Today I am turning my blog over to Elizabeth Vaughn, a fellow contributor to the American Free News Network. She has penned an excellent piece that focuses on the corruption of the American government–specifically the Department of Justice, the FBI, the CIA, the IRS, and the State Department, all of which have been infiltrated by radical leftists, socialists, and possibly communists.

The U.S. Government Has Been Thoroughly Corrupted

by Elizabeth Vaughn

Against all odds, the fundamental transformation of the United States, envisioned by former President Barack Obama and implemented by his equally radical attorney general, Eric Holder, has come to pass. Typically a quiet time in our nation’s capital, seismic events in the past two weeks have combined to complete the metamorphosis. Sadly, America can no longer claim to be a “democratic republic.”

It began when we learned that, contrary to the image of integrity he’s tried so hard to project, Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV), had a price and Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer met it. Manchin’s support greenlit passage of the ludicrously named “Inflation Reduction Act,” a boondogle of a bill that analysts agree will not reduce inflation. It will, however, raise taxes on the middle class and subsidize green energy programs.

The most startling provision in this legislation will increase IRS funding by $80 billion, nearly six times its current budget of $13.7 billion, and add an army of 87,000 new auditors to its ranks. Given that the IRS has been stockpiling weapons in recent years, buying up $700,000 in ammunition this year alone, this truly gives new meaning to the phrase, “weaponization of U.S. institutions.”

Of course, the FBI’s Gestapo-style raid on Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s Palm Beach residence, was the most astonishing act of all. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s sanctimonious defense of the raid as evidence of the DOJ’s “faithful adherence to the rule of law” and FBI agents as “dedicated, patriotic public servants” was an insult and disgrace. And the media’s refusal to call the storming of Trump’s home a raid was an outrage.

This was a search without a predicate, conducted for purely political purposes 90 days out from the midterm elections in which Republican candidates are expected to prevail.

The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the raid on Mar-a-Lago are only the latest manifestations of the corruption that has become entrenched in our federal government. Collectively, progressive extremism has brought us to this perilous, even existential, moment in history. And it can take down this once great nation faster than Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin dared dream.

It’s not only the elected Democratic politicians we see and hear about every day who are responsible. Over the past decade, virtually every U.S. agency has become hopelessly corrupt. Once highly respected institutions such as the FBI, the CIA, and the State Department have become infested with progressives who work behind the scenes to advance and support the progressive agenda. Whatever you care to call this network of unelected career bureaucrats – the permanent government, the deep state, the administrative state – they’ve come to wield tremendous power and we are now seeing the effects of their handiwork. The election of a Republican president is not enough. We need a leader who’s willing to clean house – to expel this army of worker ants and replace them.

Unfortunately, judging from a recent poll, much of the electorate doesn’t quite grasp the danger we face at the hands of progressives.

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Mark Penn, a pollster and Democratic strategist (formerly tied to the Clintons), emphasized a disturbing finding in a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll. Although job approval for President Joe Biden sits at 38%, the poll found that 50% of respondents still said they would vote for a Democratic candidate in the midterms. And while 18% disapprove of Biden’s performance, that won’t stop them from voting Democratic in November.

This is a problem because the Democratic candidates these individuals would help elect will vote for the Biden administration’s foolish agenda. The most consequential congressional votes since Biden took office have mostly broken along party lines.

So, these voters are disappointed by Biden’s governance, but okay with supporting those responsible for enacting his agenda. Either they’re not focused enough on what’s happening to our country or they’re not too smart. It’s likely both.

The Democratic Party has taken a sharp left turn over the past few years. Their full embrace of woke principles has inflicted enormous damage on the country. America may already be broken beyond repair, but our chances of averting catastrophe are far higher with Republicans in charge than Democrats.

The electorate needs to wake up. A vote for a Democratic candidate is a vote for more of the corruption that’s destroying the country.

(Elizabeth is the founder and editor of The American Crisis. She is a current contributor to Newsmax and The Western Journal and a previous contributor to RedState, The Dan Bongino Show, and The Federalist.” Her articles have also appeared on HotAir, Instapundit, RealClearPolitics, MSN, Newsmax, Ricochet and Twitchy. Prior to blogging, Elizabeth was a financial consultant at Merrill Lynch and an independent equity trader. She is a wife, a mom to three grown children and several beloved golden retrievers, and a grandmother!)