Double Vision, Deja Vu, Manufactured Misconceptions and Constitutional Conventions

Many of my regular readers have picked up on the fact that I often look toward the seasons and the holidays ahead to help inspire my writing.  I’m starting this one at Hodge Campground - about 45 minutes SW of Taos - a disbursed site along the river not far off the Old Highway to Taos.  I’m here with the Jill Bear, on our 22nd anniversary camping road trip, heading soon to Ojo Caliente and then to Pagosa Springs for some hot springs and doing our favorite thing - adventuring together!  Jill is a twin, and a Gemini by horoscope, with a birthday coming up, and whenever I think about twins I always think about the old Double-Mint gum commercials - who remembers this one?

Lately, I’ve been feeling like I’m seeing double-vision with the Trump presidency - and with the “Big, Beautiful Bill” having now passed the House, I’m concerned this term in the White House may mirror the first - promises of growth based on tax cuts and deregulation, but keep on spending - in slightly different ways than the previous administration - and make our fiscal deficit even worse!  In the words of Yogi Berra - it's like deja vu all over again!  Still not as bad as Biden - yet - but let’s just say I’m concerned that the DOGE activities may be a smokescreen for business as usual.  

Not only that, but now Biden has Stage 4+ prostate cancer, metastasizing to his bones - AND WE JUST FOUND OUT!  And no one believes THEY just found out - and he’s been the President the last 4 years! - and was running again for 2024 until his obvious senility showed through at the debate - and then Kamala was in despite not getting any primary votes? - and seriously - is our reality almost worse than the Hunger Games in some ways?  At least those players understood the nature of the game, and most of us don’t even know we’re being played.  

But - can we do anything about it? - let’s explore together.

Let’s start with Biden, our President the last four years, and someone who was obviously unfit for serious work when he ran in the 2020 election.  But Bernie was looking strong in the primaries, and he wasn’t yet a pawn of the party, and so Mayor Pete and Amy from Minnesota “dropped out” and fell in line behind Biden, and then China let the bugs out and the experts shut down the world, and boom - Biden’s in the big house he’s always craved. 

But was he ever really in charge?  The new book, Original Sin from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, suggests not.  Between First Lady Jill and Former President Barack, a few trusted advisors, and who knows how many interns, plus the trusty autopen - the wheels of government kept turning. And at the end, we introduced the world to the pre-emptive pardon!  Fancy.  

For me, Biden’s presidency was highlighted by his early embrace of Covid vaccine mandates and school and other lockdowns, then exiting Afghanistan in the most shortsighted way possible -  which was just enough incentive for Russia to invade Ukraine.  Also characterized by obvious DEI picks across the cabinet and administration (i.e. Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete, and Rachel Levine), and add ever-increasing fiscal irresponsibility - we’re now almost bankrupt as a nation, spending as much on interest as on defense - and World War III is on the horizon - and the kids are not all right.    

Yay.  

And - between these coverups and assorted conspiracy theories proved right time after time, no one trusts the legacy media anymore. I looked up the stats for CNN, and for the week of May 12-18, the network had an average viewership of 405,000, with only 74,000 in the 25 to 54 age demographic.  I did the math, and that is 0.15% of the adult population, and 0.06% of the 25 - 54 segment.  Mr. Beast influences 10 times as many people every hour as CNN does in a week!

And you can’t trust Facebook, and you can’t trust X (at least some of them), or LinkedIn, and really you can’t trust anybody - because they might be one of them.  The others.  But this us versus them mentality is also part of the manufactured misconception.  For me, them is the people ruining our country’s finances and competitiveness and culture of merit, and us is the We the People that must rally to save it.

Let’s get back to the budget, shall we?  Here’s a terrifying clear set of info-graphics and data for 2024 - and past years - directly from the Congressional Budget Office.   

It shows that the US ran a deficit in 2024 of almost $2 Trillion dollars - $4.9T collected, $6.8T spent.  Entitlement spending is out of control, with outflows for Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, and other mandatory spending far exceeding the payroll taxes that are collected to offset. And the boomers have only just started retiring, and we’re not having babies like we used to, and I sure hope the Tesla robots and AI chatbots like paying taxes!

Federal government spending was more than 23% of gross domestic product in 2024, and has been on an increasing trend since the early 1900’s.  Any economist who takes a look at our finances, and says that we’re on a sustainable course is a propagandist.  Yes - some nations spend even more as a % of GDP - but - they aren’t going into massive debt to do it.

This is precisely the kind of overbloated federal government that the founding fathers were concerned about. The 10th amendment to the Constitution (the last but not least of the Bill of Rights) reserves all rights not explicitly spelled out as federal powers for the states, and Article 5 of the main body provides for further amendments.  

Here’s a little sidebar squirrel chase, the most recent amendment was added in 1992 on a change that was proposed first in 1789. You can look up more here, but it basically requires certain timing and notification on congressional pay raises - oooh, bit stuff. Previous to that was 1971 - Amendment 26, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. I guess that’s appropriate when you’re sending 18 year olds off to war, but it does little to ensure smarter voting.   

We need bigger changes than those last two, I’m afraid, but it’s not easy. It takes 34 states to call a Constitutional Convention - and then 38 states to ratify any amendment.  But this is truly a We the People moment, and if we can put aside the manufactured misconception of Democrats and Republicans in power being materially different in behavior, perhaps we can pull a convention together.

And what could we do there?

1. Balanced Budget Amendment 
2. Term Limits 
3. Spending Transparency 
4. Employment Restrictions 

I’ll touch on each of these very briefly as I know this blog is getting long already! 

1. Balanced Budget Amendment 

The last president to meaningfully cut federal government spending (and the most recent to have a balanced budget) was Bill Clinton, so yes, it’s been too long!  But it’s doable, and we must.  We must increase the age of Social Security, and we’ve got to transition to a healthy human system instead of a sick care system.  

2. Term Limits 

Up to two 6-year terms for Senators, and up to six 2 year terms for Congressmen & women.  After that, you have to get a real job, with restrictions to be noted below. Hopefully this reduces the number of career politicians and you’ll still have some skills left from a previous career.

3. Spending Transparency 

I can see having a black budget for certain covert operations, weapons development programs and similar, but otherwise I don’t see any reason that every dollar couldn’t be accounted for and published on a blockchain. Local, State, and Federal Governments should all run this way.  

4. Employment Restrictions for Regulatory Officials and retiring public employees

I’m not sure how this would look, but we can’t have those responsible for regulating Pfizer get a cush job with Pfizer immediately after their “term of service” ends.  

Smarter people than me will have the obligation to talk topics through, and understand how we can thoughtfully place these restraints on our federal system.  If we cannot - we’ll go into our 250th anniversary year (the semiquincentennial if you wondered) little better off than the “no taxation without representation” colonists who threw that first tea party and started this great American experiment.  

What would you add to this list, and what would you remove - and why?  I love to get your comments and emails, and I hope to see you at the convention!