What Do Americans Really Want?

You work hard. You raise your kids. You believe in your community. That should be enough.

But while the noise of national politics gets louder, real problems in small towns and rural counties get quieter, and deadlier. Hospitals are closing, roads are breaking down, farms are losing ground, and voters are being pushed farther away from the ballot box. If we strip away the noise, one truth remains: Americans aren’t asking for much. They’re asking for a country that works as hard as they do.

This isn’t about one party or the other. It’s not about blue cities or red country. It’s about the simple things that hold a community together, and the urgent need to invest in those things before they fall apart entirely.

Let Farmers Farm Again

Farming families are fighting battles that have nothing to do with weather, pests, or land, and everything to do with software. For years, big equipment manufacturers have blocked farmers from repairing their own tractors by locking diagnostic tools and software. It’s like buying a truck you’re not allowed to open the hood on.

Recent agreements with manufacturers have offered some relief, but they’re not legally binding. In response, a few states have passed right-to-repair laws that restore control to the people who grow our food. That’s a start, but real change will only come with national standards and tools that let farmers share knowledge, repairs, and tech across communities.

Rural Health Is Collapsing, Literally

If you live in the right ZIP code, an ambulance will reach you in minutes. If you don’t, you might die waiting. That’s not freedom. That’s abandonment.

Over the past decade, rural hospitals and clinics have closed in alarming numbers. Some towns have no emergency room, no maternity care, and no nearby doctor. In places like Kansas and Mississippi, neighbors have had to take turns driving sick relatives two hours just to reach the closest medical center.

Some federal programs are trying to reverse this, grant funding has helped reopen clinics and offer telemedicine options, but money alone doesn’t staff a hospital. We need policies that pay rural nurses, EMTs, and doctors enough to stay.

A Digital Divide That’s Growing, Not Shrinking

In the 21st century, internet access is no longer a luxury, it’s a lifeline. Without it, you can’t apply for jobs, attend school, see a doctor online, or even file basic paperwork with the government. And yet, millions of Americans still rely on weak, unreliable, or totally absent broadband.

While some states are using public-private partnerships and satellite technology to fill the gap, other regions are fighting just to keep promised funding from disappearing. In Pennsylvania and Maine, millions in broadband investment were suddenly blocked under new federal leadership. Meanwhile, court rulings have preserved some funding programs, offering a glimmer of hope.

Small Businesses Deserve a Level Playing Field

When a national chain raises prices, it’s strategic. When a small-town hardware store raises prices, it risks closure.

The corner store, the family diner, the independent mechanic, all operate with thinner margins and less cushion. They don’t have corporate lawyers or federal lobbyists. They just have a front door and a few employees trying to keep the lights on.

Local tax relief, better lending options, and fair zoning laws aren’t handouts. They’re investments in stability. Small businesses don’t just create jobs, they create neighborhoods.

Roads, Not Rhetoric

It’s become almost a punchline: “Fix the damn roads.” But for people who spend hours each week dodging potholes or praying a bridge doesn’t collapse beneath them, it’s not funny.

While massive urban infrastructure projects grab headlines and billions of dollars, smaller counties struggle to repave two-lane roads or keep a stoplight working. This isn’t just inconvenient, it’s dangerous. And in a crisis, it’s deadly.

When you repair a road in a rural town, you don’t just smooth out asphalt. You keep the feed store open. You make it possible for a teacher to get to work. You make sure an ambulance arrives faster.

Real Education, Not Empty Rhetoric

Want young people to stay in their hometowns? Give them a reason to. That starts with a strong school that offers not just test prep, but life prep.

Across the country, vocational education is being rediscovered. These aren’t fallback plans, they’re high-paying, high-skill careers in construction, mechanics, healthcare, and beyond. We need more of that, not less.

Some federal programs are beginning to invest in rural vo-tech, but schools can’t run skilled trades programs without skilled teachers. And those teachers won’t stay in districts where their pay lags 15% behind the state average.

Prescription Drugs Can Be A Death Sentence

In America, getting sick can be financially devastating. Even with recent laws capping insulin costs for Medicare recipients, millions of people are still stuck choosing between groceries and medicine.

No one should have to launch a GoFundMe to survive. No one should have to ration an inhaler or skip an antibiotic because it’s $80 instead of $8. Big pharmaceutical companies are still charging American patients two to three times what they charge abroad, and most of the time, it's for the same product.

We’ve proven that price caps work. Now we need to expand them.

Power That Serves People, Not Profits

Outages are more frequent. Bills are more expensive. And utility companies are reporting record profits. That’s not a coincidence.

There’s a better way. In states where rural co-ops and solar microgrids have been funded, families are seeing lower costs and fewer blackouts. The Department of Agriculture and Department of Energy have started investing in clean, local power systems, but consistency is key. Pausing or gutting these programs puts communities right back where they started, in the dark.

In the US, we have not built a ground-up hydroelectric dam since 1979, meanwhile China and North Korea have, the 3 Gorges dam in China slightly altered the planet’s tilt and rotation. We can do this better, we have done this better, it’s time to do it again. Whereas, arguments against solar, sometimes it’s cloudy, and against wind, the wind is not consistent, water always falls, there may be occasional droughts, but long-term water is much more reliable.

Gun Rights and Gun Safety Aren’t Opposites

Most Americans believe in the Second Amendment. And most also believe that a child shouldn’t die in a classroom, a church, or a movie theater.

We can do both. We can protect the rights of responsible gun owners while putting common-sense guardrails around the most dangerous situations. Red flag laws, universal background checks, these aren’t radical ideas. They’re overwhelmingly supported, even by gun owners.

What’s radical is refusing to act when we know how.

Veterans Deserve More Than a Slogan

Veterans shouldn’t have to fight for care once they come home. But in too many places, that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Wait times are long. Specialists are rare. And for rural veterans, just getting to a clinic can be an all-day journey. The suicide rate among rural vets is a national disgrace, and it’s preventable.

Mental health programs are improving. VA crisis line response times are getting better. But we need boots-on-the-ground access, not just phone numbers.

Voting Shouldn’t Be an Obstacle Course

In some rural counties, a person has to drive many miles just to vote in person. That’s not a safeguard, it’s a suppression tactic.

Since 2013, over a thousand polling places have closed, disproportionately affecting rural, poor, and minority communities. And every time it happens, someone loses faith in democracy.

If we believe voting is a right, not a privilege, we need to make it easier, not harder. Keep polling places open. Expand early voting. Support vote-by-mail reforms. Because if your voice doesn’t count in the voting booth, it won’t count anywhere.

We Still Believe in Country Over Chaos

You don’t have to agree with every law or Judge. You don’t have to like every leader. But if you believe that kids shouldn’t have to leave home to make a future, that veterans shouldn’t wait months for care, and that communities should have roads that work and power that’s on, you’re not alone.

We still believe in farms over greed, facts over fear, and a country that puts its people before its profits.

And maybe, just maybe, we have more in common than we’ve been told.

July 14, 2025

The Dark Web: Built for Privacy, Powered by Paradox

How a U.S.-funded tool became a global battleground for freedom and exploitation

The Dark Web

Most of us will never visit the dark web, just like most of us will never pick a lock or hack a bank. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t living in its shadow. In fact, the routines we follow online, resetting passwords, verifying logins with our phones, freezing our credit, are often the result of quiet threats that emerge from corners of the Internet most people never see.

We don’t always notice how much our behaviors change in response to something over time. Like a frog in a pot of water slowly heating, we often fail to notice danger creeping up until it’s too late. Most frequently, it only takes one moment of exposure, one breach, one incident, to create new requirements that stick around for years. Security evolves not just through constant threats, but through the sharp, sudden realization that we’ve been vulnerable all along. Another data breach, and then another.

What Is the Dark Web, Really?

You might have heard of the “dark web” before, usually framed in ominous headlines or true crime documentaries. But it’s not some alternate dimension or secret intranet for hackers. It’s simply a hidden layer of the Internet, running on the same infrastructure as the rest of the web, but designed to be anonymous and largely untraceable.

Technically, the dark web exists within the broader “deep web”, which includes all online content not indexed by standard search engines like Google or Bing. That means everything behind a login screen, paywall, or internal server, like your email inbox or a bank database, is part of the deep web. The dark web is just a small, encrypted subset of that space, intentionally concealed and only accessible through specific tools, the most well-known being the Tor (The Onion Router) browser.

So, why isn’t it indexed? Because the dark web’s sites, often using the ““.onion”” domain suffix, are configured to block web crawlers, the automated bots used by search engines to map and categorize content. Additionally, their IP addresses and server locations are hidden through layers of encryption and routing. Even if you could see a site’s address, you wouldn’t know where it was physically hosted or who ran it. This cloaking is by design: anonymity is the feature, not a flaw.

A Tool for Privacy, and Exploitation

The technology that powers the dark web was originally developed by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in the 1990s. Tor was designed to allow secure, anonymous communications over the Internet, useful for military, intelligence, and diplomatic purposes. To this day, Tor receives funding from various branches of the U.S. government, including the State Department, because of its usefulness in promoting global human rights and protecting dissidents in repressive regimes.

For activists, journalists, and whistleblowers, this anonymity can be life-saving. The dark web offers a way to communicate, publish, or leak information without revealing one’s identity or location. Platforms like SecureDrop, used by major news outlets (e.g., The New York Times, The Guardian), allow whistleblowers to upload documents anonymously, protected from surveillance or retaliation.

But this government-backed tool presents a paradox. While democratic institutions support the infrastructure of anonymity, the same technology is exploited by criminals to traffic drugs, weapons, child pornography, and stolen data. Dismantling Tor would mean silencing voices in closed societies, but doing nothing means tolerating a global black market. Law enforcement agencies have thus adopted a surgical approach: targeting specific sites and users without disrupting the underlying infrastructure that also protects civil liberties.

Just How Hidden Is It?

Despite its air of mystery, the dark web is surprisingly easy to access. Anyone can download the Tor browser (it’s free and open-source), launch it, and access “.onion” sites using their web addresses. No special credentials or hacker skills are required. The harder part is knowing where to go. There’s no “Google for the dark web,” but directories like The Hidden Wiki and Reddit forums often list popular “.onion” addresses.

That said, navigating the dark web isn’t like browsing Instagram or Amazon. Many sites are temporary, unreliable, or intentionally misleading. Some vanish after days or weeks; others operate behind additional authentication layers. Due to constant law enforcement crackdowns, scam sites and honeypots (sting operations or fake marketplaces) are common.

While simply browsing may not be illegal, interacting with illicit content or making purchases absolutely can be. Many real criminal marketplaces operate with strict vetting procedures, escrow systems, and encrypted communication requirements, more like organized crime than casual e-commerce.

A Dual-Edged Network

In short, the dark web is a neutral tool, much like a locked door or an unlisted phone number. It can protect dissidents, whistleblowers, and journalists in repressive societies. It can also enable scammers, dealers, and traffickers. Its hidden nature doesn’t make it evil, but it does lower the cost of secrecy, making it attractive to those seeking to operate outside the law.

For the rest of us, it’s not the browsing that matters, it’s the spillover. The scams, leaks, and stolen identities that originate in those dark corners often lead to very real changes we now live with every day: stronger security protocols, tighter privacy controls, and a growing sense that you’re the last line of defense for your own data.

The Marketplace of Risk

Some of the most active dark-web marketplaces specialize in data, the kind that belongs to you. Credit card numbers, Social Security information, bank logins, email passwords, medical records, it’s all up for sale, often for shockingly low prices. While buyers and sellers remain hidden, the consequences emerge in plain sight.

A stolen credit card might fund hundreds of dollars in online purchases before you even know it. Your login details might be packaged and resold in bulk to phishers trying to breach other accounts. Fraudsters often combine data from multiple sources to convincingly impersonate you, open loans, file tax returns, or hijack your identity entirely.

This underground exchange has made personal information one of the most valuable, and vulnerable, commodities on Earth. And the ripple effects have reached deep into the daily routines of millions.

How Unseen Crimes Change the Rules

Just as airport security transformed after unseen threats, our digital lives have been reshaped in response to the dark web. Ten years ago, most people reused the same password everywhere. Now, we’re told to use password managers. Turn on two-factor authentication. Check every link. Verify every email.

These aren’t just best practices, they’re defensive rituals against a new form of risk. When companies suffer data breaches (and most do), the stolen data often ends up on dark-web forums. That’s why you receive password reset emails or alerts that your information has been “found on the dark web”, a term that’s gone from obscure to mainstream.

In fact, the routines we follow online, resetting passwords, verifying logins, freezing our credit, are the fallout of quiet threats most of us never see. We've become the front line of digital security, juggling password managers, text codes, email verifications, and backup questions just to log in. The burden has shifted silently. Now it’s on us to outwit hackers we’ll never meet, from breaches we never caused, in systems we can’t control.

You Don’t Have to Go There to Be Affected

Even if you never touch the dark web, its influence touches you. If your information has ever been involved in a breach, and odds are high it has, then you’ve already been pulled into its orbit. One study estimated that the vast majority of American adults have had some form of personal data compromised. Once exposed, that data circulates, sometimes for years.

That circulation fuels global fraud. Criminals use your data to build fake trust, impersonate others, or execute scams at scale. A con that works once might be repeated endlessly using different names, emails, and addresses, each pulled from databases traded in the shadows.

An Evolving Normal

We don’t tend to question the small things we now do for security. Typing a one-time code. Clicking verification links. Watching bank alerts for fraud. It’s just part of life in the digital age.

But it’s worth remembering that these weren’t always routine. They’re responses, reactive behaviors shaped by quiet but persistent pressure. Just as a single failed attack led to years of TSA lines and liquid bans, countless small breaches have reshaped how we live online. The difference is, we rarely saw the breach happen. We just live by the rules it left behind.

Conclusion: Living with the Fallout

The dark web isn’t just a curiosity or a criminal hideout. It’s a mirror reflecting the deep vulnerabilities that permeate the surface web, and everyone who uses it. The risks it harbors are not abstract; they carry tangible, staggering costs that ripple across the global economy and daily life.

In response, companies pour billions annually into cybersecurity, often spending 10–15% of their IT budgets just to defend against dark-web-fueled threats. This includes anti-malware, zero-trust systems, intrusion detection, and constant threat monitoring. Governments allocate vast sums to cyber defense, intelligence operations, and dark-web investigations.

For individuals, the costs are deeply personal. Fraudulent transactions and identity theft siphon hundreds of billions each year worldwide. Victims face drained accounts, wrecked credit, rising insurance premiums, and endless hours reclaiming their identities. The hidden costs, downtime, brand damage, trust erosion, are often just as damaging.

The fallout has become part of daily life. We change passwords more often. We update software reflexively. We scan every email for subtle signs of danger. These small rituals, now second nature, represent a quiet, ongoing war against threats that remain largely invisible, but profoundly real.

In essence, living with the fallout of the dark web means accepting a new digital normal: one defined not just by innovation and convenience, but by the constant, costly challenge of defending what’s ours in a world we can’t fully see.

Postscript: Who Pays for Privacy?

The U.S. government could easily create its own isolated “web”, and in many ways, it already has. From military intranets to classified intelligence networks, government and private-sector entities like banks maintain secure systems far removed from the public internet. The question isn’t whether we can isolate digital environments, it’s whether we should.

Does the burden, the cost, the risk, outweigh the convenience it offers to activists, journalists, and whistleblowers? Or should the U.S. government, along with the FBI, CIA, NSA, and HHS, work to shut the dark web down entirely?

Personally, as of 9:32 a.m. today, I’ve already received four phishing emails and three scam texts. The damage is done. Our digital lives now live under an invisible authoritarian regime, not of government control, but of cybersecurity necessity. And in this new world, vigilance isn’t optional. It’s the price of participation.

July 15, 2025