Most people think “government” is just something that runs in the background.  We pay taxes once a year (or four times a year, or...), and for that we get our roads paved, police come when we really need them, and our kids have schools to go to.

This is a view from the 1950s that has persisted for the last 70 years.  “Focus on our families, and let our elected leaders do their jobs.”

America is the richest country in the world, and, sadly, there are people who want to take advantage of our wealth for their own benefit.  The money we spend on just roads and schools is enormous ($206 billion and $927 billion in 2022), so the contracts awarded for government work are highly coveted.  So those who do government work will often make campaign contributions to office-seekers in hopes of getting lucrative business deals.

Fast-forward seventy years, and we find a vast network of lobbying firms, industry associations, and special interest groups desperately trying to influence elections to put their guys in office and get a piece of the federal budget, which was $65 billion in 1955 and is now $6 trillion in 2023.  That’s an increase of almost 100 times.

Another important function of government is law enforcement.  In 1955, law enforcement meant keeping our streets safe and fighting crime.  Now our Department of Justice is involved in social issues and politics.

So our view of government as the paver of roads, builder of schools, and manager of our legal justice system is vastly outdated.

Our new government now has a finger in every aspect of our lives.

• Social issues, like abortion, who competes in girls’ sports, and who can marry whom
• Law enforcement issues: combatting inner-city crime and shoplifting, or prosecuting people for their political beliefs
• Environmental issues: clean air and water, or an obsession with ending oil and natural gas in favor of electric cars
• Education issues: life skills, math and science, or social justice and gender confusion
• Health care issues: what treatments are recommended, how much people have to pay

Every one of these areas now has a constituency in Washington, D.C., with lobbyists and activists constantly pressuring our elected officials to spend tens of billions of dollars for their businesses or their causes.

The average American has no money to spend on lobbying, yet we are the ones who fund the government.

Our only control comes once every two years, when we elect representatives in local, state, and federal government to speak for us.  Candidates campaign and tell us what they promise to do, and we cast our votes based on the interests of ourselves and our families.  If these politicians don’t follow through, we vote them out next time.

But when we consider how much money the federal government controls, there is tremendous pressure from special interests to interfere in elections to help the candidates they prefer.  Even ten or twenty thousand extra dollars spent on a local race for county commissioner or school board member can be enough to swing a close election.  From state legislators to congressmen to senators, money spent by outside interests now plays the dominant role in who represents us.  And if our leaders are beholden to outside donors to get elected, they no longer fear getting voted out of office.

The result is that our government spending is out of control, and much of it is fraudulent, corrupt, wasteful, or unnecessary.

And our elected representatives who vote to choose this wasteful spending continue to be elected.  Open Secrets reports re-election rates of 94.5% for House members and 100% for Senators in 2022!

How can the interests of the taxpayers and voters be honored when the campaigns are financed by those interested in the spending?

Here’s where it gets much, much worse.

Our voting system itself has been corrupted.  We are constantly told that our elections are “fair and honest,” and “there is no proof that there was anything wrong in 2020 or 2022.”

A December survey by veteran pollster Scott Rasmussen destroyed that narrative once and for all.

When asked, more than 20% of voters who used mail-in ballots in 2020 admitted that they had participated in at least one form of election fraud.

21% of likely U.S. voters who voted by absentee or mail-in ballot in the 2020 election say they filled out a ballot, in part or in full, on behalf of a friend or family member, such as a spouse or child. ...

Nineteen percent (19%) of those who cast mail-in votes say a friend or family member filled out their ballot, in part or in full, on their behalf. Furthermore, 17% of mail-in voters say that in the 2020 election, they cast a ballot in a state where they were no longer a permanent resident. All of these practices are illegal.

And the safeguard for mail-in voting — signature matching — has now been minimized or ignored in many states.

This means that our entire election system has fallen apart.  Anyone can fill in an absentee ballot for someone else, with no repercussions.

Unless we demand a return to elections that follow all mandated procedures to the letter, our votes won’t be counted accurately, and the will of the voters will be ignored in favor of those who are willing to cheat.

But the American people aren’t the only ones who are cheating.  Independent nonpartisan research groups such as United Sovereign Americans have sprung up across the country and are finding millions of illegal entries in state voter databases that facilitate voting manipulation.  Here is a tiny sample of their findings.

• Florida: 270,804 incomplete addresses; 11,819 instances where 10 to 15 people are reported to be living at a single home; 10,988 cases where 6 to 80 people are living at a single apartment or vacant lot
• Illinois: 219,046 voters with incomplete addresses
• New York: 48,784 voters with blank addresses
• Texas: 166,983 duplicate registrations; 74,202 invalid addresses; 10,092 voters with a P.O. box listed as their address

There is so much money at stake that the attraction of manipulating voter rolls is understandable.  Create fake voters with fake addresses, mail them ballots, and fill them out for your candidate — by the thousands!

United Sovereign Americans is filing lawsuits in federal court demanding that election officials follow all established federal laws.

Final question: Billions are spent on international affairs, so other countries have a major interest in our elected officials.  How many foreign countries might be hacking into our elections, and who is making sure they don’t?

This is not the 1950s.  We must wake up to the fact that our elections are compromised.

Very few Americans are truly nonpartisan, but all sides should be able to agree that elections must be accurate.  It should be American citizens who decide our elected officials through fair and accurate elections, not special interests or foreign governments.

Our legislators are in charge of each state’s voting laws.  Demand that they tighten signature verification rules and fix database errors.  Insist on proper security measures for elections.

Honest voting is the most basic of our civil rights.  Support groups who are filing lawsuits to demand that elections be conducted according to the law.  Even one person can make a difference.

Image: pasja1000 via Pixabay, Pixabay License.