Looking back on the war in Ukraine now more than six months along, many things become clear not only for politics in eastern Europe but also here in the United States. With around $54 billion already spent on the war and more to come, the priorities and national interest (or lack thereof) of our ruling class are shining through. While any war waged on an innocent population is a tragedy, it is not in any way clear how funding and supplying Ukraine simply to prolong their misery is of any interest to the United States or even the people of Ukraine. As gas prices rise and inflation soars this spending becomes even more insulting to the American people. Their leaders, representatives, and cultural icons have shown that their sympathies and loyalties lie not with their fellow countrymen, but rather with whatever pet cause the global elite is fawning over at the current moment. You might think that I’m not giving enough deference to the suffering and hardship that the people of Ukraine are experiencing by comparing what they are going through with the plights of Americans. This exposes another startling division in our country, while many (especially those at brand-name colleges and other meccas of the coastal elite) may not think that things are so bad in America (the weed dispensaries and brunch restaurants are okay I guess) the people who live in the places that many hardly ever think of let alone visit are suffering like they haven’t in decades. This is made clear when you hear statistics about increases in dependence on food banks like the ones Tucker Carlson presented on a recent show of his, reporting “In Boise, Idaho, for example, the Meridian Foodbank reports they’ve gone from serving 2,800 people every month to 4,200 … in Phoenix, the AP reported that hundreds of families lined up this month. The line went around the block. The food bank’s main distribution center served 4,271 families in just one week last month. That’s a 78% increase compared to last year … Alameda Foodbank in California, similar numbers. They’ve gone from 890 households served on a typical Friday in January to more than 1,400 families on a typical Friday last month.” When you step out of the hazy world of elite liberal politics and actually realize that there are significant breadlines all across America the type of careless spending we are seeing on behalf of a country that holds no place of importance to any real Americans seems not just insulting but infuriating.
There is some sort of a silver lining here though, while such a gross misuse of funds and drastic difference in values is troubling, it at least blatantly exposes the disdain that our left-wing elite has for the rest of the population. No reasonable person could watch a group of people neglect the needs of the country they serve and rely on while simultaneously lecturing them for not driving a Tesla and assume that they actually care about them. This problem crosses party lines too, republicans and democrats alike have unceremoniously shipped jaw-dropping amounts of money away from the people who they are supposed to care about and in turn provoked a nuclear-armed country to the brink of global war. They didn’t even stop there, Senators like Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Joe Manchin of West Virginia dutifully echoed Volodymyr Zelensky’s calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, a measure that would ensure direct conflict between America and Russia and therefore global war; a war in which unthinkable numbers of young American men would die ( not any of their sons obviously). These are people who supposedly represent some of the poorest and least globalist states in the Union but they are attending to the wants and needs not of their constituency who now more than ever need their attention but rather of some television star in eastern Europe. The people who are being so grossly misrepresented need to take control of their electoral process and hold their so-called representatives accountable. Many of the same coastal liberals who every four years ruminate over how the country has gotten so divided and bitter then turn around and kick dirt on the most neglected and historically involved citizens of our country; things can’t sustain like this forever and to some extent, I think all involved have a sneaking suspicion of this.
Featured image via http://www.istockphoto.com.
About Cooper Pugach
Cooper is an assistant editor of the common ground section and a sophomore. He studies political science and classics and wants to work in journalism after school. When he is not thinking about politics and writing he enjoys fishing, golfing, and reading. Cooper’s literary influences include Ring Lardner and Ernest Hemingway.
Cooper is an assistant editor of the common ground section and a sophomore. He studies political science and classics and wants to work in journalism after school. When he is not thinking about politics and writing he enjoys fishing, golfing, and reading. Cooper’s literary influences include Ring Lardner and Ernest Hemingway.
