Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Version 4.0 (Paragon Issues in Philosophy)

This book explains the evolution of the core principles of political philosphy contained in the US Constituion and how, in the quest for power and wealth, they have been circumvented and misapplied by those who followed after the founders. The resulting dysfunctional, bloated, and debt-ridden system can be fixed by reapplying principles that prevent special interests from hijacking government. The final chapter suggests changes that would eliminate numerous conflicts of interest and create checks and balances that would make the system more efficient and functional.
With a focus on the effects of human nature and economic motives on government, this books explains how the U.S. has drifted far from its original mission statement of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Using the analogy of government as the social operating system to a computer operating system, Anderson shows how various "viruses" have infected government and society, overloading the system and brought it to near collapse. Anderson views the U.S. Constitution as "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, Version 3.0" and promotes an "upgrade" to version 4.0 to take into account the historical, technological, and global developments that occurred since the founding.
How did special interests on the right and the left wrest control of government from the citizens? How did a free Republic turn into an Empire of force? How do the government and the special interests combine forces to oppress the citizens they are supposed to serve?
Five key principles of government are discussed in Part 1: Protection, Subsidiarity, Separation of Powers, Transparency, and the (conditional) Right to Secede. Part 2 delves into discussion of reforms of Congress, Taxes, and Welfare necessary to make government run effectively.