Those who recover from alcohol or drug addiction compare it to being on a descending elevator. They can step off any time they like by asking for help or via intervention, or they can choose to ride it all the way down until it crashes at the bottom.

For some addicts, losing a job or a spouse is enough for them to admit they have a problem. Others won’t see the light until they lose it all: relationships, jobs, money , and health.

The current ruling class in America has its own addiction — to power. At this very moment, they are standing inside a descending elevator of their own making, and they’re holding the rest of us hostage.

Like all addicts, they will let nothing come between them and their pursuit of power over the public. Our government wants to dictate what language we use, what our children will be taught in school, what food we can eat, which laws will be enforced, and even what cars we’re allowed to drive. No detail of our lives is too small for them to intervene. Just this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) revealed she’s banning gas stoves.

More significantly, to ensure their hold on power, they’ve decided it’s OK to interfere in our elections. In 2016, the Hillary Clinton campaign commissioned the Steele dossier, which, having failed to prevent former President Donald Trump’s victory, still sparked an investigation that crippled the first two years of his presidency. This was followed up by two bogus impeachments.

Likewise, after the New York Post’s bombshell story about the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop broke two weeks before the 2020 election, a Biden campaign official “prompted” a letter signed by 51 former intelligence community officials to give Biden a “talking point” in the upcoming debate. That’s not speculation. It’s precisely how former acting CIA Director Mike Morell described the letter and its intention in an Oct. 19 email to former CIA Director John Brennan.

Moreover, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, the government went all in on its strategy to portray MAGA Republicans as fascists who were out to destroy our democracy.

All lies, but it doesn’t matter. The end justified the means.

The consequences, however, have been grievous. The Biden administration has declared war on the fossil fuel industry, which has driven up the cost of filling our gas tanks. Its reckless spending on green energy projects and other needless initiatives has swollen our national debt to prohibitive levels and sparked out-of-control inflation. Efforts by the Federal Reserve to lower prices have led to a 5-point spike in interest rates over the past year, leaving consumers — and, apparently, regional banks — reeling.

The Left has also used the nation’s law enforcement apparatus to target its political opponents. The most egregious example is New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump.

If one were trying to destroy a country, these are the types of tactics he would use.

The U.S. government, created to preserve and protect liberty, made a giant and deliberate U-turn two years ago, rejecting the Constitution and the values upon which our nation was founded, such as freedom and individual responsibility. How can it possibly be that so many Americans are missing this, or worse, have become part of the cover-up?

Voters were offered the chance to make their voices heard in November. What should have been a bloodbath for the Democratic Party turned into a major disappointment for the GOP.

How do voters not see that Democratic policies are destroying the country? What do people think when White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stands at the podium and tells reporters that illegal immigration is down 90% when it’s clear migrants are pouring over our open border in record numbers?

Incessant crime and homeless encampments are turning U.S. cities into ghettos. Overdoses from the deadly drugs flowing into the country are killing more young people than our foreign wars.

Has it not become bad enough for the public? What will it take for people to wake up?

The red lights are flashing. Will Americans get off now or ride the elevator all the way to the bottom?

Elizabeth Stauffer is a contributor to the Washington Examiner, Power Line, the Western Journal, and AFNN and a past contributor to RedState, Newsmax, and Bongino.com . Her articles have appeared on many sites, including RealClearPolitics, MSN, and the Federalist. Please follow Elizabeth on  Twitter  or  LinkedIn .