Mr. Trump is extremely uninformed as a politician but, due in large part to his tenure on the TV program “The Apprentice”, he is very astute when it comes to manipulating the press and keeping the attention focused on him.  He does not care nearly as much about the fact that the vast majority of America and the world looks upon him as being a racist, narcissist and an ignorant politician as he cares about his ability to manipulate press coverage whether it is good or bad.  As long as he consumes all of the oxygen in the room and the focus remains on him he is relatively happy.

The same things applies to this blog – no matter the number of people that it reaches or how minor its impact might be, if the attention is focused on him and prevents it from being focused on those with a different perspective on any issue, which is not in line with how he views it and believes that it should be resolved, he is happy.  So from this point forward even if he is able to manipulate the press because it is incumbent upon them to cover him because he occupies the Oval Office, I will make a concerted effort to mention him either not at all or as little as is humanly possible and focus instead on ‘We the people’.  Having said that…

There are more distractions in the world of politics than we would care to think about right now but we must keep working and keep our eyes on the prize.  We must always focus on the fact that, as American citizens, we have a responsibility to ourselves and future generations, which are our children, our grandchildren, their children, and their children’s children.  All of these Americans, whom are comprised of those just mentioned in the previous sentence, and those whom they will directly or indirectly choose to become Americans in the future – right now – are in our hands.  It is easy to become weary or distracted for any number of reasons but as a result of our great love for America, we must resist this at all costs!  We must keep the dream alive!

We must always remember that ‘big money’ is not America, ‘surrogates – whether they go by the name of talking heads, mouthpieces or any other name – are not America, the congressional House is not America, the Senate is not America, nor is anything else America other than the American people as a whole.  ‘We the people’ are America and we must always remember that.  ‘We the people’ must realize that as America, we have a grave responsibility.  And that responsibility is to make sure that America remains America no matter how hard any other forces, whether they be internal or external, try to tear her down.  We owe this to ourselves and to our children, grandchildren, and to all of those who will follow them.

We need desperately to reform our election system.  That would be a good start to helping to continue to assure that every American’s vote will count.  And not only that, but it would begin to assure that a poor person’s vote will carry the same weight as that of a rich person, no matter how rich that person is.  Big money like, specifically speaking, the Koch brothers and all of those like them, should have their say and that say should carry their fair weight  in how the United States should function and handle its affairs, but their input should not carry any more weight than that of the everyday American citizen!  Their financial status should have nothing whatsoever to do with their vote!  Unfortunately right now, that is not the case because of the way that the system is set up; and when it was set up, it was skewed in favor of the rich because it was set up by them, and if those who set it up weren’t people like them, they were heavily influenced by people like them.

For instance, according to an article in the Associated Press dated January 29, 2018, the Koch brothers have announced that they will spend $400 million on the upcoming 2018 elections, which is more than that spent by the Republican National Committee, the National Rifle Association and the Chamber of Commerce combined in the 2016 cycle.  This provides them with an unfair advantage.  What average American citizen has that kind of money?!  And how many of them would it take to produce that kind of money?!  My question is why should the people who have that kind of money (the few) be able to dictate to those who do not have it (the many), which is the majority of Americans, how America will handle its affairs and which path forward she will take?  Many times polls have revealed that the majority of Americans have wanted to move in a particular direction but big money has won out and she moved in big money’s chosen direction instead.  How can this be right or fair?  It can’t be because it is intrinsically wrong!

My argument is not essentially that the weight of big money, of necessity, must carry the exact same weight of that of the everyday American because by default, there are fewer of them.  And that is where the needed reform comes in.  It must define the something that is needed to determine the weight of the say of the big money people compared to that of the everyday American.  In that election reform, we must work out something that is fair and just to every American and that is not just skewed in favor of those who – ironically, by virtue of the fact that this is America, were able to become ‘big money.’  It has been proven time and time again that American greed runs rampant.  On the surface, it appears that greed is what it takes to exist and survive in the murky waters of the big money crowd.

Even if that is the way that things are, as America, ‘We the people’ (as a whole), must act as the checks and balances on those who feel that, if they are to survive, they must do battle in the previously mentioned murky waters of big money and fight at all costs to win.  Until they show ‘We the people’ that to win at all costs does not include any and all collateral damage to the American people and to America’s reputation whether domestic and/or around the world, whenever necessary, we must interject those checks and balances.  And even if they do show us that it does not include these things, it is incumbent upon us as American citizens to always remain on guard.

The very fact that we are Americans dictates that we cannot view being an American as a zero sum situation where only a binary choice exist.  Our principles and the spirit and intent of our Constitution do not allow for that.  I do not have to lose in order for my fellow American to win!  In most cases, I do not have to chose one thing over another; I do not have to choose between Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIPS):  I choose both!  Why can’t I have both?!  It is not an impossible feat to give Americans both of these things without some kind of miracle and it is not impossible for politicians in Washington to solve many of the other problems that America is faced with; that is, if each would place real value in the oath that they swore to the Constitution when they were elected and would work to do the job that they were elected to do.  How much governance work has congress really done over the past few years, and especially this past year?

Ask yourselves that question, Honorables.  Then each of you should cut the crap, get busy, and do your job!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line