Foundation of a Country

Countries are formed and the boundaries setup based upon language, geography or based upon its ancient history. But there is a permeating theme that binds it together, something that its founding fathers found so strong that they build either a constitution or a whole set of philosophical as well as practical guidelines surrounding that theme. Every Country is setup on that basic theme which becomes its foundation.
When Europeans sailed for India using the western route, they found America by chance. That chance gave them a unique opportunity to setup themselves differently on how they were in Europe. The boundaries were already there, there was already a legacy and culture. The languages were well defined and they had literary contributions based upon the cultural and social setup. They had rich foundation already. But what about the new generation that was brooding. How could they differentiate themselves? The boundaries are already set, how can they create and invent a new path for themselves? Its true that Europeans were always on the move and finding new colonies. But those colonies were giving a tough resistance since they already had their own foundation and they could not be ruled with any other super-imposition.
When the same Europeans found a new land, thinly populated and largely unorganised, they found a unique opportunity to start fresh with a clean slate. Hence America was born. Some may say, exactly opposite to how Europe, more particularly, Great Britain was setup. The new land, America, propagated free speech, capitalism, democracy and did not have to be bounded by thousands of years of legacy and culture. The theme was simple, the individual was empowered. His efforts were rewarded and individual rights were protected within the greater community. When the foundation is strong, so is the love for country. If country empowers you and like minded people join forces, you want to protect what you have got.
As with anything, over time things do get diluted. Neo thinking starts to appear and newer generations do not connect with the ideas of their forefathers. Much so is happening in USA right now. The democratic liberal thinking that, gives community and the minorities back their rights and treat them over and above generic individual rights, has taken over.
The country then gets divided. People want to uphold the founding father thoughts asserting that they knew better when laying the foundation. The new generation contends changing times and need to change the thinking. Liberal versus Conservative battle rages. Each pulls the country to far left or far right. Whoever gets into power starts to place its own agenda and the country starts to get polarised. Nobody wins. In reality if we look at us as individuals, we are not at any end. We are somewhere in the middle may be with inclination towards left of right. We want the people in power to understand and make issue based choices. If liberals are in power and there is some conservative agenda that makes sense, then why not implement it. But who is there to make the choice or decision on what makes sense.
It is always like, whoever is in power would put their agenda in place without regards to what people actually need. After all you vote only once. Whoever magically wins majority pulls the country in its own direction and the opposition in the other. The tug-of-war is to take the decisions to opposite poles and not compromise.
The entire world is witnessing the same phenomenon. The government and opposition are polarising the people, Middle path is not an option because it tantamount to losing your ground.
When the countries are young, Government comprises of people with the original thought and they know how much to give in to the other side and decisions get taken in general interest. As the countries get older, the original thought or the founding thought gets diluted and it only remains the clash of egos. Nobody really wins in this scenario.
Serious thought is needed as to why there are so many countries in the world. What makes them different? The boundaries are setup because of these differentials. If the citizen of the country do understand why their country came into being and what needs to be defended, then they would love their country more and will defend it at any cost.

About highways and the journey that is LIFE

Having lived in West and East of the globe for considerable time, I can deduce that a lot can be said about people of a region if you just observe closely on how they behave while driving on the road.

The roadways and the traffic is what the people in it make it the way they are. The behaviour does not only stay on the road but it percolates into the daily life or it could be other way round. One thing is for sure that the two are closely related.

What I observed in the West that the traffic is quite organised, it is very predictable and hence they are able to move fast. If one person does something unexpected, the whole system breaks down. The highway accidents tend to be fatal because they are high speed and often people are at loss to handle any exception that is posed to them. If I draw a similarity to the Western way of life, it is similar. People follow predictable path. They rarely struggle with life's basic necessities and the life is quite organised. The trust factor in people is very high as in they expect everyone in their chain of influence to play out their own part. Teacher is supposed to teach, doctor's heal, bankers and lawyers do their own stuff etc. Everything works nicely until one of them doesn't do the job expected out of them. It throws an exception and people get hurt. One rouge banker or a bad doctor can do unimaginable harm to so many people before getting caught.
Not all is bad in the system. Most of the time it works and does not impact the people at large. Like in a highway, people stick to their respective slow or fast lanes and are normally happy with their choices. If someone wants to make a lane change, they indicate by flashing the respective indicator and gradually ease into the new lane, preserving the predictability. The promotions, the advancement and the retirements are hence very predictable and known to people around them. There are exceptions here too, You have someone in the fast car who will criss cross and speed away without concern to others. These are highflier who take advantage of predictability and simplicity of others. These are by far fewer in the system and usually short-lived.
The right of way is to pedestrians. If they see someone on the corner of the road, they slow down and let the person cross the road. So little people get respect. There are more cars on the road than people on foot so easily minority wins here and there is a general consensus to respect little people and preserve that minority.
In US to be in particular one finds congestion and fast lane changes in metros. People are eager to move forward. Midwest and rural areas are very laid back. They respect people on the road and have low desire to make fast lane changes. Their choice of life are also simple and their approach very relaxed.

Now lets turn to East, manly India. The traffic comprises of less roads, more people. The automobile composition is more two-wheelers than four and a combined number of people on foot. So the hierarchy is obvious. People on foot have to give way to two-wheelers who in turn and have to give way to four-six-eight wheelers in that order. The bigger the vehicle, the more weightage. Minority wins here too since the cars and the trucks/buses are in minority compared to people on foot and two-wheelers. Each man to himself, the traffic is not predictable. In order to move ahead, the person at the back can honk and overtake you from anywhere. The person in front can turn left from rightmost lane or vice versa without indicating their choice. The race is on. The resources, namely, the road is less and the journey is the same for everyone. Hence there is a mad dash to be first. Me-First. Well, some wise man said, ''when everyone tries to be fast, everyone arrives late." Guess, the wise-one is still stuck in traffic. The me-first attitude is there everywhere. In queues, in education, in business or any services. People are looking for deals, exceptions or any short-cut so they can win. How can one win when everyone is trying to do the same thing. People trying to talk to their long lost aunt to save a few bucks on blood test. People looking for online coupons for movie tickets to spa services. Talk to anyone in your area of influence and tell them you paid retail price for your shoe and all hell will break loose. People try to give advice on how you could have saved 10% if you had just talked to them about their favourite shop.
The simple thing is to relax and use the available resources wisely. If you move slow, everyone can actually move fast. But how do you really get this message across. The difference between East and West is palpable. In West, people making exception are frowned upon, looked down upon and nobody tries to imitate them. In East, if the exception becomes a norm because it appears that the person making any exception is winning. In the end everyone arrives late.

My Goal here is not to provide a solution. It is something that everyone knows and can solve. It requires individual will and a firm belief that they are part of the solution, part of the chain who can individually make a difference if they follow what they feel is right. Exceptions will always be there. Sometimes they win sometimes they lose but they should remain exceptions.