It’s not that Trump won, it’s that the establishment lost

There are folks in both “parties” that aren’t happy right now, but, they have no one to blame but themselves. While an increasing number of voters refuse to declare allegiance to either political faction, the establishment ignored this growing body of “undeclared” or “undecided” who they worked to cut out of the primary process- so that by election day, people were being forced to choose between candidates they didn’t really want.

What they want is a government for the people, by the people. And while Citizens United did an insane amount of damage to our electoral process, it was aided and abetted by those in the back rooms who thought they knew what’s better for America. That they should pick the winners. Ask Sherrod Brown who actually wanted Bernie Moreno (and spent $2.7M pushing for Moreno to win the primary ^[1])as his opponent how he feels now?

The strangeness of the entitled rich kid becoming the choice of the un-entitled masses is beyond comprehension- but, his outlandish claims of destroying what he calls the “dark state” resonated deeply with the same people he’s going to shaft. They want to believe he’ll be the undoing of the government- but don’t realize that it comes with the destruction of hard won protections from everything from predatory lending to environmental and product protections to food and drug safety, never mind civil rights be damned, and freedom from political retribution.

The absurdity that our primary system isn’t democratic at all. By the time Ohio voted in 2020- I couldn’t vote for anyone but Biden. Harris never won a primary- or a vote of the people- she was picked by Biden in 2020. Maybe, if we had a single day ranked choice primary nationwide, and the runner up became the VP pick, we’d be in better shape. The only people who pick a VP to become president in most American’s minds are god- through death in office, an assassin causing death in office, or if they win a primary as a candidate after serving- not by a back room deal of party insiders (unless your name is Gerald Ford).

There isn’t an American alive who enjoys this process, the endless mudslinging, the ads full of lies, the ads period. After 4 years of hearing how the 2020 election was fixed and stolen with Trump was robbed, we now, somehow got it gloriously right? Hard to believe. The only thing that changed in this election is that we spent more to get less in every sense of the word.

If politicians were forced to be held accountable for their advertising like my clients are (I run an ad agency) this whole process would be a lot different, but, that’s only part of the problem. Soundbites and slogans aren’t substance, and none of it matters if the billionaires can buy their politicians and policies and the people can’t.

So much noise about ballot harvesting, illegal voting, voter ID requirements, yet we still allow politicians to self report their donations, and don’t require registration of donors. If there’s one thing we need more than anything now- it’s registered donors with real time reporting, and being able to tie voting records of our elected leaders to their backers. I set up a non-profit, The Modern Policy Institute ^[2], to push these ideas and develop software solutions to bring transparency to government. I also openly challenged the Federal Election Commission to revamp their systems and stop allowing ActBlue and WinRed to show up as donors ^[3]. But, who the hell am I.

The only solution many American’s had for some of our frustration with our government was term limits. As an idealist, I always believed elections would serve as term limits to sort out the good from the bad, but, I’ve been proven so very wrong this time. The (S)election process is wonkered up.

America is fed up with the disconnect between the political class and the people. Donald Trump wasn’t the answer, won’t solve the problem, nor is he competent to fix anything, but, he definitely isn’t considered the political establishment.

There still may be some obstacles for his ascendancy- like if he is truly above the law and can get out of his felony convictions. Or if all of a sudden, the Supreme Court somehow realizes the mess they got us into, and questions the legality of Musk’s voter lottery, or who knows what else. All would be temporary, and bad, because, it’s pretty clear, given the choice between Harris and Trump- the people spoke, and we have no mechanism for do-overs.

Will America split over this? Will the coasts secede? I doubt it. Would getting rid of the Electoral College solve this? Nope, although it could make candidates campaign nationally instead of just pandering in a few “battleground” states. We need more fundamental fixes like giving DC and the territories; American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands representation. We need to consider rejiggering the Senate- stopping any state that has only 1 representative- from having 2 senators (Make N and S Dakota whole again).

While one of the beauties of this country is our diversity and the differences between our communities, our music, our food, our accents, it’s sad that the only time I’ve truly seen our country come together in my lifetime was because of an act of terrorism- 9/11. If we truly want to make America great, the first thing we need to realize is the only way we’re great is when we come together- not apart.

I believe it’s time to stop old farts from running the country too- 70 should be the end of the line for every politician and judge nationwide. And, end lifetime judicial appointments at all levels- including our local judges who are never opposed.

In fact, if you run un-opposed, that should automatically be your last term. If the seat doesn’t get two candidates, maybe it’s not needed. In my local county- we have over 30 political jurisdictions- and we’re over politicianized (yeah, I just made that word up, sue me). I don’t trust Elon Musk to make government more efficient, but, yes, it’s needed. Badly. The only solution I see is to start electing folks to sue the government for us- to protect us from bad RFP’s, bad policies, bad enforcement of laws already on the books. An ombudsman for the people.

When the FBI arrested only Black people in Dayton Ohio and told us that these folks were the first round of their round up in “The Culture of Corruption” investigation on April 3, 2019, I thought, finally! Well, it’s 2024 and they’ve yet to let the other shoe drop on the white folks- and instead hide behind GloMar responses ^[4] of releasing their work product that would prove or disprove the conduct of our locally elected officials. If we can’t trust the government, why have it at all?

While there are folks on both sides of this election having extreme emotional reactions today, I’m refusing to let this bother me (I credit my Army training). I believe the American people sent a message and it was clear- they want change, the end of politics as usual. And like every other American, I don’t think the folks we’ve elected through this insane process have a clear vision or a plan to do what’s best for our country and the world. But, when push comes to shove, America has generally risen to the occasion, and I’m hoping for the best.

Here’s “Too much power blues” by David Esrati.