I spend a lot of time thinking about stuff. George Carlin once said “It’s my job to think up goofy shit”. But this is no joke – every day there are more and more parallels to the Roman Empire taking shape in our country. I shudder when I think of what our Founding Fathers would have to say about “We the People” if they could see the mess we’ve made of things. Probably something along the lines of “We gave you freedom and THIS is what you did with it???”

Our country’s electorate is primarily a two-party system, but it’s no longer “our belief in what’s best for America vs. their belief”. No, they’ve cut America right out and all we’re left with is “ours vs. theirs”. Oh, it’s a party all right, except that “we the people are footing the bill while not even being invited. Oh, the DNC isn’t as brazen as the GOP, they’ll tell you your invite “got lost in the mail” – but just by watching their actions you can tell that isn’t the case. It’s no longer a government “Of the People, By the People and For the People” when they put their agendas first.

Our current sitting President has an opportunity that no other President has had in quite some time – he has the chance to make a bipartisan government by selecting the best from both sides to help him “Make our country great again”. Though he rode the Republican ticket, he’s not really a member of their party, at least not by the way they treat him. And still he tries to stick to the “party line” by putting Republicans in positions of power throughout his administration.

And what has that done for him? So many have had to resign because of corruption or dishonesty – even the Carter administration looks good in comparison. All they’ve done is show that that the GOP has more dishonest than honest members. Yet despite the savage attacks on his credibility, Trump continues to try and tow “the party line” in the hopes of being accepted. He had the same problem years ago – being rejected by all the “old money” people he wanted to assimilate with. But he doesn’t have “years” to be accepted now.

And what’s the GOP’s agenda? The same as it always was – make the rich richer, take what isn’t yours, use it until it’s used up, then hand it back to the people like you’re doing them a favor. Take Native American land for a pipeline – start off-shore drilling in one of the richest fishing grounds on the planet – give up Federal Park land for fracking. Now if that isn’t doing what’s in “their” best interests, then I don’t know what is.

And don’t get me wrong, the GOP aren’t the only villains here – the DNC has just as much dirt. Let’s take healthcare for example. Bernie Sanders believes that everyone should have government funded health care. What he doesn’t say is that, while his (Congress) healthcare covers “anything and everything”, what he wants for us isn’t much different than basic coverage. But what does he care – he has the best. The same with that screech owl Elizabeth Warren – look at what she has and what she wants to give you. Talk is cheap, and these folks are as cheap as it gets.

The Democrats are constantly talking about handouts, and I’ll tell you right now, nothing cripples mankind like handouts. It puts a burden on the taxpayers and, while it makes things slightly better for some, it enslaves them in a purgatory from which there is no escape. Live at the poverty level with a handout (at least you’re not starving) or “take a chance” on a trickle-down economy. But remember, if you “take a chance”, you have to give up poverty forever. If you don’t hit trickle it’s hello homeless. Hell of a choice, eh?

Now, offering a hand UP, supplementing income for the poor while fixing the problem that’s put them in such straights is entirely different. Roosevelt attempted this during the Great Depression (The New Deal) with limited success – limited because, once again, the parties didn’t look at what was best for AMERICA. And why, in our great country, can’t businesses pay a LIVING WAGE? (I guess because it’s easier to import or outsource cheap labor than to be an upright American).

As long as we have a country ruled by those who have better health and retirement benefits than the people they serve, who do not respect the wishes of the voting population by serving their own agendas rather than what’s in the best interest of America, as long as our “two party system” continues to “battle” each other rather than “compromise” with each other, then America’s time in the sun shall surely disappear.

Lincoln once said “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” We could use a little patriotism like this in today’s America – not just from we the people, who show it every day, but from those that supposedly serve us. For I fear that they’ve forgotten who they serve, and what their mission is. Or maybe we the people are just too lazy to push them to be better. Either way, as history has a way of repeating itself, we, just like Rome, will perish.

(You can read more about the fall of the Roman Empire, and see the similarities I mention here)