Does Democracy die today? And the pretentious clueless “left” is still clueless.

 

So where do we go from here?

Is this meeting with all the military brass just show and show? Or something that gives Pete Hegseth’s ego an arousal and now he has to share it with his boss?

Or is it worse as some fear? A complete capitulation of our military to the most inconsistent tyrant on the planet. Well he is consistent about greed and hate, but what exactly is he looking for in trying to take over this country? Millions of conspiracies out there, yet is any of it true. I fear some of his minions aren’t minions and they have definite plans.

Something will happen today, but what? Hopefully this just turns out to be a very large nothing burger, but that is nowhere guaranteed.

And oh, by the way the government may shut down tonight. Another nothing burger or more in the disaster Trump is leading this country? Or more opportunity to further destroy our country our constitution, our values and us? Again, the most inconsistent tyrant running.

 

Have you noticed the plethora of podcasts coming from a variety of left wing podcasters espousing all sorts of Trump is bad verbiage? There are quite a few now, all begging for subscribers wanting to get to so many hundreds of thousands or even a million and to hit that like button. And all saying more or less the same thing; Trump is bad, Trump does bad stuff, we need to get rid of Trump. Yet do they even have a clue what happens next?

Tons of perceived scandal after perceived scandal, quoting the mainstream news, screaming they have the receipts filling our streaming channels and wherever else we get our podcasts with massive hyperbole that Trump has to go. Well he does, yet do they even know what they want afterwards. Are they still thinking America will buy whatever drivel the national democratic party will cook up or really rehash?

Our government is about to shut down for the umpteenth time in the last fifteen years because the duopoly is failing us. And the Democrats keep thinking they have an answer for our future. No they don’t. They have a word salad of pandering comments and a paragraph of public policy. Don’t believe me or better do not want to believe me, just go back and look at their campaign promises for the last four elections. They say the same thing, we are here to protect you from the boogeyman Republicans, we need to have universal healthcare (affordable, how?), we need to raise the minimum wage (cause we are fighting the wealth gap?) we need to fix social security (saying for years, but no concrete idea on how and I have put more ideas in a couple of previous posts then they have in forty years) and a couple of other items. And for some reason they think this will win votes.

The failure to enact any of these promises has been bleeding votes away from them since Obama. Unfortunately because we are stuck with the duopoly it sent those votes gift wrapped to Trump. Even when they do well, they cannot get out of their own with way how they present themselves. The people they needed to win the 2024 election had no idea that post covid inflationary was transitory so when they started bringing it down they failed to communicate exactly how things were working. They spent so much time telling us how bad is Trump that they didn’t communicate well how the economy works. And so Trump in his one talent (bragging) convinced millions he knew what to do. And because the duopoly has failed us for so long it didn’t take much for Trump to do this because Americans have been wanting for someone to tell us the answers for a long time. Everything they heard from Democrats and Republicans has never come to fruition except tax breaks and for some god awful reason, too many of the middle class think tax breaks for business are good for them without an iota of proof except the economy hadn’t collapsed yet.

So if the midterms occur, will the Democrats finally learn they need to move forward, get creative and present new leadership? Or will we even have midterms? Or will we be stuck with the same self serving aggrandizement in 2026 and instead of Trump destroying this country, democracy dies the death of a thousand cuts and it looks like we have had about 500 so far.

Or will by some wild chance or the grace of God, people realize we need new leadership, new ideas and elect either a revamped current party or new parties emerge that actually think about and enact public policy for the vast majority of this country and the United States continues to thrive.

And for those few remaining country club Republicans who don’t support Trump and who think we must put business first, sorry to say, but nope. A thriving working and middle class will do better for business than tax breaks and wealth hoarding. It is time to conserve our values and our people, not our mindsets.

It is just about 8:30 central time. What will the next 24 hours bring us? Let’s hope tyranny isn’t smiling by then.

No cheers today

 

And I haven't watched or heard the news yet today so this could be moot or too late. lol

Don’t you love it when mainstream media recognizes the situation and still gets it wrong?

 

Or I sure as heck got that going on.

CNN published an article on cnn.com titled: “See the five types of independents that have big implications for American politics”

There are four authors listed at the top of the article and on the surface tries to paint a pretty good picture of independents in this country, yet only comes up with five types of independents as the main point.

And as I say, independents are now the largest political group in this country over Republicans and Democrats. They break the independents into five categories starting with “upbeat outsiders” I start with this group first also because of this statement from the article:

Upbeat outsiders are the most likely of our five groups to say a major reason they consider independent is that they agree with Democrats on some issues and Republicans on others. More than half also say that distaste for the two parties is not part of why they call themselves independent. Most of them (group called upbeat outsiders) land as true independents who do not lean toward either party. Those who do lean are slightly more Republican than Democratic.

Two points here, one is most of this group which represents 22 percent of the total of independents. (be careful, not 22 percent of the population but 22 percent of the group the authors identified as independent). I break them out with this sentence for two reasons. One the majority of the 22 percent say they are true independents and two the ones that lean, lean Republican.
I wish they had asked not if Republican or Democrat, but if conservative or liberal. This is a minor thorn in my side so lets move on.

One of the main reasons for this study was to determine what are swing votes now and they came to the conclusion what in recent historical context were swing voters, no longer exist. This I have been saying in the wrong way for too long.

I keep harping on independents as independents knowing we aren’t swing voters anymore. I just never clarified the distinction in my posts.

The group I want to touch on the most is what they call the disappointed middle. This is the group most of my public policy is trying to reach. This group says they have voted for a third party or independent candidate previously and seven in ten say the economy is an important issue for them. According to the author’s study and methodology this group makes up 16% of the total of independents. I think this may be incorrect and I wish I knew how they did the questionnaire for the whole study.

A good proportion of the study the authors listed as Democrat lookalikes and Republican lookalikes and for your benefit the Democrats ran 24% to 16% over the Republicans. My question is why aren’t they Democrats and Republicans so again I question why didn’t they use the terms conservative and liberal for the questions, yet I don’t know what their questionnaire looks like to criticize this point.  And on a side note, you can call me out because I say most Americans are closer to the center or center right than liberal which goes back to my conservative and liberal terms versus using Democrats and Republicans because the two parties right now will feel the effect of how people feel about them currently.

Another group or the final group is the checked out group. And in my thinking they are actually part of the disappointed middle, but more so, hence the concept that they are checked out and again this is the group I am trying to reengage with my public policy ideas. If they thought someone was fighting for them they might become engaged. According to the authors 9 in 10 of this group says no one in politics speaks for people like them. And this helps to emphasize why I say we need new parties.

They know they need something new, but mainstream media and current social media blocks rational outside voices. The mainstream media whether left or right doesn’t want the competition and social media is so filled with hate, conspiracies or finger pointing, it just turns them off. This paragraph is my thoughts.

One other tidbit is that half were younger than other independents.

Now this post is a super condensed version and what I consider important discussion of the article so take that with a grain of salt, yet if you go back and read through the whole thing I think I have touched on the main points of some of the problems.

First we still label democrat against republican instead of saying liberal and conservative which is why I think the two lookalike groups are misnomers. Second the majority of the country is independent which states the two parties are not reaching the majority of this country. Third quite a large percentage of this country is ready for something new. And so many people are checked out because again no one is reaching out to them.

On a side note, the end of the article touches on methodology,, but does not include a copy of the questionnaire or at least one I found to click on.

So finally people keep asking me why do we need new parties, well this study touches on it, but doesn’t go down the path of saying how do we reach these groups. My answer as you know is we need something new. And on occasion I say if you completely overhaul the two current parties you can possibly achieve my goals. Otherwise with the entrenchment of the parties elites that isn’t going to happen so we need to remove the requirement we live in a two party system and move forward.

The duopoly has failed us. This study by showing you can identify independents and begin to break them down into categories touches on my ideas the parties are failing by not just reaching out to them, yet more importantly not offering them better solutions.

There is much to discuss here and I touch on it throughout my posts, yet I am glad this study was published because if you can see how the duopoly is diminishing as political forces then you can begin to ask yourself what do we do different.

Cheers

What is your transition temperature?

 

I debated for days what to call this post, when in reality it isn’t that involved. Okay maybe not days, but at least from last night. We got to make sure we stick with facts nowadays.

And for those of you who don’t know, today is the first day of the State Fair of Texas, three weeks of food, food, food, and none of it good for you, fun, fun, and very expensive fun nowadays since rides and midway games are out of control on pricing, exhibits, exhibits plus more things you never knew you wanted to look at and finally some pretty good entertainment throughout the run of the Fair including football and music mainly. And oh yeah, some animals, lots of animals with a cacophony of smells of both, well animal poop and wonderful food, sometimes hitting you side by side as you walk depending on where you are in the Fairgrounds.

Go and have fun.

And now back to the post. Wherever you live there is a temperature, maybe a small range depending on the season it will feel cool or warm. For North Texas that ranges is the 60’s (Fahrenheit of course). When you head into fall sometime around October or November the temperature will hit the sixties and it feels cool. Yet come February or early March it will warm up to the sixties. And yes, it feels the same temperature technically, but this is the range where the previous season affects the feel of the temperature more so than the actual temperature.

And again this may be different for where you live. Yet there is a temperature that is the transition temperature. Even in Texas in the summer the 80’s and even the 70’s are still warm. Of course hot is 90 plus. In the winter the fifties still feel cool even if it was thirty the day before, yet if it starts climbing into the 60’s you see people pick up their step, that jacket begins to be carried or wrapped around their waist. In October you start to see sweaters on some people when the temps start running into the 60’s.

All strange but true. Why is this important? Well it isn’t, but the State Fair is here, fall is coming, and yes I know the first day of fall was earlier this week. This is Texas, fall is still somewhat a ways off.

Or you can just ask yourself what is this country’s transition temperature because we need to get out of the current climate we are in right now. At what point does enough “regular” people get tired of the hate and want to do something?

 

Cheers, go enjoy a corn dog, dust off your eggnog recipes, shop for that pumpkin, and drag out those fall clothes. The seasons are a changin’ and the times need to change.

Life, liberty and the anti pursuit of hate

 Latest podcast is live

https://youtu.be/9dV6JGJjR2s

Cheers

Don’t do that

 

I don’t know what it is, men don’t know what it is, and women certainly don’t or they wouldn’t do it.

It seems and it doesn’t matter if it is your Mom, sister, girlfriend, wife and maybe even your daughter sometimes, but if a woman says to a man don’t do that, the man’s brain starts contemplating doing it. Whatever the woman said may have been light years from his brain, yet as soon as she says it, the brain goes hmmmmm.

And it may be something the man knows is not good for him or is ridiculous to even think about, yet as soon as the words are spoken the man is now in a brain lock. He now has to fight the temptation of doing whatever it was that was spoken. Sure many times it is overcome quickly and the man moves on, yet there is that one moment, that one second where the action is now front and center in the man’s thoughts.

And the more inherently rebellious the man is, the more he has to fight the urge. Think about teenage sons, the most rebellious time in a person’s life. And then think about how hard it was when Mom said don’t do that. It was pure hell not to do it. The remainder of the day was spent thinking about what you were going to do next or trying to figure out the consequences of doing it. Common sense is something we should all strive for, yet when a woman says don’t do that, common sense is a battle for a man.

And women never seem to realize that horrible truth staring at them when they say it. Again a man may not have anything resembling that thought in his brain, but now.

So women as a favor to yourself, think before you say. What exactly is your husband doing and why do you feel the need to say don’t do that. Is he really about to walk outdoors naked or is he just walking to the other side of the bed? Did he really just pull out that shirt you hate to wear or was he looking for something? Did he really tell someone that you told him in secret or was he talking to himself. (men do talk to themselves and more so when they get older).

And yes men do crazy things without thinking so yes you do need to keep one eye open around your man 24/7, but don’t jump to conclusions about his next action. You have to make sure you have a full grasp of the situation before you act. Or your worst thought may just come true.

And don’t be surprised when you ask a man what he is thinking and he says nothing. He literally may be not thinking. Or he has gone so far deep into a rabbit hole, he is not sure anymore. And men can go deep into rabbit holes mainly because we think linear. So going down step by step is pretty normal for a man. He isn’t looking peripherally when going down a rabbit hole. He is taking it down one thought at a time. So if he looks pensive and you ask and he says nothing, it may actually mean nothing.

Sure I have had women tell me their thoughts go from one concern to another at a rapid pace. Women comedians will tell you these things, but before you ask your man remember, he may not know or is so far down he just doesn’t want to admit the light at the top of the hole is very dim and he can’t get back out without just forgetting everything. Let it go.  I know women this bothers the heck out of you, but save your sanity and just let it go.

You may want to have a conversation with your man. Sure very valid want, but don’t try when they say nothing. Start a new topic, find something fresh to talk about. Help him get his mind back to the surface by not pushing so you can enjoy speaking with him.

I can’t speak for women because I have no idea how to keep up with their thought process, yet I thought I would share a couple of thoughts so you can avoid a frustrating conversation with the men in your life. Don’t say don’t do it, don’t ask what are you thinking unless you have given him very specific things to think about and now need an answer and be happy when he does pay attention. Positive reinforcement never hurts.

Cheers

What America got wrong about Charlie Kirk and what Charlie Kirk got wrong.

 

I am going to write a sentence that will be met with a resounding duh.

Charlie Kirk is an American. Well duh

Peel back a couple of layers of the onion and Charlie Kirk is an opportunist. An opportunist in the truest of American opportunists. He admits it in his first book:

“Because there were people out there before the organization was formed, you could say I didn’t start Turning Point; I found it and made it available to others.”

Yes this doesn’t exactly say he was an opportunist, yet he is saying I knew there was something to be had and I was going towards it.

And just a few pages later he admits to how lucky he was in getting Turning Point started. He does admit that luck is part of the game. And this, his first book, was written four years into the growth of Turning Point.

Mr. Kirk also opportunistically has quite a bit going for him. He comes from a family in good financial shape, maybe not rich, but strong. He is good looking to many. He is smart. He picked a side. And that folks is very important in America. And once he picked a side he went full throttle. Even in his first book he tries to resolve the side issue when he writes about ending the game between team right and team left.

He cannot end the game. He is thriving on the existence of the game. He jumped in and openly defined his side is the correct side and the left is the enemy, the wrong side.

As regular readers know I pretty much think of many leftists, especially in the Democrat leadership, as clueless elitists. Mr. Kirk doesn’t use this verbiage, yet he recognizes it and attacks them on a point by point basis. And for many Americans who were tired of being told what was right and wrong such as political correctness, yet also a host of other nuanced attributes of people on the left looking down at certain Americans Mr. Kirk’s recognition resonated greatly with them.

The same Hillary Clintonites that would use verbiage like flyover states and call MAGA deplorables heard what Charlie Kirk was saying. I am on your side and our side is the right side. These people want to destroy you, take away everything you can have because they don’t believe in you.

And for young people who didn’t feel respected by the current elitist culture, this felt like a wake up call.

Americans like being on a side. We, through our history, want to be the good guy. It is engrained in us through all sorts of media until 2010 when there were only people telling us we weren’t good anymore if we didn’t behave a certain way, talk a certain way, express ourselves in a certain way. Many Americans were more ignorant than the left realized and Charlie Kirk tapped into that like college kids used to tap a keg.  Their ignorance wasn’t their fault. It was the elitist liberals who bred ignorance to develop a control over the attitudes of the country. Charlie Kirk recognized this and exploited it in a different way.  

He came across too many as a hard working American that understood what America was all about. If you didn’t have the opportunity to live the American dream there was something wrong. And he was going to bring back the American dream.

And yes he was hard working. To create the organization and do the things he did, he definitely had to work hard, no doubt. He had luck. The timing was good for someone like him. Think of all those who have come after him. Mimicry is a great form of flattery.  He formed a massive grass roots and social media movement simultaneously. He merged the old way of American culture with the emergence of the new.

Americans who disagreed with his words, never accounted for his actions. You do not get to where he did by just one path. He embraced everything that came his way and found the right people to help him.

And he relentlessly attacked the other side. If they did something right, he found ways to twist it where it didn’t sound like it was for you, that those programs would fail you because they weren’t meant for you. He was good.

He encouraged people that it was okay to have controversial views, even if those views were antithetical to the values of equality, equal opportunity, all men are created equal. Sure he said his vision were those things, but if you weren’t on his side this wasn’t for you. You were the one hindering the view points of his tilted values. The left was against you. The fact the left is clueless only validated his view points.

Charlie Kirk was successful and that is about as American as you can get. What Charlie Kirk said was not always the American values he said he was preaching. He picked a side and married it. And by doing such he hurt America. He made others pick a side.  “Proof me wrong” yet it was said in a small box he created because in reality there are thousands of different nuances to what is going on with an individual’s life, a culture, a country, this world.

You can pick a side, but that does not mean everything your side does is correct and the larger the game the less successful using only one side’s tactics will be for the game and even your side.

Charlie Kirk says he offers solutions and some sound as American as apple pie. He believes in small government, the free market, he shared his faith, yet in practice he chose to say it had to be his view point, that taking on questionable values was okay if you practiced his side. He became the face of a large movement. He rose in the ranks of the modern conservative culture. He espoused what the rulers want to hear. He brought millions along with him. As with anyone in any world that does not make you better than any other, the modern conservatives tend to love to elevate people into lofty positions in their minds to justify believing in demonizing others. They want to hear the other side is bad because their lives are broken and they need to blame their brokenness on others. And in most cases their brokenness is there because of many reasons. The problems stem from them self, ironically Mr. Kirk says they can overcome it on their own, it comes from society, it comes from a lack of faith, (many people say they have faith, yet when they turn inwards something turns back on them), it comes from a culture that no longer has values or values what is superficial and more. Yet this brokenness exists and for young people starting off in the world being told that things are all right helps.

Right now America doesn’t want to know how bad are things. They want to hear things are great so they can continue to play their video games and not worry about the next paycheck.  Charlie Kirk tapped into that with a vengeance. And nowadays that energy is contagious. People do not want to expend it themselves, but when someone on their side does it works for them.

Obama tapped into the same energy with the youth of this country in 2008. “yes we can” resonating with young people on the left just as strongly as Charlie Kirk’s proof me wrong does with the young on the right. Young people want hope, both offered it for a moment.

Tomorrow will be another day. There will always be someone who will take advantage of opportunities presented. Charlie Kirk’s message ended abruptly and horribly. No one should die unnecessarily and he did. I can read what he said and see where he was coming from. It does not mean I agree with everything he said, yet I do agree with we need a smaller government, the markets should be allowed to work and I share my faith a bit. Outside the bubble though those words are not enough. To share your faith people have to respect it, to say we need smaller government when there are injustices in the world is not understanding why even our founding fathers created our government. The market is great until just a few people control all of the market. Nothing is an absolute and when you pick a side you lose half your solutions.

Charlie Kirk tapped into a need of this country. It wasn’t the right need, it wasn’t the wrong need. And he did say much that was just as damaging in a different way than the clueless elitists that tell us how to think. People will disagree and okay that is what it is truly all about.

I am not going to pick sides and that is one reason I do not garner the following of someone like Charlie Kirk or others. Charlie Kirk tapped into a need that cried we are lacking energy, direction, purpose and he gave it to some. And he picked one side to express his thoughts on these needs.

Charlie Kirk was wrong not because his side was wrong, he was wrong because he was a visionary for a movement, yet not a visionary for what is truly needed. He espoused ideas and policies, but that wasn’t what he was about. He was about painting a rosy picture to create the same false illusions all people of movements do.

Neither Democrats or Republicans are ready for when Trump passes away

 

This touches on being a follow up to a post I made a few weeks ago, but this focuses more on what happens with each party after Trump.

Or what lack of policy will not be enacted.

The Democrats still have their one page word salad and their pandering to different interest groups. They say things like universal healthcare, raise the minimum wage, tax the billionaires, etc, but never flesh it out to see how they are going to accomplish it all. I post more in this blog with more substance to some of my ideas than the Democratic party does across it’s entire spectrum of representatives and candidates. They love their message. They have no idea how to enact it.

Do they have a post Trump plan? Hard to say when half their messaging is Trump is bad and Trump is stupid and Trump gotcha posts. If Trump were to peacefully pass in his sleep tonight the Democrats wouldn’t know what to do. And would have a good chance of losing in 2026 and 2028 if any Republicans figured anything out.

Now the Republicans aren’t ahead of the game either. The infamous RINOs will try and retake the party, yet how successful will they be? And what happens to MAGA? Does it splinter into multiple factions? Or do they get lucky and someone rises to the top and takes the mantle? And this seems very unlikely. Vance isn’t as popular as the people around Vance would like him to be. Will a normal power play between Vance and Rubio break out and one of them starts spewing something close to rational political speak?

Or will the whole house of cards come tumbling down and all the extremists carve out different audiences fracturing the whole country even more? Imagine ten different Fuentes all vying for attention. Will they offset each other or create more monsters?

All this and more is possible. Somebody in the Republican party needs to start building coalitions or all hades will break loose.

And the rest of Trump’s cabinet, staffers, aides, hangers on and Congressional allies will have nowhere to go but low. Miller, Noem, Bondi, Kennedy, Johnson will lose standing quick once Trump is gone. My fear is Andrew Vought will find a way to survive since his real goal is Project 2025, not Trump, so he probably has some post Trump plans. The rest of the lot, not so much. 

Trump’s economic agenda will lose steam faster than ice thrown into boiling water. So what happens to fightfest 2025 at club MAGA? What sycophant will survive? Bessent? Pulte? Lutnick? Or?

And think about the “influencers” or whatever they want to be called. Bannon? Jones? Fuentes? Rogan? Who else? Do they still garner millions of views? Or do they fade away also?

And with all this Republican mess, who gets all the worthless crypto in the divorce?

Will the Democrats fill a void when the Republicans implode? Or will they continue to talk down to America, lecture us, and demean the MAGA population in general, completely forgetting that these are Americans also. (which they claim Trump does with their groups).

The hypocrisy of both parties is completely different, yet it is so bad that both parties have huge holes to climb out of if we ever want to get this country back on track. They finger point, say votes are wasted if you vote independent or third party, the parties run the primaries based on messaging only, not allowing fresh voices to arise, and all the while claim everything else is evil, yet doing nothing about the evil and incompetency that permeates their own party.

Now I am not a fan of either party so my hope is that when Trumpism fades, independents finally realize they need to get going and rebuild both parties or create new ones because the current leadership in both parties is a complete failure when it comes to representing the people and by the looks of it, aren’t ready for a post Trump world.

And let us hope that all this happens before July 04, 2026 so we can have a real independence day birthday celebration and welcome the world when it comes for FIFA’s World Cup in North America. Am I asking too much?

 

And since the world is coming next summer, let’s learn a bit.

Salud!

Cin Cin! Saluti!

Sante´!

Prost!

Saude!

Kanpai!

Geonbae!

Gan bei!

Nuo nke oma!

Fi-sih-tik!

Serefe!

And so much more

Cheers!

Why aren’t independents angrier?

 

I am at a lost.

 

First of all today I am supposed to be working on something good, something positive, yet I keep getting distracted by my thoughts on how far we have fallen as a country. I do a bit of volunteer work and for some of what I do I have to prepare. So as I was trying to prepare I just kept thinking about why the effort. Maybe I am feeling a bit melancholy. Or am I in a funk? Or is it because it is a cloudy day and the end of summer. I prefer spring and summer so who knows. Anyway though, I am distracted from doing good because I just don’t understand why we are where we are today.

 

I am not much of a facts guy, yet the facts don’t paint a pretty picture. I tried getting a snap shot of how the US has done in education since 1975 and what I found was there is no standardized ranking system since 1975. I did find these interesting facts since 2000.   

Overall: U.S. students have consistently performed about average in reading and science but below average in math on PISA tests since 2000.  PISA stands for Programme for International Student Assessment. (yes programme)

So is this important? Well when it comes to making America great again or some other nonsense it should be. We are average among developed nations for 25 years. That to me sounds like we aren’t doing what we should.

And we all know about the debt ballon:

The U.S. national debt rose from $533 billion in 1975 to $35.46 trillion by September 30, 2024. This represents a substantial increase, with the debt surpassing $1 trillion around 1981-1982 and growing significantly in the decades that followed due to increased government spending. 

Or how about the deficit each year and honestly this can be looked at in two ways. First the debt straight up or compared as a percentage to GDP either way it gets interesting.

Now I found charts from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, yet to copy and paste them onto a word document becomes cumbersome. You can search for them using the resource mentioned, but generally show there has been some years in late 1990’s and early 2000’s and mid 2010’s where we had a slight surplus, but we don’t get to 36 trillion in debt without some disaster years. All in all, without taking an academic deep dive into it, hard to say what all this means except we are currently in a deep pile of doggie doo doo.

One of the left’s biggest bugaboos is the wealth gap:

            The wealth gap in the United States has been a persistent issue since 1975, with significant changes in distribution over the years. The top 1% of Americans have seen their share of wealth increase from 17% in 1990 to 26% in 2022, while the middle class has lost its share of wealth. The bottom 20% have maintained their share of wealth at around 3% over the past three decades. The total market income for the top 1% averaged $3.4 million in 2021, compared to the bottom 20% who have seen their share of wealth remain at around 3%. The wealth of the American middle class has changed, with the 60% of income earners between the top and bottom quintiles having seen their share of wealth diminish since 1990. 

U.S. Senate

 

            NEW STUDY: Nearly $80 Trillion Redistributed from the Bottom 90% to the Top 1% Since 1975

• March 4, 2025

 

So why am I throwing out unrelated facts?  You can always pick and choose facts to make any  point or can skew the conversation to make facts sound good to your audience, yet when you really just look at it, in the above metrics and more we aren’t improving as a nation. Go to wages for the middle and working class, review how many people vote in our country, you can find upteen amount of lists to review, yet nothing says gold star.

So why am I bothered by all this noise? It is because time and time again Democrats and Republicans tell us they have the answers. And have they? Sure you can manipulate facts to make you sound good and I have heard many times Democrats say we balanced the budget in the 1990’s. When the reality is we had a booming economy in the 90’s that was attributed to the beginning of the growth of the internet. Many new types of businesses were born. This had more to do with government surplus than any Democrat public policy.  Republicans will say then cutting taxes for businesses is good since a booming economy helps our budget, yet when Republicans have cut taxes business doesn’t take off and we run deficits.

What does this have to do with the price of tea in China?

Let’s talk messaging.

How many times have you heard that tax cuts benefit the economy?

 

How many times have you been told that all we need is to do these two or three things like increase minimum wage or universal healthcare and everything will be okay?

 

And honestly those aren’t bad ideas. Yet they are weak in a vacuum. To really change the trajectory of this country it is going to take work. It is going to take comprehensive public policy that addresses an inordinate amount of issues. There is no quick fix, yet our illustrious two party system wants you to believe if you would just listen to my side ignore the other side then everything will come up roses. It doesn’t.

Both sides vet their candidates to make sure they tow the party line, their message in elections fits the narrative that they think will win votes. It doesn’t even begin to cross the rubicon and look for what are the best policies. It is all about the message.

And the messages are getting old, and have never been enough.

So some people think rank voting in primaries will help. Nope, because it is still the people the party has chosen to be in the primary. There is no new message much less new policy much less new actionable items to help us all out. Again nothing for the “all”. Just messaging to fire up the base so they come out and vote in the primary. And once they vote in the primary you have the candidate who best represents the party line, not you.

And then there are those that think we should have term limits. That is democracy on whatever is the opposite of steroids. Term limits is laziness. Voters are responsible so they should get who they want, not be held back by people who are incompetent. The two party system has made us want term limits because we won’t do the work to vet the candidates, look for fresh ideas and expect our representatives to represent us. And term limits will not solve the problem as it stands since the parties will still have candidates that tow the party line, just new names.

The original framers of our country and constitution had no idea where politics were going to go, yet I am sure, they would be horrified by what politics has become. Many even warned against political parties and their fears have come true. It is more about the party than it is about governing.

So as an independent are you angry yet? And even before I made this paltry effort to get you angry how did you feel?

Folks it is time to rethink what is before us. The duopoly of Republicans and Democrats no longer are effective in governing this country. Over fifty years ago, our two party system did create a somewhat balanced view of governing. Some days we needed conservative thinking, other days we needed to be more progressive. Yet a sense of civility and pride allowed both parties to respect each other. They still were not close to good, but they managed. Now the hate, the partisanship, the finger pointing, the lies, the incompetence dominate Washington D. C. and do not allow any intrusion into their world.

We need new leadership, new parties and new ideas to move this country forward. The government on paper, the Constitution is still the best going for mankind right now. We need to bring back the values, the principles, the ethos of our founders and update it for the 21^st century.

As regular readers know, I prefer a center right public policy tilt to what needs to be done, yet whatever we can bring forward that doesn’t rely on the current messaging from either party, but brings forth new energy and actual public policy that benefits the country as a whole, I will listen. And no, socialism and facism are not the answer.

Respect, hard work, policies that benefit the mainstream are the answers. The Republicans talk about the importance of business. Yes we need a strong economy, but the truth is that comes from the people participating in it more so than the rich getting benefits. The Democrats talk about all these feel good policies, yet have no idea what this country can afford and what actually works, but want to tell us over and over again what is bad. No one responds to lectures. No one responds to being left out of the game.

 

Yet we let both parties run over us, saying we waste our vote if we don’t vote for their side. My statement to them is we have wasted our votes for far too long.

Are you angry yet?

 

It is time to change.

 

Cheers

Dallas Cowboys comments, predictions and other Dallas Sports thoughts

 

Dallas Sports Headlines:

Two great players, two horrible trades all in one year. Sheesh, yet for one team…..

 

Will the Dallas Cowboys make the big game?

Hope springs eternal, yet we aren’t in spring, this is fall and that is what is going to happen, the Cowboys season is going to fall.

So no big game celebrations in Big D this year just like for decades now.

In fact I will venture the question will the Cowboys have a winning season. They might scratch one out, but both the offense and defense lines are the key and well.. go back to that two great players headline and we might struggle on the defensive side. The offensive side is an interesting situation. Is it truly revamped or is that Cowboy preseason hype?

Time will tell so unless it is truly revamped and stronger a 7-10 season is a high possibility, but let’s have fun, throw in a tad bit of spring for these dog days of summer and hopefully they will go 9-8. And maybe just maybe 10-7 and a chance at the wildcard game. After that, there just isn’t that much hope in this spring to go further.

I will finalize my prediction at 8-9 and hope I am wrong as heck and the left side of the ledger is a rising number.

And speaking of the dog days of summer, those red shoe Rangers are hanging in there. Tough series with Houston coming up, but a long win streak or winning  the various series even if 2-1 for most before end of the year and they have a good chance.

Once they get in I am still at a bit of a loss. Their inconsistency is weighing on me, but since this is baseball lets stick with spring and hope and say they go at least a playoff series or two. Definitely an exciting and nail biting September coming up.

 

And for that first disastrous trade, the Dallas Mavericks may still have a chance. Everyone in Dallas still thinks a better chance with Luka than without, but at least the Mavericks came away with some luck and received some potential for the year. Flagg will make rookie mistakes, that will be inevitable, yet with help, good player development coaching and some luck the Mavericks could go far. We will discuss further in October.

As always I admit I am a casual fan of the Dallas Stars so we will look into it a bit more come October also. It is always fun when both the Mavericks and the Stars are running side by side in the playoffs come spring.

 

And if Trump doesn’t screw things up, we are looking forward to all the World Cup action next summer. Hopefully we can get into a game or two in that large monstrosity of a stadium in Arlington.

 

Cheers all

Happy Labor Day

 

To all those who make our country great. Yep since this is a service economy all our labor is working to make ends meet on this glorious holiday to celebrate those who can afford not to work.

 

The irony is lost on those in Washington DC though.

 

Truly we need to let the people who labor enjoy this day. Maybe we should shut down all the retail stores, convenience stores, restaurants etc and let the people who work enjoy the day. We could all get our foods for grilling, gas for driving etc just by planning ahead one day.

 

It is good some get the day off, but we should work to give all the day off.                                                                                                                                           

 

 

And thanks to a Tumblr reader who reblogged on Tumblr last year’s post. Today’s is the elevator speech version. lol