 On the ride to the bottom, I will take as many speed bumps as I can get my hands on. We have had more discussion and debate over the last three days than I have participated in on this floor for the last two years. And it's healthy. It absolutely promotes the collegiality that everyone is striving to obtain. We're having discussions not just within our own party but amongst each other as we walk around and start planning for the legislation that we will need to address over the next two years in the 118th Congress that sooner or later, yes, sooner or later, we will begin to function as those are the good days. And guess what? Our constituents think, as they watch us on C-SPAN today, that this is how everyday functions. They think that this is how every bill gets addressed in this body. And they will be shocked to learn the ones that you have not disclosed the little nasty secret to that unfortunately that's not how it works around this place. That under the current rules and under the current leadership construction that on flying days, typically Monday at the beginning of the week, the leadership on both sides of the aisle negotiate a number of bills, 15 to 20 pieces of legislation that one Democrat and one Republican stand on this floor. They discuss momentarily and then they say the magic words without objection. We will pass this by unanimous consent. And there are two people standing on the floor passing pieces of legislation that oftentimes are the naming of buildings that don't really bother anybody or affect one's life. But in many circumstances spend millions and tens of millions of dollars that the taxpayers are obligated to cover and their representative was not even here to vote upon it. And that my friends is wrong. Hello everyone, Dylan Schumacher, Citadel Defense. And sadly, this is kind of becoming a series now. However, the vote for the Speaker of the House just occurred this last week and I've been thinking on it. I've been reflecting on it and I got some thoughts about it. So if you have had your head completely buried in the sand, the Republicans won the U.S. House of Representatives and so therefore they get to pick their Speaker of the House because they're the dominant party. They can, you know, pick one of their own and control who gets it. And there was about, you know, 20 some Republicans who were kind of the holdouts who were not voting for Kevin McCarthy, who is a complete establishment swamp creature until they could gain some concessions. And they ended up having, I think the final count was 15 votes for the Speaker of the House which might be the most we've had in this country ever. I'm not sure. And so eventually they were able to gain the concessions that they wanted from their Republican Party and the Speaker of the House and then they in turn voted for Kevin McCarthy to finally get the job and so now he has the job. As I was watching this event these past two weeks, I thought it was very interesting to see a bunch of commentators, conservative among them, be like this is such an embarrassment for the Republicans and how come they can't get their act together and why is it taking them so long and why don't they have this figured out, etc. etc. I thought this was incredibly interesting because the American government, as it currently functions, is so far away from how it was originally designed to operate and we have become so alienated from the original way Congress is supposed to work that when it does function for about four days, the way that it was supposed to function with debate and dissension and, you know, feelings are running hot and people are arguing when stuff like that actually happens, which is how Congress is supposed to work. People are just outraged. Well, how come they didn't do all the backroom deals and do all the talking and figure this out beforehand so they can just come in with a handpicked candidate like in a Soviet Russia scheme and just in place the new dictator. What's all this debate and discussion? Why are people disagreeing and why are they quietly discussing these things in backroom deals and then announcing the decision at midnight when everybody's asleep? That was the general reaction was I don't understand what this debate is and this dissension is. This is how Congress is supposed to function. There are supposed to be debate and dissension and different opinions and people vying for different outcomes. That's how it's supposed to work and when it does work like that, which it doesn't anymore, at least in most of my adult lifetime, you, the citizen, win. That's how it's supposed to work. Honestly, I would have been totally fine if they would have, you know, had, you know, 7 million votes for House of the Speaker and never selected one for the next two years. That probably could have been the best thing the Republicans did for us, but hey, different video and the concessions that these dissenters who stood their ground were able to gain are fairly significant. They are going to return Congress to somewhat of a functioning body, meaning things like they're only going to have one issue per bill, right? They're not going to have these big omnibus bills. They're going to appoint Thomas Massey, I think that's what he pronounces last name, to be in charge of investigating the FBI and the DOJ. Like those are some really big deals. Now, one of my friends mentioned to me, well, that's, you know, that's not a concession. That's just the way it should be. It's so stupid that this is a concession. This is, this is never going to happen anyway. None of that will get followed through on. And, you know, he might be right. I don't know. He's definitely right about the fact that there shouldn't be concessions, right? That should, omnibus bills should just be flat out illegal anyway. However, oh, and they're going to vote on term limits. They're going to, they're going to have put that up for a vote apparently, which won't pass at all. However, it's still interesting. So again, here's the perspective I'm coming from. We are certainly past the point of no return, you know, and the roller coaster goes up and then it comes down. We're on the down slide, right? There's, there's no going back up the hill. It's point of no return. That being said, as I mentioned, I will take as many speed bumps and disruptions to that downward trend as I can get my hands on. If you look at this from a perspective of there might be hope to restore a functioning republic, I can see how you can ride that emotional roller coaster and be very disheartened when it turns out that it doesn't. If you're more in the camp of like, look, point of no return, which is clearly where I'm at, you know, the republic is not going to be functioning is going to continue into decline and it's going to get worse from here on out. Then little speed bumps like the speed bumps like this are actually quite joyful and quite exciting and quite helpful because it's like, oh, well, this was an unexpected nice surprise and I'll take it. I'm going to take and celebrate every speed bump I can from here on out, not because I necessarily think that the republic will be restored into a functioning manner the way it's constitutionally ordained, but rather because my life quality will continue to be better for that much longer as we continue to ride this downward trend. I've also seen varying reactions of people, you know, upset that Kevin McCarthy got the job. Should Kevin McCarthy have the job? No, of course not. However, again, the concessions that were one, I think, hey, at the end of the day, enjoy the speed bump, take the W and go home. I hope that gives you something to noodle on and think about as you think about living in the decline of the American Empire and that you enjoy the speed bumps and that your steak tastes just a little bit sweeter tonight, knowing that in the future you might not even get steak. Do brave deeds and endure.