Commentary by Samuel Strait – August 7, 2022

We see it here in our local community.  We see it throughout the State
of California.  We see it every where in this Country.  What is it?  The
complete and total collapse of anything remotely related to the expert
class of people that set themselves apart as unassailable in their
opinion of how things work.  The problem? Even the lowly Walmart shopper
has tumbled to the fact that not all “experts” are in fact expert at
anything, even that thing that they are supposed to be an “expert” at.

It has become most transparent that the “Emperor isn’t wearing any
clothes”.  He has been found too many times to count as no longer
competent to lead.  The Media has spun so many tales that later turn out
to be entirely false.  Our academic class has become a riotous, collage
of incompetence and fantasy land purveyors of utter nonsense.  
Government leadership a laughing stock, along side many of its once
trusted institutions.  The medical establishment has been exposed as
frauds over the past two years and in many cases the source of dangerous
misinformation. Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, the thought
police in America.  Public schools, the sources of widespread
consternation from parents who are suddenly and transparently greeted
with what “goes on in the classroom”.

California, once the “Golden Child” of places many wished to call home
has disintegrated at an ever more rapid pace to a violent lawless zone,
full of homeless encampments, drug activity and trash laden streets. 
Illegal aliens flood across its southern border unchecked to its
Sanctuary’s open arms.  Businesses and residents are fleeing to other
locations.  The same patterns that are infecting much of the rest of the
Country, have found a home in Newsom’s California.  He can’t seem to
take care of ordinary business like provide sufficient water and
electricity.  A fascination with “Climate Change” as an existential
threat and policies to match all the other failures under his
leadership.  A desert of ideas from the State’s expert class.

Not to forget the inability of our local leadership and government class
to forget what their job is and place themselves above all else.  Let
the “regular people” enjoy the circuses we provides and eat cake.  What
more could anyone living in Del Norte County wish for?  You have been
given a fancy new swimming pool, toys for local law enforcement, and the
fire department.  Fix the roads?  Too expensive!  Provide better
service?  Not enough money.   Stop whining!  We in government don’t see
the problems that we have created.  We, after all, can afford them.  We
gave ourselves generous raises, hired more people to lighten our load,
and you expect something from us?

What do you mean you can’t pay your taxes, the rent, your home mortgage,
your prescription drugs, gas for your car, the light bill, water and
sewer.  Let us in the “expert class”, who got you into this mess in the
first place give, you a “helping hand”.  But wait you say, your hand in
my pocket is not the kind of help I am looking for.  So much for the
“experts”.  They come at an ever increasing, unsustainable cost.  They,
meaning the “expert class”, have the means to shield themselves from the
vagaries of the outside world and can become blissfully unaware of the
trials that the “regular folks” endure.

Our local “expert class” has been trumpeting the benefits of their brand
of expert leadership and the utter wasteland that will ensue should
their sales tax increase be taken away.  Sorry, experts, we have already
experienced the “wasteland” of no improvement in service, road repair,
or any other benefit from the fleecing of our pockets for nearly two
years.  We cannot feed our families, buy food and gas, afford the
increasing rent and cost of living to satisfy your need to “set
yourselves apart” from those of us that did not get raises, lowering
cost of living, or the ability to afford a $90,000 electric vehicle.  We
cannot eat the swimming pool nor the fantasy land of Front Street and
Beach Front Park.  Animal Control Officers, a Planner, another Code
Enforcement officer, four new hires at “emergency services”, rookie
police officers, or fire captains will only become an additional burdens
on an already overtaxed population.  What is desperately needed is less
“experts” and at the same time less government.  Do your part in
November by voting Yes on Measures “U” and “T” to reduce sales tax in
this County.  Enough of the “expert class”.