I have a very small platform. I find it odd that anyone would follow me to see what I have to say. Maybe it's that old adage "his men would follow him anywhere, but only out of a sense of wonder at what he would do next."

A reflective thread...

/1

As a nation, we face real problems. As a people, we are drunk on 30-second policy fixes that are a combination of:
1) Illegal
2) Unconstitutional
3) Immoral
4) Performative and not substantive
5) Make the problem worse
6) Don't address the problem
7) Uncompromising

/2

Not for nothing, but real policy is dull, boring, complicated, substantive, operates within legal and moral frameworks, and recognizes that there will be unintended consequences. In other words, real policy requires compromise.

/3

Even with good policy, some good people will not be helped (or helped enough) and some bad people will benefit. See Social Security for an example.

To be blunt, you can't be serious about fixing problems if you cannot recognize that there are no perfect fixes.

/4

If your position is I will never vote for a Dem (Rep), then you are not serious about fixing our Congress because you are only interested in holding the other party to account, not your own.

/5

If your position is better an immoral candidate with the strength of character of a weather vane because you don't want the other side to "win," then, respectfully, you are part of the problem.

/6

If you cannot support a partial win because it is either not a big enough win or because someone else might also win or the "other side" will also win, then you are part of the problem.

/7

Voting, like dating, should be an intensely personal affair, not a party. A serious nation bent on fixing its problems votes for the candidates who are serious even when they are not of "our political tribe".

/8

Today, it seems easy because the GOP has become a white supremacist and fascist party based on the state parties and the candidates it nominates and supports. It would be laughable if it weren't so tragic and dangerous.

/9

That does not mean that every conservative is bad (or even every GOP affiliated person, though, TBH, you are running out of time to leave the party) nor that every Democratic policy is correct.

/10

To my fellow Dems - remember that you represent a country that is more conservative than your party. Policies can be iterated, but they must be legislated to have sticking power. That means (some) compromise.

/11

To my fellow conservatives - leave the GOP before you are one more white supremacist. Taking a short term loss to maintain your integrity will provide a stronger foundation for future engagement. We don't have to like it, but we made this mess and we have to clean it up.

/12

If we want to stop the worst of what the GOP has become, maybe we need to work with the Dems to anchor policy in the center - to accomplish tasks on both our agendas, even though they will get the win.

/13

It's time for serious people to step up and recognize that these problems and solutions transcend individuals and have costs that need to be paid, even at the expense of political power.

Of course, that means the American people voting seriously and electing grownups.

/14

And so, we end, where we began, with the body politic that caused this mess somehow having to change to clean up this mess because too many people are too interested in short-term political gain.

/15

If we were serious, the Dems and principled conservatives would not challenge each other where good faith governance exists but would focus on the worst candidates in either party and work to remove them and replace them with any candidate of any party that was serious.

/16

We are not serious. We are in it for the power and the glory.

And so, we will continue to have these abysmally stupid conversations and clutch our pearls as we relive these failures time and again.

America probably deserves better. I am not sure that we do.

/fin