To All American Politicians, You Have Failed Us
By: Patrick Tompkins
Tags: Elections, Government, Election 2020, Politics, Leadership

I am done being diplomatic. It has not gotten us anywhere except more pain and suffering. This message is for Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham, and all other current political leaders in the United States. Shame on you.

You sit in your ivory towers, benefiting from your taxpayer-funded salaries, your taxpayer-funded pensions, and your taxpayer-funded world-class health care. At the same time, hundreds of millions of Americans suffer day in and day out. You are the worst type of people, and the last thing you should be is in charge of our government.

The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged our country for almost nine months, and all you could muster was a single $1,200 stimulus check and extra unemployment benefits that ran out back in July. All the while, you have been giving your corporate handlers and banker friends trillions of dollars, artificially pumping up the stock market, and pointing fingers at each other about who is to blame for not passing more stimulus.

We are a consumer-based economy; 70% of our GDP is you and I and average Americans everywhere buying things; coffee, jeans, groceries, cars, etc. Yet, the U.S. has committed more than $6 trillion to the pandemic, and less than 5% actually went to the American people.

All you had to do was pass a bill that gave the American people the money to survive until a vaccine was widely available. You couldn’t even do something as simple as that.

For less than $6 trillion, you could have given every single adult American $1,500 per month for a full year. No riders, no add-ons, no special projects. Banks would have made billions in processing fees, so what. At least the American people would have had money in their pockets to survive, to feed their families, to not die.

While politicians fight over who is to blame for failing the American people, the American people are, in fact, dying. More than a quarter-million have already died. And another quarter-million will likely die before a vaccine is widely available. All because you degenerates in Washington could not pass your lobby-backed, donor-motivated, pet projects.

You are all to blame. You all share the shame of failing the American people. When we say ‘eat the rich,’ what we really mean is, ‘eat the rich and powerful.’ We are talking about you too. You are deplorable, red and blue, because you would rather pack poorly crafted bills with so much fat, special projects, and bullshit that there is no hope of it ever being passed.

All so you can take the moral high ground and point at the other side and go, ‘see, they are the ones who have failed you.’ No, you failed us—every single one of you. You do not deserve your position. You do not deserve the taxpayer money that sends you to Washington D.C. to do nothing for the American people. In contrast, you do everything for your lobbyists, your corporate overlords, and your wealthy donors.

I am waiting for that A Bug’s Life moment when the American people realize there are more of us than there are of you. The moment where the American people realize they do not have to take it anymore. We need a political revolution in this country. We need to change how we operate fundamentally.

If we do not, this country will fail, and it will fall. The writing is already on the wall. The United States is Rome 2.0. No hyperbole required. The empire spends nearly a trillion dollars a year maintaining its military while its communities wither and its cities rot. The empire passes legislation and laws to benefit the top 10% while the bottom 90% find it harder and harder to make something, anything, of their lives.

This is no longer a red versus blue issue. We have to realize that the rich and powerful turn us against each other. While the peasants fight, the wealthy steal our pennies. Aren’t you tired of fighting your neighbor? Don’t you realize that neither of you has any chance to rise to the level of wealth that you so diligently protect? You will never be a billionaire, so stop protecting them.

They have spent 50 years passing more and more rich-friendly changes to the tax laws so billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump can effectively pay nothing in income tax. They have passed trade agreements that have exclusively benefited border-less corporations and their precious shareholders, while our local communities lose jobs and erode before our very eyes.

It was not Democrats or Republicans who did that. It was millionaires and billionaires who have infected and destroyed the fabric of our society. Our government has become a perverted conduit for the wealthy and powerful. It no longer serves us. We are the barnacles stuck to the boat, just along for the ride.

If you are searching for the killers of the American Dream, it is not immigrants, or Muslims, or Jews, or criminals, or Blacks. No, you can find them by the American Flag pin they wear so proudly on their suit jackets.

You are all equally to blame. For over 50 years, you, your colleagues, your friends, your donors have slowly, systematically destroyed this country. It is your fault. We will never forgive you for that. We need term limits, we need tax reform, we need election reform, we need the American people to be heard loud and clear.

You have failed this country. You are all at fault. You have 250,000 Americans’ blood on your hands. And millions more who cannot afford to pay their rent, their mortgage, or to buy their family food.

You are so disconnected from the plight of the people. I am sure that thought will never cross your mind the next time you sit down for a meal at your fancy dining room table. The one the American people bought for you.