America Is Still Worth Giving Thanks For
For the frustrated and disillusioned on the right, here are four foundational reasons to give thanks for this great country.For the frustrated and disillusioned on the right, here are four foundational reasons to give thanks for this great country.The REAL solution to the housing crisis nobody's talking about
The American dream is slipping away for many young Americans, as life becomes increasingly unaffordable — especially home ownership. Soaring home prices and interest rates and a housing shortage bar younger generations of people from purchasing a house. Today, the average age of a first-time home buyer is 40 years old.
Many ideas are being tossed around regarding how to bring home ownership back into the realm of possibility for young families — most notably President Trump’s polarizing 50-year mortgage proposal.
But Sara Gonzales, BlazeTV host of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered,” says we’re ignoring a simple solution: eliminate property taxes.
Right now in the state of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is aggressively pushing for the elimination of property taxes, condemning them as "rent to the government.”
Abolishing property taxes, says Sara, is a “standard conservative position.” “You should not have to buy a home and then spend 20, 30, 50 years paying off that home, and yet you still never truly own your home because you would still pay rent to the government,” she says.
And yet there are conservatives who oppose the elimination of property taxes, claiming it encourages older homeowners to hoard inventory.
“So you're basically saying … we should what? Kick all the oldies out of the homes that they've paid for so that young people can buy them up? Like, I'm sorry, are we conservatives or are we not?” asks Sara.
Further, senior tax caps allow older homeowners to pay significantly less in property taxes than younger homeowners, meaning Boomers are already incentivized to not sell. But if we were to enforce higher taxes on our senior population, as some conservatives suggest, we’re now guilty, Sara argues, of the same thing we criticize socialists for — taxing the rich.
Another pro-property-tax argument is that the tax accounts for significant funding for education. But public schools, says Sara, aren't something most true conservatives want to fund anyway because “they're indoctrinating your children."
If we really want to make sure the essentials, like police and fire services, are well funded, we should first look at eliminating all waste, fraud, and abuse. If it’s out of control at the federal level, then it’s almost certainly out of control at the local level, says Sara.
All in all, eliminating the property tax benefits everyone, says Sara. Not only will it prevent people from being forced to pay lifetime rent to the government, but when older homeowners eventually do die, younger families have a better chance of affording those vacant homes because they’re not inheriting enormous property taxes.
“Take this into consideration,” says Sara.
“Say you have parents who are wealthy because they've worked hard and they own a lot of land … that they would like to give to you when they die. Consider you will not even be able to keep your parents' property or home with the astronomical property taxes that you will owe at the end of every year on land and a home that they already paid for.”
“If you're young and you ever want to own a home, you should recognize that [property taxes are] a problem for everyone. So let's solve the problem for everyone.”
To hear more, watch the episode above.
Want more from Sara Gonzales?
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A 50-year mortgage, an eight-year car loan, and a forever college payment. Is this the best we can do for our young people?The rate cliff is real — and Washington created it
It’s never been more unaffordable to buy and finance a home in America. And yet, government officials seem confused about the cause, chasing “solutions” that will only make things worse. They want more building, lower rates, and more subsidies. But none of that fixes the core problem.
We don’t have a shortage of homes. We have an affordability crisis driven by government intervention — one that’s inflated yet another asset bubble. Housing, like education and health care, has been hijacked by easy money, fake pricing signals, and federal subsidies designed to mask structural rot.
You can’t paper over decades of distortion with another round of Fed intervention.
The solution isn’t more easy money. It’s pulling the plug on government policies that distort markets. Enough with near-zero interest rates. Enough with the Federal Reserve buying mortgage-backed securities. Enough with Fannie, Freddie, and the FHA inflating demand that the market can’t sustain.
Cause and effect
Remember the late ’90s? Mortgage rates sat between 7% and 8%. Nobody panicked or complained much about the cost of living. People bought homes. Prices were reasonable. Inflation was low because deficits were shrinking and money wasn’t being printed into oblivion.
Then came the dot-com crash, George W. Bush’s post-9/11 spending spree, and the Clinton-era “affordable housing” schemes coming due. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s footprint expanded. The Fed, under Chairman Alan Greenspan, dropped rates to near zero — the same path Trump wants now — and we inflated the first major housing bubble of the 21st century.
From 2001 to 2006, Washington juiced the market at every turn. M2 money supply growth topped 10% and stayed above 8% into 2003. The Fed funds rate plummeted from 6.25% to 1%, where it stayed for a full year. Real rates were negative for two and a half years.
No surprise what followed: Real estate loans at commercial banks surged at a compound annual rate of 12.26%. Cheap money and inflated supply pushed prices through the roof. The result was a bubble built not on demand but distortion.
Then came the collapse.
And what did Washington do? Bailouts for big banks. Bailouts for Fannie and Freddie. Dodd-Frank. Obamacare. Trillions in new debt. The Fed held rates near zero for six more years, planting the seeds for the next wave of asset inflation — especially in housing.
Then came COVID.
The government printed $7 trillion and subsidized nearly everything. Rates dropped back near zero. The Fed bought trillions more in mortgage-backed securities. Freddie, Fannie, and the FHA expanded their subsidies even further. By 2021, we had the biggest housing bubble in American history.
Welcome to the rate cliff
Now, we’ve hit the wall. The Fed had to raise rates to fight inflation. That created a generational rate cliff. Sellers don’t want to give up their 2% and 3% mortgages. Buyers can’t afford homes at today’s prices — prices that are still artificially high thanks to 15 years of easy money and government meddling.
And yet, housing starts have held up decently. The problem isn’t inventory — it’s liquidity and affordability.
In June, existing home sales dropped to their slowest pace since 2009. But it’s not because no one’s selling. Redfin reports 500,000 more sellers than buyers — a 33.7% gap, the widest since 2005. Total inventory rose to 1.53 million units, up nearly 16% from last year. Vacancies have spiked 28% since the second quarter of 2022. New home supply has ballooned to 9.8 months.
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In a real free market, prices would drop sharply. But when government, either directly or indirectly, backs 90% of the U.S. mortgage market, that’s not how it works. Subsidized mortgages and distorted demand keep prices frozen — even as sales crater.
Sellers want prices buyers can’t afford. According to the Atlanta Fed, a household now needs $124,150 in “qualified income” to afford the median home. But the median household income is just $79,223.
Lowering interest rates again won’t fix this. It’ll just stoke inflation and feed the next bubble. And with the Treasury dumping trillions in debt onto the market, 10-year yields — and therefore 30-year mortgage rates — aren’t coming down anytime soon.
Absent a 2008-level crash, housing prices aren’t dropping meaningfully. We’re stuck.
You want lower rates? Cut spending
If you want rates to fall, slash spending and debt. That’s how you bring prices down. You can’t paper over decades of distortion with another round of Fed intervention.
Live by Fed money printing, die by Fed money printing.
Property taxes are killing middle-class ownership nationwide
Texans take pride in low taxes. We believe in keeping what we earn. But property taxes undermine that principle — not just in Texas, but across America.
What started as a local way to fund roads and schools has metastasized into a national scandal: a form of government rent on homes we’ve already paid for. Unlike sales taxes, which reflect voluntary spending, property taxes punish ownership itself — a direct affront to freedom and a quiet war on the American dream.
America was built on the promise of land and liberty. Unchecked property taxation makes a mockery of that promise.
It’s not just a Lone Star problem. From New Jersey to Illinois, California to Florida, families are being taxed out of their homes. Soaring appraisals and bloated local budgets trap homeowners on an endless treadmill: Pay off your mortgage, and you’re still stuck with escalating annual bills. That’s not ownership. That’s serfdom cloaked in paperwork.
A rigged system
Local governments dress up this shakedown. They cite needs like schools, roads, and emergency services. But where’s the accountability? Budgets balloon, bureaucracies swell, and taxpayers foot the bill while public trust evaporates. Politicians boast of stable or “lowered” tax rates, yet the truth is plain: When your appraisal jumps, so does your bill. It’s a rigged game of smoke and mirrors.
This system is a bipartisan betrayal. It punishes young families trying to build a future and retirees trying to hang on to what they’ve earned. It squeezes small businesses and destabilizes communities. For those on fixed incomes — especially seniors — it’s a slow-motion eviction notice signed by the state. Even in places like Denton County, Texas, where limited relief exists, it’s just a patch on a broken dam. The broader trend is unmistakable: rising appraisals, rising taxes, and rising resentment.
Who really owns your home?
At the root, property taxes don’t treat citizens as owners. They treat us as permanent tenants of the government. If the state can hike your bill every year based on speculative market guesses, who really owns your land? Not you. The government does. You’re just paying them to stay on it.
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This is an assault on middle-class stability — and it’s intentional. The ruling class, backed by urban technocrats and local cronies, thrives on an ever-expanding tax base. They want your home to bankroll their pet projects. Can’t afford to keep up? They’ll auction your house on the courthouse steps and call it “revenue recovery.”
Enough.
Time to fight back
The solution isn’t complicated. States need hard caps on tax hikes, not flimsy guidelines. Require automatic rollbacks when appraisals skyrocket. Mandate full transparency on every dollar spent. And no more sneaky tax hikes disguised as “market adjustments.”
If local governments want more revenue, let them make their case to voters in the open — not hide behind bloated Zillow estimates. Critics whine that this would “tie local officials’ hands.” Good. Their hands need tying. We’re not funding empires. We’re protecting homes.
Arthur Laffer’s warnings still ring true: Tax too much, and you kill growth. Over-tax property, and you kill ownership itself. Texas drew families and entrepreneurs by avoiding income taxes and offering stability. If property taxes keep climbing, that magnet will flip — and families will bolt.
Nationwide, it’s already happening. Americans are uprooting from high-tax states, chasing affordability that’s disappearing fast. Census data shows that millions are voting with their feet. But if states don’t overhaul how they fund local government, the problem will follow. The escape hatch is closing.
This isn’t just about economics. It’s about sovereignty. If the government can claim an ever-growing slice of your home’s value, it effectively owns a piece of your life. That’s not freedom — that’s feudalism in a modern shell.
America was built on the promise of land and liberty. Unchecked property taxation makes a mockery of that promise. A nation of owners is becoming a nation of renters — forever indebted to a system that never stops taking.
It’s time for a reckoning.
Texas can lead the way by tightening rollback rules, streamlining protests, and forcing every taxing entity to justify every penny. Other states must follow. Because this isn’t just a local fight. It’s a national crisis.
If we fail, we’re not just losing our homes. We’re losing our country. Put homeowners ahead of bureaucrats. Stop pretending the government owns a stake in our houses. Restore the American dream — not just in speeches, but in law.
Why does our furnace go out every winter? (and other burning questions)
The furnace goes out every winter.
I never know what it is. Some switch or some gauge. I’m not an expert in HVAC. All I know is that my wife ends up asking, “Is anyone else cold?” And just as I realize that I actually am feeling kind of cold, she informs me that the thermostat is reading 64 degrees.
I spent about two hours down there in the corner of the old basement next to the cobwebs and the window fans. Detaching that little tube. Using my wife’s hair dryer to dry every little drop.
It always happens at the worst possible time. I don’t know why, but it does. It’s not in November, when it’s a little chilly. It’s not in April when we're warming up for spring.
It’s in the middle of February, when we’ve got two feet of snow on the ground, highs of 13 degrees in the day and lows of 2 degrees at night. The furnace always goes out during the coldest time of the year.
A history of failure
I remember one year it was out for a couple weeks. They sent a guy out a few days after we called. He installed a temporary switch, but then that went out pretty quick. They forgot to order the permanent one, too. Then, that ended up taking an additional seven days to get here.
By the time they finally came back to fix the furnace, we had all become so used to the space heaters, we had almost forgotten what it was like to have a normal heated house. “Wow, this is pretty nice,” we all said.
Last week, like clockwork, the furnace decided to go out again. Fourteen degrees, February, after 5:00 p.m., so no one is going to come fix it until tomorrow at the earliest. “Lovely,” the resigned father (me) muttered under his breath as he skulked down the stairs to take a look at the cold furnace.
DIY dad
The last time the guy was here to fix it he explained the problem. Condensation in some tube. The buildup of the moisture forces a shutoff. He showed me how to fix it in case it happened again. So there I sat, down by the furnace, with a headlamp around my forehead, fiddling with this thing, trying to remove the little black tube without damaging anything else.
I spent about two hours down there in the corner of the old basement next to the cobwebs and the window fans. Detaching that little tube. Using my wife’s hair dryer to dry every little drop.
Reattaching it. Running upstairs to turn the thermostat back on while my wife and kids ate dinner. Heading back downstairs, turning the furnace back on. Waiting for the blower to kick in and hoping it stayed on this time.
I repeated the process at least 15 times. Over and over again. Little droplets of condensation kept coming out of that little black tube. Remarkably, just as I was about to give up, it worked. The furnace was fixed.
It's always something
It’s always something. That’s the truth. If we don’t already have enough to do, something else is thrown into the mix. If we aren’t already stressed enough, some other problem comes along.
Of course, the furnace isn’t really that big of a deal. Yeah, it’s freezing up here in the deep north, but it’s not life-threatening when it goes out. Just very annoying. It’s just another thing to take care of when all we want is for everything to go right.
That’s life. We just want everything to go right, but it never really does. There is always something. The furnace that always goes out at the worst possible time is a metaphor and a reminder.
We can’t control everything. Things are going to happen that we can’t anticipate and we can’t fix forever. I know the furnace will go out again. Maybe in a month. Maybe in two months. Maybe in a year. But what I know is that it will go out again, someday. All I can do is wait and then get down there in the corner of the musty basement to try to fix it again when it stops working.
Fuel for reflection
It sounds funny, but I think mundane problems like the furnace going out really are good opportunities for reflection. They are little hidden lessons of life. Opportunities to open up and consider bigger questions. How do we react when things going wrong? Do we try to deny them? Or face them head-on? Do we rely on someone else — and sometimes we need to — or do we rely on ourselves? What do we do?
We can sweep some problems under the rug. Others, we can’t. The furnace is like that. The snow that needs to be shoveled at 6 a.m. is like that. The one toilet in the house that’s not working is like that. The flat tire on your way to dinner is like that. They are small problems, but they’ve got to get solved. They simply can’t be ignored.
Things go wrong. They always will. Sometimes it’s big things, and sometimes it’s little things. For some reason, they always seem to go wrong at the worst possible moment. At the end of the day, it’s up to us to decide how we are going to handle the problems when they eventually come.
It’s true for the little problems of furnaces and toilets. And it’s true for the bigger problems, too. The tough ones without any good answers at all.
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