Reinstate the Recipe
When companies change the recipe of a product, the modified version is called New and Improved. However, though changing the recipe certainly makes the product "new", whether or not it is "improved" is a matter of taste. In fact, very often a company will go back to the original recipe — the one with the proven record of success.
Grandma's Recipe for Brownies
Imagine we are back in the 1920s, and grandma enters a contest to determine the best brownie recipe. Entries are received from around the world, and grandma's recipe for brownies wins. Her recipe is far superior than even the first runner up. Imagine further that year after year grandma wins every contest she enters. Even today, grandma's recipe for brownies is regarded hands down as the best the world has ever known.
One day mom gets a brainstorm. She decides to take advantage of the sweetener substitutes available on the market. She has good intentions, hoping to reduce the number of calories in grandma's recipe for brownies by replacing two cups of sugar with a tablespoon of artificial sweetener.
We argue with her, pleading that she not change the recipe for fear of producing a lesser brownie. She argues that we should take advantage of new technology; that we might make a brownie just as sweet, but without all the empty calories.
Suppose mom does not head our advice and she attempts to make grandma's recipe for brownies low-cal. To her surprise, omitting the sugar greatly reduces the volume of the batter, requiring a host of other changes to be made.
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Because the volume of the batter is reduced significantly, she needs to use a smaller pan and make adjustments to both cooking time and temperature. In addition, the volume of the other ingredients need to be modified so the texture of the brownie will be right. Without the correct "mix", the "new and improved" brownie recipe will come out looking more like cake or fudge.
Changing a product's recipe can prove problematic. Happily, if we know the original recipe, we can always reinstate it. Naturally, mom makes another batch of brownies; this time following grandma's award winning recipe.
Every nation is the result of a recipe
Every country is founded on a recipe consisting of 12 ingredients in various proportions. The amount of each ingredient determines the outcome of the nation. In a very true sense, a nation is the result of a recipe.
We are about to address how the recipe of America has changed over the years. Before we do, we need to keep in mind the following facts:
When referring to America, there are two recipes — Original and New and Improved
The Original recipe was used through the late 1920s, before the Great Depression.
After 1930 (beginning with the "New Deal" and "Second New Deal"), the Original recipe was slowly and unofficially changed by Congress to New and Improved.
Congress saw the success resulting from the social programs enacted in the 1930s to get the country back on its feet in response to the depression initiated by the stock market crash in late 1929. However, Congress did not take into consideration the fact that the people it helped in the 1930s had toiled all of their lives and were wholly self-reliant. Therefore, they appreciated the assistance from government and did not take it for granted. Subsequent generations became less and less appreciated of the help they received because they had never faced desperate conditions requiring hard work without assistance from government. The consequences were loss of self pride, family pride, and national pride, while becoming more and more dependent, demanding, and disgruntled.
Application
The formula of America is very much like a recipe for brownies. If we modify the recipe, we must expect to get different results over time. Sometimes what seems like a positive change to the formula (such as a sugar substitute) results in unforeseen consequences.
Compare the two columns below. The ingredients in red indicate a change to the original formula. Note how 70+ years of changing the formula (the ingredients in the recipe) has changed America.
The changes made to America's original recipe were made slowly and unofficially. They were inspired by two false assumptions: (1) America is indestructible and (2) the Utopian View of human nature (Spring Theory) best describes the basic nature of human beings.
Over the next few years, the citizens of America will have to make a choice: go back to the original recipe leading to our nation's unimaginable success, or continue to experiment, modifying the recipe as we go in an ongoing attempt to find the magic mix of ingredients that will solve our social problems. At this point, the correct choice should be obvious.
The Patriot Party has reverse engineered America's original recipe for success, and we intend to reinstate it.
