Title: Who Determines Our Future? Original CoS Document (slug): [[https://conventionofstates.com/who-determines-our-future|who-determines-our-future]] Login Required to view? No Created: 2024-10-21 15:14:19 Updated: 2025-01-31 03:00:00 Published: 2025-01-02 03:00:00 Converted: 2025-04-14T21:33:47.071724066 ---- With all the many outside forces competing for our attention, it becomes nearly impossible to determine who controls our future. The government is trying to buy our votes with all kinds of free giveaways - student loans, subsidies of various kinds, welfare, unemployment, free services, and every other kind of “free.” Unions require dues so they can influence others without our input or consent.  Our friends try to influence us. Everybody and every entity seem to have an agenda. Teachers are teaching things we do not want them to teach and ignore the subjects that can make a difference – like civics, history, reading, writing, arithmetic, and parents. We are left to wonder about our rights and what is good for our family and ourselves. We even wonder about what is true and what is legal. It is all very confusing. ==== The question we all have to ask ourselves is “WHY?” ==== Everybody is keeping secrets from us because they do not want us asking questions they do not want to answer. Why does the government want to pay off student loans? Why is college tuition so high and getting higher? Why did the government mandate wearing masks during the COVID crisis? Why did we have to maintain a six-foot distance when we went shopping? Why do we pay foreign aid when we get little return for our money? Why do we fund foreign wars? Why do we have so many rules mandated by government agencies without approval of Congress? Why cannot we control inflation? Why are our children learning less and the teachers earning more? What happened to merit based performance – getting paid for results instead of getting paid for showing up? Why are housing prices escalating into the stratosphere? Why are fuel prices so high when we have adequate reserves in our own country? There are so many “whys” out there that we cannot make any sense of what is the goal the government. Why did it take $50 per week to feed a family of five in 1950 and now takes more than $250 per week today.   It is common for people to pay attention to what is immediately around them. We have little time to wonder about the big picture. We listen to the big three news networks and assume they are telling us the truth and we never ask “WHY?” We just want to be left alone, take care of our families, work toward our own personal needs, and we want little, if any, interference from government. We want prices to be stable. We want our children to become good citizens and acquire enough knowledge to become valued members of society. We want our children to know what is right and what is wrong. Do we need “experts” to tell us what is right and wrong? What happened to the Ten Commandments? ”Experts” told us what to do during the COVID “crises” and their advice was mostly proven wrong. The evidence was there early on that masks did not prevent infection and six-foot distancing could not prevent virus circulation. We believed the “experts” and forgot to ask for proof and the “experts” were wrong. **Is It Really Free?** “Free” is not truly free. “Free” money always comes with strings attached. The rules that allow you to get welfare necessitate that you stay on welfare. Instead of charting a course and a timeline to get off welfare, the government just pays welfare without doing anything to improve the chances of getting off welfare. It seems the government does everything it can to make us beholding to the government. Who pays for all these governmental follies? Of course, the American people do. Pay me now or pay me later, but we will pay eventually. The government seems to have forgotten that maxim or they do not care. Who is responsible? The President and Congress are mostly to blame.  Ultimately, we the people are to blame because we voted our representatives into office. ==== How do we fix this mess? ==== Congress will not fix the mess. The President will not fix the mess. The Democrats and Republicans will not fix the mess. They all like things the way they are. The bureaucracy protects itself with unions. Except for a few, our elected representatives go into public service as paupers and come out as millionaires. The American people are left holding the bill for all the “services” rendered. The answer lies with the American people to fix the mess. Because of Article V of The Constitution of these United States, two thirds of the several states can call for a convention to propose amendments. Congress cannot ignore the call. The Convention of States Foundation is facilitating the effort to convince states to ask for such a convention. Please go to **conventionofstates.com** to learn more and how you can help. If Congress cannot solve the problem, the American people can.   #|PETITION_WIDGET{petition_tag:;coalition_id:;anedot_url:}|#