I've been engaged in a Facebook argument over the last several days. In the run-up to Tuesday's election, and in the days since, I've watched people celebrate, complain, pontificate, and generally act like the fate of Western civilization has once again been decided by which collection of assholes gets to occupy the expensive chairs in Washington.
And frankly, I'm getting pretty fucking tired of it.
It started when I reposted a cartoon.
A donkey and an elephant, walking arm in fucking arm, laughing their asses off while stomping on a battered Uncle Sam. Bags of money piled up around them. The Capitol looming in the background.
And across the top, a banner proclaiming, "We're in this together."
I thought it was fucking brilliant.
Because that's exactly how I see the current state of American politics.
The cartoon accompanied a post discussing the predictable political dance of midterm elections. Historically, the president's party tends to lose congressional seats during midterms. It's happened under Republicans. It's happened under Democrats. It isn't some mysterious new phenomenon, and it certainly isn't proof that the American people have suddenly discovered the secret to saving the republic.
It's a pattern.
A well-established fucking pattern.
Now, that doesn't mean every election produces identical results, or that the magnitude of those results is meaningless. But the larger point wasn't about which party won which seat.
It was about the system.
And, rather predictably, one of my incredibly liberal Facebook friends jumped into the comments to explain how terrible Trump is, how extraordinary the election results were, and how anybody who doesn't recognize the difference between Republicans and Democrats must be completely detached from reality.
Which was fucking hilarious.
Because he managed to demonstrate the entire premise of the post while arguing against it.
The cartoon shows two political parties laughing together while trampling the American people.
And his response was essentially, "But the elephant is worse!"
Jesus fucking Christ.
That's the problem.
We're so conditioned to defend our preferred political team that we can't even recognize when the argument isn't about the teams anymore.
Of course the parties have different policy positions. Of course elections have consequences. Nobody with half a functioning brain is suggesting that every Republican and every Democrat votes identically on every issue.
But step away from the individual policies for a fucking minute and look at the larger picture.
Both parties have presided over the expansion of government power. Both have accepted enormous amounts of money from wealthy donors and special interests. Both have contributed to a staggering national debt. Both have used fear to justify policies that restrict individual freedom.
And both have convinced their supporters that the greatest threat to America is the other fucking party.
Meanwhile, they're collecting campaign contributions, courting lobbyists, and promising that everything will get better if we'll just give them a little more power.
And we keep falling for it.
Every. Fucking. Time.
This week, people are taking victory laps, celebrating the "people's win."
Newsflash, Holmes: The only guaranteed winners in this political circus are the political establishments themselves.
The Republicans still have their fundraising machines. The Democrats still have theirs. The consultants, lobbyists, campaign strategists, and professional political class will all be back for the next round.
And the American people?
We're still fighting over which one of them gets to tell us how to live.
That's not a victory.
That's the fucking problem.
Because somewhere along the way, we've forgotten what this country was supposed to be about in the first place: Liberty.
Not security.
Not government-provided happiness.
Not the promise that some politician in Washington is going to make our lives better if we just surrender a little more of our independence.
Liberty.
The ability to live our lives, make our decisions, enjoy the fruits of our labor, and pursue our own happiness without having to ask permission from a government that was supposed to exist to protect those freedoms.
That's the foundation of my political philosophy.
And it's why I believe economic freedom matters every bit as much as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or the right to defend yourself.
Because what good is personal liberty if somebody else controls the fruits of your labor?
Think about that for a minute.
Your time is the one thing in this world that is truly yours.
You get a finite amount of it. You can't manufacture more. You can't buy back yesterday. And when you spend eight, ten, or twelve hours working, you've exchanged a piece of your life for compensation.
That money represents your time.
Your effort.
Your fucking life.
And before you even get to touch it, the government has already helped itself to a portion.
Federal income taxes. State income taxes. Payroll taxes. And your employer has its own payroll tax obligations, which are part of the overall cost of employing you.
Then you take what's left and try to live.
Buy something? Depending on where you live and what you're buying, there's another tax.
Own a home? Property taxes.
Drive a vehicle? Registration fees.
Start a business? Licenses, permits, inspections, and whatever other bureaucratic hoops somebody has decided you need to jump through.
Want to build something on land you supposedly own? Better check with the government first.
Because apparently owning property doesn't necessarily mean you get to decide what to do with it.
And here's my personal favorite.
You can spend thirty years paying off a house, finally own it outright, and still have to keep paying property taxes indefinitely.
Stop paying, and the government can take it from you.
So tell me again how absolute that ownership really is.
Now, before somebody starts screaming that taxes pay for roads, schools, and emergency services, let me save you the fucking trouble.
I know.
I'm not suggesting that a functioning society can operate without shared responsibilities or public infrastructure.
I'm questioning how we arrived at a system in which government has become involved in so many aspects of our lives that we barely recognize how much authority we've surrendered.
Because it didn't happen overnight.
It happened a little at a time.
One tax. One regulation. One licensing requirement. One emergency measure. One more government program promising to solve a problem that apparently nobody could possibly address without Washington's assistance.
And every time, somebody told us it was necessary.
For our safety.
For our security.
For the children.
For the economy.
For the greater good.
And every time, we were expected to surrender just a little more.
A little more money.
A little more independence.
A little more control over our own lives.
And somewhere along the way, the government that was supposed to protect our liberty became the institution we have to ask for permission to exercise it.
What the actual fuck?
I've written before about the Bill of Rights and the ways government has restricted freedoms that were supposed to be protected from its interference.
Speech. Assembly. Religion. The press. The right to bear arms. Protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. Due process. The right to a speedy trial and to confront your accusers.
Those protections still exist in law, but their boundaries have been argued over, narrowed, expanded, and reinterpreted for generations.
And far too often, the justification for restricting them has been some variation of the same tired argument.
It's for your own good.
Or worse, it's for everybody else's good.
But here's something worth remembering.
There were people during the founding of this country who opposed adding a Bill of Rights to the Constitution.
Not because they opposed individual liberty.
Quite the fucking opposite.
They worried that listing certain rights might imply that the people possessed only those rights specifically enumerated.
Think about the significance of that.
The concern was that government might eventually treat liberty as something it granted rather than something it was obligated to respect.
And that's precisely the distinction I think we've lost.
Our rights aren't gifts from politicians.
They're not privileges handed down by Congress.
And they don't exist because some bureaucrat has graciously decided we're allowed to exercise them.
The entire premise was that people possess rights, and government exists to protect them.
Not the other fucking way around.
The Ninth Amendment even addresses the problem of unenumerated rights. The fact that a particular liberty isn't spelled out in the Constitution doesn't automatically mean the people don't possess it.
Yet we've built an enormous political culture around the idea that government should decide which freedoms we may exercise, under what circumstances, and with whose permission.
And then we argue about which political party should be making those decisions.
Take abortion.
I don't believe the government has any fucking business making that decision.
It's between a patient and a doctor.
Period.
I don't need Republicans telling women what medical procedures they're permitted to have, and I don't need Democrats convincing me that bodily autonomy is something only their party can protect.
I want government out of the fucking examination room.
Or take LGBTQ rights.
I'm a transgender woman. I have a pretty personal stake in that conversation.
And yes, there are still legitimate issues involving discrimination, medical care, legal protections, and the freedom to live openly.
But I can also recognize that queer Americans have gained extraordinary freedoms over the past fifty years.
Those gains matter.
And I refuse to pretend that every political disagreement means we're suddenly back in 1975.
I want my rights protected because they're my rights.
Not because some politician has decided my existence makes a convenient campaign slogan.
And conservatives don't get a pass, either.
You don't get to preach about small government and individual freedom while demanding that government regulate somebody else's body, relationships, religion, or private life.
That's not liberty.
That's wanting government power when it serves your particular moral preferences.
And liberals?
You don't get to preach about personal freedom while demanding ever-expanding government authority over economic decisions, private property, and the way people choose to spend the money they've earned.
That's not liberty, either.
That's simply a different set of priorities for controlling other people's lives.
And that's what I mean when I say both parties are part of the problem.
They disagree about what government should control.
But neither seems particularly eager to surrender the power to control it.
And we keep cheering them on.
We keep treating elections like sporting events. We wear our team colors, celebrate our victories, mourn our defeats, and scream at anybody who dares suggest that maybe the entire fucking game is rigged in favor of the people running it.
Meanwhile, the national debt keeps growing.
Government spending keeps growing.
The influence of money in politics remains enormous.
And the average American is still expected to work, pay taxes, follow the rules, and trust that the people making those rules have our best interests at heart.
How's that working out for everybody?
Seriously.
How many elections have we been told would save America?
How many times have we been promised that electing the right people would finally fix Washington?
How many times have we heard that this particular president, this particular Congress, this particular political movement represents the last chance to preserve our democracy?
And after all that fighting, all that anger, all those ruined friendships and family dinners, what have we actually accomplished?
We still have a government that spends more than it takes in.
We still have politicians beholden to donors and special interests.
We still have an enormous bureaucracy regulating everything from how we build our homes to how we conduct our businesses.
And we still have Americans who are absolutely convinced that the solution is to give their preferred political party more fucking power.
It's political sleight of hand.
Look over here.
Look at Trump.
Look at Biden.
Look at the Republicans.
Look at the Democrats.
Look at the latest outrage, the latest scandal, the latest existential threat to everything you hold dear.
And while you're distracted, somebody's slipping a hand into your wallet and helping themselves to another stack of twenties.
Then they tell you it's for your own good.
And half the country cheers while the other half screams.
Until the next election, when they switch places.
That's the fucking dance.
And I'm tired of watching it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to choose between two political parties that seem far more interested in preserving their own authority than protecting mine.
I'm tired of people treating their neighbors like enemies because they voted for the wrong asshole.
And I'm particularly tired of being lectured about the importance of defending democracy by people who apparently believe liberty is something government should dispense in carefully measured doses.
I don't want a better political master.
I don't want a more compassionate bureaucracy.
And I sure as fuck don't want another politician promising to protect me from the terrifying consequences of making my own decisions.
I want the liberty this country was supposed to protect in the first place.
The freedom to live my life, make my choices, keep the fruits of my labor, and pursue my own happiness without asking permission from somebody whose principal qualification for governing me is that they won a fucking popularity contest.
And I want my fellow Americans to recognize that the person standing next to them, even the one who votes differently, isn't necessarily their enemy.
Because while we're busy fighting each other, the donkey and the elephant are still walking arm in arm.
Still laughing.
Still surrounded by bags of fucking money.
And Uncle Sam is still lying underneath them.
So I'm going to piss off my high school English composition teacher and end this rant with a question.
When the fuck are we going to wake the fuck up, stop fighting each other, and take this fucking country back?
