Is America Slowly Becoming Lost?

It is unfortunate that it has to be said, but it just seems like our political environment right now is just in a shambles. And it's not just a left or right thing. It's the entire thing. From a completely dysfunctional administration in the Biden/Harris presidency, from democrats who deny all things real and a media that supports false narratives and fails to report the news accurately, or even with honesty or integrity.

From the upper leadership on the republican side such as Mitch McConnell having frozen in front of the camera several times, clearly too old to continue to serve the American people nor the party effectively, from guys like Fetterman wearing jump suits to work.

From a complete landscape of old and tired people like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi not offering anything new to the American public, simply vying for power and support from within, to an entire landscape of political rivalry unlike anything we have seen before.

Even when it comes to voters, is anyone being honest anymore? Does anyone really care about the health of the nation and the direction we go? Is our vote about doing what's right or simply winning? And how much is anyone really paying attention to what's really going on? How many of us really care? 

And now, of course, we have the ouster of Speaker McCarthy further exacerbating at least the appearance of dysfunction.

Look, at the end of the day we have to get back to the old understanding that there has to be compromise. That we all can't have things completely our way and that for the common good we have to be able to at least find common ground and have the ability to accept that we can only ultimately meet somewhere in the middle.

Even looking back at Biden's first day in office, why could he not have taken some time to carefully examine what went right about Trump's policies and keep the ones that worked in effect? For the good of the people? Instead, he simply dismissed everything, wiped the slate clean and here we are now feeling the awful pains of that terrible decision.

Trump actually did examine some of Obama's policies, and he kept many of them in place while rearranging or only slightly altering others—but of course he removed things that clearly were not working.

Many presidents in the past have done it this way as well, including Obama.

Beyond all of this there's just no accountability. There are no checks and balances. We have a media absent from letting us know what's really going on and truly wanting to dig deep into the issues we all face.

The media is doing nothing to advance the peace or prosperity of the people of the country. Or to advance anyone's understanding of what's right or wrong or why. It's not giving anyone the ability to think outside of their own biases and actually formulate working, sensible opinions on where we are and where we need to go, and who is responsible for advancing our cause or setting it back.

In an odd way it may be part of where Trump's appeal stems from—from all sides by the way—despite outward appearances we are led to believe. And that's that while all of the establishment is fighting a miserable battle, trying to win that thing, this thing, or the other thing, he's simply reaching out to the American people from the outside looking in and letting us know it's a disaster and telling us why.

We need change. And we need it badly. Not only from our elected officials, but from the American people as well. And from the media. We need to get back to that United We Stand, Divided We Fall culture that once permeated the collective American psyche.

We need to be able to recognize the pitfalls of all of this dysfunction and honestly call it out for what it is, rather than simply take political sides through all of it just because. 

How many times have we heard so many people complain, "The two-party system is broken," only to fall heavily to one side or the other, and then defend their side even when they are clearly wrong? Sure, I am a conservative republican. But not to sound like a broken record, I am an American first and foremost above all other things.

Do I side with my side more often than the other side? Yes. Is it because of bias? I'd like to believe it is not. I'd like to believe that I simply have the ability to be honest about what either side is doing and make a judgement based on how I feel about it rather than how I think I should feel about it.

The problem we face, and I have repeated this several times, is that unless we recognize the dysfunction and begin the process of weeding out our bad apples, from both sides, we may not ever be able to get back to any sense of normal. We may not be able to save ourselves from the disaster we are ultimately creating, fostering, or allowing to continue.

Was ousting McCarthy the right decision? Maybe. Maybe not. Should Pelosi have faced stark criticism and disdain from her own party all the while she was Speaker and mucking up the place? Maybe. Should older elected officials like Feinstein (before she passed away) or Mitch McConnell pass their batons on let fresh voices in? Probably.

Should the American people demand it? 

The question really becomes, "Who is now in Congress that actually belongs there? Who is now in Congress who is actually doing the work of the People?"

It would be an extremely short list on both sides. And if the American people were paying attention, and perhaps even if the media were doing their jobs, we'd have already cleaned house. It goes back to what I said earlier about the complaint of the two-party system. That we allow the two-party system to decide for us who to vote for instead of making those decisions on our own, based on our own personal analysis of who's running on whatever side.

It's the argument that we need term limits.

Something I tend to agree with now. But what have I have always said is that no one remains in office who is not elected by the people to remain in office. So, we can argue all day long that too many people stay too long, but at the same time we the people continue to return them to their offices election after election after election.

We're in a shambles because few people care and the people "in charge" know it. We're in a shambles because no one who holds any office right now feels any threat that they may not be able to return if they get things wrong. We're in a shambles because almost everyone in Congress is out of touch with the needs of the American people. We're in a shambles because not a single elected official understands how their policies actually affect the average citizen. And because not a single policy affects them. We're in a shambles because like most Americans, the media has picked a side. We're in a shambles because no one bothers to listen anymore, or to deeply think about all of the unintended consequences of what is essentially a feel-good idea that looks good on paper, or is comforting to certain, select ears.

That being said, in all honesty, does that leave us much hope for 2024? I am not sure. Sure, I side with Trump. But even in that camp would I prefer a better alternative? Absolutely. And not for the reasons you may think.

It's the distraction that is the problem. And regardless of whether Biden is reelected or Trump returns to the White House, I think that distraction remains.

But beyond that, there is no real alternative on either side either. Right now we are literally caught between a rock and a hard place. Our only hope is that we are getting to a point where people begin to realize the dire state that we are in and begin to operate in a way that allows us to turn it around.

But again, I also think there comes a critical point at which we will no longer have the ability to do it.

Like the way I write or the things I write about? Follow me on YouTube or on my Facebook page.