Our government appears to be more dysfunctional and out of touch with each new administration. There are significant issues with the economy, governance, technology, etc but rather than choosing common sense solutions, the Government is seesawing from far right, to farther left, to further right. I believe this is due to the following;

1. Wealth Inequality – 10% of the population own 80% of the wealth and the number of billionaires has grown to over 700. This is due to unfair tax breaks for the wealthy, an increase of unlawful monopolies and a tech boom that is largely unregulated. It worsened with the TCJA and will further worsen with the extension of the 2025 Budget bill which extends the tax cuts for the wealthy.
2. Corruption – unlimited campaign contributions has resulted in the wealthy having and outsized control of government and DOGE resulted in the gutting of consumer protection agencies that regulate Big Tech, Big Oil, Wall Street and others.
3. Monopolies – Apple and Google control 90% of the phone operating systems, Microsoft and Apple control >90% of PC operating systems, Google controls 90% of the Internet Search and long format videos, Meta controls the majority of social media and Amazon controls most of the online retail market. The richest man (Musk) and the oligarchs above act like a cartel, own >80% of the wealth, control Government, industry and the personal and professional lives of many. In addition, they buy out or intimidate the competition and censure criticism on their platforms.
4. Cyber Wars are spreading due to unregulated AI and mass surveillance which has grown since FISA was enacted. This has led to IP theft, internet manipulation, and increased Cybercrimes. AI must be regulated and FISA/mass surveillance severely curtailed to only what is necessary.
5. Media-is owned by billionaires who are censuring important issues like cybercrimes, mass surveillance, etc., and promoting disinformation or using AI to re-broadcast popular articles without in-depth reporting. The press must be free to report accurately without intimidation and must challenge politicians to do the same. This was accomplished in the past with an equal time rule, fairness doctrine and truth in advertising laws.
6. Standard of living-continues to drop due to inflation and wage stagnation. Housing prices are at the highest ever despite a 20% commercial real estate vacancy rate. Transportation and Food prices continue rising despite automation because the most of the benefits are going to the wealthy. Tariffs will make this worse.
7. National debt-is at an all time high due to historically low tax rates for the wealthy and excessive spending. Waste and fraud should be reduced, but efficiency is providing better services at lower cost, not cutting services and grants that improve health, science, education and public safety.
8. Wars in Ukraine and Gaza should be preventable through diplomacy and tough enforcement of international law. Issues between countries should be resolved to prevent wars and countries all over the world should step in to ensure that peace and territorial integrity are maintained.
9. Artificial Intelligence can bring benefits but is also a threat to humanity. AI agents and specialists can learn to perform many tasks and can access phones, computers, cars, planes and the communications system (5G cell towers and Satellites) which can all be weaponized so we need to ensure they are safe and respect property, privacy and criminal laws. Laws can be encoded and fail safes implemented to ensure safety but are ignored due to government corruption.
10. Climate change – the planet continues warming due to increased levels of pollutants in the atmosphere and this is leading to increased hurricanes, flooding, fires, etc. Prudent steps need to be taken to reduce pollution and increase clean energy usage.

These issues can result in a collapse of democracy if left unchecked, so everyone needs to push for change until these issues are corrected.

You can read more about this in my book The Great Political Divide on Apple books or on Amazon.