This Is “Better”???

The world around us …. The communities in which we live …. The everyday lives and adventures of our friends and families …. Are they improving?  Is this winning?  Is this supposed to build a better tomorrow for everyone?  Is this the way it was supposed to work? 

 

In January of 2021, the Democrats swept into Washington, D.C. to take complete control of the U.S. government.  They took the White House with President Joe Biden.  They controlled the House of Representatives with 222 seats (out of 435).  They controlled the Senate with 50 Senators and Vice-President Kamala Harris to break all tie votes. 

 

Now in the Senate, the normal process of legislating requires 60 votes for passage.  But many Presidential nominees can be affirmed with 51 votes and, as is common these days, the routine appropriations process has been replaced with gynormus omnibus bills that stuff everything and anything into one bill (to fund our government) for passage…. Lest there be a shutdown of government.  As for other forms of legislation, the abnormally-common practice is to utilize the reconciliation process, which allows most (but not all) legislation to pass with a simple majority vote of 51.  This is necessary because our two parties cannot seem to agree upon anything in a bipartisan basis.

 

Basically, if the Democrats can keep their troops in line and vote as a block, there is very little the Republicans can do to stop Democrat legislation from being passed by Congress, signed by the President, and passed into law.  That is pretty much what we have witnessed over the last 20 months.  In a nation that is as politically-polarized as it has ever been, we have one national party essentially governing the country.  In a Congress where the Senate is essentially tied and a House where the Democrats presently hold 220 out of 431 seats (there are 4 vacancies), the Democrats have passed legislation that is adamantly opposed by not only a fraction less than half of Congress, but is also opposed by a likely percentage of the American people in the varying range of 40 to 60 percent.  This legislation is being signed into law by a President who won by historically narrow margins in a small handful of states in an election where irregularities were commonplace.

 

One would think that the type of legislation and law that the Democrats have put in place since January of 2020 would be rather mild and essential, based on their slim majorities in government.  That is not the case.  The overwhelming majority of Democrat legislation has passed with few, if any, Republican votes; has been jammed down the throats of many Americans who do not support that legislation; and has been controversial to the point of oftentimes causing dissension within the Democrat party itself.  By any definition, it has been radical and revolutionary changes in the way this government does business and will significantly impact the lives of all citizens for generations to come.

 

This is not representative government.  This is not the type of process envisioned by our founders when they authored our Constitution.  The arrogance of the Democrat party to implement such sweeping changes in our nation with historically-narrow majorities is beyond description.  The hubris is breathtaking.  Consider the following.

 

The national average gas price in January of 2021 was $2.38 per gallon.

The national average gas price in August of 2022 is $4.12 per gallon.

 

In spite of witnessing how the green revolution is creating havoc in Europe with energy shortages …. In spite of seeing those same problems in green-conscious states such as California …. We are handicapping our American fossil-fuel energy producers, bankrolling pie in the sky inefficient ideas such as solar farms and windmills with tax dollars, and force-feeding electric vehicles on a mass scale that is impractical and mindbogglingly expensive.  We are merrily rushing into territory that is fraught with peril and calamity with no thought whatsoever for the troubles it will cause; and the troubles will be legion.

 

In the last year of the Trump Administration (2020), the United States was energy independent and actually exported more oil and gas than it imported; the first time that has ever happened.

For the year of 2022, it is estimated that United States oil imports will exceed United States oil exports by an average of 3.9 million barrels per day.  The Biden Administration has wrecked our domestic energy producing sector and we will all pay for this serious error in judgment.

 

The annual inflation rate in January of 2021 was 1.9 percent.

The annual inflation rate in August of 2022 is 8.5 percent.

 

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in January of 2021 was 2.65 percent.

The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate in August of 2022 is 5.52 percent.

 

In January of 2021, the world was generally at peace.  North Korea was in a box.  China was being ostracized on the world stage.  Russia was inwardly grumbling to itself.  In August of 2022, North Korea has resumed firing missiles over/towards Japan and eying South Korea with evil intent. China is dissing America at every opportunity; brazenly campaigning for global domination in all things; and banging the war drums, openly preparing to attack Taiwan.  Russia has invaded Ukraine and belligerently threatens America on a daily basis. NATO pays little, if any, heed to what America thinks, does, or says these days.  For Heaven’s Sakes …. The Biden Administration is negotiating with Iran (we want to essentially pay them to help export international terrorism) and the talks are being brokered by Russia.  You cannot make this stuff up!

 

Under the Trump Administration, many foreign countries and their leaders did not like President Trump.  They thought he was boorish and nationalistic …. But they damn sure respected him.

Under the Biden Administration, many foreign countries and their leaders openly mock President Biden for being the bumbling fool that he is.  America is approaching irrelevance on the global stage.

 

 

The Democrat Party solidly supports unlimited abortion with no restrictions.  They cannot define the word “woman”.   They will tell you that it is possible for a man to get pregnant.  They support college men participating in women’s sports if they “identify” as a woman.  They want to forgive all college debt.; with no consideration for those who have previously worked to pay off their college debt.  They want to replace the American principle of “equal opportunity” with the government mandates/handouts of “equity”.  The Biden Administration features high ranking officials who are biological men openly dressing as women and they expect us to not only tolerate this behavior, but to embrace it.  If you do not; you are labeled racist, homophobic, transphobic, deplorables, rubes, backward, crude, narrow-minded, or some other derogatory name.  You have no right to your own standards of morality; you either embrace the Democrat standard or you are kicked off the island.  Based primarily on federal mandates, it is common for boys and girls, men and women, to share public restrooms …. Sometimes, even in our schools.

 

Tolerance has been somehow redefined to mean not only the acceptance of behavior, or actions, or state of being by others with whom we disagree, but it now extends to the embracing …. Yeah, even the celebration …. Of those behaviors, actions, or states of being.  Many among us demand tolerance for themselves; but feel perfectly justified in extending no tolerance to others.

 

In the last full fiscal year (10/1/19 thru 9/30/20) of the Trump Administration, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 458,088 “southwest land border encounters” (illegal immigrants). 

In the Biden Administration’s first full fiscal year (10/1/20 thru 9/30/21), there were 1,734,686 such encounters.  Thus far in fiscal year 2022 (10/1/21 thru 9/30/22) and under the policies of the Biden Administration, there have been 1,746,119 such encounters.  This is quite simply an open, unregulated southern border.  Open to drug running, sex trading, terrorist threats, and an insult to every legal American immigrant citizen.

 

In February of 2020, the national debt was $23.3 trillion.

The current national debt is $30 trillion and counting….

 

While our government is taking in increasingly-record amounts of revenue each year (taxing); their shopping habits (spending) are insatiable and our spending exceeds our revenues by over $3 trillion per year …. And it is growing.  The hunger to expand government, create programs to address every need or cause under the sun, and to establish a de facto nanny state is ravenous beyond description.  Neither political party shows any pretense of seriousness regarding sound fiscal policy in our government operations; but the Democrats have completely gone around the bend.

 

The principle of one vote per person is being diluted to the point of meaninglessness.  While simple acts such as voter ID are ridiculed and labeled suppression, lax rules regarding mail-in ballots and ballot harvesting are bringing the integrity of election results into legitimate question.

 

Whether it’s health-related mandates (pandemic), emissions regulations (vehicles/energy), travel (public health policies), education (woke madness), consumer consumption (over-regulation and supply chain issues), the simple act of self-expression (freedom of speech and expression) or everyday life (equity vs. equal opportunity) …. The choices we make for ourselves are fewer and less consequential while the mandates of the government become more numerous and onerous.

 

Homicides in major American cities ticked up in 2021, with a 5 percent increase from 2020 and a 44 percent increase over 2019.

 

Our justice system is broken.  Here is the liberal mantra: If the prisons are overcrowded, then the ready solution is to lessen the penalties that place people there.  If police and prosecutors are overburdened, the solution is to eliminate sentences for certain lesser crimes; or to simply commute or pardon those perpetrators altogether.  Here is the reality: If police seek to enforce the existing laws, they are persecuted for brutality; if protestors ignore the law, they are celebrated for their causes.  Rogue federal justices, emboldened and emancipated by lifetime appointments, simply ignore the written law and institute their own codes of justice.  The Department of Justice (DOJ) has become a corrupt, unethical, partisan, unaccountable, autocratic, cesspool of biased and unequal law enforcement.  It has become political beyond redemption.  Its increasingly heavy-handed abuse of its power, as exhibited through selective investigations and prosecutions (Mar-A-Lago raid) are disturbingly brown shirted in nature.  These troubling actions by the DOJ have been aptly labeled as the beginnings of dark days for our nation.  What they can do to one man, they can do to any man.

 

While fundamental health care and maintenance is a critical requirement for all Americans, the government mandates of Obamacare have wrecked our health care industry and destroyed the local, rural hospital systems that many of us grew up with.  The one size fits all policies of government health care programs (requiring policies for single men to include maternity benefits) has created an impersonal, dispassionate, bloated, inefficient, health care system that has lost its public confidence and spirit.  As is typical with our government, effective and efficient incremental adjustments to our once-functioning system have been eschewed for boisterous and sweeping changes bearing little forethought or consideration.  We are on a wide-open, downhill run towards a single payer system …. Otherwise known as socialized medicine.

 

Under the Trump Administration, our nation experienced a rejuvenation of patriotism that, although occasionally approaching nationalistic tendencies, was refreshing in the manner it celebrated America …. What it is, how it came to be, and what it stands for.  Today, open expressions of patriotism are frowned upon.  It is not uncommon for the national anthem to be banned or denigrated; for historical events and leaders to be disparaged through disinformation or distortion of historical context; and for open prayer to be ridiculed.  Our society and culture have become crude, crass, and altogether coarse.  In so many ways, we have abandoned our glorious history and betrayed our brave founders.

 

Under the Trump Administration, the mainstream media assumed their role as the fourth estate seriously; they unquestionably went to extremes while surveilling, reporting on, and investigating the Executive Branch.  They were reckless and they were unprofessional; but at least they did their job.  Today, the mainstream media is essentially a public-relations appendage of the Democrat Party and through their biased selection of reported news, partial and selected emphasis of news reports, abuse in the use of anonymous sources, and flat-out misinformation (fake news) …. They have literally destroyed their integrity, ethics, credibility, and have little, if any, public respect.  The partisan double standards practiced by the mainstream media are disgraceful and transparent …. And they do not seem to care very much what you think about it.

 

While the Constitution itself brilliantly provides remedies for expansion and revision of its content, this is not enough for many authoritarian liberals today.  They insist on a living, evolving constitution that better reflects their individual ideals and agendas.  Their appetites are not satisfied with mere debate or discussion; they insist on wholesale re-interpretations even to the point of abolition and replacement.  If the Supreme Court does not support your thoughts, then restructure it (court packing) in such a manner that it will.  If you are unable to accomplish your political agenda through the established election process (electoral college), then change it to better improve your chances (popular vote).  If you need more votes to push through your legislation in Congress, see if you can create them (WDC statehood).  If you strongly believe in certain rights and privileges (abortion) and cannot marshal sufficient support to incorporate them through accepted means, magically discover them hidden away in the Constitution.  With the Democrats and the liberal community, the desired end always justifies the means.

 

The mid-term elections will be no remedy to this madness.  The best-case scenario is that the House will pass into Republican control and thus serve as a brake on the passage of liberal, radical, Democrat-sponsored legislation.  They will make a lot of noise about investigating the Executive Branch, but it will come to naught.  Even if the Senate joins the House in moving over to Republican control, there will be insufficient votes to override a Presidential veto.  The Republicans will be effectively incapable of passing their own legislation or, more importantly, unwinding some of the damaging law passed in the last 20 months.  They can only stem the bleeding; that can only limit the carnage.

 

What have we done …. What are we doing …. To our nation, ourselves, and our children?  Is this the world we want to live and work in?  Is this the history we wish to record?  Is this the foundation we wish to lay down for our children?  Is this the type of world or life that we want for our children’s future?  How much of what is happening in America today is a valid, moral, ethical decision being made in a deliberate and thoughtful manner …. And how much is simple, wishful thinking where the moment of instant gratification is celebrated with no thought given to the consequences and future implications of our actions?