We are entering a brand-new political paradigm. Since the election of Obama in 2008, America has existed in a leftist feminist movement, characterized as an almost unstoppable woke political wave. Leftist women were at the forefront of almost every single political action in the last 16+ years, starting with “Occupy Wall Street” all the way to “Trans for Ukraine.”

All political movements are a direct reaction to the one before them. In 2024, America is fully moving into a new era of the MAGA movement. MAGA is a politically incorrect, blustery, nationally introspective — some would call isolationist — male-dominated political movement.

How can we be so sure we are entering a new era? Check out the sheer volume of the policy stack on the Republican side vs. the Democrat. Which political party has the largest buildup of political potential energy? The discrepancy of policy from one side to the other signifies the political pendulum has reached its max potential energy on the Republican side, and the pendulum is swinging the other way.

The Political Pendulum

A university student sits in physics class. The auditorium is quite large, with a 200-student seating capacity, 35-foot ceilings, and various science-related experiments scattered haphazardly on stage. An enigmatic professor sets up his pendulum experiment. In his chalk-dusted hands, he carries the 40 lb. weight to the extreme side of the stage and releases it, the string taut.

Gravity as a force is always acting on the “bob,” attempting to pull it toward the center of the stage. The maximum velocity is at the peak of the pendulum dip. From there, the momentum begins to slow, the force of gravity begins to act in the opposite direction, and potential energy begins to build, which will stop the pendulum and begin to swing it back in the opposite direction.

Even though the students understand the physics of a pendulum swing, somehow, it’s not certain what will happen next. Students hold their breath and glance at one another, trying to display a modicum of cool. The brain knows what should happen: the pendulum should slow down and stop at the very moment it approaches the opposite wall. Nature should balance itself. But the students’ nervous systems sense that maybe, just maybe, at the peak of the momentum of the swing, the pendulum will break loose from the string and launch the weight in an unpredictable direction.

Trump and the MAGA Republicans developed a comprehensive set of policies forged in the fire of bitter defeat and political castration since 2008. On the Democrat side, Kamala had a very weak policy agenda. She ran on “Joy?” It was never clear what she advocated for, other than to keep the same set of people in power. She flip-flopped on so many policies it became a meme. Often she just copied Trump’s policies, like no tax on tips, because they were popular. What was the most memorable policy of Kamala Harris? Having trouble remembering?

Political Potential Energy

Kamala Harris carried an empty policy stack, and that wasn’t necessarily her fault. Almost every single Democratic Party policy has already been enacted. The size and ambition of the policy stack is often more important than the actual content. This signifies the amount of force and political potential energy behind a candidate or party. The Democrats’ political energy had already been expended. Far from failure, Democrats are victims of their own success.

Since 2008, leftist women were at the forefront of almost every political movement in America. Starting with Occupy Wall Street, to the Affordable Care Act, to gay marriage, to Black Lives Matter, to trans movements and LGBTQ+, DEI, Climate Change, refugee crises, Islam, Palestinian and Ukraine support, ANTIFA, and on and on. The leftist women’s movement controlled the national government, large state and big-city governments, NGOs, the arts, the media, Hollywood and music, universities and research funding, social media, corporate America with DEI, border control and immigration, and even made significant inroads into male-dominated areas such as the gaming industry and the U.S. military. Almost every single American institution had to bend the knee to “wokism,” or they would be canceled, funding would be pulled, or lawfare would be enacted upon them. Leftist women owned everything.

Since 2008, leftist feminists were able to enact every single policy on their platform — so much so, they needed to create new artificial crises in order to have problems to solve. I am old enough to remember when one month after the gay marriage initiative was passed in 2015, trans rights seemingly became the most important issue in the entire world, overnight.

Leftists were so powerful that they dictated the language of the people through the censorship complex. When censorship is the main focus, there is nothing tangible left to do but hold desperately, tightly to power. The movement just ran out of steam. The woke political capital had been extinguished. The energy behind the movement, now gone.

End of Political Movements — Features

The Biden Presidency reminded me of the last years of Bush from ’04-‘08. George W. Bush was a figurehead for the waning years of a several-decade-long male-dominated movement that started with Ronald Reagan’s election in the 1980s. From the 1980s to the 2000s, males dominated every single aspect of society — from music (think heavy metal, rap, hip hop, grunge, emo) to movies (think action movies with gratuitous sex). Males dominated corporate America, politics, and institutions.

During the Bush years, the endless wars, lack of empathy, and intellectual laziness began to crystallize leftist educated women — many of them young millennials — into taking action. They felt like they had no choice. Otherwise, they would continue to be dominated by men who looked like Dick Cheney.

What do the end of political movements look like? In the early 2000s, Neocons exhausted all their political capital through endless wars, ignoring social movements, and failing to address the problems of the current society with any intelligence or thoughtfulness whatsoever. Those years felt like a stalemate: pump money into the economy to prop it up, prod and provoke countries abroad with a focus on American Empire, and failed foreign conflicts. The Biden years, with Ukraine and Israel, feel much the same. These characteristics were also present during the Carter years when he was bogged down with the Iran hostage crisis. Coincidently, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and Joe Biden all reigned during the waning years of decades long political movements.

The New Pendulum Swing — MAGA Era

The pendulum started slowly turning with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. This change was fought tooth and nail by both sides of the political establishment. With the Supreme Court conservative majority in 2020 and the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the pendulum turned even more into a new era of American politics. The second election of Donald Trump in 2024 just codified this new era. The pendulum is firmly headed in the other direction now, building up momentum.

What is the MAGA movement? It’s an attempt to return to American foundational ideals, focusing on America first and limiting Washington, D.C., and American imperialism abroad. Like any pendulum swing, it is a reactionary political movement in response to what came before. MAGA, if anything, is an effort to defeat the woke women’s agenda that preceded it.

Some of the MAGA policy stack includes:

• Immigration reform — securing the border
• National security — ending foreign wars
• Addressing bloated government spending without accountability
• Returning manufacturing to America
• Energy independence
• Limiting government overreach and censorship
• Reforming government bureaucracy and regulations
• Reorganizing the Department of Defense to address future conflicts
• Law and order — addressing crime in our cities
• Tax reform

Another way to gauge where the pendulum is in the cycle of political movements is through landslide victories at the polls. In this election, Trump won both the electoral vote and the popular vote. Republicans hold the majority in the House and the Senate. This is comparable to Obama in 2008 and Reagan in 1984, historic landslide victories that signified the ratification of political movements by the American people.

The Republicans will continue to win elections until the MAGA agenda is fully in place — policies that the people officially ratified in the 2024 election. Sure, Republicans won’t win every election. Bill Clinton, for example, was elected to two terms during the neocon movement. However, his agenda was completely foiled by the “Contract with America,” led by Newt Gingrich in 1994, when Republicans gained control of both the House and Senate. Clinton was forced to compromise with neocons his entire presidency. Similarly, Republicans will hold a policy advantage that drives American politics until the MAGA agenda is fulfilled.

Overextension of the People’s Mandate

Often in political movements, the momentum of the original policy stack keeps moving, and additional policies — often less popular — are created to keep the movement in power. These political movements almost always overstep their political mandate.

Here’s an interesting quote from an NGO that explains this process, which I think also applies to political strategies:

“You go as far as the voters support your position, and then you go beyond the border into further territory where the next position is unpopular. This is a deliberate strategic move. If you are advocating for what everyone believes anyway, then you’ve won. Nobody will write you a check.

“If you go 10 to 20 to 30 percent further, into the controversial realm, then you will be attacked. Then you can say, ‘We’re being attacked (by the other side).’ Not only do they want to prevent this, but they want to roll back all of our rights for the last 100 years. And then what happens is you can raise money, gain more political capital, all by moving further down the political spectrum.”

In this part of the political pendulum cycle, the ball at the end of the string is still moving in the same direction, but the velocity is slowing down.

This is why Democrats fear Agenda 2025. They know Trump does not personally support many of its policies. But Democrats understand that once Trump enacts the popular policies he campaigned on, Republicans will begin pulling Agenda 2025 out of the bottom drawer. This is the equivalent of running on and legalizing gay marriage and then, the next month, telling people they are bigots if they don’t fully accept trans rights. Once Agenda 2025 ideas begin to roll out, we will know that the momentum of the pendulum has peaked, and gravity will act in the opposite direction, trying to bring it back to the center.

Movements and the Waning Cycle of the Pendulum

Movements, once their core policies are passed, tend to become the new political establishment. The true visionaries from the original movement and those who enacted the policies will be long gone a decade from now, their political influence a shadow of what it once was. All that remains are ideologues and power-hungry politicos who enter leadership positions to grab more power. Void of a popular consensus policy agenda, they then move further and further away from the center, chastising and controlling the opposition as they try to remain relevant.

Finally, in the waning part of the cycle, they attempt to control the press, dictate the discourse, and slander anyone who steps out of bounds. Will we see this 10–15 years from now? The answer is most likely yes. Will people be bullied and intimidated if they dare to slander Trump in 2034? My prediction is yes, and this will turn off millions of Americans, beginning to swing the political pendulum back in the other direction. This is what history tells us will happen.

The Grief Cycle of a Political Party

Once the MAGA policies are enacted and current Democratic Party leaders retire, what will be left are young Democrats. These young people will lose and cry for a decade until they become so angry they have no choice but to transform into something new and unrecognizable. They will be so upset with losing that they will develop and codify a list of policy demands. They will have to vet this through the majority of American voters over multiple election cycles. They will have to fight through entrenched political regimes and power establishments. They will have to develop such a large policy agenda, so popular with the American people, that it requires the next wave of leftist governance to enact.

This is the pendulum we live in. This is the system.

For Democrats, all is not lost. But you do have to go through the grief cycle. You do have to lose and redefine yourself into something the American people want again. When the policies of a political movement are being passed and enacted, this is the moment of maximum momentum. This is the moment when the opposing side fears that if they don’t change, they will never win another election again. This is the moment of Acceptance.

Conclusion

Political gravity is always trying to pull elections, candidates, and policies toward the center. The gravity is the silent American majority of the electorate who are always trying to balance these pendulum swings of political movements that go too far. Often, the political pendulum has so much momentum that it swings far to the right or left. This variation makes us uncomfortable. In the moment of maximum political velocity, we forget that the pendulum is always trying to find the center.

In our functioning democracy, the political pendulum swings back and forth every few decades, so why does it still feel so unsettling? It doesn’t feel like the pendulum swings neatly on a stage in a college physics class. It feels like the political pendulum is moving in three dimensions, in a haphazard way, leading us further and further into chaos. It can be very scary, but in politics and in nature, chaos and destruction are necessary parts of the system to reset itself.

How long until the pendulum swings back in the other direction? However long it takes for that massive MAGA policy stack — and beyond — to dwindle to nothing. With the political ambition that MAGA has taken on, and the amount of push back we are certain to see, that might take a while. Democrats will need to go through the political grief cycle.

Whether you like the leader of the movement or not, MAGA is an idea whose time has come. Chaos will be imminent. But I doubt the chaos will be all that different than the 60s, or the 9/11 wars, or the woke movement in the grand scheme of things. The people that experience the majority of the chaos will be different — this time the Federal Government in Washington DC and the industries dependent upon a lack of fiscal responsibility.

The grim reaper is coming for Washington DC and the defense budget will be slashed and burned. Like a phoenix, it will rise again from the ashes as a lean and mean fighting force on the battlefield and on the balance sheet. Here are a few thoughts on what I think might happen.

The United States is $35 Trillion in debt and growing. We pay $1.2 Trillion a year on interest alone — not even paying down that debt. America collected $4.7 Trillion in revenues in 2023. To imagine this dept, a US household making $120K/year would be paying $3K a month in rent alone while having $750,000 in debt, which they pay no principle. This family will always be in debt, which continues to grow year over year, and will pass that debt to their children.

The lack of government fiscal accountability and the complete inability of government officials to have any plan whatsoever, became a critical issue in this election, even if it wasn’t talked about in the news. American voters sick of rising tax threats in the midst of comical lack of government transparency or accountability. Government waste has become a symbol for just how out of touch Washington DC truly is. DC has continued to get richer and richer at the expense of regular Americans. How else can we rein in Washington power than by taking their purse strings away?

Donald Trump and his motley crew of Silicon Valley moderates are about to take an axe to the Federal Budget. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) coined as a joke by Elon Musk is poised to take on DC in a way we have never seen. Agencies once deemed critical to American government functions will be completely wiped out. Department of Education — Gone. Department of Health — stripped bare.

The defense budget is a massive over-ripe fruit that is waiting to be squashed. Legacy defense contractors will get disrupted, and it’s way past time for that to happen. Cost overruns that have bloated the US defense budgets year after year, especially since 9/11, are about to be a thing of the past. The seeds will be harvested and placed into the ground and the whole thing will be completely reimagined.

What we are going to see is the Defense Industry running more like competitive commercial businesses. The Government contracting is ancient and out of date. In my opinion, The whole process is going to be completely gutted and replaced with a new system. Value should be the most important factor in selecting for a contract . What quality of service or product are your providing at what cost? Contractors will have to be more competitive, innovative, with greater cost discipline. The whole Defense Department will run much more like a business.

Legacy Defense Contractors — Complete Devastation

Remember, budget cuts are about impact per dollar spent. The total U.S. defense budget for Fiscal Year 2024 is approximately $886 billion. $230 billion is allocated to other defense-related expenditures. The largest amount of money allocated on the defense budget doesn’t even go to any armed service direction.

In a business, creating a service that is valued at a reasonable cost is the most important quality of that business. Not only contractors, but our armed service branches will need to adopt this same mindset.

What will get hit the most, by far, is the Defense contractors. My prediction is that this is the end of the Military Industrial Complex as we know it. They won’t go without a fight of course, but my guess is their days are numbered. Like the American Auto Industry, legacy defense contractors will turn to ghost towns, a relic of a bygone era.

This has all happened due to Silicon Valley entering into he manufacturing industry. Starting with SpaceX and Tesla and now Anduril, we are witnessing the beginning of a new manufacturing wave in America. The business model now consists of stripped down costs, highly innovative products, and automated manufacturing has exposed the MIC. They no longer have a monopoly of government contracts. This realization has already begun taking down Boeing. And this is just the beginning.

Armed Service Branches Cost/Benefit Analysis: Lean and Mean

The United States Marine Corps with an annual budget of $53B, is untouchable. The Marine Corps is by the dollar the most elite fighting force in America and that’s something that “DOGE” will appreciate. After all we are trying to get impact for the buck. No one does this better than the US Marines. Marine Corps is not only America’s best fighting force, but also by far the cheapest for the American tax payer. The Marines do more with less (and it’s not even close) than any other service.

Additionally, in the modern world, the Marines mission is more critical than ever. A MEU is a self-contained, air-ground task force of about 2,200 Marines. MEUs are required to be within 6–12 hours of landing and mission execution upon reaching a designated area, often referred to as being “within 24 hours of crisis response.” They are typically deployed for 15-day or longer “float” cycles, which means they’re ready to operate continuously in a crisis for up to 15 days without resupply

The United States Navy, annual budget of $202B, is expensive, but extremely valuable. Tweaks are necessary. The Navy does much more for this country than just providing defense of our shorelines, ports, and national interests abroad. The true benifit of the Navy, in my opinion, is to secure the world’s trade routes from forces who seek to impact world commerce in nefarious ways. In this way the Navy is key to not only our nation’s economic prosperity, but also to the civilized world. Since WWII the US Navy has had clear Naval superiority throughout the world. Now is not the time to give that up. I believe the DOGE committees will realize that the Navy budget is actually an investment in the economy of the United States and the world.

What needs to happen within the Navy is an overhaul of shipbuilding and to increase the competitiveness of the contractors. Competition is healthy and much needed as it drives cost reductions, innovations, and new thinking. To keep up with China, we desperately need our sharpest minds to be innovating.

Additionally, concerning the Navy, it would not surprise me that since we are providing this incredible service to the world — security the world’s trade routes — that the United States could share more of that responsibility in the future with our allies. Another option would be to render compensation for this service. After all, America as a business that is deeply in dept. We can’t act as the world’s charity anymore. I’m not sure how this could be executed, but I am sure, we can’t continue on protecting world trade at the cost of the American taxpayer alone.

Scale down the Army. The United States Army, with a budget of $185B annually, consists of over 400,000 soldiers. The Army is extremely important, probably the most important service, in wartime. Currently, we are not at war. The Army acts as is a snowball rolling downhill. As America enters a conflict, it begins slowly growing in size until it’s a rolling as a massive behemoth and unstoppable force.

What would an Army cut in half look like? No doubt, it would take longer for that snowball to ramp back up for a large conflict, if that happened in the future. But, I would argue this might be a good thing for Americans. A smaller Army, taking longer to ramp up might just keep us out of some of the dumb conflicts overseas that have plagued the last 50 years of foreign policy. Would that also embolden our enemies? Perhaps. But that would also tighten up our own diplomacy skills. Harder for the Department of State to intimidate through the threat of force. Diplomats are more likely to find common economic solutions abroad instead of strongarming foreign countries to do our social bidding. This could be a really good thing.

The Air Force with an annual budget of $185B has always been the budget king. Now that defense Space missions have peeled off with the creation of the US Space Force, the cost is not quite as shocking as before. But, it’s still bloated. A lot of that has to do with massive aircraft government contracts that have doubled and tripled in costs. See my comments about competition, business first defense contracts. This business first approach will be critical to lowering big ticket costs in the Navy and Air Force.

My belief is that the Airforce has too much manpower. Part of this reason is because it’s easier to recruit Airmen. As an outsider looking in (I could be wrong here) is that the Airforce is not mission focused enough. Around 18% of officers are actually pilots. So there is a massive amount of infrastructure, admin, logistics that go into air superiority all over the world. Is there another way to streamline these non-mission critical portions of the Air Force?

While not in the Department of Defense, cut the three letter agencies budgets by 2/3. The Patriot Act was important at one time. Now it’s just a relic of wars gone by and a massive government overreach of our civil rights. Three letter agencies have grown massively in power since WWII and yet we don’t know what they do. They have zero accountability to the American voter. These agencies have massively overstepped their bounds. Time to slash and burn everything but the bare bones.

A Single Metric to Rule Them All

Elon Musk often simplifies problems down to a single, clear metric. I recommend that he apply a “mission-focused serviceman to total service budget” metric to evaluate the value of an armed force. For example, if we estimate that 28% of the Air Force is directly involved in combat-focused missions, and we divide this by the 2024 Air Force budget, we get our metric. The figure includes the roughly 18% of officers who are pilots, plus an additional 10% who serve as Combat Systems Officers or Air Battle Managers, alongside the personnel they command. This isn’t a perfect number, but it’s an indirect measure of the proportion of combat operational roles.

Comparatively, in the Marine Corps, 25% of officers are in Combat Arms specialties. However, this doesn’t fully capture the unique capability of the Marine Corps, where 100% of Marine officers are trained as basic combat arms officers. Every Marine is a rifleman, and every Marine officer is trained as a Rifle Platoon Commander. This would be akin to every Air Force officer attending a basic flight school as a 2nd Lieutenant, with the ability to fly a basic combat mission if needed in a critical situation.

Using our metric of “cost per mission-focused personnel,” we see that the Air Force, with a $185 billion annual budget, has a cost of over $2 million per mission-focused Airman. In contrast, the Marine Corps, with a $53 billion budget, has a cost of around $286,000 per mission-focused Marine — nearly seven times more cost-effective than the Air Force.

The Defense Department and Washington, D.C., will likely resist such an evaluation, but they must face the same economic realities as the rest of America. Finally, Washington is no longer immune. As with any long illness, recovery requires listening to the doctors, taking the medicine, resting, and rebuilding. Soon enough, the Defense Department and D.C. will be stronger and more capable than ever — this time, with the approval of the American people.

We fight wars today between the left and right. Our darkest human anxieties are expressed in vailed shades of Communism vs. Fascism. Two opposing ideals pitched in near civil war, a seemingly endless conflict with little hope of resolution in sight. Politics has become exhausting. Perhaps it’s always been this way?

Only a few generations ago in our recent history, humans were killing each other over the opinions of nuanced translations of obscure bible verses. Religion was once a source of great social identity. For historical Christian nations, this is no longer the case. Cohesive religious identity has been chased out of us. To pray or talk about Jesus in public invokes the equivalent response of eating a lemon with your ears. We have new social orders now and new justice mechanisms that police the cultural morality like the priests of old. These new cultural priests don’t wear robes and maintaining celibacy anymore, but they still sit in judgment casting down damnation and fire just the same.

The irony is the search for God, the reaching out with our soul to try to understand the mysteries of life, has never been more prevalent than it is today. Now, individuals are discovering God in privacy and secret. The printing press once opened the Christian bible to the masses. Now the internet has opened the pantheon of past and present religions in a way that is so profound, no one quite knows what to make of it.

The search for God has become hyper personalized. Each person can individually explore the nature of God down any avenue that suits their fancy? Perhaps many avenues are attractive? Perhaps a twisting and morphing of a little bit of this and a little bit of that rubs one just the right way? And why not? Are you an atheist or agnostic? There are endless avenues to explore the nature of NOT God as well — a religion unto its own.

Perhaps our obsession over the role of the State in our lives (Left vs. Right) has given to us this enormous blessing that we just don’t fully appreciate in the moment. For the first time in recent history, citizens can research, understand, and be exposed to the vast history of religious ideas privately without judgement and without fear of repercussion. Absent the policing of religious priests, we are able to experience an individualized transformational journey not possible just twenty years ago.

I have come to believe that any search for God, even the search for NOT God, is a worth-while pursuit.

I have learned that religion is merely a metaphor in this 4-dimensional world to explain the nature of God. God is made up of all there is existing in dimensions beyond this plain of existence. Metaphors are imperfect representations often with multiple meanings and symbols that can be interpreted in various ways by people with different perspectives. We have been killing each other over misplaced metaphors for millennia.

Many who consider themselves religious have experienced God personally. People often say how God speaks to them or how they are “inspired by God.” This spiritual experience is not unique to the Abrahamic religions. Saying “God has touched me” is to feel the energy of God.

Prophets of various religions attempted to distill these transformational experiences by writing it down. The prophets felt that if they could explain their revelation in written code of maxims and laws they could help bring peace and unity into the societies in which they lived. No wonder religions represent God differently. God’s universal energy was translated by peoples with vastly different cultures in different epochs of historical time. This resulted in metaphors for God which were as unique as the many cultures on the earth. As time passed by, that original translation strayed further and further from that source energy that inspired it.

What I have learned along my own spiritual journey is that any pathway to the divine is a worthy one as long as you don’t demand that others believe the same metaphor. We are all trying to make sense of this world and our place within it. Respect the individual’s spiritual journey. You might think they are fanatical, and that’s okay. But who are we to judge? At the same time, no one else can judge you or your spiritual path. God is the same. The people translating God’s love are unique — the infinite metaphor for the infinite spirit. I doubt God would have it any other way.

I’d like to thank the world-wide web for the development of my own metaphor which helps me understand my place in the world. Millions upon millions of people are experiencing the same right now. What a blessing.

Ask a young Socialist to provide historical examples of past Socialist successes and they’ll shrug it off and say “Don’t worry about the details, bro. It’s all going to be Free and Simple for everyone!”

We are witnessing the first glimpse of a rise of Millennials into politics, business leadership and other influential positions. They have already made big waves in the voting booth, wallet, and activism, but you haven’t seen nothin’ yet. Millennials are coming for American institutions and systems and what they plan to do will shock you. This is a Socialist takeover inspired by their Boomer Hippie parents.

Millennials are sensitive souls with big hearts, which is not such a bad thing at an individual level. They have big bold ideas born out of some grudge against a society they feel is unjust. A generational army of naïve and vindictive young adults is absolutely terrifying. Somehow they have gravitated to believing a flat society will solve all of our problems. They are enthusiastic. They believe. And they want YOU to believe too. No amount of evidence or historical facts will swede them.

In the past several weeks, the Socialist takeover of the Democratic party has been all over the news. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez burst onto the scene with an ultimately positive, energized and confusing message. You see, Socialism and America are like oil and water. Even so, the youth aren’t backing down. They feel like this is their chance to take the Democratic Party further left. This is just the beginning folks.

Salespeople (gender neutral for the sensitive youth)are masters at ignoring details and barriers to their product implementation. These gender wavering skinny jeans wearing intellectuals are really just salespeople toting a product catalog just waiting for a chance to preach their agenda. They don’t have any details really figured out or any framework for their utopia. But they aren’t letting facts get in the way of a good message!

One critical piece to making a sale is having successful product examples and case studies to make you want to buy into what they are selling. Look, even the Flex Tape guy drove over shark infested waters. But no, Millennials don’t have any success stories. They are relying strictly on feel good and heart. They want to convince you that their solutions are simple and obvious. They want YOU to take a leap of faith with them or at the very least step aside. This is their sales pitch. Never ever buy it!

Growing up during a time when technology solved a lot of problems in a simple way, they have falsely that they can solve super complex systems in a similar fashion. The Facebook of Free Healthcare. The Google of Woke Government. The Instagram of Free College. And they are riding on a wave in which they will have great influence and power on our most sensitive and critical institutions and systems. What are we going to do?

We all want to make the world a better place. We all want to help the poor have greater access to resources. Leveling the playing field of opportunity is a good thing. Forcing our successful American ideals into a socialist box might just be the worst idea since Communism. This wave is coming and it’s up to all of us sane and responsible folks to figure out how to limit the damage.

Deep down, Socialism and Communism are about control. They want to control the population the institutions, the money, the power. They want to strip your freedom to work hard and earn success. They want to decide what you watch and what you talk about.

All of our problems can be solved by moving further left. Didn’t you know!?

Solve poverty — check

Solve homelessness — check

Free healthcare for all — check

Free college for all — check

It’s simple man. We just collect more taxes from the wealthy and everything is better! It’s going to be soooo easy!

If you ever, ever buy what these Socialist Salesmen are selling then our very way of life is in danger. They are selling poison. Don’t ever forget it.

What is the American Dream anyways? The American Dream at it’s core is upward mobility. The belief that through hard work, relationships, ingenuity, courage that one can lead a better life than the generation before. It’s about wealth creation, net worth and the fulfillment of overcoming challenge. The American Dream is NOT buying more stuff.

When the global economy fully matured around the year 2000, investors and politicians turned their attention away from the American Citizen. It took me a long time to understand why. When you look at the issue in business terms, it becomes clearer.

The secret sauce in any economic investment is growth. Growth is King. Growth produces wealth. If a business is no longer growing, it is dying. When the American middle class stopped growing, American politicians and businesses turned their attention elsewhere to the easy money. In a sense, the American market was tapped out (or so they thought), and the entire world turned to other growth markets. Increasingly, they began investing overseas believing growth existed in a global free trade world.

What happens in business when a company growth becomes stagnant? It becomes a “cash cow” and subsidizes other investments. Often the company is bought out by another growing company and the profits used to subsidize new products or markets. For example, Yahoo for many years had tapped out on growth even though they make a lot of money. It was bought by Verizon. Rest assured, NO money will be invested in Yahoo. All of Yahoo’s profits will be pumped into new Verizon growth initiatives.

Despite limited new investment in the American people, the American middle class cash cow became increasingly responsible for subsidizing the world through:

• Perpetual war as the world’s police state
• International consumer of goods produced in low labor cost countries like China, East Asia, etc…
• Welfare state for poor and immigrants entering the country illegally

It was the Great American wealth extraction… Wealth poured out of the American Middle Class into USGovernment bloated budgets and much of it wound up overseas.

With little investment, the American middle class wages became stagnant. Upward mobility became increasingly difficult. Just getting a job as a college graduate — a golden ticket only 15 years prior — now was almost impossible.

In return Americans received cheap goods. We sold out our future wealth and prosperity for more things. It was an addiction. The American Middle Class had a role to play in the global economy. We were supposed to buy stuff, alot of stuff. We were to be given enough wages so we could purchase, but not enough to increase our status.

The ultimate question though is: “Are we Americans better off with all this STUFF that we bought at Walmart and Amazon at a low cost?” Have we substituted the American Dream for cheaply made goods?

The United States has specialized in helping other nations move out of poverty. Just look at China. Over the past years China has risen and their nation’s poverty levels have been drastically reduced. This is on the backs of the American consumer. China produces goods at a low cost, Americans get their toys for less money and the money flows from American paychecks to Chinese companies and then to the low cost Chinese laborers.

Illegal immigrants enter the United States and perform low cost labor jobs. That money is then sent back to families in overseas.

Ask yourself, are we Americans better off now than at the turn of the Millennia? If not, then we must hold our leaders accountable to reinvest in our own citizens. While our leaders have looked globally for opportunity, they have sold out the American people as a Nation of addicts cheap products. American’s are more than just consumers. We have hopes and aspirations for our families and for our future.

To all of our leaders and politicians: Invest in America again. We will not disappoint. Make the American Dream for Americans Again.

In college, I was happy to just play and get an education. My professional life would be in a field that was non-sports related. In my case, attending the Naval Academy, I was more focused on selecting the Navy or Marine Corps after college. Many others, select their own pathways to a successful career.

There are athletes, however, who will be professionals in sports one day. Most of them have the kind of talent that is spotted much earlier than college, many times at the age of 15 or 16 years old. Agents, recruiters, and and Universities all vie for their services — to come to their school and represent their university — to win.

Problem 1: In many cases, these elite talented players come from poor homes living paycheck to paycheck or on subsidies from the government. The families become a target. Money and valuables like cars and jobs are floated out in exchange for commitments. The money is out there. People need the money. Yet this is against the rules somehow. What rules?! and Why?!

Problem 2: This is a high stakes game. Millions upon millions of dollars are riding on which schools these elite talented individuals select. Jobs hang in the balance, University prestige, boosters, etc… It has become a multi-billion dollar a year business. Yet, the players are still “student athletes” and “amateurs.” For the vast majority of athletes going pro in something else, so they say, this is true. But for elite level talent, there is a lot of money, like the crouched potential of a compressed spring, to compensate their talents. But this money is being blocked by an archaic amateurism.

Problem 3: It’s not like these elite talented kids have a choice. They are not allowed to enter professional sports so young. They are not allowed to even have jobs. They can’t get a meal paid for or a t-shirt given to them. They are forced to be amateurs with free classes as compensation. Many kids have meals provided by the school, but for kids that don’t get spending money from their families — which are many — what can they do? They can’t even afford to buy clothes for themselves or eat out with friends. Meanwhile the University and coaching staff continue to get richer.

Solution 1: We have been here before — use the Olympics model. I am old enough to remember when Olympians were amateurs too. Many argued strongly at the time that to pay Olympians would degrade the purity of the sport. Athletes couldn’t support themselves and their amateurism. And so many of the best athletes chose not to compete. The Olympic committee had to make a change. Now Olympic athletes get paid a stipend and are allowed to obtain sponsorships and do commercials… you know… exist in the free market like all other Americans.

Solution 2: Let the open market pay the elite talented players for god’s sake! If a player is good enough to get a shoe deal — let him. If a local car wash wants to pay him/her for a 30 second TV spot, let them. If a player is good enough for an agent to pay him (prior to receiving a pro contract) for future services, then let the market move money where the market wants. No one in this is hurt! The player wins, the University doesn’t lose money or prestige. Win-Win.

Solution 3: In this scenario, the paid player would still be a student-athlete but not necessarily an amateur. And this is a good thing. Poor families will be taken care of as well as many athletes, outside of the University budget. The NCAA would become relevant again instead of only enforcing idiot amateurism rules and regulations with the consistency of a 5th grader’s jump shot.

It’s amazing how for over 100 years, Universities have gotten away with not paying their most important and prized profit makers — the elite student athletes — on the guise of amateurism. In the 21st Century with increasing openness and fairness to all, this should be ended immediately. The irony is, the Universities still would not have to pay the athletes. But to block the athletes ability to exist in the free market is unAmerican and criminal.

I was on a flight reading the new Neil Gaiman book on Norse Mythology and it suddenly hit me. For years now, we all have been trying to figure it out, our fascination with one strange character, Donald J. Trump. Who or what is this guy? We can’t seem to wrap our collective heads around him. It’s clearer now than ever, Trump is Loki.

“Thor says, ‘You know something. I can tell it on your face. Tell me whatever you know and tell me now. I don’t trust you, Loki, and I want to know what you know right this moment, before you’ve had a chance to plot and plan.’”

Loki, the Norse trickster god, is one of the most fascinating and infuriating characters in literature. Loki is a clever and bold smart ass who is always asking for it. He is a master negotiator, often using the psychological angle against an opponent. In old myths involving Loki, something always goes horribly wrong. Loki is constantly thinking on his feet to get out of sticky situations, persuading and manipulating those around him. Often Loki’s motives are questioned and the gods like Oden and Thor revile Loki constantly trying to kill or exile him. But Loki always finds a way to survive. In the end, Loki often accomplishes something incredible and profound to the astonishment of his peers.

The concept of the “trickster god” is prevalent throughout many society’s myths and legends worldwide and throughout history. Sometimes, tricksters come in the form of animals like a fox, coyote, or br’er rabbit, for example. Hermes is the trickster of Greek Mythology. Even in the Bible, Jacob tricks his brother Esau into giving him his birthright in exchange for a bowl of soup. Jacob is one of the fathers of Judaism and essentially manipulated his way into that position.

According to Lewis Hyde, “a trickster crosses and often breaks both physical and societal rules…” Tricksters violate principles of social and natural order, playfully disrupting normal life and then re-establishing it on a new basis. Often, the bending/breaking of rules takes the form of tricks or thievery. Tricksters can be cunning or foolish or both. The trickster openly questions and mocks authority. They are usually male characters, and are fond of breaking rules, boasting, and playing tricks on both humans and gods.

My stance on Trump has changed over the last several years. At first, I thought he was just a clown with an orange face. As he mowed down Republican competitors, I began to take a closer look, beyond the stage show, at some of his policies. They were clever, revolutionary in many ways. I didn’t agree with all of his platform, but I began to respect the fact that he was bold enough to change the game. Then, as he was elected to the highest office in the land, I grew to respect him, yes through his flaws, because this is a democracy and any President should deserve our respect until proven otherwise. The mere fact that he is attacked on all sides, only makes me support him more.

In the stories of Loki, Oden and the gods receive great gifts and prosperity because of Loki, but they still despise him and often try to kill him. Loki tricked the dwarves into making Thor’s hammer and many of the other great possessions of the Norse Gods. Even so, the dwarves sow Loki’s mouth shut and attempt to cut his head off all while the gods look upon with approval. Wouldn’t many like to do this to Trump?!

When Thor was away conquering far lands, Loki, wait for it, was called in to negotiate the building of a wall to protect Asgard. He tricks the great giant builder into agreeing to an almost impossible deal. In the end, Loki gets the wall built for Asgard at no cost by turning into a mare and luring off the giant’s workhorse. Now if only Trump becomes transgender in exchange for a border wall paid in full by Mexico, my metaphor will become literal and my head would explode.

Trickster characters play an extremely important role in society. They are able to exist in a space outside social boundaries and address problems than normal characters could not. Often tricksters attack societies most challenging issues which can cause great upheaval. In a sense, tricksters turn the world on its’ head. This space of chaos and uncertainty often brings about an unseen positive end, an exposure of incompetence and corruption and a renewal of the system.

It may frighten you that we have Loki as the sitting President of the United States. Trump the trickster, purposely sent by the American people to DC to mix things up, tear it down, and produce something wonderful and unexpected just as Loki often did in Asgard. Loki leads Asgard on the brink of destruction, only to recover stronger and better than before. I believe the same will happen with Trump leading this nation. A precious gift received in the ugliest of circumstances and packaging.

“To abandon the ideals we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain, ‘the last best hope of earth’ for the sake of some half baked spurious nationalism… is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.”

If McCain is against nationalism to such a degree, tell me why he chose Sara Palin as his running mate in 2008? Many would say, Sara Palin is the precursor to Trump, Nationalism and America First politics. Perhaps McCain only understood that she connected with voters. After all, McCain had only met Palin “once or twice” before making his most important decision of the campaign.

By accident, I was present for John McCain’s presidential campaign announcement in 2000 in King Hall. I was a plebe at the Naval Academy and in way over my head. An upper classman announced to the table, “oh yeah, looks like McCain is going to run for President or something.” John McCain, the prodigal son, coming back to the Naval Academy and announcing his run for the Presidency of the United States, and I looked around the room astonished that no one really seemed to care. History was being made but the Mids barely looked up from their chimichangas. McCain’s voice echoed through the halls with the reverberation of a common press release. But then again, Senator McCain has never been able to draw the easy approval of a crowd.

McCain’s legacy is severely threatened by a sweeping wave of Americans who no longer want to spend their hard-earned cash financing foreign conflicts. In the last two presidencies alone, McCain has lead the nation through the largest foreign attack in American history, massive banking corruption leading to the largest recession since The Great Depression, the longest war in American history and allies who believe America should be the world’s police force. Yet, he seems content on the ideals he built throughout the world. What world is he living in?

Does John McCain have it all figured out? Is that why he doesn’t listen to the votors of the United States? When I was a second-class Midshipman, John McCain’s son, then a junior in high school came for a visit and sat at our table for lunch. Usually when we hosted high-schoolers we would take their questions, try to give them an idea of what the place was like. His Grandfather was a famous Admiral, his father a Navy pilot war hero turned powerful Senator. I remember thinking, this guy is a junior in high school and knows more about the Naval Academy than I do. A family profession has a way of soaking into your bones. The way a son observes a father act and react to different situations can last a lifetime.

McCain is a man whose ideals are now under attack. Perhaps this is why he voted NO on repealing Obamacare when he campaigned as “leading the fight to STOP Obamacare!” Has his health faded this quickly? He promised the American people Obamacare repeal less than a year ago. Perhaps he’s seeking adulation and influence wherever he can find it. And McCain has found great allies in his Democratic colleges, establishment and mainstream media, all cheering on his personal “Trump Rebellion.” I have no doubt McCain deserves the Medal of Liberty, but perhaps his actions on Obamacare explain why he is getting the medal NOW.

The lovable Republican loser has become archetype in Congress. Never Trumpers and RINOs are now the darlings of the press because they are STANDING UP TO TRUMP. What they are doing, is protecting the status quo that has gotten our country into this mess in the first place. Democratic establishment sure do love a losing Republican hand.

McCain can’t listen to the people. This is partly the reason why he selected Palin to outsource that task for him. But, even though Congress doesn’t listen to the people, the people have risen up beyond the government in an effort to place us on a new track. I don’t believe the people are always right, but after 30 years of McCain and Congress focused on power projection abroad, perhaps it’s time to refocus on the people who matter most, the American people.

Tolerance and empathy are important but what happens when a culture becomes so “tolerant” that it accepts others’ values over its’ own? What happens when a culture turns it’s back on what made it successful and free in an effort to reconcile for ancestor’s actions? This is cultural suicide.

By 2014, it was obvious that America over-corrected yet again. Social justice warriors backed by a powerful media machine began shutting down dissenting beliefs as intolerant, fringe, and “blank-ists”. Pick your term of outrage. During Obama’s second term the nation gained so much liberal steam that far-left politics became institutionalized in the depths of government, media, intelligence services, big business and more. This moral arbitration and institutionalized power is what Americans voted against. Americans feared that they could no longer be American anymore.

Trump was the right choice for America in 2016 precisely because he had the ability to swing the country that had over-corrected — so much so that all its’ institutions were marching like zombies towards a government censored, war-mongering socialist semi-democracy. This army of ultra-tolerant soldiers almost marched the prodded American public off a cliff.

The United States has become a bi-polar nation, changing our mind every eight years and swinging back and forth trying to get it right. By creating this whiplash affect every eight years, America can be inclusive of ever more extreme ideologies. Is this our way of having our cake and eating it too? Or do we just need the drama to entertain ourselves? Just like any psychologist will tell you, a bi-polar person or in this case a bi-polar society is headed towards a meltdown. With the election of each President, the ideas move further and further out to the fringe in order to set the country back on the “right course.” Each eight years the whiplashes are more shocking. Can America handle this?

Our national narrative is no longer multi-cultural tolerance. Now it is “America First.” In my opinion, after years and years of focus and money pouring overseas, this is a much-needed change. Let’s focus on American infrastructure, jobs, economy, and people. Let’s strengthen our culture and tighten up our immigration system. That’s only fair to our people, the taxpayers and voters. But will this narrative become institutionalized and go too far?

Maybe there is no perfect middle ground, a national narrative that we all can agree on. Maybe America is a bi-polar nation. Maybe we can work through it or maybe not. Will America break, or will we at some point advance beyond the bi-polar drama and find our footing once again? Perhaps someday we will mostly agree on a national narrative that we can all support.

How about this as a combined cultural narrative. America, a tolerant nation that also has a strong sense of culture and will defend our society against those that wish to subvert it. America seeks win-win relationships internally and abroad in the 21st Century. Instead of democracy, America promotes freedom and prosperity and peace for all nations and respects the right for other nations to plot their own course that fits their culture.

Could we all agree on that? Or is peace and prosperity boring to you?