Right, Left, or somewhere in between, Americans were once united behind the foundational ideals and importance of fairness, integrity, transparency, accountability and, more often than not, rooting for the underdog. Sadly, no, alarmingly, our culture is now dominated by tribalism – and an overwhelming, relentless barrage of hypocrisy. Hypocrisy represents the most frustrating manifestation of deception and dishonesty, undermining the public trust that is essential to believing in our elected and appointed “leaders,” i.e. our Public Servants whose foremost obligation is to establish and uphold the rule of law, and to ensure equal and equitable application of criminal and civil justice. A political and media-driven obsession to remove a crass and flawed POTUS has brought our country to a very bad place.

Joseph Stalin once observed, “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.” Sadly, this truism from the former Soviet Dictator, has landed on our shores. I am not here to advocate for Donald Trump, but I am asserting that America’s priority going into the new year, likely under a new Administration, and (hopefully) a “renewed” and refreshed Congress, simply has got to be to restore transparency and accountability to our voting system – where true reform is most needed as we strive to repair, rebuild, and improve our democratic Republic.

Of equal importance is to re-establish a viable and objective MEDIA – one that strives to live up to the highest standards of true journalism – where integrity and “getting it right” must prevail. When Trump declared his own war on “fake news,” and declared the media to be “the enemy of the people,” many or most of the mainstream media (major TV networks) and even the pillars of print media (New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, etc.) not only took it personally, but adopted as their moral mission to do everything within their power to drive Trump from the White House – no matter the greatest tragedy of all – ultimately losing the trust and confidence of the American people.