by Mike Mueller

Created on: May 04, 2009   Last Updated: May 10, 2009

In the past one-hundred years the United States has increased its territory by adding two new states. The Constitution has been amended to create income tax, give women the right to vote, and define and federalize the civil rights of the races. The Federal Reserve was created; The US has entered into trade agreements, which sacrifice at least some of its soveirgnty by allowing foreign courts to penalize state governments and even the federal government. Immigration policy is always changing every twenty years or so, and the courts have interpreted parts of the Constition, although unchanged for over two-hundred years , differently than they interpreted them before. The culture has changed dramatically along with the technology and infrastructure. Some liberties have been expanded and others have been curtailed.

All throughout the hundred years prior to that, there were many similar changes along the same lines.

If you accept that this is the United States now and that none of the changes that have already occurred negate this assumption, or if you assert that in order for the United States not to exist it would have to be militarily overthrown, or make a self declaration that it is no longer a sovereign and functional state and that its government has announced that it is surrendering its governing authority to another authority or to anarchy, then there is no reason to suppose, assuming humankind still exists on the planet, that the United States will not continue to exist in some form similar to its current form.

In all likelihood the changes that occur in the next one-hundred years will follow the same general pattern of change that has occured in the past. Expect further amendments to its constitution, further erosion of the sovereignty of its court and legal system as the world continues to shrink, instabilities in the currency system and in economics, further clarifications of civil rights with respect to not only races but other sociological divisions, and practical changes in policy implimented as adaptations to changes in everyday life.

Will the future United States be a better or worse place to live? That is a highly subjective question and somewhat outside of the scope of the topic of the debate. But since some have set a standard for what qualifies for a "United States" based on quality of life issues or Constitutional benchmarks that once violated might negate the existence of the United States as they define it to be, it is worth clarifying

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