Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist, philosopher, and writer who lived during the Eastern Zhou period.

The sad truth is I believe we are living in the near end stages of just such a time as spelled out above.  I must hasten to say that I don’t believe this is the goal of just one man.  True, the current resident of our most high office is a man who is ego driven but he also mostly an “Empty Suit” doing the bidding of those “behind the scenes”.  A mere puppet of the Progressive Wing of the Ruling Party and appears indebted to and beholden to a foreign power who is not an American friend.   

However, the threat to our Democracy and Republic has deeper roots than just the oval office.

The ruling “Junta” in Washington D.C. has done everything possible to insure continued power.  They have politicized the Justice Depart, the Military Hierarchy, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency and innumerable other Federal Departments and Agencies. They will willingly do whatever it takes to remain in power, even if it means destroying the personal liberty American’s have enjoyed and counted on for more than 200 years.  Power is everything.

In so many ways the so-called “Deep State” has become a malignant “Cancer” inasmuch that it now holds unelected regulatory power to pass laws and regulations to control our lives in ways that we do not choose without ever being considered in, or passed by congress.  A very small example would be to announce that you will not, after a certain date, be able to buy a gas range for your kitchen. There are literally thousands of rules and regulations that are imposed on us that were never voted on by we mere citizens, just the result of a “pregnant idea” in the heart of an unelected Bureaucrat with their own agenda.

Ronald Reagan once said:

“No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size.  Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!”

The total problem runs much deeper even than the above.  The “Deep State” has become a law unto itself and is driven not only by a thirst for power but also avarice and greed.  

Sixty+ years ago, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his farewell address.  One of the points in his speech spelled out:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex.  The potential for disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

The profit potential for the “Military Industrial Complex” in the United States is almost without measure whether our own military is directly involved or Congress votes large foreign aid military packages to foreign governments engaged in war.  The money flows from the aid package to those who produce the implements of war.

When Congress and the Administration passes a 60 Billion Dollar “Aid Package” to Ukraine (just one example) some generous portion of those dollars end up in the pockets or Swiss/Caribbean Bank accounts of corrupt administrators and bureaucrats on both sides of the water and the rest in the cash registers of the producers of the bombs, bullets, tanks and other materials of war.  The bill for all this largesse is added to our National Debt which currently stands at more the 34 Trillion Dollars and a debt on which our government does not have the resources to pay the interest without further borrowing.

The corruption of “Deep State Cancer” has spread beyond the Federal level and metastized to many state and local governments who now mismanage large deficits in crime ridden and homeless plagued environments.   

For example:

From the California Globe – Katy Grimes April 30, 2024

Gov. Newsom and the Democrat supermajority Legislature will be searching in every crevice and corner of the Capitol, under every couch cushion, and coat pocket in order to backfill the $73 billion budget deficit. And they won’t stop at the billionaires.

The State of California also owes the federal government more than $21 Billion after borrowing billions to pay unemployment benefits during the Covid pandemic. And while California already has paid more than $650 Million  in interest on the loan, there is another $550 million due Sept. 30, 2024, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Adding to the pain, The California Employment Development Department admits that $55 billion was lost in the pandemic, the Globe reported.”

**********

This is not to say there are not good people working in government.  There are, but often they find themselves alone “dog paddling” around to stay afloat in a Cesspool of corruption and greed. Most of our leaders and decision makers have so corrupted  the system it is likely beyond repair without some monumental monetary suffering on the part of most of its citizen taxpayers.

Too many of our leaders suffer from the thirst for “Power That Totally Corrupts”.

Bob Bandy – May 2024

P.S. Long ago I issued a challenge asking why do we have a Federal Department of Education with a budget of some $100 Billion Dollars?  What useful purpose does it serve other than meddle in what should be a State function?  I’m still waiting.