FULCRUM

2024 is here, and I can’t help but wonder if America’s going down the drain in my lifetime. When I was a kid, I never thought we’d end up where we are today. Now, we’ve got guys playing in women’s sports, liberals telling us they’re men while disrespecting actual women. People are wearing masks that barely cover their mouths and noses for a common cold, and illegal aliens are swarming children’s schools while our kids are stuck at home.

We’re on a path that looks pretty damn irreversible, and let’s be real, I don’t think either side wants to turn back. One side’s all about men being women, common colds being death sentences, and acting like the rest of the world’s problems matter more than our own.

So, what’s next? How’s this mess gonna play out? I doubt there’ll be a fair split. Honestly, with these questionable elections and the so-called uni-party pushing for absolute power, it seems like we’re heading for some serious cracks. I’m not even sure a war’s gonna be the breaking point. Maybe it’ll be California or New York flipping the bird to the Constitution and becoming their own dictatorships. Or perhaps our monstrous federal debt will force us to pawn off Alaska to Russia.

Over time, maybe the South or states that still believe in the Constitution and old-school American values will say, “Screw this,” and secede. I think Texas flirts with that idea every few years. All I know is, we’ve got two sides that can’t agree on jack, and something’s gotta give.

I don’t know when or how, but I’m convinced that in my lifetime, America won’t be the same as when I was a kid. I hope to hell I’m wrong, and we can get back to the glory days of the ’80s and ’90s. But it seems like one side’s following the rules while the other’s all about Marxism, causing chaos, taxing us into oblivion, and sending our hard-earned cash to foreign lands. And let’s not even get started on what they’re doing with our kids.

I’m praying we can change course and get back to a time when people were decent and kind. But some folks are still scared witless of COVID and getting more booster shots than they’ve had birthdays.

There are players like Josh Allen and Dak who people believe are good quarterbacks, but they have been surrounded by a strong team. When it comes to making crucial decisions in important moments, you can consistently count on them to falter. They are similar to A-Rod in the sense that they can always defeat weaker teams but struggle to secure significant victories due to their poor decision-making.

Teams would be wise to recognize this in players like Dak, Allen, Herbert, and Fields and release them early to obtain value before they become afterthoughts.

Laws have always been an undeniable reality, imposing consequences on those who defy them. Yet, as I age, I can’t help but notice the profound influence of culture on the creation, enforcement, and perception of these laws.

Take, for example, the baffling COVID-19 restrictions. They mandated mask-wearing, even while sitting at a restaurant, as if the virus had an absurd sense of personal space, striking only at arm’s length. Were these regulations the result of genuine necessity, or did culture drive their enforcement? Regardless, they often appeared downright ridiculous.

Digging deeper into this pandemic era, I couldn’t help but jest that murder had become legal. While perhaps an exaggeration, the reality in New York City was equally unsettling. Bail reform laws, seemingly designed to instill fear and push a certain agenda, allowed violent offenders to roam free shortly after committing heinous crimes. Imagine a world where your daughters could be brutally attacked, and their assailant released within a mere 24 hours. Fair, reasonable, or safe? I think not.

And let’s not forget the recent wave of lenient theft laws in liberal states, where stealing a few thousand dollars from a store barely warrants a slap on the wrist. It begs the question, is theft essentially legalized? This lax attitude towards theft has led to billions in losses, stores closing, and hardworking individuals losing their livelihoods.

Moreover, the culture shift has taken a toll on our law enforcement. Police, once dedicated to serving and protecting, now hesitate due to societal pressures. It’s disheartening to see our protectors sidelined.

So when I boldly proclaim that laws aren’t as real as we’d like to think, I mean that culture can warp reality itself. Borders are crossed without consequence, theft becomes commonplace, and violence seems almost permissible. It’s a reality that predominantly affects the law-abiding, while the rotten ones slip through the cracks.

To regain control, we must rekindle a culture that values the nuclear family, cherishes the innocence of children, and holds onto godly principles. A shift back to these timeless values, perhaps catalyzed by figures like Elon Musk on Twitter, may be our path to restoring a semblance of normalcy. But it’s going to take a collective effort, as there exists a ruling class that wields fear to impose questionable laws and equity to enable crimes against the virtuous.

Corporate America can often appear disillusioning. We’re often fed the idea that we can achieve anything, but the reality is far more complex. While we can potentially pursue countless paths, it’s essential to acknowledge that becoming the starting shortstop for the Yankees, or landing a similarly exclusive role, is an exceedingly rare occurrence—something most of us and those within our circles will never experience in this lifetime, or even the next ten.

Furthermore, we witness a paradoxical situation in which individuals, despite boasting an assortment of degrees, sometimes lack the practical intelligence needed to excel in their roles. Complicating matters, HR departments often appear to exist primarily as resource consumers, guarding the interests of higher-ups at any cost. This creates the impression that HR is more of a facade than a genuine support system.

Corporate America has morphed into a realm dominated by political maneuvering, fueled by private equity backers, often at the expense of the very essence that once defined these companies’ greatness.

Our educational system, coupled with the trend of awarding participation medals, has inadvertently given rise to a generation of executives and middle managers who often lack the essential skills required for their positions. This skills deficit breeds a sense of insecurity, leading them to engage in organizational politics instead of confidently leading—a term now excessively tossed around in corporate circles. Consequently, they prioritize self-preservation, often at the detriment of the company’s strategic progress.

In addition, the influence of liberal culture, woke culture, and pervasive selfishness has contributed to a class of leaders who seem to lack a profound understanding of their own businesses, with little hope of ever grasping the intricacies. It’s disheartening to witness these so-called “leaders” struggle to foster growth within their businesses, nurture their teams, or even develop themselves.

Across all tiers of corporate America, a pervasive undercurrent of silent desperation prevails. Many individuals teeter on the edge of financial instability, always one unfortunate job loss away from transitioning from the role of secretary to the CEO to facing financial hardship in a short span.