Do you ever get the feeling that our elected officials have nothing but disdain for their constituents?  Do you feel that Republicans and Democrats are in a war with each other for dominance, while the American people are just onlookers in a spiteful and vindictive political tennis match?

When you look at the two-party system of government, each with opposing views concerning the direction of our country, it's easy to conclude that we, the people, have very little input into our future. One president gets a tax cut passed, only to be overturned by his successor.  Was it because the tax cut hurt the economy, or was it because his successor doesn't want the opposition party to get credit?  The same goes for numerous other policy changes each time the opposition political party gets control.  

In other words, it's not about us; it's all about their petty grievances as each struggles for individual conquests.  We are no longer being governed; we're being ruled.  To be governed is to voluntarily put people in charge of the day-to-day management of services we need to function as an orderly society.  Contrarily, to be ruled is to be subjected to the arbitrary power of those who have put themselves in positions of unchallenged authority.

To understand the thinking of a ruling class, one must begin by investigating how they developed such notions of superiority.  People are not born with a belief system that steers them toward a given philosophy.  Everything they become is based on what they've been taught to believe.  Very often, that belief benefits them, politically and monetarily.

Let's take an issue such as climate change.  We all know people who are "experts" on the subject.  They will tell you that the icebergs are melting into the sea and will eventually cause the oceans to rise, flooding entire cities and states, snuffing out the lives of millions.  They'll view every hurricane, tornado, earthquake, and temperature fluctuation as "proof" that mankind is destroying the planet, primarily because of fossil fuel usage (although cow flatulence is not far behind, if you'll excuse the pun).  I'm always amazed at how intelligent these climate change adherents are.  Without an exhaustive study in the field of the related disciplines, these pseudo-scientists, with not a scintilla of personally gained knowledge, will fiercely defend the imminent destruction of the planet against those they deem "deniers."

How did they get so smart without traveling the world with due diligence, endeavoring to accumulate facts to sustain their theories?  That friend of yours who has a career in sales management, or the guy with a degree in journalism, will try to impress you with his vast knowledge in the planetary sciences.  Where did he obtain that esoteric awareness?  Certainly not in the trenches of Icelandic expeditions and other arctic investigations.  Instead, like the guy who plops himself in front of the television screen during a football game and yells plays to the quarterback, he's become an armchair expert by watching liberal news coverage and reading left-wing publications.  In defending his position, he'll invariably tell you about the number of scientists who agree that the end is near, perhaps as close as 12 years, unless we end oil and gas drilling, coal mining, and any other activity producing carbon content.

Frankly, I don't know if the climate is changing in ways that will endanger our lives.  I do know that those scientists who agree with that hypothesis are recipients of many lucrative government grants to continue their research. Those who disagree, not so much.  Inasmuch as such research is driven by money, isn't it possible that many scientists will ensure that their findings follow the cash flow?  The environmental lobby is probably the most active and powerful influence in the federal government, spending countless millions to sway legislators to implement laws against fossil fuel use.  Meanwhile, China and other developing nations are contributing huge amounts of pollution into the atmosphere with impunity.  China, the world's largest contributor of CO2 emissions, is now emitting over 10 billion metric tons into the atmosphere (about twice that of the U.S.), mainly from burning coal, needed to supply Chinese electricity.

Has President Biden, John Kerry, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or any other Green New Deal fanatic taken on the Asian giant for its odious contributions to the demise of the planet?  Hardly!  There's no political advantage in publicly chastising the country that has so many American politicians and corporations on its payroll.  Moreover, it's a good bet that China isn't paying any of its scientists to say fossil fuel is hazardous.  I guess Xi Jinping has no expectation of living past the next 12 years.

Image via Public Domain Pictures.