We can be who we once were

I've said this before -- "This isn't the country I grew up in."
Is it important to get back to that country?
Yup. It's the most important thing confronting the general citizenry of the whole planet.

America was great. We held the torch of freedom high and with that was hope - hope that people could live their lives in their own way and without oppression. We offered hope that every person could live as they desired as long as they didn't injure anyone else. We offered the soul-satisfying idea that each of us could direct our own destinies. Other people wanted to be like us. Now we are mocked and all others seem to want is our money.

Can we get that back? Yes, but it might take a bit.
Where do we start? Here's two things that will get us started:

1. Review every state, local and federal agency and department. Determine first if it is necessary at all. Then divide between, of what remains, that which is really useful and that which is just there to advance government control. I suspect most agencies, bureaus and departments are unnecessary -- and those that are found to be useful can probably be more useful at half their size or smaller. The effect of this is massive reduction in size of government, massive savings in costs and massive reduction in unneeded rules and regulations.

2. Repeal the 16th and 17th amendments to our constitution. There was a time in the early nineteen hundreds when our nation went a bit off the track and passed three amendments that changed our fundamental direction - amendments 16, 17 and 18. We repealed the 18th (prohibition of alcohol) a few years later when we realized it was unenforceable and actually promoted crime.
The 17th amendment changed the way the states were represented in Washington and, in the process, transferred a great deal of their power to the federal government which then began to swell like a giant pustule. Our very grammar changed from "The United States are..." to "The United States is...".
The 16th amendment authorized the federal government to pick our pockets with the threat of prison if we resisted. (No private citizen in a 'free' country should be threatened at gun-point by his or her own government - provided they are not hurting any other citizen.
If we repeal the 17th amendment then we return to the position whereby the House represents the people and the Senate represents the States - fair enough. But won't the government be unable to function at all without income taxes? No problem. We simply fund the government with a national retail sales tax.

Calm down - let me explain.

First, personal income tax is same as the government holding a gun to your head and demanding that you pay them to allow you to walk around freely. That's called extortion.
Second, corporate income tax is essentially a lie. Corporations add whatever taxes the government demands onto the price of their goods and services. The effect is that corporations don't really pay taxes at all - they simply pass that expense through to their customers. They are tax collectors. It's an invisible form of taxation because we customers don't see it as it is. All we see are the prices. We don't get to see that the prices are higher because there's a tax embedded in them.

By replacing income taxes (both private and corporate) with a national sales tax, we citizens actually get to see the taxes we pay. The price of goods and services would go down and the reduction would be made up by the sales tax so the costs to the consumer would be the same if not lower. All the little games, controls and manipulation attached to the income tax system disappear. We regain control of our own finances. We can spend, save or give away however we want to. We are no longer threatened every April 15th. And such a tax is progressive in that the wealthier one is - the more one can spend - the more tax one pays.