Latest Stimulus Bill Proves Why You Should Be an Independent
(Op-Ed Article)
LAKELAND – Florida – On 21 December the U.S. House passed a second stimulus bill, this time with a smaller check for those out of work who have been waiting for a little extra money to maybe buy food with. However it seemingly still includes billions for the companies of lobbyists. Clearly, you were not powerful enough to receive as much money as them. Was such a bill passed solely by democrat-party lawmakers, who President Donald Trump blames? No. It is a product of both the major political parties of the United States, and both are to blame.
Now as this is an op-ed article this is of course me just saying my opinion, but even before this bill we had Thanksgiving, how many U.S. residents bickered with each other over politics at Thanksgiving dinner? Isn’t this sort of thing a waste of energy? And how much has changed for the better since 2016 when people started to argue, and even drift from each other, over U.S. politics. I even know some people who are not even from the U.S. and do not even go there that had arguments over Democrats versus Republicans! Surely this is getting out of hand?
But even if I am wrong about that last point, isn’t the main purpose of government to do certain jobs we don’t do ourselves (whether out of busyness or convenience)? In which case have they done a good job or a bad job here?
I personally do not want a handout of $600 from a bill that costs over $2000 to each tax payer (if the tax-cost was spread out evenly). If you look at the bill in this way, who does it appear they work for? If I am a C.E.O. and 20 minutes of my time is worth a fortune to my company, do I go mow the front lawn of the company’s offices? No, I hire somebody to do it and pay them decently. But what if they were to just take the money and go mow the front lawn of a competing company’s office on the other side of the road? I’d be forced to fire them!
George Washington said political parties (or as the founders knew them, ‘factions’) “…opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions”1. If you look at the latest bill, you will indeed see that we are sending money to foreign governments. And I’m sure we can all agree with Mr. Washington that there is corruption. He also said it would be a distraction, and it now very much is. People are scared into siding with one party or the other thru fear mongering by biased media, and some people even get very emotionally involved, ready to open the latest news article in favour of their ‘team’. They are distracted like it is a form of drug.
The day of the results of a U.S. election can be used by other countries as the perfect day to release documents to the public while everyone is distracted, avoiding the eye of journalists!
We have in fact largely lost journalistic reporting to the more profitable ‘click-bait’ articles about politics. And meanwhile, short of the cost of embarrassment from news stories, politicians on both sides in Washington D.C. earned a lot of money negotiating the new bill, as their salaries were not put on hold like yours. And then once there is finally a bill they agree on, they decide assigning $4 billion dollars for the U.S. Navy to procure weapons is necessary. Do missiles stop covid-19?
The two parties are about power and money, and each get you’re backing with the “red team/blue team” mind-set. But at the end of the day they still both voted to bail out big corporations during the last financial crisis in the late 2000’s, both included money in this bill for special interests, both are status-quo, both create huge followings despite no two individuals being alike, and both have huge power over the public.
If there more independents these two parties would have to listen more and the public would have more power instead of it going to them. The U.S. has tried democrats and republicans for a long time, and it hasn’t worked. I say there is no harm in trying something else.
Notes:
- Washington’s Farewell Address 1796. (n.d.). Retrieved December 26, 2020, from https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp