If you don't have to worry about the practicalities, what are America's ideals, and how do they differ from reality? It's a pleasant exercise to try to boil them down.
The ideals do contradict. Being ideals, it's all right if they are practically impossible to achieve completely.
1. Freedom (liberty). Nothing stops you from doing any action under the sun. In reality, every law (ha, both government laws and laws of physics!) saying you can't do something cuts into this freedom. The allocation of resources only permits some people to do some actions.
2. Freedom from oppression. Preventing the government, or anyone else, from doing anything bad to you (or anyone else). Of course, this conflicts with number 1, though "fraternity" can obviate the some cases ("I'm not going to use my freedom to hurt others.").
3. Equality. Prevent the government (or anyone with power) from doing something good for someone else, but not for you. If number 2 is to be broken, then we want equal opportunity oppression as well.
4. Government by the people. Closely related to equality.
Keep these ideals in mind as you craft your society, and for every ideal you break, be sure it's really worth it. I feel we forget them.
Of course, we should demand our government at least function along the "Pareto frontier" for these ideals, though that doesn't say much. Even an absolute dictatorship functions on the Pareto frontier.
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