Americans are depressed. The New Year is usually a time of hope and expectation. No matter how bad the last year has been, the New Year offers a chance to start afresh. In 2021, many Americans pinned their hopes on Joe Biden. The new president had vowed to end COVID, get our economy back on track, and “unite” the nation around moderation and a “return to normalcy.” Instead, we got two new COVID waves, skyrocketing murder rates, a slumping economy, international embarrassments, and more division than ever before. Is it any wonder that more than half of Americans are “fearful for what the year 2022 holds in store for the U.S.”? According to a new Axios poll, 54% of Americans are fearful about the upcoming year, an 18% rise since last year. Twenty-six percent more Democrats are more fearful than last year, and 11% more Republicans say the same. Turns out, President Biden failed to deliver on his promise to fix the country. But here’s the honest truth that the partisans on the left and the right won’t tell you: no president, no matter the party, has the ability to get our nation back on track. SEE ALSO: Kamala Harris’ dysfunctional office sums up everything that is wrong with the federal government Sure, we’d be in better shape if Donald Trump had won the election. A block of cheese would have done a better job than Joe Biden over the last 12 months. But the vaccine that can cure our national malaise won’t come from Washington. It will come from the people, the states, and the values and virtues that have made our nation great. The federal government is both too powerful and not nearly powerful enough. It has far too much control over the daily lives of the American people. Politicians like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi can dramatically change the face of our country with a single piece of legislation or a single executive order. They can influence what we buy, where we live, who we work for, and how many kids we have. Because they have this awesome power, they’ve succeeded in convincing the American people that they can fix our every problem. But they’re not nearly powerful enough to do that. No matter how hard they try, they’re incapable of fixing the economy, uniting the country, or stopping a highly transmissible disease. There is no magic button in the White House. If the latest polling is any indication, Americans are starting to realize that. SEE ALSO: Biden Wouldn’t Be the First President to Weaponize Federal Agencies Against Political Opponents But that shouldn’t mean we lose hope. Everyday Americans built the strongest, freest, most prosperous nation in the history of the world, and they have the power to do that again. How? By reclaiming their rightful authority in our system of governance. We must limit the power and size of the federal government and unleash the industry, ingenuity, and compassion of the American people. We must stop looking to the president and start looking to our neighbor, our school board, and our state legislature. We must reclaim the freedom that has made our nation great, and we must use the power the Founders gave us in Article V of the Constitution. An Article V Convention of States is called and controlled by the states and has the power to propose constitutional amendments that shrink Washington’s power and put We the People back in the driver’s seat. These amendments can limit the terms of office for dinosaurs like Joe Biden and force Congress to spend our money responsibly. This year can be one of hope and new possibilities, but that hope won’t come from Joe Biden. It will come for you, me, and every American patriot brave enough to stand up to Washington’s tyranny and fight back with a Convention of States.