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
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 21st
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
