The widespread economic problems we face, weren’t caused by the Biden Administration’s economic policies… they were caused by the unmitigated spread of COVID-19.
The unmitigated spread of COVID-19 wasn’t caused by mask-wearing, or a maleficent scientist or doctor… it was caused by the deliberate INACTION of President Donald J. Trump and his Administration.
.@Gstephanopoulos: “Did the Pentagon receive an intelligence assessment on COVID in China last November from the National Center for Medical Intelligence?”
The rise of Donald J. Trump wasn’t due to his superior oratory skills or the strength of his domestic political agenda. The rise of Donald J. Trump and his “UltraMAGA” agenda, is the direct result of the ROT and CORRUPTION he once claimed to be fighting against.
The rot and corruption inherent within the Party Establishment was employed in the shadows of the Presidential Primary, to benefit one candidate over another.
A finger was placed on the scale… thereby upending the BALANCE maintained within our electoral process.
Ego. Anger. Self-interest. Greed. A perceived sense of entitlement… a perceived sense of grievance. These are not the values we should be holding UP and rewarding with elected office… especially an elected office as consequential as the Office of The Presidency.
Yet those values are espoused in successful candidacies to this day. Making the actions of previous Administrations the object of their vengeance… as if political agendas were specifically created to hurt others, as opposed to HELPING them.
This creates the destructive cycle in which we find ourselves, as the focus of the NEXT election… will inevitably be on the LAST.
‘Are you better off now than you were four years ago?’
That question has now lost all meaning in light of the Presidency of Donald J. Trump and the events of 2020. Let there be NO DOUBT… we will be better off in 2024, than we were in 2020.
The question now becomes: How do we ensure we’re better off four years in the FUTURE? Where do we want to GO… how will we get there? Will we find the answers we seek by embracing the failed ideologies of our PAST?
I don’t know you… you don’t know me. Yet we have within us the same REDBLOOD. We harbor within us the same hopes and fears. Our worlds seem MILES apart… yet each one of us still STANDS for the same beliefs. That we are ALL created EQUAL, and that some rights transcend these Earthly bounds.
Our Nation is Great because we embody Great Things. Foundational beliefs. Core values, engrained in the heart of every American Citizen. The right to LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Guaranteed… not just for some or a select few… but for all of us.
When you defend the rights of others, you defend those rights for yourself.
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On account of sex… regardless of what that might be.
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I still believe in the WORDS, as they were written…
We are ALL created Equal.
When the order came down and the operation was a go, it was still raining… just as it had been for days before. The forecast called for a change in the weather. The rain would let up by mid-morning with clear skies in the afternoon.
There was no more time for delay. Any further setback would push the timing of the invasion off by WEEKS… an eternity in the midst of a European War.
General Eisenhower made the call, and then set about taking responsibility for whatever outcome the fates would allow.
…
…
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
There comes a point where preparations must come to an end. There comes a time when we must TURN… and face the storm.
…
Through the storm, under cover of it… they pushed forward. The storm AIDED them as they sailed toward the coast. Unexpected, and caught underprepared; the Allied Forces crossing the English Channel gained an advantage, hidden within the veil of that storm.
As hellish as it was, we secured a foothold on that beach that dreadful morning… and as the first troops started rolling out into the French countryside, they did so under sunny skies. The Light, showing them the cost of the battle they’d just won.
The first battle, marking the end of the Second World War.
…
And no one knew if their campaign would be successful. Even Eisenhower understood the odds were stacked against them, but that did not mean they were destined to fail. Inexperienced and still wet behind the ears; they marched off those landing craft and into HISTORY… because their cause was Righteous. They were fighting to secure LIBERTY and the Right to Self-Rule.
In a hail of gunfire, on a rain-soaked chalk-white beachhead; 10,000 Allied Forces Service Members bravely gave their lives, so that we might stand here today and remember. So that it might never happen again… so that we might never forget.
It is the least we could do, to properly HONOR and remember what it was that they were fighting FOR… and what it was they were fighting AGAINST.
…
In these hours of trial and tribulation, I find comfort in what might BE. What might come… what will be BORN of our struggles. What will be inspired by the monuments that we now build? What will be the PRICE asked of us… what COST are we willing to pay.
Our struggle wasn’t born under CLEAR SKIES… the fight begins within the HEART of the storm. The storm helps clarify what it is we are fighting for. It tests our resolve and sharpens the mind, forcing us to adapt and evolve. And once the LIGHT returns, as we know one day it will…
If we can overcome THIS… then there’s nothing that can stand between us and the future toward which we now strive.
A future, first envisioned… on this morning, some 78 years ago.
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Their struggle is now OUR struggle. Let us HONOR their sacrifices… and fight to ensure it may never happen again.
A good guy with a gun… really? A good guy with a gun… a whole bunch of them stood by for 30… 40… 50 minutes, while grade school children died.
Their solution to this problem is insufficient. Their answer to this question has now proven to be WRONG.
We are a nation that believes in giving people the benefit of the doubt. We believe others are acting in GOOD FAITH because that’s how we would act. Our hearts may break when these acts of insanity happen, but we believe there is a better way.
More guns, more police, more security… POLITICAL THEATER.
Endangering the lives of everyone. Officers included.
President Trump spent four years pushing the boundaries of the Oval Office… banning Muslims because of their country of origin, banning immigrants from Mexico because of COVID. Funneling BILLIONS of dollars away from our Department of Defense for his Border Wall… tracking the menstrual cycles of immigrant women being held in detention.
Even personally profiting off of our Secret Service by charging exorbitant amounts for accommodations while staying at his properties.
The lengths to which he would go for HIS constituents was unending. A constant barrage of Executive Orders, supporting the agendas of his DONORS and his political consultants.
And if The Court struck one down, they’d just change the language and try it again… because it’s all about Making America Great Again…
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“If the President does it, it’s not illegal.”
-Richard M. Nixon
The Occupant may change, but the OFFICE remains… no matter who holds it.
The People choose the agenda when we elect our President, NOT the other way around. ‘There’s nothing I can do’ should not be in the vocabulary of the President of the United States… it is a CHOICE. They CHOOSE not to act.
Who do our elected officials work for… who should they be working for.
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It’s a degradation of the Social Contract. For over an HOUR. With a weapon of WAR, inside an elementary school… and those Police Officers FROZE. Worse still, they stood between parents and their children. They made the situation worse by enabling the shooter.
Twenty-plus years. BILLIONS of dollars. Security measures, more cops, more guns… what makes anyone think that their city isn’t NEXT? Imagine if we did the same thing after 9/11. Imagine if we invested all that time and effort into securing our skies… but decided we should continue to allow box-cutter knives on flights. The ONE THING that made that tragedy possible.
Police Officers are moms and dads, too. They are HUMAN BEINGS, fallible to the core… just like ME. Just like all the rest.
They should be out there fighting truancy. They should be out there locking up shoplifters and stopping domestic disputes. They didn’t sign up to go to WAR. They didn’t join the force to practice psychology, dealing with undiagnosed mental illnesses… and why would anyone expect them to? For god’s sake… why would anyone expect our TEACHERS to.
If the President of the United States will not ACT to save the lives of children, then how can we continue to call him Our President? If not him, then WHO? Congress? The Senate? Violence happened in their workplace and yet they still do not ACT…
They bombard us with insanity, pitting one side against the other… leaving us to chase our own tails instead of solving problems. NO ONE is coming to take away our guns, but teenagers don’t need access to weapons of war unless they are serving in one.
No one is shocked to see that it happened… everyone is shocked to see that no one in Washington is willing to do what’s necessary, to ensure it won’t happen again.
The day AFTER the 2016 election, just like the MAJORITY of this nation did, I started asking the questions… CAN we end the Electoral College? Why do we NEED the Electoral College? If we were to end it, what would we want to replace it WITH?
Understanding why we need the Electoral College is the first step in figuring out if we can END it. The words written in “The Federalist Papers” clearly lay out the reason for creating the Electoral College.
“Nothing was more to be desired than that every practicable obstacle should be opposed to cabal, intrigue, and corruption. These most deadly adversaries of republican government might naturally have been expected to make their approaches from more than one quarter, but chiefly from the desire in foreign powers to gain an improper ascendant in our councils. How could they better gratify this, than by raising a creature of their own to the chief magistracy of the Union?” –Federalist #68
Any other conclusions about its purpose have been informed by their essays, but our modern understanding of the Electoral College’s reason for existing, was never stated by the Founders.
The Electoral College, according to the words of the founders themselves as written in “The Federalist Papers”, was to guard against foreign influence in our elections. To prevent a BAD ACTOR, backed by a hostile foreign adversary, from ascending to the Office of the Presidency. IF one day someone were able to deceive a MAJORITY of this nation using the FUNDING of another country, the Electors would be our LAST DEFENSE.
They could weigh the evidence and make an informed decision to cast their vote against the BAD ACTOR. It was never written by the Founders that the Electoral College was conceived out of a mistrust of the people to choose their President. But they do express their fear of a TYRANT securing ascent to the Office, and subjugating the citizens of this Republic.
When viewed in this light, we can see the security system envisioned to protect us from foreign interference in our elections, has a FATAL FLAW….
The susceptibility to corruption possessed by the men charged with carrying it out.
Corrupted by political leanings. Corrupted by self-interest… corrupted by COLD HARD CASH.
Over the course of 2017, I continued to find more reasons to end the Electoral College than to keep it. Every argument in favor of the Electoral College seems to be based in factual error, assuming it was originally intended to protect minority opinions or the Rights of the States. We must apply the original intentions of the Founders to the question:
“Does the Electoral College protect our elections from the outside influence of a hostile foreign adversary?”
Based on the DATA we have now… the answer is NO.
It’s done a damn good job for the most part, but it has now outlived its usefulness. Like a lock that’s already been picked… it’s simply a matter of TIME before it happens again.
By the fall of 2017, I was convinced that ending the Electoral College was the right thing to do. I did not know how I would, or IF I could… but I knew there’s only ONE PERSON who could oversee such an immense task, and shepherd the necessary resources of both TIME and TALENT to bring such a grand idea to fruition.
The Junior Senator from the Great State of Kansas wouldn’t be able to do it.
A newly elected Representative from the Kansas 3rd District couldn’t pull it off either.
If it were to have any chance of success, Constitutional change of this magnitude would have to be overseen by the President.
“When YOU grow up, you could be elected President of the United States.”
Is that TRUE? In theory it is, in practice…??
MORE than that… could I become President?
The mental inventory taking began… Who did I owe money to? What Laws have I broken… what Laws have I broken that I’ve gotten away with? Who have I harmed in my life? Is there anyone I have not made amends with yet, and would that disqualify me from being worthy of the Office if it were to come to light? (Had I anticipated pursuing a position as an elected official, I might have lived my life a little differently!)
What WOULD stand as sufficient to disqualify someone from being President? In the beginning of my campaign, it was easy to compare myself to the current occupant of the Office, but I knew that would not be sufficient. I want what EVERYONE wants… a return to NORMALCY. That means judging myself against the very BEST of our nation’s history, looking to their lives for guidance on whether or not I could even attempt it.
In October 2017, Senator John McCain spoke after receiving the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center:
“The Land that repairs and re-invents itself. The Land where a person can escape the consequences of a self-centered youth, and know the satisfaction of sacrificing for an ideal. The Land where you can go from aimless rebellion to a noble cause… and from the bottom of your class, to your party’s nomination for President.” -Senator John McCain
As I had been weighing my misdeeds and judging my actions, I forgot… NONE of us are perfect, and none of us could ever serve as President if that were a requirement. It is, ultimately, a judgement I cannot make… I am who I am, and I can only present myself OPENLY and HONESTLY, and let the PEOPLE decide.
I cannot change who I was then… but I can decide who I will BE in the future.
In January 2018, I decided I would make my final decision sometime in March, after I had a chance to speak with our tax man. I wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything to jeopardize my family’s financial integrity, by mishandling funds collected by my campaign, or misfiling required declarations, etc… you know, methodical. Do it right the FIRST TIME. Begin the process slowly…
Mandatory Credit: Photo by CRISTOBAL HERRERA/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (9475429t) Community members and students participate of the March For Our Lives in Parkland, Florida, USA on 24 March 2018. March For Our Lives was organized in response to the 14 February shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The student activists demand that their lives and safety become a priority, and an end to gun violence and mass shootings in schools. Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school March for our Lives in Parkland, USA – 24 Mar 2018
My decision to run for President was made on February 17, 2018, three days after the shooting at MSDHS in Parkland, Florida. On the 14th, as news headlines started rolling out… I tuned OUT. Frustrated once again by the INACTION that was sure to follow… as it had done countless times before.
After Sandy Hook… After Columbine… After Olathe North. I’m surprised Paul Ryan didn’t have campaign bumper stickers that read “Thoughts & Prayers”…
On the morning of February 17, Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke on Morning Joe about the situation:
[ VIDEO UNAVAILABLE ]
After an HOUR of searching… there is NO VIDEO to be found. According to the internet, I’m not even quite sure he was a guest that day. But that would make sense though, considering the fact that he spoke of the UNSPEAKABLE. He reminded us of the reason that Gun Safety Legislation would NOT pass in the United States House of Representatives… the reason it would not even be called for a VOTE on the floor…
That legislation would never see the light of day because of THE HASTERT RULE.
He said it as if it were an after thought, tacked on at the end of a sentence. Dismissed SILENTLY as just a given… treated like a subject all of them took for granted.
I’m sure my mouth was agape, because I was stunned. It was like hearing a song you haven’t heard in a decade, but you INSTANTLY remember every word. I remember thinking, “Is that still a thing? I thought they got rid of that?”
… and that is the point of the SILENCE.
I instantly made the connection between the tactics employed by a serial abuser, and the tactics being employed in the House of Representatives. It made sense finally, why a MAJORITY of Americans wanted Gun Safety Legislation but nothing was ever DEBATED on the floor.
The Hastert Rule is the legislative equivalent of serial abusers exerting power over their victims… and the only thing that allows it to continue is SILENCE.
On February 17, 2018, I realized that those kids in Parkland… THEIR struggle is OUR struggle. They faced the same horrors faced in EVERY STATE, over and over again… needlessly, due to the intentional inaction of legislators, who are BEHOLDEN to DARK MONEY DONORS for their reelection.
Thankfully, out of the wreckage of that tragedy, there was a resounding voice of HOPE, and I knew how I could help them make #NeverAgain a reality.
#EndTheHastertRule
If I was going to have even the slightest chance of being seen on a national level, I knew I would have to start right away. Two and a half years to pour out everything I could, and publish my thoughts in a PUBLIC way. For the first time, I established my presence on social media.
From the FIRST DAY, I approached my social media presence as an active digital archive of every policy position I would take if elected. My Twitter feed has stood as my active presence in the political social circles of Washington, DC, and my website has been my billboard. Over the course of two years… I’ve basically written a novel.
In this time, I’ve tweeted 22,000 times and have published 133 essays on my website. I’ve offered my thoughts and opinions on every subject that’s come to my attention, and will continue to do so. I’ve engaged with people who are opposed to my opinions and, even if I did not gain their support, in most instances I’ve earned their respect.
My Twitter feed PERMANENTLY documents my thoughts and positions, and when viewed in total, it shows how my ability as a politician has evolved. It publicly documents my errors and misjudgments. It also captures the errors and misjudgments of the elected officials I’ve engaged with… both CURRENT and FORMER.
When I started out, I did not know if I could make a difference simply by TWEETING. By the beginning of March 2018… I knew that I would.
Every Tweet sent out by an elected official, by ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States, is PUBLIC PROPERTY. Therefore, our First Amendment Right to FREE SPEECH applies to COMMENTS on those Tweets, and it is illegal to CENSOR THEM. Elected officials express their views, and it is our DUTY as citizens to SPEAK OUT when they are WRONG.
That is what I resolved to do. I dedicated myself to CALLING OUT the Speaker of the House every time he spoke about a lack of support for legislation, or how we shouldn’t act when emotions are raw, or how sad he felt for those effected by the tragedy… the tragedy his leadership allowed to happen.
The first time I replied to Speaker Ryan using the hashtag #EndTheHastertRule, he “flinched”. He did NOT want that message displayed on his Official Tweet, but he couldn’t delete it without bringing attention to what it was he wanted to HIDE… so they composed an identical Tweet. Most casual social media users won’t scroll back through timelines more than just a handful of Tweets.
The Speaker’s Office was attempting to SILENCE my opposition by ignoring my criticism and, in essence… attempting to cover up, or paper over the TRUTH.
In China, defamation of a political poster is a crime punishable by imprisonment.
A man with a bicycle walks past a building covered in posters of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Shanghai, China, March 26, 2016. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo – S1AEUJNFZLAA
Dong Yaoqiong splashes ink on face of portrait of Xi Jinping
It seems that Speaker Paul Ryan would have preferred it be that way HERE in the United States, when it comes to the topic of his FULL THROATED SUPPORT of The Hastert Rule. A strategy named for the person who established it, Former SpeakerDennis Hastert… convicted felon.
EVERY DAY starting in February 2018, I called out the hypocrisy of the Speaker TO HIS FACE, in full view of the public. I did not Tweet insults and anger randomly behind his back. I tagged his Official Tweets when I commented on them, and I would @ him whenever I spoke about his inaction in my Tweets. I made sure I was STANDING UP and SPEAKING OUT so everyone could see and hear exactly what I had to say.
On April 11, 2018, Paul Ryan announced he would not be seeking reelection.
The events of February 14, 2018, and the actions taken by the SURVIVORS of that tragedy, sealed Paul Ryan’s fate, because it brought SUNLIGHT to the legislative inaction employed by the Speaker, and instead of defending himself… he chose SILENCE.
He could not defend the indefensible.
We should all be grateful for the bravery shown by the survivors of that day, because their efforts ensured February 14, 2018, would be forever known as the LAST DAY of the Speakership of Paul Ryan.
JC
When you STAND UP and SPEAK OUT… Paul Ryan goes back to Wisconsin.
From now until November, I resolve to do the SAME.
When you strip away all the nonsense, and get to the point of it all… I believe we’re NOT as far apart as it might seem. Or rather, as divided as they would WANT us to believe…
I find it disturbing to see Americans openly carry Arms in peaceful protest against gun safety laws, especially at events organized by PARENTS who have lost CHILDREN due to gun violence. Those parents are not the problem, and intimidating grieving parents and school children to exercise your Constitutional Rights does not help SOLVE this problem.
I also find it disturbing to see public support has GROWN for ending our Right to Bear Arms. But at this moment, considering the inaction of our elected officials, can you blame them? In the eyes of many, when you weight the costs vs. the benefits… how many lives have been SAVED because of our Second Amendment?
Right now, those parents only have PROOF of the lives that were NOT.
In this Modern Era of Digital Entanglement, of KNOWLEDGE gaining ground over FEAR and OPPRESSION, I began to question if it were even possible for another country to successfully mount an invasion of the United States. Consider the international outrage that would come before a single shot had been fired, or landing craft deployed.
In the YEARS following the school shooting at Sandy Hook, I found myself questioning if we should. The inaction of legislators had put me in such a negative state of mind, every time I saw the flag flying at half-mast due to ANOTHER mass shooting, I would ask, “WHY? Does it even MATTER?” We all knew the inevitable routine:
Thoughts and prayers… not while emotions are still raw… the Right to Bear Arms shall NOT be infringed.
Speaker Ryan had it down to a science.
… but that was BEFORE 2016.
That was BEFORE the Active Measures Campaign was carried out by the Russian Government in our elections. And now, we see the seeds that were sown in the years preceding the Second World War… being planted again TODAY.
It seems that every now and again, we need a little reminder of how important our Right to Bear Arms truly is, and how convenient it would be for a foreign adversary to impose THEIR will upon us… if only we were all UNARMED.
But as I said, I do not believe we are that far apart! We have to strip it down and simplify it to find the answer. WE MUST! There are eyes upon us RIGHT NOW watching, waiting… wanting us to FAIL. Stoking our emotions around an already emotional subject, creating a divisive narrative that pits our Health and Safety AGAINST our National Security.
That is a losing strategy.
Any laws or legislation we decide to enact must PAIR our Health and Safety WITH our National Security, as both are necessary if our Union is to survive.
Any requirements we enact beyond those of license, registration, and insurance, must not serve to create a financial burden for gun ownership; but MONEY should not decide what is or is not in our best interests.
Any punishments or preventative measures deemed necessary by the courts to prevent imminent harm, must have a CLEARLY DEFINED PATH for the Restoration of Rights; but we must accept that some crimes are worthy of losing the Right to Bear Arms.
A ‘three strikes’ policy is unacceptable when LIVES are lost or PERSONAL SANCTITY is VIOLATED by force. The Right to Bear Arms should not violate my Right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It should SECURE these Rights for EVERYONE… equally.
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I was raised to believe that our Right to Bear Arms is a vital piece of securing our nation against an attack from a hostile foreign adversary… this article seems to call that conclusion into question.
“From 1888, when law review articles first were indexed, through 1959, every single one on the Second Amendment concluded it did not guarantee an individual right to a gun. The first to argue otherwise, written by a William and Mary law student named Stuart R. Hays, appeared in 1960. He began by citing an article in the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine and argued that the amendment enforced a “right of revolution,” of which the Southern states availed themselves during what the author called “The War Between the States.”
“At first, only a few articles echoed that view. Then, starting in the late 1970s, a squad of attorneys and professors began to churn out law review submissions, dozens of them, at a prodigious rate. Funds—much of them from the NRA—flowed freely. An essay contest, grants to write book reviews, the creation of “Academics for the Second Amendment,” all followed. In 2003, the NRA Foundation provided $1 million to endow the Patrick Henry professorship in constitutional law and the Second Amendment at George Mason University Law School.
This fusillade of scholarship and pseudo-scholarship insisted that the traditional view—shared by courts and historians—was wrong. There had been a colossal constitutional mistake. Two centuries of legal consensus, they argued, must be overturned.”
“The National Rifle Association’s long crusade to bring its interpretation of the Constitution into the mainstream teaches… Constitutional change is the product of public argument and political maneuvering.”
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Minute Men, carrying long rifles and charging into battle against the Red Coats… that is the image of Patriotism that springs to my mind when I think of our Right to Bear Arms. Well trained militias… CITIZENS, defending our Country against those who seek to undo what has been created.
“These militias were the product of a world of civic duty and governmental compulsion utterly alien to us today. Every white man age 16 to 60 was enrolled. He was actually required to own—and bring—a musket or other military weapon.”
This idea is not alien to the brave men and women who have served this nation in uniform, or the families they were brought up in. It is not alien to the communities across the nation that SUPPORT the families of service members as they serve their country abroad. Nor is it alien in a city like Leavenworth, KS, where military life and civilian life co-exist daily.
“In 1959, according to a Gallup poll, 60 percent of Americans favored banning handguns; that dropped to 41 percent by 1975 and 24 percent in 2012. By early 2008, according to Gallup, 73 percent of Americans believed the Second Amendment “guaranteed the rights of Americans to own guns” outside the militia.”
Any observant person will note that I’ve omitted something. Our Right to Bear Arms serves to protect us from ALL enemies… both foreign and domestic. Some would say they fear an overreaching Federal Government, and our Founders did bear witness to the abuses that come from a tyrannical leader. Our Rule of Law is structured in such a way that it makes it almost impossible for our military to be deployed on OUR CITY STREETS. The checks and balances of our Legislatures and Judicial Branch, makes it almost impossible to target CITIZENS en masse and seize their property or incarcerate them on trumped-up charges.
During the first year of the Trump Administration, we were sailing adrift at sea. Still unable to fully understand how government WORKED, he was flailing about, unable to make any real changes happen. FAST-FORWARD two more years and now he’s learned how to take people out by DRONE…
What happens in FOUR MORE YEARS.
Before 2016, I would have said that it’s IMPOSSIBLE for our government to be used in such a way… Before 2016, I did not KNOW how easy it was to manipulate it. The perception of THE PEOPLE, the manipulation of the LEGISLATORS, the manipulation of the JUDGES… all secured by those who can AFFORD IT… $$$.
“There was the ringing declaration from Patrick Henry: “The great object is, that every man be armed.”
The quote has been plucked from Henry’s speech at Virginia’s ratifying convention for the Constitution in 1788. But if you look at the full text, he was complaining about the cost of both the federal government and the state arming the militia. (“The great object is, that every man be armed,” he said. “At a very great cost, we shall be doubly armed.”) In other words: Sure, let every man be armed, but only once! Far from a ringing statement of individual gun-toting freedom,
It was an early American example of a local politician complaining about government waste.”
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AT THIS MOMENT, we are all being manipulated… the left AND the right. VAST amounts of MONEY have been spent over DECADES to shape public opinion, prey on our FEARS, and motivate us to SPEND MONEY. In order to make us VOTE a certain way. To make us believe that our enemy is our NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR, and since the Federal Government is horribly mismanaged and unable to protect us… we should BUY MORE GUNS.
Our enemy THRIVES when we are fighting amongst OURSELVES, and not focused on the legislators who run successful campaigns CORRUPTED by DARK MONEY. Funded by SuperPACs. Political organizations that are funded by wealthy individuals, who have profited from the sale of MORE GUNS and NO REGULATIONS.
Safety is EXPENSIVE! and it chips away at the BOTTOM LINE. In the eyes of a gun manufacturer, it’s better for business to spend a few MILLION DOLLARS on a handful of political campaigns, than it would be to spend HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on new technology and manufacturing equipment to make their products SAFER.
Our enemy in this fight is not the government, it’s the CORRUPT influence of MONEY on legislators within our government.
US Department of State- Foreign Service employees: 13,000
Civil Service employees: 11,000
Local employees: 45,000
US DOJ- Number of employees: 113,114
US Armed Forces- Active personnel: 1,380,895
Reserve personnel: 845,600
Deployed personnel: 210,000
CIA- Number of employees: 21,575 (estimate)
Who FILLS these posts? Who is appointed to LEAD them? Who carries out the WORK and shoulders the burden each and every day… we do, THE PEOPLE. Administrations come, and Administrations go, meanwhile the agenda of The United States carries on.
Though ill-informed it may be, it is now the opinion of the MAJORITY of this nation that our Right to Bear Arms is for EVERYONE and shall not be infringed. If we are to continue to support this Originalist Interpretation, we must RESURRECT the full intent of the Law.
We must demand personal responsibility on a level equal to that required of our Service Members. ANNUAL proficiency and safety evaluations; license and insurance requirements for all gun owners; title and registration for all legally purchased guns; and yearly mental health evaluations, conducted by a mental health professional, for all gun owners, paid for by the United States Government. We should not straddle working class families with more financial burdens, but no price should be seen as too high when it comes to preventing loss of LIFE.
Being in the interest of the Nation as a whole, these mental health evaluations must happen. We must ensure that they DO. IF every man be ARMED, then we will make SURE they are MENTALLY STABLE as well.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/19/business/twitter-musk-trump-reinstate
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/20/us/colorado-springs-shooting-gay-nightclub
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End The Electoral College NOW!! 