Our Founders warned us about the Political Party from the very beginning. George Washington Described it as A frightful Despotism. Parties were Factions Then

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension... is itself a frightful despotism."

• John Adams: "There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution."
• Thomas Jefferson: "If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." (Ironically, Jefferson went on to found one of the most successful parties in U.S. history).

Washington’s fear wasn't that the parties would have bad ideas, but that the competition itself would eventually become more important than the country.

I am definitely the George Washington camp on this. As I have mentioned many times, I have never been a member of a political party. We should always be free to vote our continence and not be guided by someone else. Yesterday I noticed article where the democrat leadership in the house are threatening there democratic members with redistricting or some other punishment if the don't show up to vote and or don't vote they are told to on the war powers bill. I believe they just proved George Washington right.

What we are seeing in Minnesota is just the Very Small tip of a very large iceberg. If we use their numbers and extrapolate for a national figure we are a over a halt a Trillion dollars and I think in the final analysis it will be much larger.. However we have other contributing factors that make it much worse than just the amount of the Fraud. I call this whole thing the 4 whammy's

1- the fraud itself

2- The interest. We are in deficit spending in the U.S. so in fact every dollar stolen is borrowed money.

3-We have at ;east 14 states who are projected to have deficits this year so they will intern have to pay interest on their shortfalls.

4- Much of the fraud money is being sent out of the country according to FBI investigations. According to economists money earned ( or stolen here) and sent out of the country robs our economy of the economic benefit of that money. Theory says that money earned here and spent here in the economy has a 5X multiple effect. Our economy takes a big hit because of the actual loss of the money stolen but also the loss of that Multiplier effect..

If we can stop the fraud or at least minimize it we could eliminate much of our federal deficit. And deficit in many of the states as well.

I am who I am because of my Parents. My dad in particular, had a way of teaching things about life, that many times I don't think he really knew he was teaching at the time. It was not what he said most of the time, it was what he did. The way he worked, the way he dealt with neighbors, friends and even strangers. This podcast is just one example the important life lessons he taught me, by doing it, not saying it. This experience has had a major impact on my life, I hope it can help others the way it has helped me.

Hello everybody, This is Craig Warren of "Rambling of an old fart Podcast" Todays Podcast is what I call "why the hell do we need a judge to decide everything?" We'll have a nice discussion about that.

The truth is we shouldn't, or at least not for Politics and Government, But somebody left the barn door open and now the animals are running wild. Yes, I did refer to them as animals, In my bio I mentioned I grew up on a farm in Utah, I learned at a young age that if you don't keep the fences mended and the gates shut, the animals go wild. They always seem to cause trouble for you or your neighbors. Our founding fathers through the constitution and other means built fences, whoops I guess because we are talking about people, I should refer to them as boundaries.

Problem is our representatives have left the proverbial gate open. and now the Political and legal animals are running wild.

So how do we fix it. Well, first we have make sure we know how it was supposed to work. And that is what this podcast is all about. We'll probably; throw a little fun in there too.

Join me won't ya

The "Real" Cost of Living vs. The 2.8% COLA

While the official COLA for 2026 is 2.8%, research from the Senior Citizens League and other advocacy groups suggests that the "senior-specific" inflation rate often sits significantly higher.

For many seniors, a nursing home is used as a de facto housing program. If you cannot afford rent and have even a minor health issue, the system often defaults to placing you in a facility because Medicaid will pay for the "bed" there, but often won't pay for "rent" in an apartment.

If your costs have increased by 95% over the last 5 years but your Social Security has only increased by 25%, you are effectively living on 70% less purchasing power than you had five years ago. This is why you feel "upside down"—because, mathematically, you are. For me here in Utah it looks like this, What $1.00 bought in 2021 will. now cost me $1.95 I have lost almost 50% of my buying power in 5 years. The 25% total COLA increases just don't cut it.

The Utah Stat: The number of Utahns over the age of 64 experiencing homelessness rose by 42% in just the last year. This is significantly higher than the increase for the general population. According to th Utah Point in Time count 2026.

The Myth of the "Good Old Days"

we’re told today that we’ve never been more divided. We look at the shouting matches on cable news the hate and the vitriol and think, "It was never like this before." But history tells a different story. The 1800s were brutal. We’re talking about a century that started with a duel between Hamilton and Burr and peaked with a literal Civil War.

But tucked away in the corners of that violent history are stories that feel almost impossible today. Stories of men who spent their days trying to defeat each other's ideas, but the nights protecting each other's dignity. Today, we’re looking at the "Odd Couples" of the 19th century to see if they can teach us how to get past the hate.

"The 'better part of valor' isn't a relic of the 1800s. It’s a tool. It’s the discretion to know that the person you're arguing with on the House floor or across the dinner table is someone you're going to have to live with tomorrow.