America is deeply in trouble, with high unemployment and huge national debt often cited as the top two problems. But what is the root cause for these problems? To me, here are the two root causes: 1)The rise of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), led by China, as economic competitors to America. 2)The incompetence of America's political system, especially when compared with China's. Cause 1) was inevitable, but cause 2) was not. How, then, can we make America's political system more competitive? Introducing strict term-limits for the top political offices, with the American Presidency being one-term (e.g. six years), plus more Overall, I believe I have the most accurate diagnosis for America, as well as the best solution. To sell them, I have been writing and publishing my ideas for more than four years. Very significantly, I have met with several top politicians for discussion. The photo below shows one example (photo omitted here). Most importantly, I have been a weekly columnist at GEI (Global Economic Intersection) since May 2011, elaborating my ideas from various angles to a wide variety of readers. It's time to further expound on it by writing a book for one simple reason: the 2012 U.S. election is over, thus concluding my first phase of "saving America." This book is composed of 80 of my published articles, logically organized into a coherent whole in 12 parts as follows: 1)America: diagnosis and solution 2)What is an ideal government? 3)America: an overview 4)China: an overview 5)Democracy 6)China: in some depth 7)America: in great depth and breadth 8)America and China 9)America's foreign policy 10)Six democracy-communism similarities 11)Famous quotes and interpretations 12)My personal life Each part contains several chapters. Each chapter is an article previously published, with some significant] re-writing to fit it in context. Some articles have their original publication dates attached, with the events at the time as the background. Part 1 defines the goal of this book. It contains two chapters as the diagnosis and solution for America, respectively. Part 2 goes beyond America. It contains two chapters, addressing two vast subjects: "towards an ideal form of government" and "built to last: structure and conscience," respectively. The remaining 10 parts are supporting materials for Parts 1 and 2. This paperback is different from its sister ebook in several ways as follows: 1)Most of the color images in the ebook have been removed. 2)Like the ebook, there is not a bibliography at the end of this book. Since all the references are available on-line, I kept them in the form of hyperlinks. A reader can easily find them with a simple Google search by the title. 3)As in the ebook, the table of contents appears right after this page, with the hyperlinks being removed, obviously. Here is a quote: "you cannot open a book without learning something." Who said it? Confucius Here is an interpretation of the comments by the book reviewers: "you cannot open a good book without learning a lot of good stuff " Now, just sit back and enjoy the book ... Some kind words from a fan ... "I am 84 years old and I have been in the scale business since 1949. My tie with China goes way back to 1945, when I, serving in the U.S. Navy, stationed in China for a few months. It's amazing for me to see the changes in China in recent years. It's even more amazing for me to know Frank Li, a Chinese-American, who writes so well about American politics that I print out all his writings, save them in a folder, and read them over and over. What a modern-day Thomas Jefferson " --- Lee Offield, Pacific Scales (Clackamas, Oregon), December 2010

The GOP is deeply in trouble, without any hope to win another presidential election in the foreseeable future Here are four main reasons: 1)Democratic imperialism: The GOP has been too pro-war. Most Americans hate wars 2)Religion: While the religious right supports the GOP, its positions on several major social issues (e.g. abortion) are no longer popular and are costing many votes. 3)Democratic socialism: "Democracy is the road to socialism." Who said it? Karl Marx Because of this natural progression from democracy to socialism, the Democratic Party has been increasingly advantageous over the GOP, by attrition 4)Ideas: To counter the natural advantage of the Democratic Party by attrition, the GOP must periodically come up with some grand new ideas that resonate with most Americans. Unfortunately, that has been missing for way too long ... What, then, should the GOP do? In principle, the GOP must come to the middle right, winning the middle 20% of the electorate. Specifically, the GOP must draw a stark contrast with the Democratic Party, and here it is: 1)The Democratic Party is the party of new slavery (i.e. pay without work). 2)The GOP was the party of Lincoln who abolished slavery (i.e. work without pay) more than 150 years ago. It can again be the party to abolish new slavery from the Democratic Party today The image below shows my winning strategy for the GOP (omitted here). Specifically, 1)The GOP must denounce democratic imperialism, as perpetuated by the extreme right (e.g. John McCain and Lindsey Graham). 2)The GOP must denounce democratic socialism, as perpetuated by the extreme left (e.g. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid). 3)The GOP must be committed to restoring America as a republic with full-blown capitalism and a limited version of "affordable" democracy, largely as envisioned by our founding fathers. This strategy will resonate with most Americans, guaranteed Furthermore, with a great party leader in Rand Paul or Chris Christie who will be committed to this strategy, the GOP can, and will, win the 2016 presidential election, guaranteed This book is composed of 43 of my published articles in 2013, logically organized into a coherent whole in 10 parts as follows: 1)The GOP is dead; long live the GOP 2)America: where are you going? 3)Correctly assessing American Presidents 4)My four open letters 5)Leadership 6)The race to the bottom 7)America: what are you doing? 8)America: a nation of self-made men 9)America: let's have some fun 10)Going beyond America Each part contains several chapters. Each chapter is an article previously published, with some significant re-writing to fit it in context. Some articles have their original publication dates attached, with the events at the time as the background. Part 1 is the core of the book. Parts 2-4 provide the first line of support for Part 1. Parts 5-10 provide the rest of the support. This book is also available as an e-book. This paperback is different from its sister e-book in two ways: 1)Like the e-book, the table of contents appears right after this page, without the hyper-links, of course. 2)Like the e-book, there is not a bibliography at the end of the book. Since all the references are available on-line, a reader can easily find them with a Google search by title. Now, just sit back and enjoy the book ...