Have you ever suffered from somebody else’s bad decisions?
The obvious answer is, “Who hasn’t?” That’s the current problem we face in many areas.
Whether it’s the state government that increased its income and expenditures over the past year, and yet has decided to increase taxes to cover budget shortfalls. The Democratic governor is advocating cuts in government spending, but the Democratically controlled legislature is resisting him.
Whether it’s our local school district that has asked the public over three ballot issues to fund school construction and has failed three times to get voter approval. The last one was just voted down. It proposed to fund the repair of leaking roofs at Kibler Elementary, the heating and cooling systems across the district, and “to support the safety, renovation and improvement of school facilities, to meet the current and future needs of District students” (The Courier Herald April 25, 2025).
Whether it’s on the national level where we have seen major decisions made through unconstitutional executive presidential orders. These orders have been struck down by the courts repeatedly. These orders include ending birthright citizenship, pausing foreign aid, and invoking the war time 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport aliens without due process rights.
Whether it’s Elon Musk and D.O.G.E. who terminated the jobs of thousands of federal Civil Service employees contrary to law and without the approval of Congress. The administration has imposed tariffs on virtually all imported goods. Those tariffs are predicted to cause a recession—or worse—and at the same time creating inflation for the nation and likely for the world.
Whether it’s the president who is favoring President Putin’s war against Ukraine, demanding that Ukraine give up it’s claim to the Crimean Peninsula taken by Russia in 2014, and telling the Ukrainians that they can never join NATO, which would protect them from future Russian invasions.
If you’re like me, you are feeling pretty helpless right now. The actions the government is taking boggle my mind. They don’t make sense. Government is supposed to exist to serve the public, but on the state and national issues, logic and rationality don’t seem to be operative.
In the case of the failed school district construction levy, it seems like the public is feeling the pinch from inflation and uncertainty in the economy and the federal government. Because of all the uncertainty and polarization, the public has lost trust in the government to act in its best interest. Part of that lack of trust is fear for the future. Humans are hardwired for certainty, but in a time of upheaval, certainty is a rare commodity.
I have learned how to cope with my feelings of helplessness by deciding to compartmentalize my thinking. I ask myself how much control I can actually exercise. The less control I have, the more I put aside my fears and concerns. The more control I can exercise, the more concern and focus I put on resolving issues.
I can’t control the state government. The Democrats have controlled the state since 1985, when Republican governor John Spellman ended his term, to the present. It’s clear that they have become arrogant and narrow. They can’t see any perspective other than their own.
I can’t control the federal government either. We have a president who seems determined to become a dictator. Our president really doesn’t understand tariffs or economics. He really doesn’t understand how government actually functions. Neither does he seem to care.
We have Republicans in Congress who are more concerned about serving the wealthy than their constituents. Or, based upon what both Alaskan Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) and 8th District U.S. Representative Dr. Kim Schrier (D) have stated, Congressional Republicans are fearful for their lives and the lives of their families if they challenge the president.
Georgia pastor and motivational speaker Andy Stanley seems to understand our current situation when he states: “It’s human nature to resist things we can’t control or don’t understand.” That reflects my feelings, and I suspect it reflects yours as well.
