Why Aren't Our Leaders Listening? Parties In Conflict.
"GOVERNMENT OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE EARTH."
Before I begin, I would like to make one thing clear. As you read what I consider an essential blog post. Do not think I am taking sides. These are the facts. If you think I am taking sides, you are sadly mistaken. The only side I am taking is the side of the American people and what is the right thing to do for our citizens. In addition, in my closing I will be telling you facts that are not reported by biased networks, facts the real people have to live with. Things I have personally seen and witnessed. It's time we wake up to the truth. The truth that can affect each and every one of us.
Introduction:
Greetings to all. This week's topic was a topic of my choice. I choose this topic because I believe this question is on the minds of every American Citizen. "Government of the people, by the people. for the people shall not perish from the earth."
Three phrases from one of the most famous speeches in our country's history, made by Abraham Lincoln during his Gettysburg address in 1863. However, many do not know that most of that was borrowed from an English Philosopher John Wycliff when he wrote the dedication of the English Bible in 1384.
I believe the words are self-explanatory. The government is composed of the citizens of our great nation, elected by the citizens of our country for the benefit of the citizens and people of our nation. Very basic and straightforward. Also, this principle shall never be changed to perish from existence. These three statements are NOT rocket science. However, they were made during different times and for various reasons. The basics of those three statements MUST always stand true and stand the test of time because that is how our democracy is defined. This is a passionate topic for me, and I can discuss it for hours. However, this is a blog post, so I will highlight what is essential.
HAVE POLITICAL PARTIES CHANGED?
Yes, all things change over time. I remember growing up. My parents were avid Democrats. If they were still alive today, I can't say that they would still feel the same. However, I have been on this earth long enough to remember the days when Democrats and Republicans disagreed. They always worked together for the benefit of the people—a thing of the past. We have had great Democrat and Republican Presidents. However, with the present-day political climate, that no longer holds. It is a constant battle and a battle that is not fought for the "will of the people," which I will discuss shortly. Politics has now become the plan of a specific political party or the personal agenda of a particular leader.
There is no longer respect within each party and for the other party. It is a tub of war for control. Two sayings are true.
1. You can't help others until to help yourself,
2. You can't be good to others until you are good to yourself.
Whether we are talking about an individual or a nation, these principles are true. Principles that have been lost in the turmoil and the chaos of parties divided amongst themselves. The extremists, the far left and right, no one knows who runs the country.
Over the past two or three election cycles, it has been a war of personal bashing rather than discussing the critical issues. It is all about who can throw the largest pile of crap at the other. Many, not all, news media networks, through their bias and irresponsible reporting, have undoubtedly NOT helped this situation. As for how social media has handled this, it is a travesty at best.
There is no point in discussing individual issues because everyone has their own opinion. However, getting back to the two previous sayings, let's take the recent baby formula crisis. The cupboards are bare, the stores are empty, while pallets of baby formula are sent to illegal aliens that cross our southern border. I am NOT remotely suggesting that these infants not be fed. That in itself would be criminal and inhumane. However, ration what you send when you know you have a domestic crisis on your hands. Yes, it is a crisis.
Yet another problem our present administration missed. How could anyone miss something so important and not anticipate the situation and immediately address it when you know our major supplier is being shut down, 44% of our baby formula is imported from China, and add the never-ending transportation backlog into the mix? And there you have it. A recipe for failure. And fail it has. Someone wasn't on top of this for day one. Mothers across our great nation are struggling to find what they need for their children, while apparently, nothing is being down on a rapid scale to resolve this issue.
Not every problem can be foreseen, but solutions must be found once one surfaces. I ask you, why is over 40% of our baby formula imported from China? In a country the size of the United States, and with the resources that the United States of America has, we should NEVER get even close to 50% of what our country needs to survive to be imported from other nations. WE HAVE THE RESOURCES. WHY DON'T WE USE THEM?
As a nation, our leaders warn the European countries repeatedly not to be so reliant on Russian oil. Now we are suffering from the same fate we have warned other nations about. So don't give me this crap about the New Green Deal. If we can buy oil from other countries that do not produce it as cleanly as we do, we could be using our own rather than having the American people suffer.
Climate control is an issue that will NEVER be solved overnight. In the meantime, use our resources and do it better. There is no doubt in this writer's mind that this is a part of a grand scheme to try to get the American people to succumb to using fossil fuels when no alternative is even remotely close to being ready. This administration MUST stop doing things irresponsibly and become responsible because guess what? IT'S NOT WORKING.
Importing and exporting are healthy for the global economy. However, this is NOT about global economic health. It is about corporate greed, higher profits, political agendas, spite, revenge, and stupidity. Yes, some commodities are cheaper to import and sell for the same price. BUT NEVER AT THE RISK OF LOSING OUR INDEPENDENCE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES. The same goes for energy. Not that long ago, we were energy independent, and now we are energy-dependent. Tell me. Where is the sense in that?
PARTIES IN CONFLICT OR AT WAR?:
One of the primary causes of these problems is two political parties at war. Imagine. Our two major political parties formed for what should be the benefit of the citizens of this great nation are at war, and we, as citizens, are the pawns in this chess game. Does anything about that bother you? Frankly, it disgusts me. Our country is not filled with people that are all fortunate to afford to live through this chess game. People are suffering at the hand of people who are supposed to be intelligent and cannot work together to solve problems constructively. There was not one covid relief bill passed where most of the money helped the people. Every bill had to include other things that had nothing to do with covid 19.
Neither party would budge on separating the issues because one or the other would lose their leverage for the other things they wanted. Was that to keep their large donor base happy? You tell me your opinion. In the meantime, people lost their jobs, homes, and savings. Some lost everything they have worked for their entire life. Have we forgotten this soon home many lost their 401k years back? Guess what. The market is steadily dropping, and that risk is upon us again.
All because we have political parties at war. Do I have my opinions on who is right and wrong? Of course, like most of you, I do. However, I stated upfront I was not going to take sides and only state the facts. These are the facts. You are all living through this and know this to be true.
Nearly every economist is predicting a major recession. If you think you are suffering now, you have not begun to suffer. When I was a teenager and gas was rationed, you could only get it on certain days and only a limited amount. That wasn't even a recession. Today, people commute much farther to go to work. They spend more on fuel than ever before. Every industry that relies on this, tourism, etc., suffers. Businesses close. More people lose their jobs, homes, life savings, and more. Do you want that again?
I can't imagine any political party or American citizen would want that to happen. But, unfortunately, count on it happening again at the rate we are going. It's not rocket science to see how nad things are getting. Our southern border is a total mess. People, without being vetted, are being bused all over our country. Why? So they remember who let them in, so IF one day they become citizens, they will vote a particular way? Are you kidding me? Do we flush our country down the toilet this way? I FIRMLY believe in letting people into our country. Immigrants built our country but do it the correct way. Fix the broken system so we can do it the right way. Each dollar you earn that you pay taxes on is supporting this effort. Money that could also help those who are citizens and need the help to be able to get it. More on that in my closing.
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE:
Why don't our leaders listen? In all fairness, no administration can please the people's will because what is good in some people's eyes is not good in others.
"YOU CAN PLEASE SOME OF THE PEOPLE SOME OF THE TIME, BUT NOT ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME."
Therefore, fulfilling the will of the people is nearly impossible. The goal must be to do what is best for the citizens and the country as a whole. Unfortunately, our leaders have failed tremendously at that task. When a handful of families suffer, it is probably something they are doing incorrectly to cause their problems. But when a nation is suffering, the leadership is doing something wrong, especially when they are NOT LISTENING to the people who elected them to office. We know this to be true because if they were listening, they would be doing something to fix these issues.
As a nation, we realize these are complex issues that involve many aspects of running a country in the interest of fairness. However, we also know that the basics remain the same, regardless of complexity. The will of the people or a nation has little to no meaning when leaders are focused on their agendas. If it were one issue, this writer could be more tolerant. But when it's food prices, oil prices, gas prices, rising interest rates, record-high inflation, car prices, and so much more, anyone's tolerance would run out.
Deaths from drug overdoses due to the tremendous amount of illegal substances coming into our country through our southern borders. The crime rate and murders in many cities have risen past an alarming rate. Police officers are retiring at an alarming rate, and few our joining the ranks due to the lack of local government support. Absence of the justice system in many cities to prosecute criminals aids in making the streets unsafe and a free for all for criminals.
My point is that it is not in one area that our nation is suffering. It is in many areas—both in nature and geographically. Our leadership is failing to protect its citizens and, in turn, our nation. The list can go on and on, and it does not solve the problem. When your clothes are worn, you replace them. Unfortunately, you can only repair things for so long before they need replacing. Our present administration had its chance and failed.
However, in the political arena, you are stuck with what you have until you can replace it. All you can do in the meantime is lessen the damage caused. We can do that in November and institute change in 2014. There will always be some degree of unexpected spending. The pandemic proved that. Some say Ukraine is not our fight, and we should not be spending so much money to support them. I'm afraid I have to disagree. Ukraine is a fight for what we as a nation stand for. Democracy and freedom. In addition, we cannot allow all these countries to be overrun by other countries that threaten our way of life. To allow this would eventually leave us at a disadvantage, and our way of life will most certainly be threatened. This is why I say many things are complex issues, and many things, although on the surface, may not appear what is in the best interest of our nation are.
IN CLOSING:
I stated in the beginning I have first-hand knowledge of some things. Therefore, I know them to be factual. I know this because, for over 30 years, I dealt with it on the front lines. Up close and personal. As you may or may not know, I was a career firefighter and a paramedic. For over 30 years, I pronounced people dead in their homes because they went for months without being able to afford the buy the medications that kept them alive.
We have a broken system. To get help, you can't own anything. I worked two jobs when my parents were alive to help them pay for medications not covered or the co-pays were too high because I did NOT want to see them have to sell the house they lived in for 54 years of marriage to get government assistance. THAT IS A TRAVESTY FOR A NATION THE SIZE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The one thing that we have always held dear is the value of life. People have the right to live. However, many lose that right out of pride. Imagine, because this could be you one day. You work your whole life to pay off your home. You get ill, and your medications have drained your savings. You turn for help only to find out that you have to sign it over to get assistance because you own a house. Do you think that isn't true? I hope you never find out. I chose not to keep track of the number of people I had to pronounce dead during my career. I only kept track of the number of total patients I cared for and how many babies I delivered. I dared for 76,251 patients in my career and delivered 13 babies. However, some people I had to pronounce deceased were from traumatic injuries or natural causes. I choose not to remember the number of those I pronounced deceased that might still be alive if they could afford their medications. Countless times when I had to tell a family member their mother or father had passed and asked why they hadn't taken their medications for months, I would be told, "my parents never said they couldn't afford them. If we knew, we would have helped."
You see, ladies and gentlemen, many people are too proud to ask their children for help. I helped my parents because I knew the system and the cost and was on top of my parents having their medications. The average person has no idea. It is not their fault. It is a broken system that is NEVER, yet promised, to be addressed. My friends, these are NOT things you hear about on any news network because they don't even know. If that were not my career, I wouldn't know either. If you have elderly parents, be sure they can afford and take their medications because what I just told you is truth and facts. Anyone who works as an EMT or Paramedic, and maybe someone in your family does, knows this to be true. Just ask them.
I only highlighted some issues in this post, but there are many more. Many more domestic issues and local political matters at home. Problems that many take too lightly. Some things in life will go away if you ignore them. Others will not and only get worse. Make no mistake. We are at the crossroads of our future between global, domestic, and political issues and what the future of this nation and our society will become. Different viewpoints are healthy. It gives us another way to look at things and, more likely than not, will lead to progress when appropriately addressed. However, not when things are shoved down our throats. When people or organizations are allowed to have too much power and not have accountability, one example of this could be our school boards. They are accountable to the parents of the children that attend the schools in their districts. Yet, they feel and act as if they have complete control and no accountability.
To answer the question, why aren't our leaders listening? That answer is simple. They don't have to because we take what is thrown at us. Well, my friends, that is slowly changing. Parents are standing up for their parental rights. People are speaking out more than ever about how they feel. Sadly, some are good, and others not so much in a good way. Some news media networks are very vocal about reporting everything and hiding nothing. Slowly, the word gets out, and people will listen, and our leaders will have to listen. People write their elected officials more now than ever. The political parties themselves are starting to notice and not just back what one man wants to do. That train has left the station, and more are getting off the train at each stop.
I believe we can overcome all these obstacles if the proper methods are deployed to fix them. In turn, I do not have faith in our present administration to accomplish this, and I believe things will worsen before they get better if we as a society do not implement the change that we have the power through voting to change. I speak to many people, and I am shocked at the number of people that accept what is thrown at them. The response is always, "what can I do about it?" That is the most ignorant answer anyone can give me. As a nation and people, we have the most powerful weapon. THE VOTING BOX.
Stay safe, be happy, and be well,
Caesar Rondina
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