06/14/2025
The Kingdom Story
Once upon a time, in a kingdom not so far away, there lived a king whose aspirations for wealth knew no limits.
Sitting upon his throne, he spent his days scheming and dreaming of becoming the richest and most powerful throughout the lands.
One day a merchant came before him, humbly begging for a moment of his time. He came bearing gifts and the promise of so much more, should the king grant him a moment of his royal time.
“Your majesty,” he said, “To the north lies a kingdom of mountains filled with mines. There is much gold from these mines, but the land is barren. Should you, my king, increase the tithe of grain from the people, I will trade it for gold to fill your palace.”
In joy the king proclaimed, “Let it be so!” and soon gold began to pour into the palace.
Another merchant came before the king and said, “Your majesty, the beauty of your palace is astounding, but I offer you the means to build it even larger.” With avarice the king commanded that the merchant share his thoughts.
“My king,” the merchant said, “To the east lies a kingdom where the peasants live in poverty, willing to do labor for a mere pittance. Allow me to set up my shops in those lands, my lord, and I will make clothing and weapons so cheaply that we can sell them to other kingdoms across the lands and your coffers will overflow with gold.”
In joy the king proclaimed, “Let it be so!” and in no time at all the gold came flowing in, being used to build a grand ballroom and new towers rising high into the air; seen from miles away; symbolizing the power and wealth of the kingdom.
A third merchant came before the king. He said, “Your highness, to the south lie countries in constant battle with one another. One of these kingdoms grows rare spices and mines wonderful gems from the ground. If we but send our soldiers to defend their lands and a tithe of grain to feed their people, they will be beholden to us and their gems and spices will bring us wealth beyond your dreams.”
The king, filled beyond words with excitement, screamed, “Let it be so!”
Over the years so much wealth filled the palace that soon all was gilded in gold and covered in gems. The merchants built their mansions around the palace; their opulence a near match for the king’s.
One day, as the king sat upon the golden throne, surrounded by the merchants that fed his avarice, the doors to the throne room slammed open and a soldier, covered in dirt and sweat from the road, ran in and fell to his knees before the king. As he tried to recover his breath, he told the king, “Your majesty, a mighty army has come from the west. They are burning the towns and ravaging the land. We cannot stop them and they follow close upon my heels.”
In panic the king screamed, “Call the army to defend me”, but there was no army to call. They were in other lands; fighting other’s wars; and many had fallen for the gems that adorned the king and palace.
Frantic, the king screamed, “Arm the peasants”, but alas, this also was not possible, for there were no weapons for the peasants. All the weapons were made in another land and sold to others for the gold upon which the king sat.
Hearing the distant sounds of the army’s approach, the king, pounding his fist upon the throne, demanded, “The peasants must defend me with their pitchforks, staves, and hoes”, but again his demands could not be met. The farmers had given all their crops to the king to be sold and used in other lands. With naught to eat, they had become weak and disheartened. Those in the cities, whose work had been sent to other lands, had become beggars on the streets, unable to care for themselves, let alone able to fight against armed soldiers.
As smoke began to drift into the palace, the sounds of the screams of fear and pain from just beyond the doors to the throne room reached his ears. There was nowhere for the king to run and the merchants stood frozen in panic.
Soldiers boiled into the room, loosing arrows upon all within. Watching the merchants fall, the king, looking for a means to escape, felt an incredible pain. Looking down, he found an arrow piercing his chest; blood beginning to flow over the fine silk and jewels he wore.
Toppling from the pedestal of his throne, the king laid upon the marbled floor, laboring for his final breath; seeing through his blurred vision the flames beginning to lick up the walls, consuming his palace.
In a single moment of clarity, as his breath left his body for the final time, he realized that he had sacrificed the true wealth and power of his kingdom, the people, for nothing more than a pile of shiny metal and pretty rocks.
I wish I could say that the above was a fantasy, but unfortunately it is not. Our country is dying and that is not a dramatization.
I have crunched the numbers and charted the degradation of the quality of life over the past 30 years using the Cost of Living Adjustment statistics from the Social Security Administration and the Congressional Budget Office's study of "Trends in the Distribution of Household Incomes."
The income of the top 1% is skyrocketing and the middle 60% is dropping further and further below the cost of living each year. If it continues at this rate, within the next generation or two, the average American is going to find it difficult to make ends meet without government assistance.
IT MUST STOP NOW!
In our case the king is a many-headed dragon; 535 heads to be exact and the merchants swaying the kings are the 1% that have spent $40 Billion lobbying in just the past 15 years.
The longer in Congress, the more deeply embedded they become with the lobbyists; the more disconnected from our needs they become; and the more polarized their ideologies become; resulting in a very disconnected, corrupt, and dysfunctional group deciding our futures.
Voting would seem to be the obvious solution to keeping these career politicians from degrading the lifestyle of Americans, but the voting system is broken.
Regardless of how strongly we disapprove of their actions, 90% of the incumbents get re-elected. Why? They end up re-elected indefinitely due to the power of the parties and the irresponsibility of the majority of voters. In exit polls, the majority of voters have admitted to voting based on name recognition, party lines, or media exposure. An incumbent gets all three and wins regardless of performance.
For those more politically aware, when they enter the voting booth, they are typically faced with two names on the ballot, one with an R, and one with a D. Even if they disapprove of the person on the ballot who is representing the party whose ideology they support, they’re stuck voting based on a lesser of two evils. If they vote against the person they dislike, they are supporting the party whose ideology they disagree. It becomes a matter of voting for parties rather than people.
The only option remaining at this time is to Impose Term Limits on the US Congress. If we take away the ability to make Congress a career and limit the length of time they have to become influenced by the lobbyists, we can turn the direction of Congress back towards a representative body instead of the ruling class they have evolved into.
They are not going to do it to themselves. They are the ones benefiting from the current system. It is only going to happen if we, the citizens of this country, come together and take matters into our own hands.
This has nothing to do with which party you prefer or your thoughts on hot topic issues. This is about Americans stopping the degradation of our country.
The second option of Article 5 was created in case a situation such as this occurred. It allows the people and the States to bypass Congress and add an Amendment to the Constitution. Some fear touching the Constitution, but the process as defined controls any changes very well. Any Amendment passed at an Article 5 Convention must be returned to the States and must be ratified by at 38 States to become part of the Constitution. Currently there are 27 Republican-controlled States and 21 Democrat-controlled States. The only that can garner 38 States’ support is something completely non-partisan, such as term limits.
We have started a movement by average Americans like you and I to petition the State governments to call such a Convention solely for the purpose of imposing Term Limits on the US Congress.
With the advances in technology, social media has given us the opportunity for the first time in history to communicate across the nation without the filtering and bias of the mainstream media. We have the ability to come together and fix this monumental problem, but only if each of us takes an active role.
Message this page if you are interested in volunteering.
