In the U.S. and other free nations, in the final analysis, politics is the framework through which their constituents select their best-perceived national or local leaders, including legislators, judges, etc., consisting of two distinct mutually dependent elements, e.g.,

• Political Candidates: Power seeking politicians wishing to be leaders who must often compete with other politicians to win the hearts and minds of their constituents.

  Lamentably, to attain their power-hungry ends, self-serving corrupt politicians are not averse to using deceptive and/or unlawful methods – generally at the orders of their wealthy campaign donors.

• Patriotic Voters: Everyday citizens who are aware of their responsibilities and regularly participate in the periodical elections necessary to select the leaders (politicians) they deem most qualified to govern their community and/or their nation.

  Still, despite their quadrennial or biennial responsibilities, in accord with the Constitution, everyday American voters are not obligated to vote during elections, denying themselves the chance of participating in selecting – the leaders whose policies will definitely affect their lives – good or bad!

As a result, nations which depend on their constituents to choose their most honest, qualified and competent leaders (politicians) best qualified to protect and enhance their nation's interests can only be referred to as hopeful!

To begin with, truly free nations must rely on their constituents' awareness of the crucial part that voting plays in their country's freedoms, security, economy – and hope that their constituents would participate in their scheduled elections.

Complicating matters, countless constituents are prone to cast their votes based on personal prejudices, uninformed political affiliation, "guess votes" or voting for deceptive, inexperienced, incompetent, power-hungry politicians who could not care less about their interests!

Indeed, the "existential crisis" Americans have been subjected to – since Donald Trump and his MAGA sycophants took control of our government in January 2025 – corroborates the foregoing conclusions, namely, "nations dependent on their constituents to select the most honest and qualified patriotic politicians that will lead their government can only be qualified as hopeful".

As history shows, only when their freedoms and usual way of life is in jeopardy do complacent and/or misguided Americans start developing a sence of "political consciousness" which, gradually, might clarify their previous self-defeating decisions – at least for the time being.

Again, in other words, only when the interests of self-interested voters are in jeopardy will they stop supporting those politicians whose policies have failed them!  For example:

• The Great Depression of Herbert Hoover (1929-32)
• The Great Recession of George W. Bush (2001-09)
• The Great Pandemic of Donald Trump (2017-21)
• The Great Deception of Donald Trump (2025-??)