We are living in a fractured nation. We have allowed an aristocracy/oligarchy and a soft form of totalitarianism.  The Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Executive Branch have allowed power to be exercised by technocrats, who want to control everything because they think they know best. They live in Capitol City while we live in the outer districts of Panem.

We have a complete lack of integrity in every facet of our government, leading to a lack of trust by the people. 

A significant segment of the left and the right have given up on the Republic and its institutions.

We now have an attack on everything that makes us free. A new form of McCarthyism with the cancel culture and attack on free speech against anyone you don’t agree with. Is this what Woke is?

Where is John Galt when we need him?

Our elected officials believe they live by a different set of rules and laws. Just think Met Gala.  And don’t think for a minute that they don’t use every tax break they can regardless of whether they are a Democrat or Republican. Almost all of them are one-percenters.  They vote themselves pay raises, better health care than we who elected them have, free travel on our dime, and perks fitting kings and queens. And we tolerate it as long as our side wins. We are foolish.

Neither side of the political spectrum really cares about what impacts the citizens of our country only that they stay elected and feed from the government trough.

Ask yourself, what have my elected officials really done that impacts my daily life and my ability to support myself and my family? Gas prices up dollars per gallon in 8 months, health insurance for a family $24,000 a year, food prices going up and other inflation, shutting down the country and jobs, restaurants closing because they can’t get waiters, required vaccinations for us but not for those coming in at the Southern border, vaccine mandates for us but not Congress? Do they know what is best for you and yours or do you? Think for yourself. Ask the hard questions. And don’t listen to the politicians.

We no longer have a middle ground of voters like we once did to balance out the left and the right. We have grown wider and wider apart, and the hate and slander spewed against the other side are uncivil.

Most people don’t know what the 17th Amendment is and why we need to repeal it and go back to the state legislatures appointing their two senators in order to work for their state. Exactly what the framers were afraid of happened when the 17th Amendment was passed. By voters directly electing the state’s senators, their legislatures cemented themselves to the federal government, giving up a lot of their independence granted them in the Constitution.

People believe we live in a democracy. We don’t. We live in a republic and people need to understand the difference. Our Founders were very wise in this choice.

People care more about what they believe than having open and honest discourse. I’m right, you’re wrong, end of story. Search out the facts then make your argument. But make sure they are the real facts. And always follow the money. It follows both Democrats and Republicans.

Regardless of what side of the aisle you are on, we cannot continue to print money and spend more than we take in. Creating spending bills, like the one for Covid, where only 9% of the actual funds were allocated for Covid relief and then slandering those who opposed it because they are not part of your party only drives us further apart. Ask yourself why the entire bill wasn’t for Covid relief? Better yet. Ask your representatives why they voted for it that way.

We should demand that bills be simple and clear and should only be for one thing and not all the additional pork that they include. Grant the President line-item veto to stop this nonsense.

Let’s be honest, the New Green Deal wants to dismantle the entire US energy sector and replace it with unreliable energy. Wind and solar will not power this country. We cannot run the country on batteries. Research the power needed to make all the batteries that would be needed. Nuclear power may be our best alternative but is never brought into the equation. Why? Fear.

We should demand a constitutional amendment that requires Congress to produce a balanced budget every year. We can’t spend $3.9 trillion while only taking in $1.9 trillion in taxes. There is nothing that backs our money. It is all fiat money. Do you want to leave a bankrupt country for your children and grandchildren? You can only kick the can down the road so far until you hit a brick wall. We are fast approaching the brick wall.

We are losing our collective minds on just about every issue and what should be common sense now makes no sense.

But there is hope. If we demand our government officials spend “our” money as they would spend theirs. If we hold our government officials accountable and demand they live under the same rules and laws the rest of us have to. If we ask as JFK did, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for country,” maybe things will change. If we stop trying to be the police of the world.  If we begin to have open and honest dialogue with one another instead of slandering those we don’t agree with. If we see others as we want to be seen. And if we love our neighbor as we love ourselves then there may still be hope for the greatest country ever founded.

Photo credit: John Brighenti  CC BY 2.0 license

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