The political climate in America has officially reached late-stage global warming levels. Indeed, no matter which side of the fence you sit on, or even if you’re a fence sitter in general, the grass is looking pretty brown all the way around.
Nevertheless, as a political atheist who has been on a non-partisan soapbox for many years now, I feel the need to ask: Is the system really broken, or is it working as intended?
The Expiration Date on Empathy
One massive issue with living in a political terrain such as ours is that everything expires. For instance, remember those pandemic-era programs that were supposed to help “stabilize” America?
They included the following:
- Expanded SNAP and emergency allotments (ended March 2023)
- Child Tax Credit boost (expired December 2021)
- Eviction moratorium (ended August 2021)
- Student-loan pause (lifted fall 2023)
- COVID unemployment bonuses (expired September 2021)
Now, let’s take a trip in the time machine back to The Great Depression. Most of those programs were also billed as temporary, and look how long we kept that energy going. The government didn’t fix the system; it rented decency from term to term.
Either way, times have changed, and at some point, we as a nation will have to revisit the foundation of those deals and find the best way forward. Nevertheless, there has been no real work to lay a new foundation, and in the meantime, the powers that be continue to put a band-aid over the massive bullet wound, leaving the real work for their unfortunate successors.
Although we are constantly told that social security, SNAP, Section 8, and other programs likely “won’t be around” when we retire, very little work has been done to determine other suitable options.
And this is how we always end up here. There has never truly been a solid foundation upholding these programs. Instead, it’s up to the politicians to negotiate these budgets, ever so often, which often results in abuse of power as politicians leverage shutdowns to force negotiations on specific programs and issues.
Granted, we should have long since created a better way to prevent unnecessary shutdowns. However, that’s difficult to do when many of the most powerful politicians are unaffected by these shutdowns.
Nevertheless, now the scaffolding’s gone, the rent’s due, and everyone’s acting shocked that gravity still works.
Why are we ignoring the fact that the system is working by design? In order to fix the house, we have to address the inherently problematic foundation, right?
Here are five signs the system isn’t broken; it’s working the way it was intended to.
1. The “Temporary Fix” Was the Whole Plan
When a country keeps calling everything “emergency aid,” what it really means is we don’t plan to help you unless the apocalypse trends. The safety nets were trial subscriptions to basic dignity, with no renewal option. These days, we’re still riding on this rickety road, and it’s only a matter of time before we end up off the beaten path.
2. Billionaires Playing Hunger Games With Your Groceries
Although millions of Americans rely on SNAP benefits every month, the EBT card is a mere line item in a corporate budget meeting. Moreover, the very same companies that are inflating food prices sponsor the politicians who promise to “fix inflation.” Spoiler: it’s probably never going to happen.
Sure, Biden was plenty friendly, but “Bidenomics” was just trickle-down with better branding. I’m not sure how we can call it progress while paying twelve dollars for orange juice, and the only thing trickling down was anxiety.
3. Patriotism Means Surviving on Vibes and Caffeine
Patriotism is being redefined in real time. Apparently, “freedom” now means choosing between bills and groceries while billionaires send rockets to space “for inspiration.”
I mean, it works in a nation where everyone is convinced they’re just one move away from billionaire status, but in reality, most of us are far closer to the poor house than the White House.
Either way, while they’re making America great again, it seems they forgot to mention that they were sticking taxpayers with the bill. Tax cuts are cool and all, but when so many people are in need of relief, it’s time to use ingenuity to actually fix the system rather than handing us yet another trickle-down rebrand.
4. Empathy Has a Paywall
We can stream 4K disaster footage from anywhere on earth, but feeding the less fortunate is still “too complicated.” Humanity didn’t die; it got outsourced. No matter how much we like to pretend that we’re all the best humans on the planet, we have become pretty apathetic to the world around us.
With political unrest at full sail and the economy at the helm, many have had to abandon ship in terms of empathy for others in order to save their own vessels. In other words, many people can no longer afford empathy in this political climate, as they are spending all their energy trying to save themselves and those closest to them.
5. The Real Shutdown Was Moral, Not Federal
Government might reopen, but the compassion servers are still offline. The system isn’t broken; it finally stopped pretending to care. We could and should have found long-term solutions to the dwindling funding for social programs of all kinds.
Unfortunately, we keep going for the “good enough” easy fixes, ignoring the fact that every time the government shuts down, we could end up in a similar position as we’re in now, or even worse.
Sure, watching politicians golf and treat this shutdown like a small spat on the playground is jarring with so much at stake, but if we’re honest, this is how it’s been the entire time.
Bottom Line
Given how divided the nation presently is, more and more people are becoming radicalized and literally calling for the blood of their opponents. Once again, the real issue is that we continue to believe in a system that is innately flawed and leaves very little room for ingenuity.
I say this all the time, but it bears repeating: America is a republic being run as a democracy, which is honestly more like an aristocracy. All the power players are related or long-term friends, and even when it seems like they’re fighting over us, they often remain cordial with one another in the background.
These shutdowns tend to affect all of us “commonfolk” in different ways. Unless you are a part of the program, of course…and even then, your job or pay may be delayed until those in charge stop weaponizing public outrage as leverage during these negotiations.
We don’t need new politicians, but a recall on the entire operating system. Until then, the rest of us will keep patching our lives together while the rich livestream the collapse. As we know, this is done by design, but until we start to address the system itself, nothing will truly change.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission.