Over the course of the last quarter century I have run across a great many quotes that, for one reason or another, stuck in my mind. Yet something Mark Twain once said stands head and shoulders above all the others, “It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they’ve been fooled.” While there are numerous explanations for why that is true, the one I find most compelling is the fact that people’s pride prevents them from admitting that they were duped into believing a lie.

When you think about this, and I’ve given it a lot of thought, it really does not matter what lie people choose to believe; it is how they react when confronted with the truth that really matters. If someone rejects the truth, for whatever reason they give for doing so, then they are defending the lie. Therefore, they become by default, liars themselves; and I cannot abide liars.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are those who tell lies without realizing that they are doing so; they do so out of ignorance, not a malicious desire to mislead people. However, if you are presented with the truth, and you reject it because it conflicts with your beliefs, then that makes you a willing accomplice in perpetuating a lie.

The absolute biggest, most colossal, lie that the American people believe is that their votes matter; that they can bring about change in government by simply swapping out those in power. I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but that will never happen. Sure, government may move in a different ideological direction, but it will still continue to amass power, create more debt, and deprive you of more of your freedom. If people would just put aside their ideologies for just a minute they would see that those 3 things never, and I mean NEVER change.

The history of our system of government is one of expansion and growth; both in size and in the power it wields. In other words; government never downsizes, it only gets bigger and stronger. I wonder how many people have given any thought to how big government was under the Washington administration. While there is no definitive count, estimates put the number of employees of the federal government under George Washington during his first term as being around 300 people. By the time Thomas Jefferson had reached the midway point of his first term as president that number had climbed to 3,905. Today there are over 2.4 million people working for the federal government; not including those serving on active duty in the military.

That shows you just how monstrous our government has become. Now let’s look at how much power it has exercised over us. While there is no exact count, it is estimated that, during the earliest years of our government, 160 laws were enacted between 1789-1791. It is also estimated that Congress enacted anywhere between 200-600 statutes per biennial year. There is no telling as to how many laws government has enacted over the course of its existence; Congress appointed a committee to count them once, and they gave up trying. Nevertheless, it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of federal statutes and over 300,000 laws on the books; including the regulations that manage the monstrous bureaucracy of the federal government.

Speaking of which, under George Washington there were 3 cabinet positions and 3 federal agencies; the Dept. of State, the Dept. of the Treasury, and the Dept. of War; each with a cabinet level position above them. Today there are 26 cabinet level positions, with no clear number of federal agencies; as the definition of agency is not set in stone. However, there are roughly 400-442 ‘official’ federal agencies, and estimates put the unofficial number at over 2,000. Government has become so bloated that there is nary a thing that any of us do that isn’t covered by some law or federal regulation!

Finally, let’s talk a bit about how insatiable government’s appetite for spending money has become. When George Washington was president the budget to fund the federal government was around $2.1 million dollars; chump change compared to what it is now. Last year’s budget was $6.8 trillion; 3.2 million times larger than what the budget was when George Washington was president.

I find it ironic that people complain when their taxes go up, while at the same time their desire that government continue to do more and more for them never diminishes; it’s almost as if people think that the money to fund government magically appears out of nowhere; which, in a way, isn’t that far from the truth. To explain what I mean by that would take far too much time; and to be honest, I don’t fully understand it myself. So, for the sake of brevity, let’s just say that the government has to borrow the money it needs to do all the things that people expect it to do.

When George Washington was president the national debt was somewhere around $75 million; and much of that came as the result of the federal government assuming the debts incurred by the individual states during the American Revolution. Since then the debt has continued to climb; with the only exception being the administration of Andrew Jackson; when the debt was completely paid off. The last time I checked the national debt was $38 trillion; more than half a million times larger than it was when Washington was president!

The thing about that is this, the term national debt is misleading; it should be referred to as the public debt; for you and I are on the hook for paying it off; as are our children, their children, and their children. Have you ever thought about what happens if you cannot pay off a loan; the banks foreclose and seize your possessions. Well, the only thing the government has put up as collateral for the debt it has amassed on our behalf is the land that comprises the United States, and the labor of the people working within the United States. Right now, each and every citizen of the United States is responsible for $110,876 of the national debt; and that number continues to climb at an alarming rate. Think about the implications of that…

The point of all that has been to get you to start thinking about trends, about patterns, rather than focusing all your attention upon the ideological differences between the Republicans and the Democrats. It does not matter who the people place into office, those trends continue marching forward with nary a hiccup; which is why I repeatedly tell people that their votes do not matter; not in the grand scheme of things anyway. If people think that their vote is going to change any of that, then the only word that accurately describes would be; delusional.

While there is a small percentage of voters for whom this does not apply, the majority of the voting public casts their votes based upon ideology; in other words, they vote for what they perceive to be liberals or conservatives. While there may be moderates within both camps, the voters tend to vote for those who share the same ideology they do; no matter how radical that ideology may be. I see a few problems with that strategy.

For one thing, what is thought of as being liberal and conservative is not set in stone; it is in a constant state of flux. For instance, would the things either party stands for today have been considered mainstream, acceptable, for our grandparents; or would the policies of the parties today been so radical that they might have gone so far as to revolt? I won’t go into this in great detail, but I suggest that people do a bit of research on The Overton Window, as it explains how what is politically acceptable is subject to constant change.

While it is to be expected that the liberals are those who seek to stray the most from traditional (conservative) values and beliefs, there are those within the Democratic Party, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who truly frighten me; they are Marxist radicals who want to burn the whole system down and replace it with a Marxist state.

Think of it as a game of tug of war between the two political ideologies. What happens, thanks to the Overton Window Effect, is that the so-called conservatives lose a few feet when the Democrats are in office, then never attempt to regain ground when they gain control of the system. So, the Overton Window keeps shifting further and further away from true conservative values; eventually becoming liberal in nature. Yet the voting public, especially the conservatives, see the Republicans as the only option, the only defense, against a full blown assault upon conservatism by the Democrats.

I hope I stated that in such a way as to be understandable…

That is the problem with voters in America today, they vote according to ideology, and ideologies are always subject to change.

Government is aware of this and they constantly push the boundaries to see just how much tyranny the people will tolerate before they push back; resist. Yet even government realizes that it needs an excuse to radically assume more power; which is why thy rely upon a seemingly never ending supply of crises to amass more power. Some of these crises may actually be real, but many of them are the result of previous policies the government has enacted, or they are fabricated to justify the usurpation of more power.

If you think that is the stuff of conspiracy theories, then maybe you ought to read what James Madison said in a letter he wrote to Thomas Jefferson back in 1789, “It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.”

More recently, Henry Kissinger is quoted as saying, “Today American’s would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government.” (Source: Bilderberger Conference, 1991)

Even Rahm Emmanuel, Barack Obama’s White House Chief of Staff, stated, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.”

If you cannot see how that has been used against you by government to increase the power it wields over you, then I honestly don’t know what else to say; you have your head buried so far in the sand that there isn’t much hope for you, or this country.

In a way it is like America is a giant laboratory where government conducts experiments upon those it governs; just to see what happens if you push people too hard one way or the other. I know I’ll probably catch some flak for this, but that’s what Covid was; a huge experiment to see just how much tyranny the people will accept in the name of keeping them safe. In other words, Covid was a test run, a dressed rehearsal, for something much larger; something looming on the horizon.

That something, in my opinion, is the ushering in of a Digital ID; that one implemented will mean the end to every last vestige of freedom the people think they have. It may very well be the introduction of, or the precursor to, the mark of the beast as well; but that’s a topic for another day.

If the American people submit to having their identity stored on some server somewhere, then everything they do will be tracked and placed into a profile where artificial intelligence will develop a profile on them; much in the same way that the fictional SHIELD helicarriers were going to do with Dr. Zola’s algorithm. You can call this conspiracy theory if you want, but I believe that the powers that be don’t do anything without first telling people what their intentions are. It is up to the people to recognize, to discern, the warnings before these things happen; not after, when it’s too late to do anything about it.

If everything is computerized, our medial records, our conversations, our purchases, our electricity usage, then how difficult would it be for the powers that be to deny a person access to their money if they used too much electricity, or if their carbon footprint were too big? What if you said something the government did not like on Facebook, and government denied you the right to travel, or attend a sporting event/concert because of it?

You think this sounds far fetched, don’t you? China is already doing this, and Great Britain is attempting to implement it as we speak. The British government has put people in jail because of Facebook posts they’ve made, and you think that can’t happen here???

This Digital ID is the endgame for freedom; we either stand up against it, or we lose everything. Sadly, if Covid was a test run, then the American people have shown just how willing they are to give up all of their freedom if government promises to take away their fear. And trust me, when it comes time for government to roll out the Digital ID, they will go all out with the fear mongering; not only to get people to accept what they propose, but to turn against those with enough common sense to resist.

I don’t want to go into this now, but it is almost like parts of the book of Revelation are unfolding right before our very eyes, and people as so spiritually dull (obtuse) that they cannot see it. However, I will say that, if this is indeed the mark of the beast, people need to think long and hard before they take it; for the consequences will last long after they draw their last breath upon planet earth.

And that’s all I have to say for today. Have a blessed day…

 

 

 

November 18, 2025

 ~ The Author ~
Neal Ross is a student of history, politics, patriot and staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Life continues to expand for this prolific writer and guardian of TRUE American history. Neal has been a long-time contributor to the family of Kettle Moraine Productions and its various websites.

Send all comments to: NealHRoss@outlook.com.