Let’s address the second part of the headline first and get it out of the way. Understand I am not claiming some great conspiracy or promoting the insanity that is Tina Peters and her now 15 minutes plus 5 of “fame” (well, infamy – American does love its criminals at times) or saying that you can’t trust “the vote.”

I’m just saying the folks in charge, like Tina, are the main reason few of us trust the vote any longer. And it’s not about cheating, although that’s part of it, because cheating in elections has been around ever since someone came up with the genius idea of the “ballot box” of which they then decided to immediately stuff it with the name of their puppet, er, candidate, of their choosing.

Hey, I’m a Michigan football fan, I understand cheating, especially inside the “rules.”

So I guess what I am saying is this: I can see why the majority of Americans don’t trust the vote. It’s because of a whole lot of folks who we’ve put in charge of the vote. And the worst of those are the folks claiming they are trying to expose malfeasance within the system while doing their own dirty work. Like Tina.

OK, on to the lesson of this election. Here’s my final take, even though I came to this conclusion over 25 years ago: Government doesn’t work, and yet we elect the same type of bad people election after election. And there’s an easy way to prove it out. Just watch what these (insert your favorite vernacular for what might be the strongest muscle in the body, because they are pretty much all full of the key ingredient) rear ends do and stop listening to what they say.

Because what they do is whatever they want to do or are told to do, depending on one’s position on the hill the excrement is running down. The further up one goes, the fuller of it they are, and the folks on the bottom gladly eat it up, because in time it just comes out the other end as they traverse the climb.

And that’s the worst thing about government; it craps up politicians by the bucket full, and they all step in it. And while they might not come out smelling like roses, it indeed does stink, yet they rarely seem to get any on their shoes.

Well, except this time around for the few republicans who will be sacrificed because vengeful democrats, after winning like they did Tuesday, always demand scalps, and feckless republicans are already sharpening Bowie knives to help them with the body count. After all, only republican little guys get sacrificed, so the big guys can maintain power. Democrats? They just put it on their resume and run for higher office.

And the big guys in both parties maintain power with these kinds of election swings, especially in mid-term elections. It wasn’t that long ago republicans were all excited about the mandate the voters had given them, even though they rode the coattails of President Trump, who they despise, to achieve said mandate. And yet what did they do for the people? Nothing.

And now we have democrats who rode the wave of “affordability” into another mid-term election sweep. And you know what they’ll spend the next two years doing? That’s right, passing partisan, worthless legislation while trying to gather as many scalps as possible via “investigations” (and I’m sure an impeachment or two), so they can run in two years saying, “Republicans bad, democrats good.” Worse, because most of the media is still biased to the left, you’ll never hear any stories, or see any actions, about the “affordability” they’ve promised.

Let’s just go to the main reason I keep hearing for democrats sweeping this election. Do you really think government can lower prices? Other than price controls, which both parties have tried, or paying subsidies via tax dollars, name any way government has affected prices to your benefit. And by your benefit I mean you might get some temporary relief outside the laws of economics before their machinations eventually fall under the laws of economics, which in the end cause more economic pain than relief. And who gets stuck with the bill? You got it, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer.

And it’s about to happen again. Why, it’s enough to force Lauren Boebert to move to another safe republican district and make it competitive, except this time she’ll have to move to Wyoming, because we’re out of safe districts in Colorado. In reality, republicans are running out of districts across the country after this last fiasco. And it’s not because democrats are better; it’s because they are better at promising giveaways. And there’s a reason people believe them; they give away the store all the time. At least until the point they control the store. Then they close up shop and lock you out.

So, my roundabout point is this: If you don’t think government works when republicans are in charge – and it’s obvious many of you don’t – then just wait until democrats are in charge, which is what we will soon have. Because this election was never about “affordability,” it was about power and control of $7 TRILLION and the people who pay the bill and whose assets they are borrowing against.

In other words, this election wasn’t about you or me, it was about getting your vote, so these malevolent backsides could tell you what to do, what to say and how to think while they get to do whatever they desire. And their desires are pretty much evil. And God forbid you go outside of what they demand. It’s what every election has become about. Don’t think so? Just look at our last two presidents – one keeps pulling strings, and the other was having his strings pulled – and the results of their administrations.

Name one good result from government outside of a giveaway for votes that resulted in something good for the people. You can’t.

Yes, this is a rant today with little specifics. But government has gotten so big there are too many specifics to be specific about. Maybe that’s my calling, to be more specific-er about the specifics of why pretty much all government outside of the constitution is bad. I’m gonna have to think about that a bit more. I’m not sure how to do that. After all, I’m an observation and anecdote kinda guy, not a research kind of guy. And I’ll never insult my intelligence and use the term “expert” in reference to me in the way government does.

Government experts tend to be not, all while being evil and wrong most of the time.

I want what’s best for the people. I just see that government is awful at providing it. That’s why we have elections like we just had. You need power, money and control to force a product that no one wants or needs onto the people. And those votes must be bought or are the result of lying to the electorate. Because whether you can see it or not, we no longer have a government for and by the people. We stopped heeding President Lincoln’s warning ages ago.

Sadly, this is what government does best, anymore. And the people just elected more of it.

In Truth and freedom.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of The Business Times. Reach him at 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com