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Running Out of Gas (in More Ways Than One)
In the corner of my kitchen, I have an Easter lily that always tells me when it’s thirsty: it droops. And when I get busy, I don’t always give it the attention it needs. But when its leaves touch the floor, I hurry for the fertilizer water and give it a good douse. Within an hour or two, it springs up and lives to see another day.
Lately, I’ve been wishing that I had a treatment that would benefit me in the same way as I provide to my lily. I feel beaten and beleaguered by the onslaught of bad news about the Biden administration and how it is mismanaging our country. I may be projecting my feelings on my friends here at Ricochet, but I don’t think I’m alone in my reactions. In one way or another, I think many of us are feeling bruised and discouraged by the news; that attitude shows up in posts and comments.
In the last 18 months, I’ve swung from the mindset of bitter and hopeless, to resting in the comfort of detachment. As a person who tries to be realistic and resilient with a sprinkling of optimism, I’ve experienced my usual equanimity to be slowly eroding.
So, I’ve taken a penetrating look at the circumstances that have brought me to this place, to try to move me from overwhelming frustration to a more objective viewpoint.
The evidence is overwhelming that this country is in dire straits: (1) We have an incompetent administration; (2) We are experiencing no less than an invasion at our southern border and it will become much worse if Title 42 is revoked; (3) The commitment to lies and obfuscation are ongoing; (4) the repeated attempts to cripple our energy supply continue; (5) the corruption of our education system from top to bottom are relentless; and the lack of taking responsibility of any kind for inflation persists. And these are just a fraction of the Biden administration’s efforts to tear down this country.
Even though there have been a few lights at the end of the tunnel (although I can’t think of any at the moment), they are quickly doused by the next deluge of darkness.
For those of us who have struggled through the last 18 months and worry about finding a way to push through the next 2.5 years, I think our concerns are valid. My usual stamina is weakening. The potential for winning seats in Congress in November provides little joy or optimism because I fear that nothing will change.
Venting and complaining will give us some relief, but it will only be temporary. Blaming Biden provides some satisfaction, but that becomes tiresome after a while.
I think we must figure out steps we can take before we hit rock-bottom.
Somehow, we must find a way to look at the truth of our predicament with honesty, and stay open to possibility. What opportunities are we missing?
Am I the only one running out of gas?
[photo by Caleb Martinez at unsplash.com]
Published in Domestic Policy
During most of the Trump presidency, Deese has been at Blackrock. I’ve been trying to come up with some words for the next phase of his inspiring story, probably to a certain well-known tune:
I’ve been working down at Blackrock
All the livelong day
Hung out there during the Trump years
And I really liked the pay!
Had to package those investments
Rise up so early in the morn
Hear the other partners shouting:
‘Brian, blow that E-S-G horn!’
(that’s as far as I’ve gotten)
I defer to your semantics! You are correct.
A man of so many talents! And I sang right along through the whole thing. Well done!
I was thinking of sending it to him via LinkedIn messaging, but I see he hasn’t updated his profile since leaving Blackrock, so he’s probably not checking messages.
I’ve felt the same way, SQ, especially depressed about the theft of the 2020 election and the refusal of the cognoscenti to make a minimum effort to examine the voter fraud.
However, the many failures of the Biden administration, including all of those you mention, I believe have “awakened a sleeping giant,” to borrow Admiral Yamamoto’s prescient phrase after Pearl Harbor.
Never before have I witnessed the wave of indignation and disgust exhibited by (choose one or all): deplorables, flyovers, ultra-magas, rednecks, bible and gun clingers, the great unwashed, etc., all of whom are mad as hell and not going to take it any more, I hope.
The November elections will tell the tale, and I will be shocked if there’s not a red tsunami.
That said, it is going to take at least a decade to make a dent in the mess that is D.C., a.k.a., The Deep State. Our federal government is so inept it’s hard to believe. It’s not part of the problem, it is THE problem.
Peter Schweitzer’s RED-HANDED sets forth the greed of U.S. politicians of all parties who leverage their public service into insane wealth.
We need to reduce the federal workforce every year and change the civil service and other laws that make it impossible to fire federal employees. A hiring freeze would be a good start. Through retirement, death, and general attrition the work force would decline by 10% a year.
One other thing I would do immediately if elected dictator: CLOSE ALL LAW SCHOOLS.
Like Rush said, people laughed when he told them the left was coming after their SUVs . . .
Yep. But what is the plan? What are we going to do?
Because “elect Republicans in November” isn’t enough. And might not really change the downward trajectory.
I so, so feel as you do. In fact I find myself frequently in search of a good movie or book instead of watching television news. One of the contributing factors to our debacle is an uninformed national press projecting group think. Have you ever noticed how many political programs involve journalists interviewing each other rather than qualified experts on a subject?
Our current disturbance is owed to the neglect in explaining the abortion document leaked by the Supremes. People properly informed about the Tenth Amendment should know that doing away with Roe v Wade does not outlaw abortion but simply leaves it up to the states, many of whom will have few restrictions.
Where, I might add, is an intelligent discussion regarding the pros and cons of electrifying the country? Could we please hear both sides from someone other than journalists?
Sigh.🤦♀️
I share your “sigh,” GWW. That demonstrates the times so well. Thanks.
And when they do interview “experts,” let’s just say their expertise leaves something to be desired.
Most often it’s only someone from the side favored by the journalist. Is it too much to ask for someone who is for whatever and someone of equal stature who disagrees?
Whenever I see a headline that includes the words “Experts Say . . .” (e.g., “Experts say inflation is only temporary,” or “Experts says the COVID vaccine is safe and effective,” or “Experts say Biden hasn’t lost his marbles”) I always assume the opposite is true. Hasn’t failed me yet.
Susan I don’t mean any of what I said as a criticism of your feelings of frustration and exhaustion. I have felt the same many times. I just don’t agree with others in the comments that seem to say “all is lost” and it’s time to burn it all down or whatever. My basic points are that life is good, people are pushing back at a lot of the nonsense and everything isn’t political.
I didn’t take them as criticism at all, C! When I said they were worthy of a response, I meant that they were strong points and was glad to address them. No worries!
Things got this bad because people weren’t paying attention and they won’t get better by hiding from reality because that is an artificial improvement. People need to push back. The anger and despair will light that urge in many, but for others, it will be too much to bear. Recognize reality, make yourself strong enough to fend off despair, then push back.
I am certain that there has never been a decade in all of history when the majority of people thought they were living in the best of times. Decades later when they have forgotten the trials and tribulations they may look back and remember the past as having been a golden period, but not the present. Whatever you think of as the period when things were good, if you were to go read what people thought at that time you would find that they thought the world was going to hell in a handbasket, and the golden period was 30-60 years earlier.
It seems to be common human nature to feel like the good times are over for good, to paraphrase a line from a Merle Haggard song. The air and water are cleaner than it has been in generations, but many people think it is terrible and getting worse. The global level of poverty is dramatically lower than it was even 30 years ago, but many people still believe that the poor only get poorer. If you want to find bad news, you can always find it. But the big picture is of a world slowly – and sometimes rapidly – becoming more prosperous, less hungry, healthier, and more free.
Electing Republicans is just the beginning. After that, we have to elect the right Republicans. We need to make Lz Cheney and Mitt Romney Republicans a small minority in the party. If we have to start with more RINOs than we’d like, so be it . . .
I know a few Democrats who are active in local and state politics and activities, who are well informed about their state but believe absolutely everything they have heard about Republicans, and believe that Republicans are evil and dangerous. They will accept fraud to defeat evil Republicans, but won’t admit that what they call expanded voting opportunities is soaked in fraud which is the intention in the first place. I fear we are kidding ourselves about the next several elections. If I’m wrong we’ll win and can fix matters but if the elections are won by Democrats it will be because of this new fraud. Then what? If we’re not organized to address the massive fraud, the United States constitution is over and were it not for the Chinese we could fix matters over time, but the Chinese know that so what are they actually capable of doing?
The 2020 election was extraordinarily depressing at the time, and still is. I don’t know how many see this possibility, maybe more each day, but if they can openly steal one election (and put barbed wire up around the White House and Congress) they can steal them all.
They say that Americans are very well armed. Guns may have been able to change things in 1776, but they don’t help in a well designed famine.
I think the only way that we have a chance is to have news of such massive fraud that even the MSM can’t ignore it. Even better, exposure of several massive frauds. Did you notice that Jeff Bezos just pushed back against the Bide Admin? Bezos of the Washington Post? Let’s not give up just yet, I Walton . . .
The Great Divorce..
Ah . . . but between who and whom? . . .
We will know soon enough.
No, you’re not the only one….
I think they would help in procuring food from sources that are hoarding . . .
Riiight. Ten guys each with five addition mouths to feed end up shooting an old guy and his wife for 100 pounds of rice. But what do they do two days later?
Live children. But seriously, when a food shortage happens anywhere, things get pretty quickly. You can serach for “Is the US government stockpiling food?” and come up with some pretty interesting information (or misinformation, as the case could very well be). The bottom line is when your survival is at stake, being armed is a definite plus . . .
Read this book. It might be fiction and it might be about EMP, but it is based on a real congressional study. How people behave when they are hungry and their lives are threatened would apply here, too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Second_After
Hi, Red. I like your new name.
I’m kind of hesitant to read One Second After.
I kind of quit after reading this guy, Selco, now at https://shtfschool.com/ made a name for himself blogging about his time in Bosnia thirty years ago. I think his original forum thread comments are collated here. And he’s often written about, for example here, by Daisy Luther of Organic Prepper.
A lot of things stand out about his writings; well, a lot of it’s pretty gritty, but what stands out the most is his comments on knowing your neighbors, and that people do ruthless things in a crisis that they would never think of doing normally, and what the smells are like with no running water for hygiene, or functioning sewage disposal, and worse.
Have done and continues to inform my worries about our (near?) future. Actually not too worried personally; too old to consider what things will be like more than a decade ahead. But I would be disappointed to be unprepared for a severe problem of relatively short duration if something like that is even possible.