It's Up To We The People

A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO HOW AMERICA WORKS #18 (by America The Possible)

August 28, 2025

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Welcome to issue #18

 YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

Under construction? Not yet!

Fla., Representative Anna Paulina Luna marches on!

If you guys who live in Florida’s 13th Congressional District have been wondering what your representative’s been up to, she’s still up to her ears in trying to add Donald J. Trump's head to Mount Rushmore.

The bill she introduced, H.R. 792, appears to be languishing in the House without much hope of ever being passed. Nevertheless, Congresswoman Luna trudges on undeterred, claiming that “President Trump’s bold leadership and steadfast dedication to America’s greatness have cemented his place in history. Now the idea of putting Trump on Mt rushmore has its supporters, Kristi Noem for one, who had a model of Mt Rushmore made featuring his head next to Abraham Lincoln, and, surprise, Donald J. Trump himself.

(Editor’s Note: We’ll gladly bring you updates as we hear them. The latest being that neither the National Park Service, Mount Rushmore officials, nor her Congressional colleagues are enthusiastic.) 

BEHIND THE MICROBYTES

BEHIND EVERY SOCIAL MEDIA LENGTH POST, THERE’S AN INTERESTING BACKSTORY, WHICH PUTS A LITTLE MEAT ON THE BONE. (Follow us on Instagram and TikTok )

MICROBYTE: They're coming for our Social Security. Again.

We try very hard to remain non-partisan. Honestly, we do. But privatizing Social Security is too important an issue to stay silent. 

I’m not an economist, but here’s my take.

Over the decades, campaigns to privatize Social Security have come primarily from Republican politicians, libertarian-leaning think-tanks, and conservative economists. 

A bit of history. The Social Security program was created by President Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression and signed into law on August 14, 1935. 

Why’d he do it? Primarily to protect average citizens and their families against poverty in old age and job loss. Its main purpose was to provide a safety net through a federally funded insurance program that would pay benefits to retired workers aged 65 and older based on their own payroll tax contributions.

That last sentence means that Social Security is not a charity; you paid for it.

What’s in it for the Government?

Social Security is the single largest federal program. In 2024, the government paid out $1.5 trillion to 69 million Americans. That amounts to about one-fifth of the entire Federal budget. Obviously, getting out from under that, at least partially, would warm any government accountant's heart.

What’s in it for us?

Glittering promises of better returns, even in a volatile market. But––with zero guarantees––and, according to the impartial AARP, the very real risk of being left without the money we need for a dignified retirement when we need it. That’s what we can be sure of.

Who’ll benefit the most?

Guess. From the horse's mouth: during a July interview with Breitbart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked about the newly created "Trump accounts" for newborns. 

Sounds innocent enough. Who could hate accounts for newborns? 

But in that interview, he also said that those “newborn” accounts were merely "...a back door” for privatizing Social Security. A Trojan Horse. He actually said it out loud.  If we let them get away with it, the banks and the brokerages, the Blackrocks and the Vanguards, will run through that door as fast as they can because they stand to make a windfall of $20 trillion. $20 trillion.

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MICROBYTE: Redux…“The truth is always simple and best left that way.”

I wrote this post a while back. I was tempted to add to it. But I decided, wisely I think, that the short, elegant list the professors gave us was complete. A clear, and simple way to see each new assault for what it is. So, I’ve resisted the temptation to tamper. You can read it here in script form. Or, if you've seen the post before, seeing it twice isn’t a terrible idea.

“How will we know when we’ve lost our democracy?”

That is the title of an essay written by three eminent political science professors and published in the New York Times that will freak you out. 

In a moment, I’ll give you the bottom line. 

But first, America The Possible is committed to making America better by making Americans smarter one MicroByte at a time. If you follow, comment, and share, we’ll know you’re with us.

So, how will we know when we’ve lost it? The professors propose a simple rule of thumb they call “The cost of opposing the government.” Which means that when We The People, our universities, our law firms, our corporations, the courts, and the media have to think twice about criticizing or opposing the government, when we believe it’s safer to appease rather than oppose, we no longer live in a democracy.

So what are we supposed to do? The professors also tell us that a slide into autocracy is totally reversible and stoppable–but only if We The People get off the sidelines, speak up, and stand up–democrats and republicans, together.  What becomes of America will always be up to us.

THIS WEEK’S FRONT PAGE

Cracker Barrel Logo

Every now and then, we all need to take a break from the political mayhem we’re going through. This guest column that appeared in The Washington Post seemed like just the right breath of fresh air.  It’s happening in 2025, but it feels like 1957:

Cracker Barrel is trying to modernize. Bless its heart… Travis M. Andrews

“In my younger and more vulnerable years, I ate at Cracker Barrel.

A lot.

I loved it. Not ironically. Not tongue-in-cheek. Fully and wholeheartedly.

I loved the biscuits and the gravy, which is to say I loved the rocking chairs lining the porch and homestyle dishes lining the tables. I loved the decor because it never made any sense. I loved how they played on a nostalgia for something I never experienced — an idyllic portrait of life in the rural South. (I’m Southern but from New Orleans.)

“Most of all, I loved how going to a Cracker Barrel always felt like a journey. The chain reminded me of road trips, which were generally required to eat there. My college roommate and I would routinely drive a half-hour from our Baton Rouge apartment to get biscuits and gravy during halftime of Saints games, inevitably missing the second half. It was usually worth it.

“Despite it clearly being a corporate monolith, I’ve always found something about the place to be cozy.

Things move slower at Cracker Barrel. And they always have.

So imagine my surprise when I opened the menu on Sunday evening to find fried-onion-topped burgers and chicken tender trays and margaritas. Margaritas! At Cracker Barrel! The place is home to sweet tea and coffee. What is this, a TGI Friday’s? Apparently, they’ve been selling booze since 2020.

Listen: Cracker Barrel is unstuck in time. And people are furious.

In 2024, the Old Country Store announced a “transformation plan” to drag itself into the 21st century, which is the very antithesis of what it was built on. With military precision, corporate management has enacted menu changes and — in some places — redesigned the insides to look more like a hotel lobby than a B-movie set in the turn-of-the-century South.

Last week, Cracker Barrel committed its gravest (graviest?) sin yet, if you believe its critics, by unveiling a new, minimalistic logo, which eliminated the overall-wearing fellow sitting on a chair and leaning against a barrel (which is presumably full of crackers).

But, wait! As of Tuesday evening, the company said it’s reverting back to the old logo, not without causing a flurry of reactions on the internet in the meantime. What a roller coaster!

Normally, no one would have noticed any of this. But this is 2025, and 2025 is the stupidest year since, well, last year.

“WTF is wrong with @CrackerBarrel??!” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, demanded to know on X. The right accused the new logo — which is just the restaurant’s name on a yellow background — of being woke. The left clapped back. Steak ’n Shake somehow got involved and won’t stop posting about it (see: the stupidity of 2025). The official X account of the Democratic Party shared the Norman Rockwell painting “Freedom of Speech” with the note, “We think the Cracker Barrel rebrand sucks too.”

Because reality is now an Onion article, Cracker Barrel’s stock fell off a cliff. (It seems to be recovering.)

In a lengthy statement posted to its website on Monday, Cracker Barrel assured its critics that Uncle Herschel (the old guy) will remain on the menu and road signs: “He’s not going anywhere — he’s family.” The chain also said it “could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be.”

Then the president of the United States got involved. Tuesday on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response (the ultimate Poll), and manage the company better than ever before. They got a Billion Dollars worth of free publicity if they play their cards right. Very tricky to do, but a great opportunity.”

Because it seemed that no one talking about Cracker Barrel had actually ever visited a Cracker Barrel, and because I have nothing better to do with my weekends, I decided a visit was paramount.

Which is why on Sunday, my wife, Maoria, and I made our own odyssey to America’s finest invention.

Steak ’n Shake suggested that Cracker Barrel does “not respect their historical customers.”

Well, hey, that’s me! So let’s find out.

I knew I should order the traditional fried chicken (which is pretty good!), a weekend special. I didn’t. I let the promised glow of Nashville Hot Chicken entice me, even as I knew Cracker Barrel would have the same issue of every chain chasing the trend: They can’t really make it spicy enough to please the heatheads, but they have to do something that nods to the real stuff, so you end up with a brown-sugar-and-oil gloop mushying the once-crisp chicken.

Maoria smartly stuck with her tried and true: meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans. Her only complaint, she later said, was self-inflicted: She forgot to order a glass of milk with it. (Yes, milk and meat loaf. This is one of her favorite pairings. Do with that information what you will.)

What she remembered — and what I did not — is Cracker Barrel’s basic appeal is that it’s stubbornly old-fashioned.

Or, was.

Cracker Barrel was founded near Interstate 40 in Tennessee in 1969 as a sly means of selling gasoline. It paired a restaurant slinging quickly prepared classic Southern fare such as fried catfish, chicken and dumplings, and stuff in cast-iron skillets, with a gift shop designed to look like an old-timey country store that offered a little bit of everything. It grew into a national chain, exploiting people’s nostalgia more than their gasoline needs.

As corporate monoliths go, it was pretty cozy. And it worked: The chain stretched out to more than 600 locations across 44 states and grew to serve more than 200 million guests a year.

Is it in danger of losing them all because of a logo?

The first thing I noticed After the Controversy was that the sign hanging above the rocking chairs and giant checkerboards that lined the front porch was the same one it’s always been. The man and his barrel that everyone suddenly seems to love so much still greet you, at least at the Waldorf, Maryland, location.

Like that sign, everything appeared to be the same. The country classics and bluegrass tunes. The country store’s scented candles, oversized mugs — with phrases like “This is NOT enough coffee” — and the wall lined with glass bottles of regional colas.

Maybe there’s some more novelty items than before, like Spencer’s spent the night and left some of its stuff lying around.

Inside the dining room, hanging on the walls is the same bric-a-brac as always: vintage signs for businesses whose existence you might ponder (like Wallace Paint), random farming tools like hoes and shovels and old portraits of presidents — Here’s Honest Abe! There’s Old George!

Next to Maoria’s and my table were two pieces of art, each depicting the first 20 or so presidents hanging out together a la that photo of the Overlook Hotel.

The triangle pegboard game still sits at every table, providing many ways to make you feel like you’ve got a single-digit IQ. Supposedly, some have new wording, but ours still reminded me what an “eg-no-ra-moose” I am. The service remains so leisurely, you may forget you’re in a restaurant. At some point, as if on cue, some lady who may or may not be a Cracker Barrel employee asks “how y’all doing” and disappears before you get a chance to answer.

But there are some changes, more than menu deep.

I looked more closely at everything else. The store is still stocked with the candy no one wants, such as Necco Wafers and Mallo Cups, but where on earth are the chocolate-covered sunflower seeds? This was a real sticking point for me.

You can order a take-home meal, as though this is some Olive Garden. There’s now curbside pickup, as if we’re at a regular old Outback Steakhouse.

And the new and old logos seem to be everywhere, battling for prominence. The credit card reader at the check-out boasts the new logo, which you notice as you purchase a ball cap with the old logo.

It is past and present, new and old. And because of that, it is lost.

The entire idea of Cracker Barrel is that it’s a refuge of modern life. A place to pause on the long road trip of life — or, more likely, an actual road trip between two midsize cities.

For Cracker Barrel to be rushing to keep up with the rest of the country by adding trendy dishes, smartphone-powered reward programs and calorie counts is antithetical to its very nature.

Luckily, you can just … ignore all that.

It’s pretty easy.

You can still sit in a rocking chair listening to cars whip by on the highway, and read by the glowing light of next door’s Hampton Inn.

You won’t even have to see the restaurant’s logo as you rock on, road-tripping against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the Barrel.

(Editor’s Note: Huzzah! Nicely done.)

WHAT I’M READING NOW

HIDDEN POTENTIAL: THE SCIENCE OF ACHIEVING GREATER THINGS. (Author, Adam Grant, best-selling author, Organizational psychologist at The Wharton School. Publisher, Viking, Random House)

The thing we all love about America is that here everybody gets a shot. But sometimes what you have to do to get that shot is less than clear. 

Adam Grant: “We live in a world that’s obsessed with talent. We celebrate gifted students in school, natural athletes in sports, and child prodigies in music. But admiring people who start out with innate advantages leads us to overlook the distances we ourselves can travel. We underestimate the range of skills that we can learn and how good we can become. We can all improve on improving. And, when opportunity doesn’t knock, there are ways to build a door.”

Mark Cuban: “This is a book that should be read by parents, leaders, coaches, and every school board member in America. Adam Grant reveals that everything you think about developing potential is wrong. 

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“African American ladies, beautiful ladies are saying, ‘Please, President Trump, come to Chicago. Please.  So, I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York.” DJT

(Editor’s note: That’s a hard one to follow.)

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Oscar Wilde

“Some people cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”

Oscar Wilde

BOOBY PRIZE OF THE WEEK

RFK jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as US Health Secretary, announced the withdrawal of approximately $500 million in federal mRNA vaccine development funding, stating.

A broad consensus among health experts strongly criticizes the move, arguing the decision is built on “false or misleading claims about the technology” and endangers future pandemic preparedness. Former FDA official Peter Lurie stated that mRNA vaccines were critical in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and saved millions of American lives. Dr. Jake Scott from Stanford Medicine denounced Kennedy’s action as “misguided, irresponsible, and reckless,” stressing that mRNA technology’s rapid adaptability is an asset, not a liability. Leading medical organizations, including the Alliance for mRNA Medicines, called Kennedy’s policy “the epitome of cutting off your nose to spite your face” and “unscientific vilification” of a life-saving technology

HOW TO TAKE ACTION

📨 Action of the Week: Personalize Your Message—Then Keep Sending It

One email won’t change the world—but a smart, personal, persistent one can move the needle.

How to Take Action:

  • Pick one issue you care about

  • Write your representative a message that’s personal—why you care, in your words

  • If they don’t respond? Follow up. Weekly. Monthly. Until you’re heard.

You can call or email them directly:
📞 Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224‑3121

🧭 Where to Find Emails and Contact Pages

  1. 🏛️ House of Representatives:
    https://www.house.gov/representatives
    → Find your rep by ZIP code, then click their name to visit their site and contact page.

  2. 🏛️ U.S. Senate:
    https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm
    → Browse by state to find your two Senators’ websites and contact info.

  3. 🧭 Not sure who represents you?
    Use this tool: https://www.commoncause.org/find-your-representative/
    → Just enter your address and it shows all your local, state, and federal reps—plus contact links.