The State of the Union: A Response From the People

This is a little late getting out, but I’m…

Well, the truth is, I’m tired. 

And that summarizes the state of the union:  the American people are tired.  Sure, COVID took a toll on all of us, maybe even broke us—turned many into angry, lonely, conspiracy theorists bloated by too much take-out food and hopeless from stubborn inflation and a housing crisis.  We could move on if we could find our breath, but let’s face it, COVID was just a slice of the weary pie. 

What else is making us so tired? 

We’re tired of chaos and anarchy—people who live in a world of one and want to tell the rest of us how to live.

We’re tired of leaders and executives who could have, should have, would have…but waited until their book was published to speak out.

We’re tired of elected officials who care only about THEIR futures, politicians who work for their own interests and forget the people they represent. Now they want to skip town halls. They don’t want to face the music.  They cover their eyes like toddlers and pretend you can’t see them if they can’t see you. In typical take-no-responsibility-fashion, they dismiss the feelings of the people, the will of the people, by creating yet another conspiracy theory--paid hecklers.

We’re tired of disparate justice.  A man steals from rich white folks in a Ponzi scheme and gets 150 years in prison.  A group of people stage an assault on the U. S. Capitol, the peoples’ house, causing destruction and death, and it is called a love fest, and the perpetrators are pardoned.

We’re tired of the worn vocabulary, tired of hearing about “elites” from people who could not be more elite:  Donald Trump, J. D. Vance, and most other elected officials. We’re tired of the term “woke,”  a misused label applied to people who care about others and a more equal society, a misuse of the word to disparage and silence others from waking up to what is really happening.  We’re tired of the dismissal of concerns with the label “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”  Truth is, as many experts have pointed out, Trump is deranged.

We’re tired of hearing, “what about the other guy” as a defense for bad behavior and lack of effort and productivity. Our representatives are too busy trying to find fault and shame with the other side to get any real work done.

We’re tired of hearing about “the base” and other mythical armies. The majority of Americans set themselves apart from the mysterious base.  The majority of Americans are not base and do not want to be associated with base behavior.  The majority of Americans are honorable and decent.  We work hard and try to be good neighbors, thoughtful consumers, and educated voters.

We are tired of Elon Musk and his money-saving charade.  You want to save money?  How about no more weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago at the taxpayer’s expense? Why doesn’t the President stay home in the house that Americans provided?  We all know what’s going on—charging us for travel, to play golf, and house a security detail to make a personal estate more profitable. How about selling the Vice President’s home?  Let him purchase his own place.  How about we cut back on perks to government officials?  Let’s put elected officials on Social Security and let them find their own health insurance instead of providing them with Cadillac benefits the rest of Americans cannot afford.  The way Elon Musk and this administration treat America’s federal work force does not say, Make America Great Again.  It says, Make Americans Grovel again--more of the administration’s campaign of humiliation and cruelty.

Finally, we’re tired of Donald Trump.  Tired of hearing him. Tired of hearing about him.  Tired of looking at him.  #47, you have not made America great again. You have broken the promises that got you elected. You have worn us out, made us tired. You shout “law and order” as you violate every rule of law, every rule of decency, every social courtesy.  You shame us in front of the world. If you want to be a celebrity and live in a fictional universe, move to Hollywood and get out of the White House.

Listening to you is like being tortured to death by nails on a chalkboard.  Asking you to go away will simply fuel your oppositional, vengeful nature, and you will turn up the volume and the frequency. You are the biggest reason Americans are so weary.  You have drained the swamp—of its last bits of remaining decency--and it turns out that you are the swamp creature. You are remaking America in your image:  cruel and hate-filled, fake tan, fake wealth, fake love of country.  And now you want to be King.  Well, you already are, The Lyin’ King, with 30,000 documented lies just from your first term in office.

Word has leaked that you desperately want to win the Nobel Peace Prize, but you have no insight into the actions or the heart of a peacemaker.  You have demonstrated that you are incapable of empathy, forgiveness, and peace.  Perhaps you have no inner peace from which to draw on.  You are a man at war with everyone and everything that is decent.  Life is a retribution campaign not a peace march.  Because of you, the entire world order has been disrupted.  Where will weary Americans find the strength to face a war? You have not made America great again. In a few short weeks, you have made America friendless, frightened, and soon, broke.

Beds are opening up at Guantanamo.  Maybe that will be the only place left for the weary to go by the time #47 is through with us.