Thoughts for the Day, February 26, 2026: No, I didn't watch the State of the Union address. I have better things to do with my time.

State of the Union

No, I did not watch the State of the Union address on Tuesday. Just like I did not watch the last 20 or so state of the union addresses. I stopped watching because I find them disgusting.

Here is the purpose of the state of the union.

Article II, Section 3 states that the president: “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

In simple terms, the purpose is to:

1. Inform Congress about the condition of the country (economy, security, domestic issues, foreign affairs, etc.).

2. Propose legislative priorities and policy recommendations.

3. Set the national agenda for the coming year.

Constitutionally, the State of the Union is meant to ensure communication between the executive branch and Congress about the nation’s condition and plans.

The State of the Union has lost its purpose. It is now a circus where the party in charge pumps itself up beyond reality and denigrates the minority party. The minority party does everything in its power to publicly disagree with the majority by behaving in childish ways that would get them reprimanded by their teacher if they were fifth grade students in a school assembly.

Everything is about the party and following the party line. Democrats do not cheer for Republicans and Republicans do not cheer for Democrats.

I have better things to do with my time. Reading about the state of the union the next day is a much more productive use of my time without the circus acts and poor behavior by our alleged national leaders.

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For the People

Yesterday, I was having a conversation with a friend about the State of the Union address. I was expressing my frustration about what the state of the union address has become. This led to a discussion about how the politicians have forgot that their priorities should be “for the people” rather than their party. Furthermore, “for the people”, means all people not just those that are members of your party or those that agree with you. Both of us agreed that the last time we felt that our politicians worked for the people was when President Clinton had to work with a Republican congress to get things done. Which was over 26 years ago.

Here is what “for the people” means.

The phrase “for the People” reflects one of the core principles of the United States Constitution — that government exists to serve the citizens, not rulers, monarchs, or a small elite.

It comes from the Constitution’s Preamble, which begins:

“We the People of the United States…”

What it means:

1. Government derives its power from the people
Authority doesn’t come from a king or inherited power — it comes from the citizens.

2. Government exists to serve the public interest
Laws and policies are supposed to benefit the nation as a whole.

3. The people are the ultimate source of sovereignty
Through voting, participation, and civic involvement, citizens choose representatives and influence laws.

4. Accountability to citizens
Elected officials are meant to act on behalf of — and answer to — the people.

This idea is often summarized in the famous phrase from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address:

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

So, “for the People” means the Constitution establishes a government designed to work in the interests of its citizens and grounded in their consent.

Next to integrity and a moral compass, this is what you should be looking for in candidates during the mid-terms.

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Voter Fraud-The myth, the legend

From the Washington Post: The Justice Department has struggled to meet White House demands to prosecute noncitizen voters as conspiracy theories that President Donald Trump and his allies have pushed in public fail to hold up legally.

The president has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of results, advisers said, leading to his public pronouncements about nationalizing elections and requiring voter ID, which he lacks the authority to do unilaterally.

Top Justice Department officials regularly meet with officials from Homeland Security Investigations — the law enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security that works with prosecutors to bring cases against undocumented immigrants — about tracking down instances of voter fraud. The meetings include at least one aide to Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and the architect of the president’s aggressive immigration policies, according to two people familiar with the matter who, like several others interviewed for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly…

…The efforts so far haven’t yielded results, in large part because the types of rampant voter fraud that the Trump administration describes have never been found.

Last month, law enforcement officials closed an investigation into voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election in Nevada, which Trump lost by more than 33,000 votes. A Justice Department official familiar with the investigation said that FBI agents identified fewer than 40 potential instances of noncitizens voting. Prosecutors had previously decided not to proceed with cases against those people, likely because such cases are hard to win in court. The statute of limitations for any such prosecution stemming from the 2020 election has expired.

Despite the rhetoric that has existed for as long as I have lived, voter fraud is mostly a myth. As a reminder President Trump lost 61 of 62 court cases he filed following the 2020 presidential election.

The Heritage Foundation’s Election Fraud Database, the same organization that brought us Project 2025, is the most-cited public compilation of voter fraud. It lists only 286 people have been convicted of voting fraudulently from 2020 through 2025. You can bet if there was systematic voter fraud, the Heritage Foundation would be singing from the mountain top.

Voter fraud is a mythical issue that losers of elections use to justify their failure to win.

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The President’s solution to the non-existent voter fraud.

Per the Washington Post: Pro-Trump activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly previewed a plan to mandate voter ID and ban mail ballots in November’s midterm elections, and the activists expect their draft will figure into Trump’s promised executive order on the issue. The White House declined to elaborate on Trump’s plans.

“Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that. But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes, that causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it. The emergency would empower the president to ban mail ballots and voting machines as the vectors of foreign interference” said Peter Ticktin, a Florida lawyer who is advocating for the draft executive order. Ticktin attended the New York Military Academy with Trump….

The idea of claiming emergency executive powers based on allegations of foreign interference attaches new significance to the administration’s actions to reinvestigate the 2020 election. Trump has never accepted defeat, while never finding evidence of widespread fraud.

“I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future,” Trump said on social media Feb. 13. “I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order,” he added the same day.

“President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “The President has urged Congress to pass the SAVE Act and other legislative proposals that would establish a uniform standard of photo ID for voting, prohibit no-excuse mail-in voting, and end the practice of ballot harvesting.”

Trump has said that if the bill fails, he will act unilaterally to impose the changes for the midterms.

Trump’s threat should not be taken lightly. As he showed on January 6, 2021, he is more than willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power, including taking over the elections.

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Contact your Congressperson

Contact your congressman by following these easy steps

This can be done in a few easy steps.

Step 1: find your congressman by clicking on this link, Find Your Representative | house.gov

Step 2: Put your zip code in the proper space.

Step 3: Click the button “find your representative””

Step 4: In the new page that comes up you will see a picture of your congressman. Click on your congressman’s name under the picture.

Step 5: In the new page that comes up, Click on Contact Me at the top of the page and then click on Email me.

Step 6: Fill out the information as required.

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Quote of the Day: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.” President Abraham Lincoln

Orchid of the Day: Saturday’s game Michigan vs Duke basketball game – a 68-63 Duke win – marked ESPN’s most-watched game in seven years and the network’s seventh-most watched game on record.

Onion of the Day: Those who tried to politicize the winning of the Olympic gold medal by the men’s and women’s hockey teams.

Question of the Day: Do you believe there is widespread voter fraud in the U.S.? in our states? In our counties? In our cities?

Lyrics of the Day: Well, there’s a young man in a t-shirt
Listenin’ to a rockin’ rollin’ station
He’s got greasy hair, greasy smile
He says, “Lord this must be my destination”
‘Cause they told me when I was younger
Said, “Boy, you’re gonna be president”
But just like everything else those old crazy dreams
Just kinda came and went.

Hint: He grew up in a small town

If you know the answer, please feel free to use the comment section of the blog to respond.

Lyrics of the Day for February 23, 2026. Psychedelic Shack by The Temptations

Video of the Day: Update from Lindsey Vonn

https://youtube.com/shorts/wg4EQYS4acE?si=fktOQqX7vRLupV6P

I write reflective, opinionated essays on leadership, politics, sports, and life—grounded in experience rather than ideology. If this perspective resonates with you, you can subscribe here for free.