This episode goes over how much the federal government spends per person in broad categories. I also suggest allowing people to have a binding vote on a federal budget by broad categories that changes the budget by up to 5%. If Congress wants to spend MORE than what people approve, they need 2/3. If they want to spend less, a normal vote will do.

The guardrails would require that a person has some idea of the amount spent in categories--open book test--and that you can't vote to skip interest on the debt or wipe out mandatory spending programs.

Now that we have a budget again, X is split between the Epstein Files and Immigration. At least on my feed, your algorithm may vary. Around 15% of Americans are immigrants. How many are legal, how did they get here, and why will Indian H-1B visa applicants have an 80 year wait to become lawful permanent residents?

Around 21 MILLION people applied for 55,000 visas in 37 days. This was for people in countries with few granted visas in the past five years. If you think America sucks, there are a lot of people who disagree. American immigration policy tries to combine economic vitality and humanity. Whether we should focus on bringing in mostly white people or have fewer immigrants are value choices along with economic ones.

Some of the references:

Manhattan Institute-Pro immigration for economically beneficial immigrants. The paper shares the financial results on changing our immigration policy.

https://manhattan.institute/article/the-fiscal-impact-of-immigration-2025-update

Indian asylum claims shoot to 51,000

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r56vr40jvo

Pew Research Center-March 4, 2025 article

https://pewrsr.ch/4h8Dxvj

Congressional Research Service article from October 15, 2024. Nonimmigrant and Immigrant Visa Categories

https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R45938/R45938.9.pdf

Keeping H-1B status while awaiting a Green Card (Lawful Permanent Status)

https://arvian-immigration.com/maintaining-h-1b-status-during-eb-green-card-process/

The November 2025 State Department Visa Bulletin-21 million people applied to get 55,000 diversity immigrant slots in 37 days.

https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Bulletins/visabulletin_November2025.pdf

Click baiting title but his election showed how local areas have issues that aren't best addressed by 'one size fits all' policies. Fewer Americans feel proud to be an American and mid-decade gerrymandering by both parties feels like preparing for a civil war rather than a cold war. Fewer Americans also are willing to fight for their country as well but we can't count on that in a civil war.

How can we make America function better?

1. Give the minority party in the House the right to have a floor debate and vote on one of every four bills. If 3 bills get House votes with support by a majority of the majority party, the minority party gets 1 with the same amount of floor debate time as the majority party's bill that has the most debate time.
2. Make the Senate go back to a 'talking filibuster'! Instead of sticking the pain of a shutdown on constituents alone, they need to debate it in session.
3. Allow states more play on immigrant worker controls with federal vetting. This would require states with 'sanctuary policies' to put up or shut up while allowing states to fill areas with labor needs and the states could set higher standards.

Sources:

Cultural Conservatism Map

https://www.culturalcurrents.institute/insights/most-conservative-states

Pride in America Survey

https://news.gallup.com/poll/692150/american-pride-slips-new-low.aspx

Willingness to fight for your country

https://www.gallup-international.com/fileadmin/user_upload/surveys_and_news/2024/Fewer_people_are_willing_to_fight_for_their_country_compared_to_ten_years_ago/Fighting_for_the_country.pdf

Canada's Immigration Policy and Provices:

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/provincial-nominees.html