From the vantage point of decades of work on all levels in the public sector,  one can get a fairly authoritative view of how government should work – how it operates, how agencies and their enabling legislation connect and how government connects with the private sector and how that  can, with the right leadership, actually work. Conversely, one can also glean from this experience how and why things do not work and a good insight into the behind the scenes nonsense that is aimed at furthering an hidden agenda. That being said and to our charter here, it is important if not imperative that  certain current issues and concerns be aired.

As we know it, our nation is at a point at which its complete demise as a representative republic is imminent and it is time for the citizenry to finally awaken, take notice and demand the taking of appropriate measures to stem this tide of destruction.

Over the past two and a half years, what we have witnessed has been the occupant of the white house – in our opinion, a dictator in the making – conducting what is tantamount to an anti government strategy rife with half truths, baseless assertions , outright lies and profuse insults directed particularly at the main stream press, branding the it as the “enemy of the people”.

This consummate con man, put in to office through an highly questionable election, abetted by an archaic electoral college system, has gaslighted the country in to normalizing what can only be described as severely aberrant behavior with the single purpose of enhancing his own family wealth. Governing, if you can call it that, in the style of a well oiled crime family, we have seen the continuing deterioration of government as we know it, near to the point of extinction.We have seen unbridled plague of corruption  of historical proportion and total contempt for the rule of law, the precepts under the constitution and the the protocols of government. While the campaign mantra was to “ drain the swamp”, it is clear that the swamp has not only not been drained, but in actuality has deepened and the stench of corruption has intensified beyond tolerance.  The blatant abuse of power and the complete disregard for the  separation of powers required by the Constitution, added to the continuous flow of lies and false accusations about a “ deep state coup” have made for a frightening display of chaos within and around the west wing. The favoring of dictators of foreign adversary governments over the information collected by not only our own intelligence agencies but intelligence agencies from around the free world causes one to wonder  for whom does this so called leader work or to whom is he really beholden.

The sad thing is, while all of this is ongoing, the one avenue available to hold accountable and engage the constitutionally established system of checks and balances – namely Congress – is, to say the least, missing in action and has become the enabler for this entire farce.

While the wrangling between parties in congress certainly did not begin in this century, the current phase got a major boost in early January of 2009 shortly after Barack Obama was elected for his first term.  Senate Leader – and one uses that term guardedly , the senate leader  convened a closed door meeting of the party leadership and emerged declaring that  their goal was to make certain that the newly elected president would be a one term only president. The obstruction began even though the GOP was not in the majority. When President Obama was reelected, McConnell vowed that he would block every and all efforts on the part of the president to move his agenda forward and would also strive to repeal all the the advances that had been made, especially in the area of health care. The obstruction agenda increased, as control of both houses went GOP, far right. The intensity was such that it blocked numerous legislative efforts aimed at national betterment and, for the first time ever, would not allow even a single hearing for the nomination for a position on the Supreme Court. Once the GOP gained majority status in both houses, all bets were off regarding any progress relating to the general public and a complete take over of the legislature had happened. 

Over the next two  plus years, the overall strategy became more and more evident. With corruption at historic levels and both houses in league with the white house and its agenda, the kleptocratic nature of this regime became clear.  A proliferation of lobbyists, for example, have been appointed to head  agencies which were the target of their lobbying with the express purpose of diminishing the role of that agency or even the elimination of it. While all this was there for the eye to see, the senate , with a few rules changes so as not to give any opposition time to question either the process or the candidates, was stacking the courts with a judiciary completely sympathetic to the causes of the far right while being in place to protect the White House and the GOP controlled congress from any and all legal challenges.  What began as patent obstructionism deteriorated to an out and out take over of government and government functioning. With the GOP owning both Houses and the White House, there would be no limits on advancing the long standing GOP agenda. Pair that with a White House which had no idea of government or protocols in governing and clearly came in to power with an agenda of the “deconstruction of the administrative state”, the  extremist right wing of congress, not to mention far right foreign interests ,found a fertile ground for pushing their causes with complete immunity. As a nation, the United States was indeed faced with virtual extinction as a representative republic and was fast on the track to becoming a banana republic.

We are now witness to continuing wholesale corruption, mindless and inhumane  domestic policy, total disdain for the rule of law and a building distrust of the government both at home and abroad.One could and indeed should expect that those who are responsible for and take the oath of office to provide governance of this republic will , in effect, do just that. One should expect that they conduct the business of governing, being mindful of the sentiment and expressed views of those governed. Sadly, this is not and has not been the case for decades and it is long overdue that we, as a nation and as an electorate demand a return to government being responsive to the governed and to their best interests, not only the best interests of a select few.

In the final analysis, we are facing a battle for existence – a battle between unfettered capitalism and greed and the financial well being of a select minority versus a version of, as some may call it, democratic socialism.The outcome will decidedly determine who we are as a nation and the direction in which we will move – either forward or backward – for decades to come.

To quote the eminent Princeton professor, Eddie Glaude, “We need an honest reckoning as to who we are as a nation”….of this there can be no doubt. The choice is there and the choice is now.