Two weeks ago, If you were to ask me what the deep state is I would've said it's the MIC and the government that continues regardless of who is elected. I'd mention lifelong employees, revolving door lobbyists, etc.

Now I'd say the deep state is what exists in the absence of a functioning government, it's the machinations which have been constructed with a status quo greenlight. This week I saw three journalists cover events which had been the result of nonaction. It dawned on me that nonaction is more reliable than action.

Nearly all decisions and foreign policy are built upon conditional statements: I.e. IF someone does this, THEN we will do that. Then the politicians rig the game to get what they want. But a more effective system is built upon the status quo, where politicians get what they want in the event that nothing happens or changes.

All we have to do is... nothing.

It's called getting your way without the burden and responsibility of lobbying for it. Politicians feel like they can hide behind inaction. "Hey, I didn't do anything!" Exactly! You did nothing!

The first example was how injured soldiers were denied compensation because the U.S. hasn't formally declared war since 1991. An open declaration of war is a sweeping catch all that authorizes medical benefits for everyone who serves in the armed forces, regardless of how or when the injury occurred. You can save a lot of money by simply not declaring war and not caring for your veterans.

Second was open immigration along the southern border which is policy through inaction. Instead of changing laws and standards which limit allowable immigration, they just blew off the law. If the U.S. wants more immigrants we should increase the quotas and do it on the books. But if we just want the effects of immigration then we should do ... nothing.

This week the U.S. began air strikes against Houthis in Yemen who have been restricting passage through the Red Sea. This wasn't a sudden decision, or done in defense. It violates every principle of the War Powers Resolution.

Of course, if no one authorized war in Yemen, then no one has to take responsibility for the fallout. This is the essense of how our government is currently operating. Their intentions are so unpalatable that they can not advocate for them. They engineer conditions where negative input or no input at all is seen as an affirmative response.

I'm not the first person to observe inaction as a strategy, but it appears lately that the system has been jiggered to create progress.