The Accumulation of Frustration

The frustration among the people who voted for Trump, including those who voted for him so that Musk would burrow deep into the guts of this diseased republic and RFK Jr. to expose the harmful ingredients in the food, medicine and skies, all know one thing: that if they themselves had done any of the crimes commonly exposed on social media, they would be in jail.

It’s the seeming “big club” of federal workers who are usually somehow able to escape being fired, a common occurrence among those who pay their salaries, and impervious to being held accountable for open and wanton illegal activity that enrages the taxpayer.

One appears to walk an increasingly thin line as they try to go about their daily lives and work their jobs, while the other appears to breeze carefree along broad avenues of forgiveness.

Consider, for a moment, that the average person in the private sector is subject, often, to at-will employment, meaning that one might be fired at-will, with no explanation or cause. Many are subject to corporate policy that allows them to be fired for cause. It’s tougher to fire someone with a union, but still not impossible.

When they go home, many submit to Homeowners Associations (HOAs) who can prescribe penalties and fines for violations of paint color, signs or flags on their houses; these rules often reflect the political point of view of their neighbors, or whatever. Some municipalities require them to recycle their trash and can be punished for failure to do so. There are noise ordinances, pet ordinances, gun-free zones, parking limitations, orderly and cleanliness ordinances, etc.

At work they are restricted by federal and state regulations, any violation of which can cost one their job and sometimes incur personal fines. There’s safety regulations. The one that vexes me is the requirement for a harness to be worn whenever working over 4 feet (it used to be five). The trouble is, the lanyard is six feet long to allow movement and has a shock absorber that reduces castration that deploys over 3 feet. So, if one were to fall, wearing their harness, there would be no help from the harness at all. The limit should be 10 feet, but some genius saw the stats that showed falls over 4 feet caused injury and that’s where the limit began. It is this frustrating, nonsensical rules and regulations (OSHA) that people doling out a significant amount of their paycheck to fund are forced to tolerate without comment, less they be viewed as a troublemaker and not “on the team.”

(No, I have never been fired or penalized for any of that, it’s just frustrating and lends to a devalued sense of personal autonomy. And, I have rarely ever been considered “on the team” anyway.)

Along with all of the things that were normally done that have been stripped away through the decades of this overregulation, minute inspections of one’s every action and somehow subject to some board or council that decides how we’re all supposed to behave throughout our lives that could be done away with and possibly reduce the amount of alcohol consumption and drug addiction.

An example: I owned a water well drilling company and we had saved up the used oil from changing oil in the shop in 55 gallon drums, also some five-gallon buckets. When the banking crisis of 2008 hit and destroyed the housing market, we were able to plug along for two more years of banker and Bush/Obama inspired wreckage before I had to close shop. When I went to the landfill to dispose of the 55 gallon barrels, (2) that I had loaded in the back of my pickup at great effort and assembled the random five-gallon buckets, I was told that I could only dispose of 15 gallons per trip. What?

I argued that this oil had been accumulated over several years during which I had made no trips and that it should be added up and allowed. That went nowhere. I suggested that perhaps it would be better to wait until night and pour it all into a bar ditch, would they prefer that? That went over less well and I was told to leave, right then. It is this intransigence when dealing with those imposing some arbitrary restriction simply because it came from some board or council that inspires alcohol abuse and drug addiction.

I did not give up, but developed a plan. I went back sometime later, ready to implement it, and was relieved that those I’d encountered before were not working and I just backed up to the disposal trough, took out the plugs and tipped both barrels over onto the tailgate. Within seconds, the two barrels were spilling into the trough. The new attendants rushed out from their office and told me I couldn’t do that. I looked confused and asked “why not?” They went through the 15-gallon rule all while the oil spilled out. “Oh, I’m sorry! Well, I’ll remember, next time.” The dirty looks bothered me not at all as I put the plugs back in and tipped the empty barrels up and drove off.

I don’t think people calculate all of the time spent putting on useless harnesses, or finding ways around stupid rules, but there is an accumulation of frustration from people who try, actually try, to do the right thing. It’s this accumulation of frustration that has been building up within the population for decades that’s driving the demand for accountability. Added to that, are experiences caused by the retarded health policies of the pandemic and illegal force applied to making millions of people take an experimental drug and the population has been driven to revolt. Electing Trump and his helpers was that revolt and now they want to see the results of that revolt that can only be satisfied by handcuffs on those imperious agents, bureaucrats and NGOs that have swindled the American people of the prosperity they earned and deserve.

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