Democracy is Dum
Kamala Harris lost bigly. It's a sign that all is not well in this Country and progressives aren't paying attention. But I actually think we can find common ground.
Donald Trump is the next President of the United States. He won in a total landslide against Vice President Kamala Harris, who, on paper at least, seems to be the more qualified, capable, and committed public servant. She served her country as Attorney General of our largest state, Senator from our most populous state, and Vice President of the United States.
But yet, Trump returns.
We can spend months Monday-morning-quarterbacking the election of 2024, and historians will look back on this moment as a major turning point in American history (for better or worse). And one can argue that Joe Biden should’ve stepped down earlier, or that the deciding factor was inflation or Gaza or wokeism or Hulkamania, or X or FoxNews or Elon Musk or whatever, but the fact remains that a majority of registered voters wanted Trump back in the White House.
What the everloving crap should we take from that?
Well, for starters, as a kid from western Maine, I can tell you that the young men I see and know are adrift. Their career choices are limited and what choices they do have are demoralizingly sad (retail, tourism, property management). They are living paycheck to paycheck, but see the rest of the world getting ahead, getting rich, or gerrymandering the system to hardwire their own advantages, and yet they can’t say anything for fear of “woke” retaliation or being called a racist, homophobe, or worse. They have no jobs to return home to. If they go to college, they must take out loans. And the only way to pay back those loans is to move to a corner city and take a desk job away from family, friends, and support networks.
I don’t know how we, as Democrats, can fix this. But we cannot work against the GOP on economic issues. Because they are onto something, especially when it comes to the rural and exurban male worker.
How do I know this? Because I got a haircut from a hardcore MAGA supporter back in September. We talked about how far apart we were on most issues (he was convinced that Aurora, Colorado was run by Venezuelan gangs and that Haitians were eating pets). Even so, we agreed on a few things:
Parents in this country need to do a better job parenting their own kids. That means eating dinner together, maintaining intact families when possible, and limiting exposure to social media. That also means that parents need affordable childcare options.
We need to do something to care for the homeless, and find them dignified housing. The unhoused problem in this country is too big to ignore.
We need to honor our veterans, police, fire fighters, and teachers with better pay and respect.
So with that, it seems possible that we might find a few positions of common ground with Trump and the GOP. I might suggest that we start with some relatively low hanging fruit and build from there, including
Double or triple trade adjustment assistance and protective tariffs for US manufacturing, and install buy American provisions on all government purchases (if they don’t exist already)
Declare a pause in all Federal DEI programs and replace them with technical skills retraining and/or free community college for all.
We close the southern border immediately.
We commit to building 5 million new affordable housing units and endow subsidies for rental assistance (rather than the stigma of “Section 8”) to ensure affordability.
We propose a national service corps that serves as a “third way” for high school graduates (other than college or the military)
We double teacher pay.
Look, I don’t know if any of this makes sense. I don’t know if the GOP would go for it. I do think we can frame it in a way that would let Trump take credit for it, so that we can solve problems for our fellow citizens. Either way, we have a choice: Dig in on unpopular positions or find areas of common interest. I vote for the latter.
Also: we need to stop demonizing each other. Sure, we can disagree, but we have to be relatively civil. Because we live in the greatest nation on earth, and the greatest country the world has ever known. Surely we can agree that America is something worth preserving?
What do you think?
1) Your suggestions for a starting line of common ground is not wrong. But one point may be slightly off. It’s not clear that a majority of registered voters voted for Trump — only that a majority of voters who turned out. Whether that is important is probably the subject of another piece, but there is a difference.
2) Many of your suggestions are not new ones and at some levels have been tried. They might still find success. But in many cases, the reason why they have not moved forward is not because of the intellectual validity of the argument or lack of proper messaging. Sometimes — and increasingly often in the conservative/MAGA sphere — it’s because of sheer power — the power to say no and the power to be able to sit through protests and PR-centered pressure. Any resolution has to also factor that reality….
Wow, this is a "dum" string of words put together into, well, whatever it is.
Before I hit unsubscribe, just wanted to let you know it has no logic and is simply a sad reactionary note to a thug getting some power. Have some principles man. Have something other than rolling over on your belly.
I'm not sure why this steaming pile and you ended up in my inbox, perhaps it's because we are both fundraisers. Maybe because we are both white dudes. Who knows. Who cares. But man, it was a terrible piece of writing.
Please don't send any more.