What's Been Broken

A comprehensive accounting of how America's founding principles have been systematically violated. You already feel it. Here's the evidence.

I. The Money Is Fake

They print it without your consent and dilute your savings without consequence.

$34T+
National Debt
97%
Dollar Value Lost Since 1913
$6T
Printed 2020-2021
0
Votes You Cast on Any of It

The Federal Reserve: Unelected, Unaccountable, Unlimited

In 1913, Congress outsourced control of the nation's money supply to a private banking cartel called the Federal Reserve. No constitutional amendment. No direct vote. Just a law passed during Christmas recess.

Since then:

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered."
— Attributed to Thomas Jefferson

The Inflation Tax

When the government prints money, it doesn't create wealth — it dilutes existing wealth. Every dollar printed makes your dollars worth less. This is a tax on your savings that you never voted for, that appears on no ballot, and that disproportionately hurts the poor and middle class.

In 2020-2021, the government printed approximately $6 trillion. Within two years, inflation hit 40-year highs. Your grocery bill, rent, and gas prices aren't high because of "corporate greed" — they're high because they diluted the money supply by 40%.

Evidence: M2 money supply increased from $15.4T (Feb 2020) to $21.7T (Feb 2022). Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data.

The National Debt: Your Children's Chains

The national debt is now over $34 trillion. That's:

Interest payments on the debt now exceed $1 trillion per year — more than we spend on defense, and approaching what we spend on Social Security. We are paying a trillion dollars a year for the privilege of having borrowed money in the past. That money builds nothing, helps no one, and funds only the consequences of previous irresponsibility.

They Borrowed It. You Owe It.

Every dollar of debt was spent by politicians you may not have voted for, on programs you may not support, and the bill is being handed to your children and grandchildren — who weren't alive to consent.

The Tax Code: 75,000 Pages of Corruption

The U.S. tax code is approximately 75,000 pages long. The original Constitution is 4 pages.

This complexity is not an accident. Every loophole, exemption, and special provision was purchased by someone with the money to hire lobbyists. The system is incomprehensible by design — because comprehensible systems can't hide corruption.

What It Should Be What It Is
Simple, transparent taxation 75,000 pages of indecipherable code
Equal treatment under law Loopholes for those who can afford them
Know what government costs Hidden taxes, fees, and inflation
Consent of the governed Debt accumulated without your vote

II. The Powerful Are Unaccountable

Power concentrates while accountability disappears. Rules for thee, not for me.

50%+
Congress Members Become Millionaires in Office
97%
Incumbent Re-Election Rate
$4.7B
Spent on Lobbying (2023)
0
Bankers Jailed for 2008 Crisis

Qualified Immunity: The License to Abuse

Qualified immunity is a legal doctrine that shields government officials — including police — from civil liability even when they violate your constitutional rights. It was invented by the Supreme Court in 1967, appears nowhere in the Constitution, and has been expanded ever since.

Under qualified immunity, officials can only be sued if they violated "clearly established" law — meaning a previous court must have ruled on nearly identical facts. The result:

Real Case: Steal $225,000? No Problem.

In 2019, police officers in Fresno, California were accused of stealing $225,000 during a search. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled they had qualified immunity because there was no prior case establishing that stealing that specific amount was unconstitutional.

Case: Jessop v. City of Fresno, 2019

The Revolving Door: Corruption Made Legal

The "revolving door" between government and industry ensures that those who regulate industries are the same people who profit from them:

Example Pattern

The Typical Career

Work at Goldman Sachs → Get appointed Treasury Secretary → Make policies that benefit Wall Street → Return to private sector for millions in speaking fees and consulting contracts

This isn't illegal. It's the system working as designed — designed by the people who benefit from it.

Two-Tiered Justice

If You Do It If They Do It
Possess drugs → Prison Possess drugs → Rehab and second chances
Lie to FBI → Prison FBI lies to court → Nothing
Steal $500 → Felony Steal billions through fraud → Fine (cost of doing business)
Mishandle classified docs → Prison Mishandle classified docs → "Extremely careless" (no charges)
Insider trading → Prison Congressional insider trading → Legal until 2012, barely enforced since

The Surveillance State

The Fourth Amendment is clear: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."

Today:

PRISM, XKeyscore, and Friends

In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was conducting mass surveillance of American citizens — collecting emails, phone records, and internet activity on a scale previously unimaginable. The government's response: prosecute the whistleblower, continue the programs.

The surveillance continues. Section 702 of FISA has been reauthorized repeatedly.

III. You're Treated Like a Child

They decide what you can put in your body, take half your income, and tell you it's for your own good.

45M+
Arrested in Drug War
$1T+
Spent on Drug War
~40%
Of Income Taken (All Taxes)
180,000
Pages of Federal Regulations

The War on Drugs: A War on Autonomy

For 50+ years, the government has waged war on what you choose to put in your own body. The results:

The drug war was never about protecting you. Nixon aide John Ehrlichman admitted the quiet part:

"We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities."
— John Ehrlichman, Nixon Domestic Policy Advisor

The Regulatory State: Permission to Live

The federal government has issued over 180,000 pages of regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations. These aren't laws passed by Congress — they're rules created by unelected bureaucrats in agencies.

You need government permission to:

Each regulation has a constituency that lobbied for it — usually established businesses seeking to keep out competition. Licensing requirements for hair braiders, florists, and interior designers don't protect consumers. They protect incumbents.

Chevron Deference: Bureaucracy Über Alles

Under "Chevron deference," courts defer to agency interpretations of law — meaning unelected bureaucrats get to decide what laws mean. Congress passes vague statutes, agencies fill in the blanks, and courts rubber-stamp whatever the agency decides.

The result: the executive branch writes the rules, enforces the rules, and the judiciary lets them interpret the rules. Separation of powers? What separation?

Note: Chevron was overturned in 2024, but the regulatory state remains.

Civil Asset Forfeiture: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Under civil asset forfeiture, police can seize your property — cash, cars, houses — without charging you with a crime. The property itself is "charged," and you must prove your innocence to get it back.

Real Case: Carry Cash, Lose Cash

In 2013, Matt Lee was pulled over in Nevada. He was carrying $2,400 in cash to buy a car. Police seized the money, claiming it might be drug proceeds. He was never charged with a crime. Getting the money back took months and legal fees.

This happens thousands of times per year across America.

IV. The Elections Are Captured

The two-party duopoly has rigged the system to ensure no one else can compete.

$14B+
Spent on 2020 Elections
7
States Ban Write-In Votes
500K+
Signatures Needed for Ballot Access
2
Parties That Control Everything

Ballot Access: The Barrier to Entry

The Constitution says nothing about parties. It lists three requirements to be President: natural born citizen, 35 years old, 14 years a resident. That's it.

But the two parties have written laws to keep everyone else out:

They Throw Away Your Vote

In Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Hawaii — if you write in a candidate's name, your vote goes in the garbage. Not counted. Not reported. Thrown away. They don't even tell you.

Money Is Speech (But Only for the Rich)

The Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that political spending is protected speech, and corporations have the same speech rights as people. The result:

Elections are now auctions. The candidates with the most money win 90%+ of the time. Your vote is a formality — the real election happened when the donors picked who would be on the ballot.

Gerrymandering: They Choose Their Voters

Every ten years, politicians redraw district maps. In most states, the party in power draws the maps — and draws them to ensure they stay in power.

V. The Consequences

This isn't abstract. It's your life, getting harder.

Metric Then Now
Median home price vs. income 3x annual income (1980) 8x annual income (2024)
College cost $10,000/year (1980, adjusted) $25,000+/year public, $60,000+ private
Healthcare cost 9% of GDP (1980) 18% of GDP
Trust in government 77% (1964) 20% (2024)
Real wage growth (40 years) — ~0% for bottom 50%
National debt $908 billion (1980) $34+ trillion

Your parents could buy a house on a single income, pay for college without debt, and trust that the system basically worked. You can't. And it's not because you're lazier or less capable — it's because the system has been systematically rigged to extract wealth from you and funnel it upward.

"The system isn't broken. It's fixed."
— Common saying

It Doesn't Have to Be This Way

Everything broken here was broken by choices — choices made by people who benefited from breaking it. That means different choices can fix it.

The Founders built a framework for self-governance. We've allowed it to be captured. The principles still work — if we're willing to fight for them.

Your autonomy ends where another's begins.
Their authority ends where your rights begin.

What's Been Forgotten What We Believe