The mess with electing a president has never painted a more clear picture what our democratic process has become…and all for the sake of power.
I know that we published the latest ‘Reader Speaks’ comments earlier this week, and that won’t come around again for another three or four weeks, according to the regular cycle.
But Thursday evening, in the lobby of Northmont High School’s gymnasium, waiting for the Division IV volleyball regional tournament games…a daily, loyal reader of Press Pros approached me and stuck out her hand.
“I want to thank you, and tell you how happy I am that your website has the courage to tell the truth.”
“I read your story this week about ‘Why We Vote’,” she continued.” “I read your story a few days ago about ‘Why Are We Afraid‘. They were both so good, and so different from everything else that’s available to read. I know people like you described who are afraid to speak their mind on things because they think they’ll be targeted. And it’s obvious by the election this week that people run for the power of the office, not to serve, like you wrote.
“I’m worried,” she concluded. “How [corrupt] our system has become over Democrat and Republican. Government isn’t ‘by the people and for the people’ anymore. And I’m afraid if we don’t learn from our history…we’re doomed.”
I don’t want anyone, for a second, to confuse opinion with telling the truth in regards to the presidential election. But if you follow the narrative – that history she mentioned – from the years of Franklin Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ to the present, it’s not hard to discern that as a nation we’ve become increasingly dependent on the federal government to provide what we used to do for ourselves. And that today’s politicians will promise anything to keep that ball rolling.
Back in the days of post-World War II my grandfather farmed with nine boys and a mindset of being totally self-sufficient. What you raised, or what you earned, is how you ate and kept warm and dry. Education back then was a privilege, and a priority for some, but not all. Families that thought it was important made sure their kids went to school. Those that didn’t stayed back and worked for $2, or $3 dollars a day to keep food on the table.
And you worked like a dog for that $3, and prayed that there was work. People with money who could hire other people were revered, even respected…not despised and resented.
If you got sick you went to a doctor if you could afford one. And there’s no question that things like pneumonia went undetected – that heart disease and cancer claimed the lives of those who could not afford medical attention. But no one believed it was their right to have treatment on someone else’s dime, and that the government was ultimately responsible to make it so.
The list is long as to advances in our standard of living. The industrial revolution and technology have exponentially improved our lives, and with it the opportunity to become even more self-sufficient and self-determining.
Is life better? Sure, but along the way politicians figured it out. If they could make life easier through bigger and more comprehensive government it’s a pretty good way to enjoy the perks of being a congressman, a senator, or even president – power, privilege, and security. You can’t get along without us. This is what our democratic process has become in 2020, and average people have figured it out.
Such arrogance is why Donald Trump is fighting to stay in the White House. And who can mistake that from his actions?
It’s why the Democrats and Joe Biden want to desperately to take it away – why it’s so important to further liberalize the nation to ensure that smaller government and priority for personal independence will never become our way of life again. We depend on government, thereby we need more of it.
But there are many who don’t believe that, like one lady from Shelby County who made it a point to stop and talk.
“No one believes anyone, anymore,” she finished. “I don’t believe the politicians. I don’t believe the media. It’s even hard to believe science, when it’s controlled by government.
“Thank you…for writing the way you do.”