Mallz Blog

The Ineffectiveness of the US Government.

Ever since Trump was elected back to being the President of the United States, it has shown the complete weakness of our governmental system. Like the scene in the movie Aladdin when Jafar becomes the most powerful genie ever, Trump goes unchecked and is wreaking havoc on our country. Instituting hatred for minorities and other groups, weakening our international and national policies, destroying our relations with other countries and watching the swamp (and not just the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial) continue to get grow by the day.

It is ever so frustrating to see our other elected officials stand by and do little to stop this monstrosity. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may give great speeches in decrying about the unbelievable things Trump is doing—but where is the action? We elected people in government to be our voice but where are they?!? I am just a citizen who resides in a small town in California. My power to do something about it is limited to voting, writing letters to my representatives and participating in protests. But our elected officials should have the ability to do more. But either they chose not to either out of fear of retaliation or are powerless to stop this bizarro country we now reside in. How did we get here?

For example, this SAVE Act which Trump wants to pass for so-called voter fraud by pushing forward that identification is needed in order to vote. On the surface, it sounds good—we need ID to drive, fish or hunt—why not vote? But read the fine print—it is stating that your current name must match your name on your birth certificate. Well, that is fine and dandy if you are a male citizen. But what about the countless females in this country who have changed their last name due to marriage, divorce, or other ways? I am in a unique position as I changed my last name to my grandmother’s last name during my divorce. I no longer have the divorce papers as I didn’t think I would need it after I properly changed my last name; I didn’t need to keep a memento of my divorce. But now it appears I will probably need to obtain a copy of it if this act should pass. But what about the people who will have difficulty finding or affording these documents? It is an act to disenfranchise voters pure and simple. Also, studies have shown that voter fraud does occur, but the amount is so small in each state—about 150 actual voter frauds on average—that it does not affect election outcomes. Since Trump has placed his crony David Steiner as the Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, Steiner is now refusing to give out mail in ballots to states who won’t pass this SAVE Act. What are our elected officials doing to stop this insanity? Other than complaining about it, nothing as far as I can tell.

I could go on and on about all of the insanity that has happened since Trump took office but then my op ed piece would become a thesis.

The bottom line is once Trump is out of office, it is obvious that our whole government system needs a complete overhaul. No one person, not even the President of the United States, should ever have this much power. There are many changes that need to be made—from the Supreme Court justice process (term limits and limits of how many judges a president can seat to setting up limits on wasteful expenditures at taxpayer’s expense—ballroom, reflecting pond, etc. to going through Congress on overturning polices that were beneficial to our country—climate change, bees, etc.). Our elected officials should have the ability to be able to stop inane or unreasonable policies and not just whine about it. It is time to put the genie back in the bottle with a steel lid.

Molly Sullivan is a retired social worker who resides in the Santa Cruz mountains in California. She is a volunteer movie critic for a local radio station and does local volunteer work in the community.