These days, I’m yelling at referees instead of politicians. It’s misdirected, sure but at least the refs don’t pretend they’re saving democracy.

I am exhausted. Not physically. Not anymore. I’m working out my hormonal issues and physically, I feel pretty damn good, but I am mentally exhausted.

My biggest gripe lately is that most of us don’t protest or fight when “our side” is in power. I often think that many of the protests and fights are spurred by dark money. They infiltrate and work in the shadows, planting seeds of doubt and division. Next thing you know, bam, national protests. But that’s only when “the other side” is in power. And perhaps this is why nothing actually changes.

Wouldn’t protests be more meaningful if they were heightened when our side was in power? When we hold our own accountable? When we force them to see us and not shelve us because “we won”? Because in actuality, what do we, the citizens, really win when our politicians win a race?

It reminds me of when I watch my football team, the Saints, play. If someone tackles our quarterback brutally, we yell foul play, looking for a penalty. If we brutally tackle the other team’s quarterback, we yell, “Let them play football!”

Are we applying that same logic to our political machine? Protesting and highlighting each misstep of the opposite side, while ignoring the missteps of our own?

So I ask: Why don’t we hold our own accountable? Why do we allow propaganda to keep us tribal?

Is the machinery of modern life meant to keep us distracted? Consumerism, endless content, tribal politics. Is all this meant to keep us spiraling, consuming, and reacting, when we should slow down, pay attention, and stay focused on what really matters?

Who wins when we fail to hold our own accountable? Corporations continue to merge. Government contracts are awarded to those who finance campaigns. Billions are spent on wars. I am no expert, and I don’t know exactly who wins or why. But I do know who loses every time: the citizen.

Without notice, are we essentially advocating for our own loss? Have we fallen so deep into the traps of the modern machinery that we keep moving down the paths those in power have opened for us, the paths where media and political systems profit from division, so we’re constantly distracted, angry, and too busy arguing over surface-level differences to notice the much deeper power imbalances?

True to form, I have more questions than answers.

And so, my last question is: Who’s your football team? #whodat #gosaints