEA numerous times even though the dispensaries abide and are up to state law. This is one of the prime examples of state rights being over-ridden by federal agencies.

The founding fathers would be upset to see that the federal government has the power to override state decisions without the state being able to do anything about it. They wanted a federal government that stayed out of states business, but that is no longer the case.

The United States has been in a steady decline in terms of economy and rights of states and citizens. Like the founding fathers of our first revolution, we need new leaders that show courage and bravery to help fix how the government works and lead the people through a second revolution.