Things are Not Always as They Seem
You ever ask yourself, such a question?
Are things really as they appear?
In the last oh let's say, six years or so, probably longer but I don’t want to beat a dead horse so to speak because “when” is rather immaterial at this point.
So, throughout my life it seems to have always taken into a president's second term or at least toward the end of the first to really begin to see effects of their political policies as they get to the ground. You know, before what they did had impact on our lives.
We used to be shielded that way.
But not anymore.
Even when Obama was in office, we didn't really feel the effects until term number two.
But something happened and everything accelerated.
Fast forward to Trump, less than two years in and we began to see how positive changes could be unleashed onto our communities. And I do not know about you but it felt great, to have not just more money because my pay went up, but more in my pocked because everything cost less and that felt good.
Fast forward again and look at misery and woe that has been unleashed onto the population. It is our punishment for daring elect an outsider!
Under Trump, we gained energy independence for the first time since we started playing footsies with the Arab world.
Somewhere a long time ago way we bought hook line and sinker that we need dependence on foreign oil to achieve security. As a kid, I didn't pay much attention to world affairs, but I vaguely remember my dad saying something like we will use up their oil and, in the end, everyone would be dependent on us.
Maybe that was the point, I don't know but I remember him saying things like we don't have enough oil here. Which would mean we could never be independent.
Do you ever feel like you like those who are supposed to represent us are more like the shady Carney’s who run the rigged games at the local fair? The more I think about it, it is a nothing more than a shell game, all of it. Tax and spend, but they spend the taxes on nothing to make our lives better, just to enrich theirs.
Hmmmm, it's something to consider, so I went about my kid business and never really thought about it all until Trump.
He unleashed a lot of truths and that was his biggest sin.
If, you are my age you probably remember the "Wizard of Oz" (if you've never seen it, get a copy and watch it, it'll help make sense of all this and you might find some other strange truths too) any way it came on every year and every year, I was always surprised when after all the pomp and circumstances, the curtain was pulled back to reveal a small little man who used the "technology" he commanded to cloak his tiny little self and present himself as this powerful almost omnipotent being.
That is what Trump did, if you think about it. He pulled back the curtain to expose that our whole system was and is a sham.
From those who were supposed to be our defender, those charged to protect us (our news media) had simply become the cowardly old lion.
No longer with courage, no longer king of the jungle to hold the powerful accountable. Just a toothless, cowardly shill for the powerful against the people.
Our elected officials nothing more than a Tin man with no heart to perform their duty and serve our interests. If we don't start seeing things for how they really are we aren't going to ever find our yellow brick road.
I keep asking who is running this dog and pony show? And as I have been writing and researching, I am coming to the conclusion that this mess is so multifaceted that getting to the real heart is going to be like pealing an onion all the way to the heart. There are likely going to be a lot of tears along the way. But I am afraid that may be the cost we will have to pay one way or another.
And to fix this some things will have to change. We have to get corporations out of business with the government. We could for example say if your company does any business with any local, state or federal government then you're forbid from any lobbying activity for fifty years past the end of that relationship.
If you do no business with the government, then lobby but that can only be as it pertains to the benefit of the communities and the people who work for you.
Just an idea, but it could help.
Another idea one I was thinking about today, pertains to our legislative process.
Remember "Schoolhouse Rock"?
I always loved Conjugation Junction, but as a kid I just couldn’t get it. However, we should focus on "I'm Only a Bill"
We pay an exorbitant amount of taxes to never see "real bills" go through the process and have intelligent laws that serve society for the better.
Today we get 27,000 pages of crap masquerading as a bill! Or bs like we will have to “Pass it to see what’s in it” as Nancy Pelosi once quipped as she held up what would be the undoing of the greatest healthcare system in the world.
We need to fix a lot of problems in this country, a lot!
But what they pretend to do because of all the money is think up ways to get more for themselves without working to do their job.
How about, you want to fix the roads and bridges. Figure out what it will cost. Give the old college try and vote on that and nothing else!
In the end it'll cost us all a lot less and things might actually start to get done.
Beside that, bills that become laws should have evaluation schedules. This would allow the situation to be looked at. Are we getting the expected outcome? Are there unexpected consequences we failed to find in our due diligence? Are there benefits that we can apply or make use of in other areas? Then maybe we have regular interval looks until we get it right and the law works. We have to be nimble because things change way too quick for doing business the way we have done since the Founders set things up.
I would suggest that we need to go this route from the local to the federal. And if you cannot call any of your constituency and explain it in a phone call then go back to the drawing board and make it simple enough so you can.
Come on America, we have some very large elephants (metaphorically) to eat, and we cannot try to eat anything more than one bite at a time.
But we can get it done! We must force the issues and we have to do it in ways that may require some of us to show up in places and hold some feet to the fire.
Some will have to become replacement feet for the ones who refuse to do what is in the interest of the collective.
We can no longer do what is good for ourselves at the detriment of our neighbors.
All of us must vote, at the ballot box, email inbox, phone call, or even a visit with local store managers and have thoughtful conversations, expressing ourselves and positions with respect and an open heart to listen and learn.
We must also vote with our pocketbooks. It is amazing how such a polite and simple conversation can change hearts. And if that doesn't work take your money elsewhere.
I went nearly thirteen years without ever stepping foot inside or giving one red cent of my hard-earned money to Home Depot.
Back in the day they made a decision that went against what I felt any corporation needed to do or be about and after so many well thought out conversations with local management who agreed and emails and phone calls to distract leaders who felt compelled to toe the line and tell me how wrong I was without listening, I simply told them I managed well without them before they came into my life, and it may take me a little longer and cost me a little or even a lot more but it was a matter of principle for me and I like sleeping at night.
They finally came around only after a lot of people did what I did.
I didn't call for boycotts. When my buddy said “Hey let's run to Home Depot, I explained my issue and some did some heart searching and decided to ask me how they too could join, I gave them the list of names and numbers I had complied, and they went to work.
Some went to Home Depot and spent their money and that was alright for them. I never beat the issue with anyone. I never spent the treasure of friendship over matters of opinion.
Why should I? We are free!
It is time America, let’s get out there and roll up our sleeves put our great ideas to work, share them, build on them and help them grow into something great!
From Where the Eagle Soars
Steve