It's taken me three months to figure out how I feel about November 6th
It's time to raise the bet
It’s been three months of horribleness
I’m angry, so angry that I don’t watch the news anymore. I hit “stop” on any/all political messages I receive. I give zero dollars to causes I used to support fully. I skip the headlines in the NYT/Post/LATimes and read the human-interest stories below the fold. How did this happen?
I’m of course speaking of the new Trump Administration. Every day brings a new WTF? moment. If you’ve wondered what power, money, no morals, and just plain meanness looks like unleashed, you don’t have to guess anymore. Trump 2.0 is here.
But then I find myself agreeing with the intent of many of his moves…
Government is bloated, and a lot of its agencies lost their way long, long ago. I’ve tried working with USAID, the State Department, the Department of Energy, Commerce, and the Small Business Administration. Every one of them is opaque, run by a clique of insiders, and spend money that is so intricately regulated that only insiders know how to pry it loose.
We do need a real solution to the border and immigration problem. That’s been a known fact for years. The status quo was not sustainable. Why didn’t Democrats take action years ago? We need an approach that balances the real fears of being overwhelmed by outsiders with a healthy degree of compassion for those less fortunate than us. Why weren’t the Democrats aware of that?
Why does the US get f__ked in trade deals when we’re the biggest economy in the world? We are the 800 pound guerilla. Why don’t we play hardball occasionally? I don’t mind pushing Panama around a bit to get a better deal on something that took us decades to build.
Who would argue that education needs a major re-think. I don’t know if we need a Dept. of Education or not, but I think it’s a worthwhile question to ask. And not by the person running it or the consultant he/she hires.
I would probably send a dozen Seal Team Sixes into Sinaloa, Mexico and take out the guts of the cartels. Why are cartels no less terrorist threats to the US than some guy in a tent in Iraq? And remember I live in Mexico part of the time and love the country.
Why do we care what happens in the Middle East any longer now that they aren’t the only oil (energy) game in town? Do we really want to get in bed with the Saudis or keep feeding weapons and money to Israel forever? Let them fight among themselves from now on.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Donald J. Trump is a despicable human being. It’s never been a policy issue for me, but a moral one. There is a difference between good and bad despite what his team want us to think. But that was yesterday’s argument. He’s here and his views are here to stay.
Blaming the Usual Suspects
Who’s responsible for this calamity? November 6th isn’t the fault of the Usual Suspects. I don’t think Biden lost the election because he hung around too long. I don’t think Harris’ campaign was bad nor do I think the outcome would have been any different if we had six months to get to know her rather than just six weeks. No, we Democrats lost the election because we proceeded with a slightly modified “business as usual” approach and we came up against a guy who said “F__K all this, we’re going to do things my way!” He seized the initiative on doing something totally out-of-this-world different. And most of the country was right there with him. It’s our fault that his “out-of-this-world different” is out-of-this-world horrific. We could have been the disruptors. We chose to play it safe and protect our own interests.
The Dems still don’t get it
I still get dozens of emails or messages every day screaming the same thing: “We must fight this evil person and his minions! Give us money so we can!” Bull shit. That’s all you got: the other guy is horrible, and we need to get back in power?
The Democrats are lost because they don’t know the game has changed. Where’s the new ideas? Where are the no-BS fixes to what is broken? Where are the risk-takers? The innovators! Leaders with a take-no-prisoners attitude?
There is a way back, but it’s a new way that has nothing to do with the old way. We should thank Donald Trump for jarring us awake and making us rethink everything. I wish it hadn’t been him, but it was.
Only having black or white alternatives got us where we are now
If one were to (overly?) simplify things, Republicans and Democrats believe in different things. If you believe their respective camps…
Republicans stand for
“Draining the Swamp”
Less government (no government?)
Cutting costs
Freedom
Guns
Making money anyway and all the time
Keeping the bad guys (immigrants) out
Cheap oil
Not paying the freight for the “losers” (e.g. the unemployed, old, druggies)
Expanding America’s interest in a bare-knuckle way
Righteousness
Democrats stand for
A social safety net is critical – and not just for Americans, but for the world’s poor
The distance between the haves and have-nots has gotten out of control and needs to be adjusted
Believing that government can solve big problems
That big business needs to be controlled or else… (market regulations, unions, etc.)
That everyone –in every color, shape and type – are important. Dems believe in Wokness, whatever that means
That the environment should be protected at all costs
That the US has a responsibility to lead (and take care of) the world
That the departments of Education, State, Energy, Commerce, et al deliver important benefits
Here’s what I think when looking over these black or white-lists. I like some from both columns. Why can’t I be in favor of strong borders and a coherent immigration policy while at the same time thinking that America has a responsibility to help those less fortunate? Why can’t I believe that we must have a social safety net and that government is way over bloated and needs a re-sizing?
Unless we change this basic framework, we’re in for a decade or two of hurt. But how?
As Steve Jobs and Apple once proclaimed (when, by the way, Apple was almost out of business): Think Different.
Getting out of line has big consequences
Why do we have to accept all the Democratic positions to be a Democrat? Why do Republicans have to accept all MAGA’s ideas to be a Republican? The answer is simple: parties have the power to make you sorry if you don’t.
If you’re in Congress, if you don’t vote the party line, you’ll lose your committee assignment, you get “primaried” by somebody whose more radical than you, special interests will fund the other guy, and you won’t be invited to important convening of voters, etc., etc. Basically, no one is allowed to break the rules and survive.
If you’re a voter, you must declare your allegiance before the election. Are you a registered Republican? An Independent. A Democrat? What team you sign up for affects what games you can play in. But… what do I do if I like some Republicans and Democrats – or their positions?
We need to do three things to really change the game
There are three concepts that are controlling this country for the worse: term limits, seniority, and dark money.
Term Limits: When was the last time you took a new job and your new boss said, “Fred, I don’t think four years is long enough to master the job. Take eight to become great.” What!!!! Hell, most of us need to get up to speed in weeks, not months or years. Why do politicians need forever? The argument against term limits is that we shouldn’t throw the bums out just when they’re getting fully up to speed. BS. We need to term every politician out (why just the President?). Basically, you get the first couple of terms to make an impact and then you move on. We can argue about how long the terms should be and how many of them, but everyone moves out sooner than later.
Seniority: Then incumbents wouldn’t last for decades and decades and decades, accumulating power through the seniority system. Basically, the longer you can hang out, the higher you go up in the organization ladder. Where’s the thought of meritocracy? Come on Republicans, if DEI is the enemy of high performance, certainly seniority is too.
BTW, I think we’ve learned the hard way that the Supreme Court can be gamed. Now we must put up with their views until they die? I hope we can all agree that the original purpose of eliminating political influence through life-time appointments has proven ineffective. Pick your number as a compromise: eight years, ten years, maybe even 15. If we put in term limits, we wouldn’t have to move to stacking the court. Why should nine old people, totally unaccountable to anyone or anything, rule the third leg of our government forever? Doesn’t make sense.
Dark Money: Even if it means writing a new Amendment to the Constitution, we need to eliminate dark money. I’m not suggesting campaign finance limits, I’m suggesting we get rid of campaign secrecy. With secrecy comes the ability evade accountability, to not pay the consequences of your actions.
I’m not sure I have the answer for what system should replace seniority, but I’m sure we could figure it out. It can’t be harder than writing the constitution.
We need a Zebra Party – a party of black AND white
I want to be able to vote for the policies I like, no matter who comes up with them. I don’t want a black horse or a white horse or a mishmash of both. I want to be able to pick from column A and column B. Think Zebra and you’ll get what I mean.
The Zebras should be a party of radical practicality. Dems are notorious for coming up with great policy ideas and then f__king up on their implementation. Result? Good intentions that help no one. We Zebras must be the party that gets things done.
If we were playing poker, I’d raise the bet and push all of my chips to the center of the table
Trump is making all his moves under the guise of draining the swamp. I don’t believe it, I think they’re making all of these moves to keep themselves in power for the foreseeable future. But, I could be wrong. So let’s see how serious about change he/the Republicans are — let’s call his/their bluff!
If you really want to change the system, here’s how to do it: get rid of seniority, impose term limits on everyone, and unveil the sources of dark money. This is the only way that rips power away from politicians and returns it to us. It lessens the control of parties over politicians, it lessens the control of a handful of politicians to control our country for decades at a time. Let’s call their bluff and really change the game!
One last point. Think about all the politicians you know, at whatever level, and which one (s) would be capable of leading the Zebra Movement? That’s who we should vote for.
The king needs to be dead. Long live the Zebras.
Please take care in these knot-in-the-stomach times. And let me know how you think about all of this.
fred
PS: A very good friend of mine says naming this movement for Zebras is weak as Zebras are the prey, not predators. Fair point. I’m open to suggestions: )
Well done Fred. I really appreciate the balanced, fair approach to some very serious issues. I think there has always been a tug and pull between the parties, but I am disappointed that our representatives in congress today seem more concerned with their personal interests (wealth and longevity) as opposed to the will of the people. There are intelligent, concerned members, but it seems they are outnumbered by the lemmings who vote lock step with the party, as opposed to either our priorities, or in some cases, a basic concern for our global future. Anyway, I agree with your views and still hold out the hope that democracy will prevail. Gregg
Hi Fred, Interesting comments, I feel similar with the exception that it seems that the Democrats have become globalists along with some republican . The activities they were doing without voter approval were in effective implementation of the U N Agenda 21. The three pillars from the UN are environmental sustainability, World economic equity and Social justice. Specific programs to suppor6 those p I liars were being implemented. Unfortunately this set the stage for the New World Order. Anyway, I was working on a thought I had similar to your zebras idea. A new party called RID. Which stands for Republican Democrat, Independent. With RID being a tag line itself, get rid of corruption get rid of long tern congressman, get rid of wasteful spending, get rid of division, and so on. Every party has some good ideas, why not pick the best from each party and go with them. Today that can't happen if the Republicans have a good idea the Democrats would die before they would support it. That became very clear to before the election. When talking with some liberal friends about Trump, they hates him so much that they actually told me that they would rather see the country move to a New World Order Union like the EU than have Trump in office. The meda and propaganda have really created a nightmare when it is possible for people"s hate for one person outweighs their love for the country. This needs to be fixed. The divisions will destroy us. Anyway, what do you think about RID? If you like it feel free to use it l. Hang in there buddy!
PS what Trump is doing is keeping all the campaign promises he made, expect to see on the white house web site a promises made, promises kept page.