TheWiseOldFart

Everyone who claims to “work” in Washington is useless, corrupt, and a waste of taxpayer money. However, there is a single thing we can always count on from these cowards: they will never “do the right thing.” Let me use two examples of how I learned that the government of the United States of America would be overpaid if they worked for nothing. One month before the 2016 election, a meeting was held in the White House. The meeting came at the request of the leaders of all 18 security agencies. In attendance were President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Moscow Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi. The purpose of the meeting was to confirm the fact to our nation’s leaders that Vladimir Putin was interfering in our upcoming election in support of Donald Trump. However, our gutless leaders decided that the voting public had no right to learn the truth. The result was Trump becoming our 45 th and illegitimate president. Our government has ignored the fact that they ar...

My wife and I are older Americans struggling to survive on a fixed income. The good and bad news is that our total income is slightly above the poverty line. This prevents us from receiving free healthcare, and other services reserved for the poor. However, we have survived many difficult times and will continue to do so as long as we are together. This is not intended to be a story about complaints and government failure, although there are many. This is about what I hope will be my legacy. I didn’t begin writing until I was forced to retire for the last time in 2011. My last “real job” ended in 2008. However, in 2009 I was hired by the Decennial Census, and worked for the government in various capacities until the end of 2010. From then until now, I have been officially retired with the exception of my new life as a writer. My initial effort was my first novel, “A Little Murder in the Biggest Little City.” I believe it was good for a first effort, but I learned from every new endeavo...

Anyone who knows anything about American history and our nation’s political system is aware that the men and women who sit on the right side of the aisle in the 21 st century are not true Republicans. These pretenders forever abandoned the principles and the ideals of the Grand Old Party on January 20, 2017. This Republican Party has moved so far to the right there is no doubt they support fascism. One real Republican who proved her love of country by performing the job for which she was elected is Liz Cheney, former Representative from Wyoming, and daughter of former vice-president, Dick Cheney. Unlike her fellow Republicans, she was not afraid to tell the truth, and accepted a position on the select committee which investigated the events of the darkest day in America, January 6, 2021. President Biden awarded Ms. Cheney and seven others the Presidential Citizens Medal for outstanding service to their country. She received a much-deserved standing ovation. I was 35 years old in 1980 ...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart Wednesday evening was historic. Not since Lyndon Johnson in 1968 had a sitting president qualified for reelection removed himself from his party’s ticket. President Biden offered his reasons for ending his campaign for reelection in an act of pure class I seldom see in Washington. "Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as the President of the United States. Here I am." This was the beginning of his speech. He went on to explain that his decision was motivated by one belief, it was the right thing to do for his country. 52 YEARS OF SERVICE TO HIS COUNTRY IS ENOUGH TO ASK FROM ANY MAN OR WOMAN President Biden began his distinguished career in 1972, becoming the junior Senator from Delaware. He is the youngest person ever to be elected to the Senate. His 30 th birthday, the required age for a Senator, ca...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart If our Founding Fathers were alive today, they would take a long look at what they accomplished in 1789. Much of what was done during the Constitutional Convention was both great and revolutionary. However, they would also learn that they overestimated their faith in mankind, and this single fact placed the future of the new country in jeopardy. At the top of their revelations would be the failure to establish term limits for all three branches of government, and their creation of the Electoral College. Their intent was to allow the people to choose their president, but the Electoral College gave that right to the states. They believed that every vote should count, but that has never happened. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This quote describes both the legislative branch and the judicial branch in the 21 st century. The legislative branch is not broken, it is shattered and dysfunctional. Lost are the precepts of a two-party system whe...

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart   The vote was 311-112 . The House of Representatives voted to approve additional military aid for Ukraine. Why is this shocking? Trump and his fascist supporters in the House calling themselves the “Freedom Caucus” opposed the bill’s passage. They went so far as to threaten the removal of Mike Johnson , one of their own, as the Speake r if it passed.   The Republican Party controls 2 18 seats out of 435, and 41 of those right-wing politicians are members of the Freedom Caucus. This is a significant defeat fo r Trump and his anti-American minions.   Are a Growing Number of Right-Wing Politicians Revealing Their Disgust for Trump?   I’m not sure if this means anything. Members of the House are up for election every two years, and this is priority number one for all professional politicians.   However, this vote definitely reveals a lack of cohesion on the right side of the aisle. There is a widespread belief that Democrats will...

Op-ed by TheWiseOld Fart   I grew up in the 1950’s and 1960’s. My interest in politics began in 1956. Our government has never been perfect, but during my younger years, with heated deliberation and compromise, it worked. Most of the time our elected officials “did the right thing,” or something close to it.   The American People are the Least Informed in the Free World   One of the things I remember most is that my grandparents, uncles and aunts discussed politics and the direction our nation was taking after the end of WWII. They read the newspaper and were far more informed than the average American who “learns everything they need from television today.”   I assumed that every American paid attention to what was happening in our country, and about one-half of them did. Today I doubt that five percent of all Americans are aware of what is happening in Washington. They are ignorant because of a lack of effort, but also because our government has become m...