Our Biggest Enemy Is Us

Having just watched a 12-minute video of an 18-year-old female sophomore high school student in Florida (That’s not a typo, it’s the DeSantis school system) getting busted for being in possession of a gun, I am not surprised someone tried to assassinate Trump. I also won’t be surprised if there are more attempts on his life. Guns are everywhere and the GOP have themselves to blame for this.

What surprises me is it did not happen sooner given the level of rhetoric he spews about people of color or the LGBTQ community. You can also add anyone who does not buy into the evangelical view and don’t get me started on those shocked or frightened over the possibility of a nation centered on the Project 2025 platform.

I also have to say I am not surprised President Biden dropped out of the coming election and has given his support to Kamala Harris. Let’s face it, she is shinier, prettier, and newer. Of course, it is no sure thing that the DNC runs with her because Democrats love to fight amongst themselves before uniting to lose an election that should have been a slam dunk from the start.

For those like me who just want all this political bullshit to end, it is just starting. I may have missed the bet on Biden winning this fall, but I can smell the stench of drama a mile away. After all, 30 years in the public schools honed my nostrils.

The HATE and discord dividing this nation is only increasing and no matter what the election results are this fall, it will get much worse before it gets better. When voting districts elect the likes of grown-ups who act as if congress is high school to represent them, it sends the message there are large pockets of idiots hell bent on doing nothing but disrupting this nation. They may be older, but they are still the same immature dicks they were when they were probably 18 year old high school sophomores.

If they aren’t, they may have been spoiled brats who feel entitled to a nation where everyone is expected to think and believe just like them. They may call themselves Christians or Progressives, but we all know they are extremists from either the far right or far left who represent a small portion of the nation while sucking it of all its energy because they can’t see a world that exists beyond their noses.

These are people who cry the loudest because they are not being included with the larger group so they stir up shit. In the case of the GOP, they have fallen under the spell of a maxi-pad wearing orange faced old man who is willing to capitalize off their stupidity just so he can become wealthier and pull more strings. You see, he is also an outlier, but not to the same club his followers want in on. No, he seeks acceptance into the group of the wealthiest power brokers who are using him to pull your string so they can get what they want — your money.

On the left, the same minority groups are asked to keep supporting who the Democrats offer up because they promise to help them rise to the same level white people like me enjoy. The problem is, they have yet to succeed. More than Obama did as president, Joe Biden did more to help the lowest in this nation than any president and his thanks was getting the boot.

This is what we get when a society built on the concept of capitalism runs amok. We no longer are trying to keep up with the Jones’ as much as we just want everything because the richest of the rich in this nation keep wanting it all. As someone I once worked with loved to say, “Shit always flows downhill,” and us regulars are drowning in it. Even if you are fully satisfied with your life and everything you have, you are drowning in it because you are surrounded by nothing but angry, dissatisfied, entitled, grown up brats who keep reproducing worse versions of themselves.

Do you remember looking at high school senior photos of our parents’ graduating classes and thinking how they all looked like they were in their 40’s? Well, we now live in a world where adults are consumed with looking like they are in high school and unfortunately, their behavior reflects it.

This nation used to draft and send every generation of young men off to war until Vietnam ended the draft. The military either made a man out of you or you came back in a body bag. Women remained home and picked up the void caused by men fighting. Young men and women were forced to grow up and learn responsibility much sooner than adults are today.

Perhaps it is time to interrupt the lives of this soft nation by resuming the draft. Maybe, before we send our helicopter-raised kids to college to run up debt, we would be better served to make them spend four years of their lives serving in the military or bring back groups like the Civilian Conservation Corps. It’s time we pull our young adults away from their immature parents and teach them to grow up since mom and dad obviously have failed to do the job. Instead of running up college debt, make them earn the money first by serving this nation in a useful capacity, something too many adults avoided when the draft ended.

It’s time to put them to work for the Red Cross or other organizations that lack the personnel to see just how good we have it here. Make our high school kids start losing sleep over which of our military branches grabs hold of them. Put them on the front lines fighting raging infernos, filling potholes, and helping whenever disasters strike.

If extremists on the right and left have taught me anything, it is they are not needed in a nation that offers its citizens more freedoms without any expectations other than to pay your fucking taxes. It’s time to place greater expectations on our young adults so that they learn to appreciate this country and all its offerings. Maybe they will become more respectful and open minded toward people who look, act or think differently than their parents and grandparents do. Maybe, if they get elected to serve the public, they will even work to continue making this a great nation rather than becoming its worst enemy.

Shit really does flow downhill. However, too much of it will clog the thinking of everyone. It’s time to break out the plunger and rid this nation of the “me first and only” attitude that is killing us.