Seeking Common Ground for 2024

2016 opened my eyes to how many folks were unhappy with America’s trajectory. From the standpoint of national dissatisfaction, it wasn’t relevant that Russia was responsible for those last few thousand votes: tens of millions of people thought Donald Trump was a better option than any status quo alternative, whether Clinton, Bush, Rubio, or Cruz.

This was especially surprising to me because the vast majority of people I talked to were doing incredibly well by any historical standard. Silicon Valley, NYC, Boston, LA were all doing great. I’m not saying my friends were all happy with their lot, but on an absolute basis, they were doing great.

I am a proud American who believes in American values, which for me translated into being a lifelong Democrat. As far as I can remember, I’ve always believed all people are created equal; they should be free to be themselves, marry who they want, pray to any god (or none), and think whatever thoughts they want to think. I would enthusiastically debate anyone at any time, but at the end of the day, think whatever you want to think.

So, in 2016, when Donald Trump walked onto the national political stage, I was horrified. He pushed Birtherism. He targeted Muslims. As an avid reader of history, this was the closest thing I had seen to Mussolini in America. For the first time I can remember, I was completely closed minded; if you’ve got a fascist in your midsts, I told myself, there is no debate. It must just end.

And then … he won.

At the end of the day, I believe in Democracy. I know Hitler was elected too, but this is America, and if we don’t believe in democracy, what’s the point? Yes, there was some interference, but it cannot be rationalized away that 63 million people voted for this guy.

Was it possible that half the country is ignorant, racist, and stupid? That’s what most of my friends decided … but I couldn’t believe that, because I believe in America and I believe in Democracy. Of course, like every society, we have our racists and fools. But, 63 MILLION racists and fools?

Give me a break.

I decided I needed to open my mind to way more viewpoints. I decided to watch Fox News for the same amount of time as CNN and MSNBC, and to read the WSJ opinion page as regularly as the NYT. I even started reading Breitbart. What was really happening in America? Were liberals really clueless coastal elites who didn’t understand real America? Was conservative news really filled exclusively with a bunch of morons?

Well, to be clear, there were some commentators who I found unwatchable. But, I learned things from watching Tucker Carlson and from Rachel Maddow. … and then I would read the headlines on Fox about how Maddow hates America, and in the NYT about how Carlson is a raging racist. I would think to myself, hmm I don’t agree with everything those two are saying, but those character assassinations aren’t consistent with what I’ve been watching. Maybe I needed to double check everything I had been reading.

I’ll fast forward to today. I’ve said enough stupid stuff in my life to know that my future self will be embarrassed by some of the things I believe today, but here are some thoughts for 2020:

Capitalism is better than communism or socialism. Socialism in a country as large and diverse as America would be a hot mess. Human nature is such that fair competition creates incentives for each of us to contribute our best.

BUT, American capitalism is currently not fair. Here is just one example from higher education (there are mind boggling examples in most areas including health care, government, etc): There are 37,000 high schools in America and 14,500 spots at Ivy League schools — on average, 0.4 Ivy spots per high school. Yet, last year, 52 of those Ivy spots went to graduates of a single elite high school: Andover.

Ivy League grads have an advantage in our system … so, yes, the system is rigged for the elite and, no, we don’t live in a perfect meritocracy.

There needs to be economic justice and opportunity for all. If you believe in capitalism, like I do, then you must also believe the system will be at its best when everyone is allowed to compete to the best of their abilities.

Then there is the political process. In 2016, I became a national finance committee member of the Clinton campaign because I believed in Hillary and especially in Tim Kaine. Since then, I’ve found myself on the call lists of seemingly every Democrat running for President/Congress/Governor/etc.

I took some of those calls & meetings, and I’ve gotten invited to countless “opportunities to meet with Joe Biden, the next president of the United States” … The only Dem presidential candidate I wasn’t offered access to was Bernie Sanders, who was also the only Dem running with a real plan to fix the broken system. Presumably he never called because he understands that those phone calls ARE the broken system.

I agree with Bernie that the system is broken. I disagree with Bernie that the solution is socialism. I understand the appeal of his bold ideas, but they won’t work well in a country as large and diverse as ours (socialists love to cite Scandinavia, but the small Scandinavian countries let in a relatively small % of immigrants for a reason). … I’m always amused to hear my liberal academic friends rail about the incompetence of their university administrators and department heads, but then in the next breath demand that we hand over large chunks of the country to bureaucrats.

Unlike the founders of the confederacy, the founders of America made great contributions to the world. Washington and the founders created, at great personal risk, the first representative constitutional democracy that was designed to change as the world changed. I desperately wish they had eradicated slavery and included women, and their legacies will be forever stained for not having done that. But, unfortunately, there are no perfect people, and an examination of MLK and Gandhi under the perfection standard would result in their statues being torn down as well.

The founders’ democracy has repeatedly shown that it’s up for major change. As divided as we are today, in 1860, 22 million northerners sent 400,000 of their sons to their deaths in order to free complete strangers from slavery. That’s the 2020 equivalent of us sending 7 million kids to die to free the Uighurs from Chinese oppression … Think about that. We can’t even get the NBA to say publicly that the Uighurs have rights!

2020 has been a challenging year and unfortunately I don’t think November is going to be much better. Like most folks I know, I think I’ll reluctantly vote for Biden. I’ve watched probably a dozen of his interviews and still have no idea what his vision is, what he stands for, or how he plans to accomplish anything. Most folks seem to feel the same way, which means there’s a good chance Trump will win again. All that’s needed are some uninspiring Biden debate performances, or some strong economic news. We’ll see.

But, 2024 is a real opportunity. In 2024, both political parties will have new leadership, and hopefully we’ll find leaders who have the courage to go big and the leadership skill to bring the rest of us along. The looming environmental changes will bring Tesla-scale revolutions to much of what we do, make, and consume. China’s dictatorial and expansionist behavior is making a major confrontation seem more and more inevitable. Social media has fractured and divided our country, and the mainstream media has chosen to jump into the echo chambers instead of staying true to journalistic principles. … Incremental ideas simply aren’t going to solve major problems like this. At the same time, I hope 2024’s new leaders don’t forget the core ideas of America — that all people are created equal and are endowed with unalienable rights, including the rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and justice. Those ideas are worth fighting for.

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