I fear that our nation is devolving into a conservative, fascist state that is shutting down any pretense of being a democracy, and that unless Congress steps up to do its job, we are facing a very violent future. 

By that, I mean that I fear we will devolve into a shooting war on the streets of our cities as Trump employs the military and deputizes gangs of his private police force to end any and all opposition to his rule.

Trump, with the backing of the authors of Project 2025, and surrounded by sycophants, is setting the stage for declaring a national emergency, suspending the Constitution and habeas corpus, and declaring Martial Law.

Trump said he plans to meet with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought, an author of Project 2025 —a 900-page blueprint developed by conservative groups to reshape the federal government.

President Trump has ordered federal agencies to search actively for connections tying philanthropic funders and activist groups, almost all of whom are progressives, to a vaguely described effort to foment violence, intimidation, and suppression of political activity. 

In his memorandum of September 25, 2025, Trump posits a dramatic increase in political violence, driven by “sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence” that aim to suppress speech and force changes in government policy. He’s talking about Democrats and Progressives. It presents no evidence to substantiate these claims. Then, he does this.

“By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct the following:

Section 1.  Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.  Heinous assassinations and other acts of political violence in the United States have dramatically increased in recent years.  Even in the aftermath of the horrifying assassination of Charlie Kirk, some individuals who adhered to the alleged shooter’s ideology embraced and cheered this evil murder while actively encouraging more political violence.  

This was preceded by the 2024 assassination of a senior healthcare executive and the 2022 assassination attempt against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  Two separate assassination attempts against my own life in less than 3 months took place during the 2024 Presidential election cycle.  Riots in Los Angeles and Portland reflect a more than 1,000 percent increase in attacks on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers since January 21, 2025, compared to the same period last year.  Just yesterday, a shooting targeting an ICE facility in Dallas resulted in multiple casualties.  Separate anti-police and “criminal justice” riots have left many people dead and injured and inflicted over $2 billion in property damage nationwide.”

He is beating the drums of fascism as he demonizes any and all who disagree with him.

He is also asking the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service to weed out any philanthropic groups (again, mostly progressive and Democrats) funding political violence.

In the aftermath of Kirk's killing on September 10 and a shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Dallas on Wednesday, the Trump administration has repeatedly blamed left-wing groups, without evidence, of being part of a coordinated campaign of political violence.

Trump has downplayed violence from right-wing groups, insisting that political violence is a problem rooted in the left.

As he decries violence, he is sending unwanted troops into our cities to root out what he calls organized crime, which is nothing more than a front to remove as many non-white, non-Christian immigrants from our land as he can.

We are facing the most significant threat since the Confederate States seceded from our nation, starting the Civil War.

All this, I fear, is Trump setting the stage for him to declare war on our democracy. I hope I’m wrong, and I hope our Congress on both sides of the aisle will step up to save our great nation from this evil. Because with almost 400 million guns in our nation, our streets will run with blood.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

by Pastor Martin Niemöller

————————————

Primero vinieron por los comunistas

Y no hablé

Porque no era comunista

Luego vinieron por los socialistas

Y no hablé

Porque no era socialista

Luego vinieron por los sindicalistas

Y no hablé

Porque no era sindicalista

Luego vinieron por los judíos

Y no hablé

Porque no era judío

Luego vinieron por mí

Y no quedó nadie

Para hablar por mí 

por el Pastor Martin Niemöller

————————————

首先，他们来抓共产党人

我没有发声

因为我不是共产党人

然后他们来抓社会主义者

我没有发声

因为我不是社会主义者

接着他们来抓工会成员

我没有发声

因为我不是工会成员

然后他们来抓犹太人

我没有发声

因为我不是犹太人

最后他们来抓我

而没有人再

为我发声 

—— 马丁·尼默勒牧师

————————————

पहले वे कम्युनिस्टों के लिए आए

और मैंने आवाज़ नहीं उठाई

क्योंकि मैं कम्युनिस्ट नहीं था

फिर वे समाजवादियों के लिए आए

और मैंने आवाज़ नहीं उठाई

क्योंकि मैं समाजवादी नहीं था

फिर वे ट्रेड यूनियनिस्टों के लिए आए

और मैंने आवाज़ नहीं उठाई

क्योंकि मैं ट्रेड यूनियनिस्ट नहीं था

फिर वे यहूदियों के लिए आए

और मैंने आवाज़ नहीं उठाई

क्योंकि मैं यहूदी नहीं था

फिर वे मेरे लिए आए

और मेरे लिए बोलने के लिए कोई बचा ही नहीं था

• पादरी मार्टिन नीमोलर

————————————

Đầu tiên, họ đến tìm những người Cộng sản

Và tôi không lên tiếng

Bởi vì tôi không phải là một người Cộng sản

Sau đó, họ đến tìm những người Xã hội

Và tôi không lên tiếng

Bởi vì tôi không phải là một người Xã hội

Rồi họ đến tìm những người công đoàn

Và tôi không lên tiếng

Bởi vì tôi không phải là một người công đoàn

Sau đó, họ đến tìm người Do Thái

Và tôi không lên tiếng

Bởi vì tôi không phải là một người Do Thái

Rồi họ đến tìm tôi

Và không còn ai

Để lên tiếng cho tôi

bởi Mục sư Martin Niemöller

————————————

I hope the online translator did its job. We live, but do we always learn?

Don’t change what we stand for or believe in. For almost 100 years, since the presidency of FDR, we Progressives have stood for a society that works for all, not just for the elite and those in power.

And, at almost every step, the conservatives have fought against what we are trying to do.

We must modify our implementation processes to limit or eliminate the corruption, price gouging, and greed that drive a small percentage of our society.

Greed and jealousy are endemic in our species, as it is in most species. If your dog or cat has a litter of five or six, around the age of six weeks, they’ll be playing with a ball or piece of string.

One of their siblings will see them playing and rush over to try to take the toy away from their sibling. This behavior is natural in living creatures, and we humans are not immune.

Last night, Gale and I watched a rerun of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, featuring Senator Corey Booker as his guest after he set a new filibuster record of over 25 hours in an effort to block the Republicans from passing an economically crippling spending bill that would penalize the working class to further enrich the wealthiest among us.

Stephen asked the good Senator what we needed to do to prevent the next demagogue from attaining a seat of power in our government.

Senator Booker launched into one of his passionate speeches about doing the right thing, invoking his personal religious convictions about empathy and compassion for your fellow humans, seemingly asking us all to listen to our better angels (my words).

The problem with the passionate appeal of the good Senator is that I don’t believe for a second that people like Trump, Miller, Hegseth, or Bondi have better angels. They are driven by a combination of hate and the philosophies of the Old Testament that would return us to a world where women are the property of men, children are to be beaten into submission, and even slavery is okay.

The entire P2025 cabal is committed to returning us to the 19th or even 18th centuries, as far as social norms are concerned.

In our progressive zeal to create a better world for all people, we either turned a blind eye to or were too naive to recognize the excesses of the rich and powerful, as well as the lengths they would go to to enrich themselves.

Big Pharma, the fossil fuel industry, some tech companies, and others have become “too big to fail”. They hold governments hostage to their bidding.

Others have found ways to circumvent regulations and rules of conduct, maximizing their profits and enriching themselves.

This is to be expected. It’s the little kitten stealing a toy from its sibling. We must expect this behavior and implement guardrails to prevent as many abuses as possible.

This is not about being anti-business or anti-profit, but it is about protecting the populace from the abuses of profiteers.

One simple example. I take Eliquis, the generic name of which is apixaban, as do approximately 8 million people in the United States.

The market for that drug is projected to be $3.16 billion in 2025.

According to Statistica, the price of this drug in the U.S. in 2022 was $522 (per month?). In South Africa, it is $60, and in Greece, it is $72. Something is very wrong with our system of controls when life-saving drugs cost Americans 7 1/4 times more than in Greece.

These same problems exist in energy, food, medicine, and many life-preserving products.

In our drive to fulfill the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we have failed to properly implement the programs that aim to deliver on that promise.

We don’t need to change who we are or our principles and beliefs in humanity. We do need to change our implementation of the programs that get us there.

Trump has another scam to sell us. He called it the Big Beautiful Bill. He knew it was BB-BS, so now he wants to rebrand it.

Checking with Forbes and a few others with the temerity to read all this crap, here’s what the bill looks like.

It extends and expands the 2017 Trump tax cuts, making most provisions permanent, including lower rates for individuals and businesses.

$4.5 trillion in total tax reductions over a decade, with new breaks for income from tips, overtime, and auto loans.

No tax on tips? First of all, it’s a temporary tax deduction for income from tips through 2028. What the rich guys got is permanent.

Roughly 37% of tipped workers who don't make enough to pay federal income taxes would see no benefits from the tax break.

Of those earning below $25 an hour in 2023, less than 4 percent were in tipped occupations. So this Big Beautiful POS is not reaching many people.

The SALT deduction cap has been raised from $10,000 to $40,000 for five years, benefiting taxpayers in high-tax states.

The child tax credit increases from $2,000 to $2,200 per child, although low-income families may not receive the full benefit.

Immediate expensing for business equipment and research is made permanent, benefiting capital-intensive industries—another break for the top earners.

Middle-income households would see tax cuts of $500–$1,500 per year, while the wealthiest households would benefit the most; the lowest-income households could see annual losses of up to $1,600. Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) face significant funding reductions. Bend over, working America.

Medicaid work requirements: In Medicaid expansion states, able-bodied adults aged 19–64 must work, volunteer, or attend school for at least 80 hours/month; parents of children aged 14 and above are also included.

Eligibility for federal benefits is narrowed for noncitizens, with new restrictions and application fees introduced for programs such as asylum, work permits, and humanitarian parole.

Clean energy tax credits and subsidies are rolled back or eliminated.

Border security and defense spending - $350 billion allocated for border and national security, including: $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall: $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention beds, and funding for the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history. Including hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, with the U.S. debt currently at $36.2 trillion.

As Britannica Money notes, the bottom line is that “the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 rewrites the personal finance playbook for the next decade. It locks in lower income tax rates, expands deductions for workers, phases out major clean energy credits, and introduces new relief for seniors and parents. But it also repeals programs and trims safety net spending, and many provisions have income limits or expiration dates.

If you’re planning big financial decisions, such as buying a car, updating your home, or navigating retirement, review how the law’s changes may affect your budget and financial goals."

They have some good advice at their site: https://www.britannica.com/money/what-is-the-50-30-20-rule 

Good luck, America. We’ll need it until we can remove the orange skid mark from the Oval Office.

Fair warning. This is a rant and is divided into three parts. I’ll post them one at a time - you decide if you want to read on.

I’m talking about the corporate robbers absconding with all the money that old folks have acquired over a lifetime of hard work and saving. Oh, if you’re under, say, fifty, or under, this is also your hoped-for inheritance going up in smoke, or rather into the pockets of the real estate and insurance magnates, and others.

A brief history, although many of us are already familiar with it. For most of human history, families have taken care of the elderly.

It wasn’t always great, but it was there. Grandma and Grandpa had a room in the family home. Not always great, but it was there.

The head of the household, typically the father, worked, while the mother stayed home to care for the children and the elderly. It wasn’t necessarily her dream, but it was our social structure, which had been in place for millennia.

The industrial age began to change that. We left the farms and moved to cities to work in factories, but mom and kids were still at home with the grandparents.

World War I and World War II changed all that. With the men off fighting the wars, the women “manned up” and ran the factories, building the ships, planes, and bombs that would eventually end the wars.

After WW II, it was hard for the Bible-thumping white politicians to argue that a woman’s place was in the home; women had proven they had a lot more to offer our nation than a tuna-noodle casserole.

As horrible as those wars were, and war still is, they brought about a sea change in American society and around the world.

Post WW II, with both mom and dad working to try to hang onto the American dream, and the kids in school, there was no one to look after Grams and Gramps. Voila! The senior living community model evolved.

Nursing homes have been in existence for a long time, evolving from poorhouses established in the 17th century to care for the elderly and infirm. By the late 20th century, nursing homes became a standard form of long-term care, adapting to meet the needs of seniors and individuals with disabilities, often offering a range of services from basic assistance to skilled nursing care.

The concept of assisted living emerged in the 1980s, focusing on providing seniors with autonomy and independence in a residential environment. 

This was primarily driven by the fact that there was no family to provide for the elderly.

Initially, many of these senior complexes were established by nationalistic societies, such as the Italians, Poles, Swedes, and others, to care for their own, specifically the grandparents of younger working people.

As some of these people died off and the expense of running these homes increased, the younger generation abandoned the model and sold off the facilities.

This evolution occurred in the post-WWII society, where jobs began paying better wages, and benefits like pensions, IRAs, and 401(k)s gave working individuals the ability to save for their retirement.

Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, workers began to accumulate retirement savings, primarily in the form of pensions, if their company offered that benefit, thanks to the influence of unions.

IRAs were introduced in 1975, and 401(k)s became available in 1978. Before that, it was only Social Security with an Average Payment of $74.0 a month - In Today’s Dollars: $792.32- and any savings you might have managed to accumulate.

The IRAs and 401(k)s changed that picture dramatically, and it caught the attention of the money changers in America.

In the first quarter of 2025, Americans had $12.2 trillion invested in 401(k)s and $16.8 trillion in IRAs, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Starting in the 1980s, investor types began paying close attention to this shit.

Continued in Part 2.

So, what we have is a pot of money equaling $29 trillion. That is $29,000,000,000,000 written out. If you don’t think that got the attention of the people wearing green eyeshades, you’ve been living under a freaking rock.

As of 2024, the eight private equity-owned senior housing operators collectively owned 968 properties and 152,392 senior living units. So, it appears the Robber Barons have been paying attention.

According to Seniors Housing Business, asset managers, including private equity firms, are investing in senior housing because it compares favorably with other commercial real estate asset classes. Recent data indicate that the 10-year annualized total return for senior housing is the strongest among the main property types, except for industrial.

Additionally, demand is expected to grow due to a limited housing supply that fails to meet the needs of an aging population, making newer buildings in growth markets attractive to private equity bidders. More here if you want to read the sordid story: https://tinyurl.com/57e3tre9 

Now, let’s get to the heart of my frustration and anger: what I believe is the business model these greedy bastards are clutching to their breasts, or bank accounts.

I speak from personal experience. Gale, my wife, and I began our journey in this elderly world two and a half years ago.

Let me first say that, yes, they are providing a needed service to society by housing us old folks in relative comfort. I’m unaware of anyone being mistreated or abused.

Nevertheless, I believe the business model is designed to drain the bank accounts of the elderly as quickly as possible, while providing this needed service.

Again, from experience, I can tell you the majority of the population in our facility is older women who are widows.

Our facility is somewhat unique from what I’ve researched. We have two apartment buildings—one for assisted living and one for independent living —where we’re at.

Our building has thirty-six residents. There are two couples, us and one other. That accounts for two men. There are five other single men. The balance of twenty-nine residents are women with either their own or their husbands’ pensions, savings, and Social Security. Now a little number crunching.

According to fool.com (Motley Fool), the average American household reported a retirement account balance of $333,940 and a net worth of $1.06 million in the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).

Referring back to paragraph two on this page, the 152,392 senior living units represent $50,889,784,480 - that’s approximately $51 billion in funds, which could be held in bank accounts or other financial institutions. This figure only accounts for the eight equity-owned operators mentioned in the source article. https://tinyurl.com/57e3tre9

That .002% of the $29 trillion sitting in retirement accounts. That ain’t the whole story. I promise to stop the number crunching soon.

The majority of people in our senior facility are over 75. That population represents 22,676,920 as of 2/2025.

The population aged 65 and older is projected to grow by approximately 23% by 2050. If the over-75 population grows at a similar rate, there will be almost 28 million potential senior-facility candidates.

What percentage of that number will move to senior facilities is hard to pin down, but let’s assume 30%, or three in ten, will live out their lives in a senior facility. That’s 8.4 million seniors sitting on $2.8 trillion.

And remember that some of them will run out of funds, and the government will end up subsidizing those folks, further lining the pockets of the greedy ones who are better at crunching these numbers than I am—more in Part 3.

Back to my original bitch. I’m not suggesting that the investment firms that have been buying up retirement properties for the last thirty years or so are a bunch of Bernie Madoffs pushing a Ponzi scheme. Still, they are looking at all that money and how they can get their hand on it and invest it to make even more money.

The average cost of an apartment, including industry services, varies widely by U.S. region. 

In the Northwest and Northeast, you’re looking at costs ranging from an average of $72,000 per year ($6,000 per month) to a low of $42,000 per year ($3,500 per month) in the Southeast. The average hotel price in the USA is a very reasonable $171 per day, or $5,130 per month.

A five-star hotel may require approximately 1.5 to 2 employees per room, including front desk staff, housekeeping, maintenance, food and beverage, and managerial positions. Most senior facilities are not five-star hotels; they’re more in the three-star category.

I guess I lied - I said I’d stop crunching numbers. If you’re living independently in a senior facility, you typically pay extra for housekeeping and meals - it’s not included in your rent. In assisted living, it’s assumed that you will need at least minimal assistance, and possibly more, which is typically added to the rent.

My point is that at $6,000 per month, someone is earning a substantial amount of money. I don’t think it’s the staff who are hustling meals and peddling pills in senior facilities who are getting rich, just as it’s not the staff in the hotel who are making beds, hauling luggage, and cleaning rooms who are cleaning up in the profit category.

Call me cynical, but I’m convinced that many for-profit corporations saw these little old ladies sitting on a pile of money and designed a system meant to drain as much of that money as possible from their coffers before the old folks cross over the bridge and give it all to their heirs.

The government has a responsibility to mandate a certain number of non-profit senior facilities that can provide the average wage earner with a decent living situation in their old age, without depleting their life savings.

Non-profit doesn’t mean you have to earn less than the market rate to work in senior living. It simply means that the cost of operation is not inflated to include a profit percentage that lines the pockets of billionaire corporations and their stockholders.

The American Dream was based on people willing to work most of their lives, acquiring a degree of wealth that they could then pass on to the next generation, thereby continually building family wealth.

Corporate America has intercepted that dream and is draining the lifeblood from the typical American family.

If it isn’t highway robbery, it's lifestyle and family wealth robbery and forcing each generation of Americans to work their asses off and hand that money to the richest people on the planet.

It’s people like Trump and his circle of wealthy friends who engage in this sort of financial shell game that robs the working class of all they have worked for all their lives. It’s been like this through much of history; whether it was the royal family or simply a bunch of autocrats, they built their wealth on the backs of the working class.

That’s what has made the American approach unique. It opens doors for the working class that were previously unavailable.

This promise of shared success, along with many other aspects of the American dream, must be returned to the people rather than remaining a source of wealth for the already wealthy.

I’m going to get into a bit of philosophy here, or maybe it’s psychology.

Expectations. My little AI search assistant says: “Expectations are beliefs or assumptions about what is likely to happen in the future, often based on personal experiences or cultural norms.’

Collins Dictionary says: “Your expectations are your strong hopes or beliefs that something will happen or that you will get something that you want."

The Buddha, while not using the modern word expectations, his  teachings include:

Attachment and Craving: Expecting things to be a certain way or craving particular outcomes creates attachment, which leads to dissatisfaction and suffering.

Letting Go: One of the core teachings is to cultivate non-attachment and acceptance of things as they are, which means releasing rigid expectations.

In Buddhist teachings, much emphasis is placed on understanding how attachment, desires, and expectations can lead to suffering (dukkha).

I’m not a practicing Buddhist, nor am I trying to sell that philosophy, although it does seem to be based in large part on real life and common sense, as opposed to mythical figures and miracles.

I started thinking along these lines because my birthday is coming up. I was anticipating what Gale might get me for my birthday.

As the years have progressed, two things have happened. One, we have done birthdays for over fifty years, and to some extent, the excitement wears off.

As I developed my expectations for this birthday, I imagined that Gale would not go overboard on gifts, apologize, and that I would explain that it isn’t a big deal.

So, apparently, I’ve built an expectation for that event. Interestingly, I honestly don’t give a rip about birthdays, partly because I never developed expectations around that day.

For the first fifteen years of my life, I received only one birthday gift: a stuffed toy chicken from my father on my fourth birthday. Then, he disappeared.

I’m not going for the sympathy vote here. I grew up in a boys’ home, and birthdays were not a thing. Don’t aww… I’m fine. You can read or listen to the full boring story of my life by reading my memoirs, No Connections, available at: https://www.irishmikedavis.com/my-books 

I believe that expectations are developed in children based on life experiences. These can be happy expectations if their lives are filled with happiness, or just the opposite if their little lives are like living in a Honey Bucket.

Behind expectations are generally feelings of the “I want” type, or, in the negative, “I don’t want this or that.”

Do any other animals have expectations? If a dog is suddenly given The Farmer’s Dog brand of food instead of some old dried shit, do they develop expectations for future meals? Do they anticipate or become disappointed if things don’t work out for them?

Regardless, expectations can drive us a little batty. We’re either on cloud nine or living in fear, neither of which seems to me to be particularly healthy regarding our mental state.

I’ve often used the Italian pasta dish, Puttanesca, as an example. Gale and I have our preferences and expectations, and we dislike being disappointed when a restaurant falls short.

We should approach this by recognizing that there are many Italian cooks with their own recipes, all of which are likely good, and we should suspend judgment. That’s not something we humans are good at.

So, the keywords in expectations are wanting, fearing, and judgment. 

We need to manage our wants, conquer our fears, and suspend judgment.

Problem solved! You can thank me by sending money.😂 Good luck managing your expectations.

I’ve probably danced around this topic before, but the short answer is yes.

Are the various freedoms and social programs perfect? Of course not. We, humans, tend to get carried away and overdo things, both good and bad.

I can also state unequivocally that having military forces on the streets of our cities is also a shithead idea.

So, what does a functioning, socially responsible democracy look like? Yeah, I’m really gonna try to do this.

As all the politicians like to begin their statements, “Look”, we all agree that we need laws against robbing banks, killing people, abusing children, and so on.

We know that a majority of us would never do these things. Still, history has also informed us that there is a minority of whackos out there who will try to break our laws and profit at the expense of innocent people by robbing banks, raping and pillaging, etc.

Guess what. Corporations are simply organizations comprised of people. People who are just as flawed as the rest of us. A majority of these people will try to apply a degree of morality to their business dealings, but a minority will rob your ass blind to enrich themselves.

Thus, we need regulations regarding banking, investments, corporate profits, and taxes, just as we need civil laws to keep the average citizen from going berserk.

So, it’s not a question of whether we need laws that apply to both individuals and corporations. The task is to balance it all out so that everyone possible can succeed in our marvelous democracy, and that the rules aren’t tilted in favor of one group or another at the expense of innocent people.

We can’t have a pure democracy where everyone votes on every damn thing in the country.

The Greek experiment in pure democracy in the fifth century BCE, particularly in Athens, faced significant issues, including mob rule, where uninformed masses could make poor decisions, and the concentration of power in the hands of a few influential orators.

Additionally, it often led to instability and was criticized for excluding large segments of the population from citizenship and political participation.

Our founders carefully examined that model. Seeing the problems then, with 2.5 million people (now 334 million) all screaming in the public square over issues, they decided on a representative democracy and voting for those people. That’s what we supposedly have today.

Except, oops! Something isn’t working as planned. The House of Representatives was supposed to be the “people’s house”. It was to be made up of ordinary folks, farmers, and laborers, rather than college graduates and millionaire businesspeople, as it is today.

The Senate was to be comprised of landowners, businesspeople, and the learned gentry, who would review the proposals from the ragtag House members and ensure a measured approach.

Today, there isn’t a lick of difference between the wealth and special interests in the House and those in the Senate. That’s what needs to get fixed.

We need to send welders, chefs, road workers, seamstresses, carpenters, truck drivers, and farm workers to the House of Representatives, not millionaires and business owners.

Our government has tipped way over in favor of big money, big business, and the banking and investment industries. Too many members of the House are invested in making a shitload of money off of their stocks and attracting large campaign contributions from the wealthy to give a rip about the working class.

The ship of state has listed way too far in favor of the rich and abandoned the working classes.

One thing that has to happen is publicly funded elections to get the power of big money the hell out of our government.

Will that happen? Can that happen without another revolution? Who knows?