If the United States, without blinking an eye, can squander over $3 trillion on fool’s errands in Afghanistan and Iraq, if the United States can shower billionaire Elon Musk with billions in tax subsidies, if the United States can invest tens of billions in overpaid defense contractors; if the United States can bail out super rich Silicon Valley bank depositors, then the United States can more than amply afford to pay for the urgent health care needs of rural Americans. We ar

What’s needed now is not more moral theater, but moral restraint. The true statesman knows that words can either cool or ignite the passions of the age. The responsible politician, whatever their party, should speak as if the nation’s peace depends on it because it does.

When someone can post a public assassination bounty and expect followers before federal agents, deterrence is gone.

The fundamental question ultimately becomes the following: Should we prefer that 42 million Americans require food assistance, or would we want that figure to be as close to zero as possible? To any rational individual, the latter should be the answer.

What we’re facing now is not just a budgetary challenge — it’s a moral one. A country that refuses to live within its means has lost something fundamental: its discipline, its honesty, its sense of responsibility to future generations. The national debt is not an abstract figure; it is the accumulated record of our moral failure to govern ourselves.

America must acknowledge that gambling is increasingly infiltrating all facets of life. There are so many people who will happily take your money as they promise you riches beyond belief.

So as we look at where we are, and where we could have been, the conclusion is stark but simple: leadership matters. Weakness invites danger; strength restores order. The past few years have shown us both paths. Only one leads toward renewal.

The United States, and indeed the Western world, has just shown its adversaries its exact weak spot. And who would have thought — it’s Amazon.