Modern society consists of three major components: culture, government, and the economy. The founders of the United States specified the relationship between culture and government in the first amendment, which forbids the establishment of religion, but they did not make a similar declaration with respect to the relationship between government and the economy. In their day, the economy did not exist in separate concentrations of power since it was mostly based on family-run businesses and farms.

However, human freedom requires freedom in the economic sphere as well as the religious and political spheres. Following industrialization in the nineteenth century, corporations were given more power by the courts, amassed greater capital, and eventually used that power to displace the political and economic power of ordinary citizens. A socialist backlash attempted to use the force of government to plan industrial output. In Europe, these two trends led to different forms of totalitarianism. On the right we had National Socialism and Fascism and on the left we had Communism.

Today the lack of clear relationship between political and economic power is one of the most serious problems facing the United States. Economic planning by the government and businesses procuring government favors lead to the establishment of commerce and the prevention of free exercise in the market. Massive government inefficiency, loss of economic competitiveness, overpriced oil and healthcare, and loss of personal freedom are all unwanted results. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution relating to the economy that is similar to the establishment clause related to religion could be a first step in solving this problem.
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Russia’s Foreign Minister Lavrov created quite a stir when he withdrew his article “Containing Russia: Back to the Future?” from publication in Foreign Affairs and submitted its uncensored version to Russia in Global Affairs. In that article he lamented what looks to be a return of a Cold War mentality in some U.S. foreign policy circles. He argues that we should bring back a pre-World War I system of states based on the Westphalian model.

In his essay in International Journal on World Peace, (September, 2007) Morton A. Kaplan argues that this discussion of the international system is an important one. He too laments any belligerent Cold War attitudes but argues that the solution will not be in going further back in history to go forward. Kaplan argues that the world has changed much and a Westphalian system is no longer possible or desirable. The United Nations, which presupposes such a system of sovereign states, must also be reformed to adjust to numerous levels of global interaction that place limits on state sovereignty.