Federal Government, It’s Time We had a Talk

I think I am like most Americans when I say that my morning routine includes a cup of coffee in one hand and in the other, I am scrolling through my Facebook feed, catching up on all the things I “missed” while I was sleeping. Hey, I’m human. We all do it.

Today, however, I paused a little longer than normal and sat back in my seat. A friend, whom I know to be a raging Liberal, shared yet another political NowThisvideo. I typically watch or read whatever this friend posts even though my husband cannot understand why- I typically get a little “fired up” after reading and watching.

Today, however, I agreed with this Facebook friend of mine! In this video, a group of citizens stand outside Senator Capito’s R-W.V. office trying to hand the senator a pile of petitions from her constituents. Yet, the senator’s staff locked these people out. There were no signs of violence, no outrageous requests- it was just a group of concerned mothers trying to pass off petitions to her staff from the senator’s own state. Instead of taking the time to meet the people who elected her and help pay for her lifestyle, she locked them out. The head of Capito’s staff stayed on speakerphone with the constituents, with a locked door separating them, and then asked her to just pass things under the door. Unbelievable.

Some of you might be wondering why I am taking the time to write this blog, especially since we all know Senator Capito is a Republican. She is the first female elected to the Senate from West Virginia, and she is the daughter of the late Republican Governor of West Virginia Arch Moore. By all means, I should be celebrating a female Republican in our Federal Government and ignoring this random video indicting her on Facebook.

Yet, I am upset beyond this little NowThis video. I am sick and tired of our government ignoring us, believing us to be poor, ignorant, and angry little sheep. Well, I hate to tell you Washington, I am no sheep! Your time has come.
We believed President Trump would be the answer, but just this last weekend he signed an enormous budget increase that sets Conservatives back decades. Bush failed us. We suffered through Obama and Clinton. We are ready for REAL change.
In the 2016 election races, we each had GOP favorites, people we believed would really make a change in our country. I looked up to smart businesswomen like Carly Fiorina, believing I could be like her one day. I imagined myself as an Ivanka or a Carly, giving inspiring speeches to thousands, while I also ran a multi-million-dollar corporation with a baby on my hip. I was blinded by their success, and I salivated for a life like that, a life in which I could help inspire change for millions of Americans. Then, after hearing her give the same exact speech four times over a period of six months, I realized something.

The people who run for positions of power are the ones we should never elect to office. They campaign on promises they never intend to keep, and then they lock us out of their offices! We believe that our Government is “For the people, By the people,” but where is evidence of that? Where do we see real change happening that is genuinely attempting to help single-mothers and hurting veterans? The Democrats claim that they are the “Party of the Broken”, but we have seen example after example of Democrats like Hillary Clinton manipulating people to keep their money and power. The Republican party tells us they will take care of us, and then they lock us out of their offices!

So, what is the answer? If I had one, I probably wouldn’t be writing this blog today! But here’s what I DO know; people like you and I can impact our communities in small, tangible ways. Start a community garden! Volunteer at the local Veteran’s hospital. Take a dish over to the house of the mother who just had her third baby. Be active in your local religious organization and have a cup of coffee with a stranger.

Perhaps our Founding Fathers didn’t mean “For the people, By the people” like we see it today in which we elect people to run the Government on our behalf. Maybe it’s where we all come together as a community to help each other out and heal our country’s dividedness. Maybe our small, daily acts really are meant to provide everlasting change. Our Government is not supposed to solve our problems- we need to quit standing outside their doors, waiting for them to make a difference. We must be the change ourselves.

Thomas Jefferson said it best when he said, “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for, but one which should not only be founded on true free principles, but in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among general bodies of magistracy, as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.”

So how are you going to make a change today? How can we remind the Government that we don’t need them, as much as they hate to admit it? If we are going to be real Conservatives, it’s time to stop waiting on our large Federal Government to solve problems- we must do it ourselves. We are a nation of people who really are about being “For the people, By the people.”