The greater good

Feeling rather somber this afternoon, with news from Minneapolis of a shooting during a Mass at a Catholic School in that area.  After Sandy Hook I had real hopes that something would happen in the area of gun control, but the gun lobby got to vulnerable members of Congress first and nothing happened.  Maybe it will be different this time.

This conundrum has me wondering if the current administration has done anything in particular for the benefit of the American people, regardless of which candidate they voted for.  I'm old enough to have lived through numerous administrations, and I would be pretty surprised to learn that every one of them signed legislation into law or enacted (or removed) a regulation that made some difference in how we live our lives.

With the current administration, I simply cannot.  Other than actions that had been taken and later overturned by legal rulings, there has been nothing done to help the average American citizen.

Everything costs more, perhaps with a few exceptions that escape me at the moment.  It's virtually impossible to predict what certain goods will cost in three months.  Virtually every state has residents who have been treated unfairly in the vast effort to round up and deport illegal immigrants.  Are we still helping Ukraine, or just acting like it?  Will Social Security still exist and provide benefits by the time I'm ready to access them?  

Are we still trying to BUY another country or territory?  What about "rare earth minerals," are we still trying to leverage them into a dominant position against other countries?  What if I need to buy a new car?  The hot water heater we just bought was kind of expensive, but the last one we purchased lasted 23 years.  Think this one will last as long?

We need our leaders to help figure out what will benefit the average American family, and not obscenely wealthy people who already have more money than they can rationally spend.  

What about our health?  Who's assuring us that the air we breathe and water we drink are not poisonous?  Nothing makes us wonder about that more than appointing climate change deniers to environmental regulatory agency management.  And will there be vaccines for things for which we get vaccinated now?  Will I have to go to Canada to get the latest COVID booster?  

And on and on and on.....

I'll close with this....if the current administration wanted to do something even a little constructive, it could work on ridding our country of assault weapons for ordinary citizens.  That would be a good place to start, if anyone cares.