Believe it or not, Barry Manilow was the original singer of the very popular Dr. Pepper commercial jingle that had the refrain “I’m a pepper he’s a pepper she’s a pepper we’re a pepper wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too?” back in the late 1970s.

Fast forward to the early 2020s and your US government is singing the very popular jingle “I’m a victim he’s a victim she’s a victim we’re a victim wouldn’t you like to be a victim too?”   

Don’t believe it?  Consider a few examples.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was asked yesterday if her gender and race had anything to do with her getting trounced in her mayoral bid for a second term.  She explained away her Tuesday election loss as a result of her being a “Black woman in America.”  She’s a victim.

If there were any credible journalists left in America the follow-up should have been, “then how did you get elected the first time with over 50% of the vote if everyone is so prejudiced?   Tuesday she garnered a miserable 17%.  Was crime on the ballot?

Chicago’s crime rates on serious offenses (murder up 59% for example) and overall crime (up 33%) skyrocketed under her watch.

She talked negatively of the police.  She recommended that vendors have no cash.  She told retailers to hire private security.  They aren’t the victims of the crimes perpetrated.  She made the perpetrators the victims.

When caught only 1900 of the last 20,000 felonies charged in Chicago have been prosecuted.  The other 18,100 dismissed must be victims of the system.

You’re a victim of a worldwide pandemic.   As a victim, Congress and President Trump enacted temporary SNAP enhanced allocations in March 2020 as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act to “address temporary food needs” during the pandemic.

Temporary has lasted three full years.  Never mind that unemployment has been at a multi-decade low for the last 18 months.  Don’t forget your “free” shots and boosters aplenty to avoid another such disaster.

Can’t pay your federal student loan debt?  No worries, you were a victim of signing up for the money to begin with.  Uncle Joe wants to forgive you to the tune of 10k a person immediately costing taxpayers over 400 billion in the process.  Who reads the fine print saying that you have to pay it back anyways?

You would be a better reader but were neglected by not having access to preschool.  We could get “free” preschool if big corporations would just pay their fair share.  Can anyone define what “fair share” means?  Government can.  It means more.

Is climate change disproportionately affecting you and yours?  Relax.  The Inflation Reduction Act is here to help.  Huh? What’s in a name anyway?

And, you’re a victim of slavery even today.  Never mind that no one alive, nor their parents, owned slaves or were slaves.  Let’s get those reparations rolling. Don’t worry about who qualifies and how.  Just identify as being wronged and big brother will make it right.  Elizabeth Warren is rechecking her 23andMe results.

The government is here to help, always.  Unfortunately, that dependency creates a culture that perpetuates itself.

Actually, the government feeds off of feeding you.

How about a chicken in every pot?

Surely our trusted government can get those hens cranking out eggs again and soon.

You can depend on it.  Or, choose to not.