Despondent, I Am

Despondent, I am.
Hopefully, just a grumpy old man.
Unhappy with the way things are—for no good reason.
That would be good. That would be great.
Maybe I’m just tired.
Maybe I’m the one who’s off.
But on the sixth, 2 a.m.,
I read the news—
and threw up.

Thanks for reading Joseph’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

Here’s the rant.

I read a piece called Elites, Do You See Me Now?
Yeah, I see you.
And I wish I didn’t.
Because what I see is contempt.
What I see is failure—dressed in suits, holding flags,
smiling for cameras while bridges fall apart.

You want to talk about being left behind?
Start with the ones who cut the brakes.
1950s—interstate highways.
Vision. Concrete. Unity.
2020s—we can’t even patch a pothole.
Tax cuts took the jack from the lift,
then told us to fix the car with prayer.

Immigration?
Let’s talk numbers.
By law, the United States must give each immigrant a hearing.
There are three million cases waiting.
Seven hundred judges in the whole country.
Do the math.
Double it now—we catch up by 2035.
Maybe.

Why? Same answer.
No taxes, no budget, no backbone.
We want a nation, but we don’t want to pay for it.

Meanwhile, the crowd doesn't want repair.
They want collapse.
Populist rage isn't about fixing—it’s about vengeance.
Burn it all down.
Wreck the house just to make sure the neighbors suffer too.

They said, “All politicians are crooks.”
So we gave them one.
A bankrupt, loudmouthed, gold-plated warning sign.
Doesn’t pay his bills.
Doesn’t respect women.
Doesn’t even pretend to.
Thinks he’s a king.
Winks at Putin.
Fantasizes fascism in the mirror.

And still—we cheered.

I thought I lived in a better country.
Turns out, I lived in a story I told myself.

In Pennsylvania, election workers were told,
“Bring your own gun.”
Just in case.

This is where we are.
It’s not just sad.
It’s embarrassing.

But maybe I’m just a grumpy old man.
Maybe I’m wrong.
Maybe I need sleep.
Maybe we wake up from this.

Maybe.

Thanks for reading Joseph’s Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.