More than a week after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol and stunned the nation. Spurred by the words of the sitting president of the United States, it has shown how truly feral we’ve become as a nation.

It felt like we’d been hit all over again like we had been on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists shook us out of complacency and reminded us that freedom always comes at a price. The body count was not as high, fortunately, but we were sobered by the reality that the terrorists were not foreign radicals from a far off land but homegrown Americans who preached democracy but sought autocracy, putting all power in the hands of one person.

The Capitol riot was disillusioning and demoralizing, to be sure. However, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had another thought on what had happened, saying “We’ve really lost our innocence.”

Really? This incident is what robbed America of its innocence? I’ve got news for you. We lost our innocence a long time ago, and anyone who thinks otherwise has been in a clueless bubble for way too long.

What about the protests turned violent in the Black Lives Matter rallies? Seeing businesses being looted, buildings and vehicles lit on fire and peaceful protesters shot down by a radicalized teenager from another state? That didn’t rob us of our innocence?

What about in 2017 in Virginia, when white supremacists gathered to protest the removal of Confederate monuments? Counterprotesters showed up, just as armed as the racists, and a simple scuffle turned into an all-out brawl. One white supremacist drove his vehicle into a group of counterprotesters. What was that, madame speaker? Boys being boys?

Were we still innocent in 2001 when planes were flown into the Twin Towers of New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. More than 3,000 people died that day, and plenty more have died since from illnesses sustained from heroic lifesaving efforts. When exactly did we get our innocence back from that?

Pelosi’s statement makes me question if she’s really that naïve, or if she’s going senile. She speaks about the need to trust her fellow politicians, but what she doesn’t seem to realize is that the rest of the country stopped trusting her and her cohorts, whether they worship the false idols of blue or red, a long time ago.

If you look at the Gallup Poll, which surveys people regularly on how well they think Congress is doing, the latest results from last month show that only 15% of respondents believe the 500-plus elected officials that make up the legislative branch are doing their job to citizens’ satisfaction. By contrast, 82% disapprove of how Congress is doing. Not specifically Republicans. Not specifically Democrats. The whole kit and caboodle is doing a crappy job, according to the people.

Looking back at previous results, the last time more than 50% of those surveyed felt Congress was doing good was back in 2003—spring of that year, in fact. Since then, the numbers have steadily dropped, and with a few exceptions, the numbers haven’t been as low as they are now.

Yet Pelosi thinks that Congress has been a paragon of virtue until now. It’s absurdity on an unprecedented level.

That borderline hatred for lawmakers is what made it so easy for Donald Trump to sail to victory. Fortunately, some people realized what a poor decision that was four years later and voted him out. Instead of draining the swamp, he became the swamp.

Even though Trump is on his way out, many of the scabs of Washington D.C. remain to suck on the government teat. Pelosi herself, who has been in Congress since 1987, is among them. Of course, you also have Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and other silver-haired individuals that have spent a lifetime at the Capitol and reaped the rewards and accolades that come with being a lawmaker—all the while losing touch with the country they’re supposed to be serving.

While the rioters went about it the absolutely wrong way, the message is clear that our politicians are not doing the job we’ve asked them to do. Instead of fixing what’s broken, the Republicans and Democrats are at each other’s throats, calling the members of the other side everything but a child of God. They worship a select group of people—or sometimes one person—like some cult, and they shun anyone who dares to cross the aisle in the name of progress.

Yep, looks like an innocent organization to me.

In my opinion, two things need to be done to bring our country back to a level where we’re the greatest country in the world.

First, term limits should be put in place for lawmakers. It’s clear that more years in Washington do not equal more wisdom, and some fresh perspectives are in order.

Second, and I’ve said this before, the political parties need to be abolished. It’s one thing to disagree with ideas. It’s another to dismiss people as a whole because they’re different from you.

Once these two things are accomplished, there’s a fair chance America will return to a state of grace, allowing us to be a civilized country again.

Innocent? Not a chance. Sorry, madame speaker, but that ship sailed a looooong time ago.