An Angry and Anxious America on Independence Day 2022

On a day that Americans should be celebrating, millions of people are fearful of the future and frustrated about the condition of the country. Americans have endured 18 months from hell, the start of the Biden administration. Not surprisingly, 73% of Americans believe the country is “on the wrong track.” A recent poll shows that President Joe Biden only registers a 31% approval rating, a pathetic level of support.  

Why are Americans so disgusted with this administration? A once thriving economy has been destroyed. Since President Donald Trump exited office, the inflation rate has soared, and gasoline prices have reached record levels.

The wages of Americans are not keeping pace with the increased costs, so families are falling behind economically. Their investments are not doing any better as the stock market had the worst first six months of the year since 1970, with the S&P 500 dropping an astounding 20.6%.   

To deal with the disastrous inflation level, the Federal Reserve has dramatically raised interest rates, which will increase what Americans pay for their credit card debts. It will also negatively impact the real estate industry, leading to higher mortgage rates and increasing pressure on sellers who will discover less demand among homebuyers.

Why was the country so unprepared for these economic troubles? Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell blamed the war in Ukraine, and another favorite scapegoat of the Biden administration, the unvaccinated Americans. According to Powell their economic projections were wrong because they assumed “everyone would get vaccinated…that didn’t happen.”

As Powell blamed the 65 million Americans who are not fully vaccinated, President Biden continues to cast blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin for causing all of our problems by invading Ukraine. Of course, our troubles started before the war began and none of these officials can ever accept blame for their faulty reasoning and destructive policies, it is always shifted on to others.

When asked how long Americans can expect this economic misery to continue, Biden said that it will not end anytime soon. He said, Americans can expect high gasoline prices for “as long as it takes, so Russia cannot in fact defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine.” Biden said supporting Ukraine was a “critical position for the world.” The United States has allocated at least $54 billion toward Ukraine, much more than any other country, including those neighboring European nations.  

As we are sending massive amounts of money to Ukraine, our southern border is wide open and millions of illegal immigrants are pouring into the country. While Biden administration officials make ridiculous comments such as “the border is closed,” the images of a countless stream of people entering the country that are reported on various networks and posted online paint a much different picture.

Incredibly, the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas joined the President and the Federal Reserve Chairman and cast blame elsewhere for the disaster that he refuses to address. Mayorkas said that the Biden administration is “doing a good job” in dealing with the border crisis. He said the problems are being caused by “the economic downturn, increase in violence throughout the region, the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of climate change – we’re really in a regional challenge, and we are addressing it with our regional partners.”

Of course, climate change is the reason! How utterly ridiculous, but such nonsense is what Americans can expect from the Biden administration. It is little wonder that in a recent Fox News poll, only 39% of Americans said they were proud of the country. This is a sharp drop from 51% of Americans who expressed pride in their country in a June 2017 poll.

Why are Americans not proud of their country? One major reason is that this President is not the unifier that his supporters promised, but, instead, a very divisive politician. After the U.S. Supreme Court decided to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 and send the issue of abortion rights back to the states, Biden issued harsh comments, unbecoming of his office.

He called the decision “terrible,” a “mistake” and accused the Supreme Court of “outrageous behavior.” In contrast, he remained silent on the assassination attempt against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and his Department of Justice has refused to arrest any of the protesters who have been demonstrating in front of the homes of Supreme Court Justices, even though the actions are clearly illegal.

When the President is not condemning Supreme Court decisions, he is castigating former President Trump, the Republican Party and his “ultra MAGA” supporters.

In this divided and depressed country, recruitment in our military is declining. Every branch of the armed services is struggling to meet their recruitment goals. Of those young Americans eligible to serve, only 9% expressed any interest in joining the military, the lowest percentage since 2007.

With such low recruitment numbers, it might be a good idea for the military to stop forcing unvaccinated service members to quit. Also, their focus should not be on purging Trump supporters or educating service members on the correct pronoun usage. Americans realize our nation faces threats in our economy, at the border and abroad. We need a strong military, but, sadly, we do not have strong leadership.

As our problems escalated, increasing numbers of Americans have decided to leave our country and move to Mexico, even with their extreme poverty rates and the influence of the drug cartels. It is disheartening to realize that the troubles in our country are so profound, that Americans feel they will have a better lifestyle and chance for economic success in Mexico. In fact, CNBC reports that 800,000 Americans are living in Mexico today.

With such issues, the midterm elections cannot arrive soon enough. It is time for Americans to feel pride about their country again. Polls show Americans are looking for a change of direction. Hopefully, removing Democrats from congressional leadership will provide the relief America desperately needs.

Jeff Crouere is a native New Orleanian and his award-winning program, “Ringside Politics,” airs weekdays nationally on Real America’s Voice TV Network, AmericasVoice.News from 6-7 a.m. CT and from 7-11 a.m. CT on WGSO 990-AM & Wgso.com. He is a political columnist, the author of America’s Last Chance and provides regular commentaries on the Jeff Crouere YouTube channel and on Crouere.net. For more information, email him at [email protected]