To ensure that the ideals framed in the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are not forgotten by a bureaucracy that we have come to conflate with (what should be) a limited government. I do not like to point out the flaws in our system but to ignore them is to exacerbate the problem. We have to know what our representatives are doing in our names before we can pass judgement on their actions.

I believe that if we each had to make a personal decision whether to take the actions described in this admittedly amateur attempt to shine a light on some of our excesses, the history of the US might be different.

Before his recent suicide by self-immolation, US Air Force Senior Airman Aaron Bushnell wrote this: “Many of us like to ask ourselves ‘what would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?’ The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now.”

Regardless of your positions on the Israel-Hamas conflict, there are similar, perhaps less complicated questions facing all of us. For too long, we have abdicated our responsibilities as citizens. We are culpable if our representatives commit crimes in our names.

This little project has already surprised me even though I harbor no illusions about power and those who wield it. Members of my family have served in the military since the Revolutionary War, and I grew up in the 60’s when many of us never questioned the government. We were the good guys, right? The government only has your welfare in mind, right? Now a few hours research has opened a labyrinth in which the passages extend much further than thought.

Finally, the sources used may be questioned by some, but I don’t have the time or expertise to get down too far in the weeds on this…. suffice it to say this is a starting point for those who want to know what is done in your name in the US and across the globe.

What is the ultimate goal? To ensure that US citizens can make an informed decision in the voting booth and to work toward the nation envisioned by the men that created the United States.