Greg Awtry

The Republican Party died on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, just after the U.S. Senate passed the Big Beautiful Bill. The Party had been in failing health for quite some time, and finally succumbed to a sad and debilitating addiction linked to financial insubordination. Many Americans mourned the loss as they remember the party being one of fiscal sanity, one of a smaller more efficient government that actually once believed in balanced budgets. No date has been set for their funeral, but one might expect it to be November 3, 2026, which coincides with the next Congressional Election.

The entire nation and all Americans are suffering from the ramifications of this monetary disease. Congressional Republicans with plenty of help from the Democrats have put our beloved country in great peril with a $37 trillion debt. On July 1, we found out the Republicans have been lying about their addiction for quite some time but after passing the Big Beautiful Bill which increased the debt limit by another $5 trillion, they couldn’t hide it any longer, assuring that we will continue down a path of fiscal destruction.

Meanwhile, the other major party, the Democrats, remain on life support. They have been gasping for air following the 2024 election, which has negatively affected their vision for the future. They have been collectively diagnosed with the national debilitating disease TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), with no apparent cure in the foreseeable future.

The symptoms were obvious and we could all see it coming. Symptoms include a blinding partisanship, an overwhelming urge to get reelected, the insane desire to raise campaign funds, an affliction for lobbyists, and total disregard for the people who elected them.

It’s all too clear, Congress has been critically ill for the last 20 years. We all have known people with addictions and we strive to get them help. The first step is to convince them they have an addiction and the second is to hope they are willing to seek treatment. We the voters have been trying to do both those things to Congress, but with little success. It doesn’t look good for their survival too.

But, there may be a sliver of hope remaining. Out of the 535 House and Senate members there are 30 who have so far avoided this political power addiction. They recently came together on June 26, invited by NoLabels, an organization dedicated to bipartisanship. They met in the basement of the Capitol. This group consisted of about an equal number of surviving Democrats and Republicans and together, each one suggested areas that might lead to possible cures, which included the need for both parties to work together. The odds are long and complicated, but be assured there are people working on it.

These 30 are holding out hope for the nation by seeking bipartisan legislation necessary to address our growing and fatal debt, sustaining Medicare and Social Security, common sense immigration reform, a long range energy plan, permitting reform, tax reform, housing shortages, healthcare and prescription drug costs, educational reform with extra emphasis on trade and technical schools, air traffic control reform and investment, veterans benefits, and of course, national security, to name a few.

Folks, they can’t do it alone. Although they didn’t specifically ask for it, they need help and only we can help them. How, you might ask? Well, first we need to begin recognizing that continuing our habit of reelecting people that are afflicted with power addictions will only perpetuate the problems. We must find and support independent-minded candidates who truly believe putting the people and the nation above party.

It’s time to end the political trench warfare in Washington. It’s time to come together as Americans insisting Congress begins to lay out a long-term vision for our country and are willing to work with anyone from any party to get things done. It’s time for a change. What we (and Congress) have been doing is not working.

I am holding my breath that these 30 courageous legislators are the beginning of a new beginning. I, along with thousands of other Americans, virtually attended that meeting in the Capitol’s basement, and we came away with that tiny sliver of hope, that their willingness to cooperate will become contagious, and will lead to a better government, a more civil society, and ultimately to a brighter future for all Americans.

As always, I enjoy hearing your opinions at gregawtry@awrry.com. Greg Awtry is the former publisher of the Scottsbluff (Neb.) Star-Herald and Nebraska’s York News-Times. He is now retired and living in Hubbard Lake.