In every cloud there’s a silver lining… or is there? What if a black storm cloud is really just… a dark cloud?
We’ve all been taught since birth that not everything is as it seems, that even in the darkest of situations there is usually good that comes from something bad. In the stage and film classic “The Sound of Music”, for example, the story’s main character, Fraulein Maria, offered this pearl of wisdom: “When the Lord closes a door somewhere he opens a window.”
Traditionally and historically, Americans have been optimistic people. It’s the type of confidence devised through declaring independence from the world’s most powerful empire, then defeating the Mother Country’s army and navy in a war to secure their freedom, then forging and ratifying a governing charter (The Constitution) that guarantees an unprecedented level of liberties to the new nation’s citizens and then fighting to defend those principles and customs through a series of conflicts and wars that would have felled lesser nations.
After combining with our allies to win World War II, America became the preeminent power on earth, with its citizens enjoying the personal freedoms and economic strength to do pretty much whatever they pleased. But even with all the promise and opportunity in the world, the three-quarters of a century since that time haven’t expanded on those prospects for happiness and contentment.
Now buried under a mountain of debt and being challenged for influence all over the globe, our culture is being eroded to its foundation by “wokeness” and apathy combined with a political class that appears powerless to do anything except make problems worse. As a result, Americans have become bitter and negative.
How bad has the ill will gotten? In a piece titled “We’re doomed: 12 of 13 outlooks are negative, Gallup poll finds”, Paul Bedard reported at the Washington Examiner:
“In the latest Gallup survey, views in 12 of 13 key areas are negative. Some 90% fear the year will see ‘political conflict,’ and 8 in 10 predict economic calamity.
“’Americans are greeting 2023 with great skepticism and little expectation that the economic struggles that closed out 2022 will abate,’ read the survey analysis. ‘Coming off several challenging years, Americans enter 2023 with a mostly gloomy outlook,’ added the polling giant…
“The survey asked participants for their views on politics, society, economics, and international affairs. On politics and society, 90% expect political conflict and 72% anticipate rising crime. On the economy, most expect tax increases, rising prices, and a sinking stock market. And in the area of international affairs, most see China expanding its power as the United States falls back.”
Not much sunshine in the forecast, is there? If there’s a silver lining in these clouds, how far will we have to travel to discover it?
I don’t give most Americans a whole lot of credit for being politically astute – or historically grounded -- but if they’re skeptical about the politicians who now control the country, they have every reason to be. Leading the list of self-interested, incompetent, out-of-touch and downright lazy pols is senile president Joe Biden himself, a man so beyond hope and redemption that he’s seriously contemplating ignoring every cautionary indicator to run for a second term.
Fueled by ego alone, Biden clearly believes all of his “we can do it together” mumbo jumbo and the rest of his team merely feeds him more lies and distortions to regurgitate on the few occasions senile Joe actually says something on the record or takes questions from the media. More often than not, Biden confines himself to huddling with Democrat supporters who use him as a tool to get what they want, knowing Joe’s never had an original idea and his inclination to rely on others to tell him what to do isn’t about to change now.
In a larger sense, why should Americans be bullish about the economy or the Stock Market? Inflation is still much higher than it should be and energy prices are inching upward once again. Family budgets are being strained to the maximum and the trillions of dollars Congress appropriated to help cover the COVID “crisis” didn’t buy much of value, did they?
As economist Stephen Moore pointed out the other day in his newsletter, the government is still paying millions of people not to work. Democrats base their entire justification for existence on their ability to cut checks for Americans -- whether the help is needed or not. The excess cash in the economy -- and not nearly enough to spend it on -- has driven prices up across the board. Can you think of something essential that actually costs less than it did two years ago?
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has boosted interest rates to try and stifle inflation which makes purchasing a home prohibitively expensive for first time buyers. And for those piling debt onto credit cards, will they ever catch up? Brace yourself for more commercials touting “debt forgiveness” and the like. Desperate people fall for the ruse but there’s no such thing as “free money” and there’s no silver lining for clouds full of credit score decreases.
Regarding the possibility of raising taxes, it only makes sense that at some point government will need to address the impossible debt and spending addiction that grips Congress. Some naively think tax rates on productive people are too low and additional money could be raised through hiking taxes on the rich. These are the same misguided individuals who complained about Donald Trump only paying a couple million in taxes the past several years.
Trump’s businesses and the Americans he employs more than make up the difference.
Republicans aren’t much more proficient than Democrats at steering the fiscal ship – or they haven’t been in past decades. Will they ever improve?
There are signs of a new awakening in GOP-land, however. As I watched the ongoing Speaker vote saga at the outset of the new Congress the other day, the thought occurred to me that something positive might result from the overhyped drama performed and perpetuated by both sides of the chamber leadership issue. As the news commentators hemmed and hawed and worried about how long it might take to resolve the impasse – which at press time still was in limbo – I saw promise in the passion of the combatants.
‘Are we really fed up this time?’ I pondered. While I thought and continue to think both sides had good arguments for doing what they did – namely the ones siding with Kevin McCarthy to promote some sense of unity between the different factions as well as the ones fed up with the business-as-usual attitude of the establishment who demanded somebody new and more assertive to punch Democrats in the proverbial nose – the one thing that’s guaranteed from all of this is a leadership team looking over their shoulders to see where the next challenge may come from if they step out of line.
Who’s concerned with the optics? The American voting public can barely recall what happened last week let alone (almost) two years from now in the next election, so who cares what the wishy-washy “center” thinks about the internal strife now? It’s about time somebody in Washington stood for something. I say the longer it takes, the better. At least the Republican bickering will take attention away from the latest Democrat ploy to spend more taxpayer money or moan about how “climate change” makes it snow more.
Some Republicans aren’t satisfied with the status quo and acknowledge the pessimistic attitude of Americans towards the governing elites in Washington as reflected in the above referenced poll. Others just want to play nice with the enemy and “get things done”. You decide which group is right.
As Tucker Carlson pointed out on his Tuesday night program, Kevin McCarthy could’ve been elected Speaker at any point along the continuum if he’d only agreed to the conditions the conservatives were insisting on – which basically would ensure that Republicans finally keep their promises after decades of caving to the establishment. Has that ship already sailed?
The American people see the way things are in the country and aren’t optimistic about the future. They see no silver lining in the dark clouds on the horizon. Even if Kevin McCarthy manages to ultimately win the Speaker’s position, he’ll be weakened because of the struggle he went through to get it, which is a good thing. Congress should provide a future worth being happy about, clouds or no clouds.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
January 6 Committee
Liz Cheney
Build Back Better
Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
Mitch McConnell
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
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