It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice how out-of-control
American politics has become. Those on the left are not-so-quietly waging war
after their defeat in last year’s elections, and it seems the country is
tearing itself apart on a daily basis. So you have to ask, when will it end?
When will we all take a step back and say enough is enough? Let’s take stock of
the current political situation in this country to see if we can’t find some
light at the end of the tunnel or an escape from all this madness.
What
If the Debt Becomes Actually Insurmountable?
Remember the debt? Maybe you do, or maybe you
don’t—it’s that pink elephant in the room that surfaces to the forefront of our
attention from time to time but that we prefer to pretend doesn’t exist. When
talking about things getting out of control, though, it cannot be forgotten. Every
once in a while you hear someone stand up and mention how we need to get tend
to it, but that’s about it.
But if we’re waiting for the debt to become
insurmountable to say politics have finally gotten out of control, the wait
might actually be over. According to Just Facts,
the official national debt sits at just over $19 trillion. Let’s think about
that for a second. It’s hard to imagine that sum of money, no? Well, put it
this way, to pay back this sum, each
person would need to contribute $61,000 (more than the average yearly
salary in the US). What’s more, if you count the debt as including all debts,
liabilities and unfunded obligations, that number soars to $84 trillion, or
just over $260,000 per person. When you consider these two figures and the fact that they respectively represent
546 percent and 2,370 percent of Federal Revenues, it should be clear we’re
essentially past the point of no return.
And there is clearly no real plan to fix it. Both
Democrats and Republicans have their ideas, but neither side has a real
blueprint of how to bring this number down without dramatically affecting
people’s lives (although maybe a little sacrifice is what we need). Yet we keep
going. Despite this absurd symbol of big government, business as usual marches
forward. Clearly, the debt is not enough to say politics are out of control, so
what is?
What
if Congress Gets Nothing Done?
If the unfathomably large debt racked up by current
and past governments isn’t enough for us to say politics are out of control,
maybe the fact that Congress has been able to do virtually nothing over the
past eight years will be the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back.
Some
news outlets reported that the 113th Congress (from
2012-2014) was the least productive in history, but this goes by the number of
bills passed, which is a rather useless measure of productive—probably a tool
used by liberals to try and blame the lack of progress under the Obama
administration on conservatives (wouldn’t be the first time). However, without
trying to figure out productivity, it’s pretty clear Congress hasn’t been doing
their job, evidenced by record
low approval ratings and by an
unprecedented attack by Democrats on Trump executive appointments.
However, this overall frustration from American
citizens towards their lawmakers still doesn’t seem to be enough to push us
over the edge. After all, for as much as we may like to complain, it’s all
we’ve got. Frustration may grow, but it likely won’t be what finally causes us
to throw our hands up in the air and say: enough is enough!
What
If American Politics Are No Longer American?
What about if America’s “sworn enemy,” Russia,
launches some massive cyberattack against
the American government, rigging its elections and manipulating our politics
from Moscow? Would that be enough for us to finally say things have gotten out
of control? Well, judging by what is being propagated in the news, this may or
may not have happened, but it’s clear it won’t bring any sort of normalcy to an
increasingly ludicrous political system. In fact, it may make it worse as liberals
use evidence as they please to launch attacks on other officials and stall any
attempts towards progress.
Or worse, these allegations could just be a
way to cover up some grander scheme by the government to
illegally invade people’s privacy for virtually no reason at all. This
possibility shouldn’t come as a surprise as it’s not the first time the
government has done this. The controversy here is endless, so maybe the better
plan is to protect
ourselves from government invasion into personal privacy than
to foolishly try to use these events to spark some overhaul of the political
system.
What
If Someone Gets Killed?
You know that old saying, “It’s all fun and games
until someone gets hurt.” Could it apply to politics? Would someone getting hurt, or killed, be enough for us to
finally admit things have gotten out of control? Well, we
are all familiar with what happened a months ago when Congressmen
were practicing for their upcoming baseball game. Once again, this tragic event
does not seem to have been enough to push us over the edge, as no real action
has been taken to reduce the partisanship in Washington.
So
When?
If insurmountable debt, congressional inaction,
possible foreign infiltration into our government (or government surveillance
into our lives) and violence aren’t enough for us to say things have gotten out
of control, we have to ask: what will?
Maybe the answer is nothing. Maybe we just need to
accept the natural state of American politics is madness—what do we expect when 350 million people with widely
different backgrounds and increasingly diverse lives come together to try and
forge a nation? So maybe instead of waiting for things to settle down, we need
to just accept they never will and put our heads together to sort out this
mess. If we don't, this country could be in for a dark future full of hate and
turmoil, not peace and brotherhood.
What do you think about the state of American
politics? In your opinion, have things gotten out of control, and if not, where
do you draw the line in the sand? Leave your thoughts in the comments below so
that we can begin to forge a path forward.
About
the Author: Sandra is an activist and a blogger who
frequently writes about American politics. In her opinion, the government has grown to such a point that
trying to make sense of it all has almost become a futile effort. Most of her
writing is focused on exposing the insanity of the system to try and inspire
individuals to take action against an ever-intensifying assault on core
American values.
