BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  AUG 11, 2026

Those of you who read Back to Basics Part 1 know that I opined that political dysfunction in our country has become so deeply embedded that even the historic celebration of the Declaration this year has not been able to dislodge it.

In a recent Gallop poll, poor leadership went toe-to-toe with the economy as the biggest problem facing the country. That’s rare.

Clearly politicians alone can’t dig us out of the dark hole we’re in, especially since some of them dug the hole in the first place and more of them have just kept digging.

It is up to us to change things, and really it always has been. Our form of government depends on us and while very little in our political life is simple, this precept is.

‘We the People’ created this Republic to empower the citizenry and we the people need to make sure it is preserved and protected for us and our offspring. Continue reading →