My Midterm Musings

Because I am well aware that many people just don’t want to dive into a 6000 word article, after a brief introduction, I will first present my thoughts in an executive summary, using quick-reading bullet points. Following the executive summary, you will find my full analysis, which goes into detail of each of those bullet points. I did not write the full analysis in great expectation that many people will choose to read through it (I hope that some of you will be interested enough to do so, however), but rather for my own purpose in thoroughly thinking through all of these issues. Whether you agree with me or not, I wish more people would go through this thorough thought process before voting.

Introduction

As I’ve previously mentioned, my Dad is not a Trumpster, but he did vote for him and believes he is doing some good things, not unlike many Republicans today. Some of our discussions can get a bit heated as we clash over certain things. He’s the smartest guy I know, so it pains me to be on opposite sides of how to deal with the current political situation. He consistently challenges me and really forces me to think through my positions. That’s a good thing. At the same time, I know that I challenge him in the same way, and while we’re both stubborn and don’t want to admit defeat in the heat of battle, I know that we both learn things and may even adjust our thinking when later reflecting on the discussions. I wish more people were consistently challenged like that in a mutually respectful debate. While we often never agree on certain things in the end, we both come away with a better understanding of the other perspective and it helps to strengthen our own arguments. Don’t get me wrong, as far as the conservative political worldview, we are mostly on the same page…we are just disagreeing on how best to get there in the Trump environment. In a recent email exchange, my Dad asked me:

“Steve. since you hinge everything on Trump, I must force myself to imagine where we would be if Hillary had won. I’m certainly not a Trumpster, but I still defend my vote. I wish you could answer this question for me, … Given that he was elected for a four-year term, what should we be doing now? Should we join the Resistance Movement in order to assure a Democrat-controlled Congress and an impeachment? Or maybe we just sit tight and wait for something good to happen in 2020?” Dad

“What should we be doing now?” That is the big question, isn’t it? It’s the one that I’ve been pondering for almost 3 years, but very intensely during the past couple of months. Unfortunately, I don’t have a good, simple answer, which translates into me taking what seems to be a simple question and turning it into somewhat of a midterm manifesto.

Executive Summary in Bullet Points

• “Given that he was elected for a four-year term, what should we be doing now? Should we join the Resistance Movement in order to assure a Democrat-controlled Congress and an impeachment? Or maybe we just sit tight and wait for something good to happen in 2020?”
• I no longer watch the Packers every Sunday, which relieves a lot of stress and provides a lot more free time. Should I do the same with politics?
• The only way to answer the question, “What should we be doing now?” is to first answer the question about what is the end goal? Where do we want to be in 5, 10, or 25 years from now, and beyond?
• I believe the nasty “us vs. them” divisiveness is the biggest threat that our Republic faces right now and our main focus should be in restoring domestic tranquility.
• We can’t rule 325,000,000 people who have differing ideals, values, beliefs, cultures, and environments, spread out in 50 different states around a vast continent (and even beyond), with a one-size-fits-all centralized government from afar.
• The federal government should be returned to the limited purpose and scope that it was designed for.
• The biggest problem is that most people are woefully ignorant of basic civics…the founding principles, the Constitution, the form and structure of our government, etc.
• Leading up to the 2016 election, my main concern about a Republican Trump presidency was that his antics would put a halt to the constitutionally conservative progress that we were making and would usher in a progressive Democrat-controlled government for the next decade, leading to a final entry into a European-style socialist nation.
• What I didn’t expect was how completely the rest of the Republican Party would follow him down that path. This applies to elected officeholders as well as formerly reluctant Trump voters. They are now all in.
• The Republican Party has gone all in on Trumpism, which amounts to divisive, partisan politics on steroids. This is 100% opposite of what I believe is needed to begin fixing the root problems in our Republic.
• The Democrat Party is no better as far as divisive, partisan politics. Additionally, instead of adjusting to the increase in Independent voters by moderating more to the political center, they are fully embracing the extreme, left-wing march toward more progressive socialism. This is also 100% opposite of what I believe is needed in our Republic.
• We have to stop Trumpism without handing complete control to the Democrats, and the only way I can see that happening is to have the Democrats win a resounding victory in taking over the House, but come up just short of taking the Senate.
• I do not want to see substantial losses for Republicans in the State governments (although I think it’s likely).
• To those ends, I will vote Democrat for the House, Democrat for my state’s Senator (so as to not send another Trump lackey to Washington and allow the Republicans to gain a seat), but I will vote for Republicans for all State offices (Governor, State Senate, State Assembly).
• To fully answer my Dad’s question, though, I have to state what we should be doing in regards to Trump more generally. The points below cover that.
• We should not join the left’s “resistance”. But we should resist Trump and Trumpism fully and completely.
• We should not play “Good Trump, Bad Trump”
• We should not sit back and hope for better options for candidates in the future.
• 10 things we should be doing:

1. Turn off the hyper-partisan purveyors of outrage-politics (Rush, Hannity, Levin, Tucker, Ingraham, Pirro, etc.).
2. Conscientiously seek out news from multiple sources, even (and especially) from those that you believe are biased towards the political side you disagree with.
3. Limit the amount of news you obtain from the analytical/commentary branch of the news and only read/view this type of coverage after you have a good grasp of the topic from the multiple hard news sources.
4. Learn about the basic principles that were used as a basis for the creation of our Constitution and our unique form of self-government.
5. Learn about our Constitution.
6. Learn about the form and structure of our government.
7. Learn about basic economics.
8. Make a strong effort to encourage everyone in your sphere of influence to join you in this learning.
9. Join a local community organization…one that is non-political, but likely to have members of all political stripes.
10. Reject the divisive politics of outrage and make a conscience effort to always remain civil and respectful in all political discussions.

Full Analysis

Part of me thinks it’s futile and it’s time to simply walk away. Three years ago, I did that with football. I was a huge Green Bay Packers fan. I grew up in Green Bay, sold hot dogs in the stands at Lambeau Field as a kid, watched nearly every game for 35 years. Sundays revolved around the game. That’s just the way it was. Then that NFC Championship game in Seattle happened, where Green Bay was closing out a sure, comfortable victory, late in the 4th quarter, to advance to the Super Bowl. Most of you probably don’t remember it as I do, but every single thing that could go wrong for the Packers in those waning minutes happened, and they lost the game. I took it hard. And I hated that. I hated how this stupid football team had control over my emotions, and that I allowed that. Upon reflection, I hated how I had allowed it to control my life every Sunday during football season. I hated the stress it added to my life…sure the big plays and the big wins were great, but the lows and losses were devastating. I hated that. So I decided I didn’t need that in my life and I walked away. Now my Sundays are free to do other things. And my stress level is much lower. I don’t miss it…at all. It was a habit that I kicked and I am glad that I did. Is it time to treat politics the same way? Is it time to walk away? My life would be much less stressful. I would have a LOT more time to pursue other ventures. And let’s be honest, am I really making a difference anyway? These are the questions I ask. It’s not the first time I’ve contemplated them. I usually conclude that I can’t give up, that we all must continue to fight for what is right and do everything we can to convince others. This isn’t a game, like football is. These things actually having meaningful consequences for our lives, and more importantly, for those who come after us. And then I usually come back to George Washington. When faced with seemingly insurmountable odds and obstacles, Washington did not give up. When everything seemed hopeless and futile, he persisted. He fought for us, for our liberty, and for our future. I’m not George Washington, and I will never have as great an impact on the country as he did…nobody will. But I can use him for inspiration to continue the fight. So continue I will. Which brings me back to the big question…that daunting question that is both loaded and legitimate at the same time. It’s also a question that is very complicated to answer, which is part of the problem. No matter how I answer it, it requires quite a bit of explanation. What should we be doing now? I think the only way we can really come up with a good answer to that is to ask ourselves where do we want to be 5, 10, and 25 years from now, and beyond? What is the end goal? When we have a clear understanding of what the end goal is, then we can work backwards to create a plan to get there. Once we have that plan, then we can take a close look at what we’re doing to determine if that is in line with that plan. If so, great…we’re on the right track. But if not, why not, and how do we adjust things to get on the right track? There are all sorts of problems with this, beginning with whether it’s possible to even get enough people to agree on where we want to be in the future. If you ask ten conservatives what conservatism means, you’re likely to get ten different answers. It’s no different for liberals. Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone on where we should want to be headed, but I will give my own opinion. Above all else right now, I believe we need domestic tranquility, as stated in the Preamble to the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Preamble to the U.S. Constitution

Of course, we need all of those other things as well, but it’s the nasty divisiveness, the “us vs. them”, the win at all costs tribalism that is our biggest threat at the moment. We need to end that. But there are so many things contributing to it, that it’s very difficult to know where to begin. However, the Founders knew, and they explained it all so very well to us and laid out a complete road-map. Unfortunately, we have crumpled up that map and have thrown it in the backseat and decided to just fly by the seat of our pants. And now we are lost. We need to find that crumpled up map and uncrumple it…and then learn from it. Here’s the bottom line concept in regards to this topic that the Founders knew very well: We can’t rule 325,000,000 people who have differing ideals, values, beliefs, cultures, and environments, spread out in 50 different states around a vast continent (and even beyond), with a one-size-fits-all centralized government from afar. That’s it, in a nutshell. The Founders knew that it would not even work in their time with only 3,000,000 people and 13 states in a much smaller area. In fact, it was the main reason for the fight for our liberty from the British, and one of the biggest concerns of the Founders in their attempts to create a better system. All of our non-stop conflicts between left and right are brought on by the fact that we have lost sight of that basic concept. We need a leader who understands this and makes it a top priority to attempt to make the American people understand it. Once that basic concept is understood and accepted, we can then get to work on the steps needed to fix it. The basic idea is to remove all of the consolidated power never intended or authorized to be at the federal level and restore it to the states, where the people of each state can make the decisions on the issues that most affect their lives. Government closest to the people is best. It’s the only way to account for all of those differing ideals, values, beliefs, cultures and environments. Once people fully understand that we simply do not have to agree on everything at a federal level, and that it’s actually impossible for that to happen, and understand that the best we can do is allow people from different states to decide most things for themselves, then we create true liberty for the most people. If a person doesn’t align with a particular state’s values and beliefs, he/she is free to move to a state more to his/her liking. We vote with our feet. The federal government should be returned to the limited purpose and scope that it was designed for. Many people have told me that my insistence on this is simply a pipe-dream. It’s unrealistic to even think that this is a possibility. We are way beyond the ability to get back to anything near the original intent and structure of the Constitution. I concede that they may be right. But if they are, then the Republic is doomed. There’s really no other way to put it. Without getting back to those principles of the founding, this Republic simply will not survive. There is no way that it can. We’re not going to wake up one morning and have half the country exclaim, “You know what, you guys were right all along. We should do things your way!”and then we all hug and make up, and live happily ever after. That’s not going to happen. That’s the reality that I see. Anyone who thinks that their side is going to somehow “win” and we’ll all be happy is the one who is not living in the real world. We must recognize that. We must recognize the real problem that is driving all of the animosity. And we must fix it. Otherwise, we might as well come to terms with this eminent, terminal condition of the Republic. Of course, if that’s the obvious path, then one would be wise to reconsider the question on what we should now be doing. If the collapse of the Republic is a given, then the wise person would be doing whatever he/she can do to prepare for that. The equation changes. Maybe I should take everything I can for me and my family before that collapse, in which case, I should probably vote for the Democrats and get free health care and free education for my kids, which would better prepare us to make our way in an increasingly chaotic country and world. Take what I can get during the short term while the taking is good. But I don’t believe that my solutions are impossible. I don’t believe that this Republic is doomed. I know way too many good people around me to believe that. People on both the left and the right, all of which do not fit the stereotypes that the loud-mouth, rabble-rousing, demagogue talking heads and politicians on both sides put on each other. I believe that the vast majority of people on both sides are good, decent people who want much the same thing…to live in a decent, caring, free country that allows them to prosper, raise their kids in a safe environment, and pursue their own happiness. So why is everything so messed up if there are so many of us that are good, decent people? Because most of these people have enjoyed liberty so much that they have been so caught up in their own lives, that they have not properly informed themselves of basic civics. What principles were used to guide the creation of the Constitution and why? Why was the Constitution created in the first place? How and why were all of the provisions in the Constitution created? How is the government supposed to work and why? What is federalism and why is it important? What are the mechanisms that were put in place in order to keep the government in check and why? What is the proper role of Congress, and specifically of each part of Congress? What is the role of the President? Why was it set up to not elect the President by straight popular, majority vote? What is the difference between a Republic and a Democracy and why is that important? The answers to all of these questions and more are crucial to understanding what our problems are. And the vast, vast majority of voters, let alone those who don’t vote, do not have even a rudimentary understanding of these things. How can we expect people to properly evaluate the qualifications of a candidate for the House of Representatives, for the Senate, for President, or for the Supreme Court, if they don’t even have a basic understanding of what they are actually supposed to be doing? It’s ludicrous. Instead of attempting to remedy this lack of knowledge, we spend our time doing everything we can to get more and more uninformed people to vote. And the people who work so hard to get that vote out believe they are doing their civic duty by encouraging others to do their civic duty of voting, completely missing the fact that voting is the very end of civic duty…voting is the reward for all of the civic work done up to that point. And we make matters worse. All of those protections that the founders put into the system are now gone. And we are living the result of that…just as they had very clearly stated we would. So what should we be doing now? Leading up to the 2016 election, my main concern about a Republican Trump presidency was that his antics would put a halt to the constitutionally conservative progress that we were making and would usher in a progressive Democrat-controlled government for the next decade, leading to a final entry into a European-style socialist nation. My reasoning for this concern was that I believed Trump would double-down on the vitriolic divisiveness in the country, the exact opposite of what I think the nation needs. His entire shtick is to paint his opponents as the enemy and to tear them down viciously and personally. And, of course, I was not wrong about that. What I didn’t expect was how completely the rest of the Republican Party would follow him down that path. This applies to elected officeholders as well as formerly reluctant Trump voters. They are now all in. Whether or not I am right about the coming Democrat tsunami, and the resulting increased march to more progression/socialist policies, we just won’t know until at least after the 2020 elections, although we’ll start to get an idea in the upcoming 2018 midterms. In considering how to vote in the 2018 midterms, I’m looking at a number of factors, as may have become obvious during the preceding 2500 words of this article. Basically, here are the main issues, as I see it:

1. The Republican Party has gone all in on Trumpism, which amounts to divisive, partisan politics on steroids. This is 100% opposite of what I believe is needed to begin fixing the root problems in our Republic.
2. The Democrat Party is no better as far as divisive, partisan politics. Additionally, instead of adjusting to the increase in Independent voters by moderating more to the political center, they are fully embracing the extreme, left-wing march toward more progressive socialism. This is also 100% opposite of what I believe is needed in our Republic.

See the problem? As I see it, because Trump has convinced a large enough chunk of Republican voters that he is the greatest conservative President in the history of the Republic, the elected officeholders in the Republican Party will continue to follow Trump no matter where he goes, until one of two things happens. Either the Mueller investigations reveals something so damning against Trump that he is exposed, once and for all, for the fraud that he is, or the electorate gives the Republicans such a slap that some sense is knocked into them and they no longer see a benefit to supporting Trump. You see, I believe that the majority of the Republican officeholders really can’t stand Trump and would love to find an out from Trumpism. At least, I hope that is the case, because otherwise, I’m not sure how we get out of this mess. Although it disgusts me that so many Republican officeholders would cower to Trump in order to save their own seat, I think once Trump is gone, we may be able to return some sanity to them. Of course, there are a number of them who are so complicit in Trumpism that they should be driven out and forever banished from politics (Lyndsey Graham, Devin Nunes, Matt Gaetz, just to name a few). I have no desire to have the Democrats in full control. It is precisely their progressive socialist agenda that I have been fighting against my entire political life, including the past couple of years in opposing Trump. Therefore, I do not want to see them win with an epic Blue Wave that would give them control of both the House and the Senate, as well as a number of State legislatures and governorships. However, Trumpism needs to be stopped. Trump’s brand of nationalist, divisive demagoguery is dangerous and is a real ticking time-bomb. His election was a fluke and a mistake, one that the country cannot afford to double-down on by rewarding the complicit Republican Party and reelecting him in 2020. The only way I can see to stop him and knock some sense into the Republican Party without handing over total control to the Democrats, is to have the Democrats win a resounding victory in taking over the House, but come up just short of taking the Senate. I’d like to see the Republicans barely hold on to the Senate with them strongly feeling that it was much too close and make them very wary of what 2020 will bring when the Republicans are having to defend way more seats than the Democrats. As for the States, I would not like to see the Republicans lose much ground there, but I think it might be a helpful wake-up call for a few high profile losses for the Republicans. Again, the idea is not to have the Democrats gain any real power where they would be able to implement any real damaging policies. Rather, I’m hoping for some key losses by the Republicans that will jolt them out of their Trump Trance and begin the process of realizing that aligning with Trump is not a good plan for the future. Therefore, for the first time in my life, I will be voting more for the strategic checking of a demagogue more than for specific policies. I think it’s more important for our Republic to send a message that the ends do not justify the means and that we will not tolerate the extreme divisiveness from the President of the United States and will not, therefore, provide him and the wayward Republicans with a mandate to continue with their current behavior. To that end, I will, again for the first time in my life, vote for a couple of Democrats. I will vote for the Democrat candidate for the House of Representatives, Rep. Ron Kind. Kind is a guy who I pretty much disagree with on most every major issue and I’ve consistently voted against him every election since 1996. He faces no viable opposition, so this is really just a symbolic vote to hold to my desired outcome of the overall result of the election as stated above. The more difficult vote for me will be the one for the U.S. Senate. Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin, one of the most liberal senators in the nation, is up for reelection against the Republican challenger State Sen. Leah Vukmir. In any other year, this would be an automatic no-brainer for me. This race could be close, so my vote here really could matter. Although the RCP Average is currently at +10.6 for Baldwin, we all know that Wisconsin polling can be a bit haphazard and unreliable (think 2016 election). Typically, Senatorial elections in Wisconsin (all elections, really) end up being much tighter. It will pain me a great deal to mark my ballot for Baldwin, but I will, nonetheless. A Vukmir win would be a gain for the Republicans…a gain for Trumpism. What clinched this decision for me was watching Vukmir embrace Trump at a recent MAGA rally in Wisconsin and state that she will be someone who will go to Washington to support Trump. First, it’s not the job of a Senator to go to Washington to support the President, no matter who he is, and second, I particularly don’t want anyone there who will simply be another loyal Trump lackey. That leaves the State office elections (Governor, State Senate, and State Assembly). For these, I will vote Republican. Gov. Scott Walker has indeed moved Wisconsin in the right direction with some courageous battles that needed to be waged against the entrenched unions that controlled too much of Wisconsin’s policies. Although Walker was also at the MAGA rally with Trump, his overall support over the past couple of years has been tepid and measured. More strategic than sycophantic. I would rather have not seen him at Trump’s rally, but I can forgive him under the circumstances. Besides, if everyone had listened to Walker during his statement when he was the first to withdraw from the Republican Presidential Primaries in 2016, we may not have been laden with Trump at all.

“Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the race so that a positive conservative message can rise to the top of the field. With that in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately. I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider doing the same so the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive conservative alternative to the current frontrunner. This is fundamentally important to the future of the party and – ultimately – to the future of our country.” Gov. Scott Walker upon exiting the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary

No, I do not want the State of Wisconsin to be handed back to the Democrats, who will dismantle all of the conservative progress we have made. I fear, however, that no matter my vote, the Democrats will indeed win the day. So, that pretty much covers the midterm elections. Basically, much like the 2016 election, I have concluded that there are no good options here. I have decided that our best option out of the no good options is to strategically attempt to create a scenario where little damage can be done during the next couple of years, while the two bad options check each other. But, as my Dad asked, what should we be doing otherwise in order to improve our electoral choices for the future? Should we join the left’s “resistance”? Should we play “Good Trump, Bad Trump”? Should we just sit back and hope for better in 2020? None of those options are good. All of them will make matters worse. The Resistance Make no mistake, I believe that we should resist Trump and Trumpism completely. But that is not the same as joining The Resistance of the left. To be clear, the progressive left presents as much a threat to the survival of our Republic as Trumpism does. In fact, the ultimate problem of Trumpism (aside from it being abhorrently divisive and immoral) is that it will usher in the progressive left that I believe will then put forth the final policies that will destroy our Constitutional Republic and make the final transition to a non-exceptional, mediocre European-style socialist nation. The lights from that shining city on a hill will go out. Until the left recognizes their own role in the divisive, destructive nature of our politics, the prospects of joining with them is a non-starter, as far as I’m concerned. They absurdly believe that Obama had no faults, that Hillary was an honest, ethical person, and, increasingly, that Bermie Sanders’ socialism is an acceptable route for us. Good Trump, Bad Trump Trump is bad. I’m not going to pretend that he is good because he supports some policy that any Republican would support, or appoints a justice that any Republican would appoint. This game is absurd. The only effect it has is to validate the idea that Trump really isn’t that bad, that electing him really wasn’t a mistake…that character, knowledge, principles, and civic virtues really aren’t important. It implants the idea that all of Trump’s core supporters were right all along and there is nothing wrong with our system that allowed Trump to rise to the top. I’m not playing that game as it is antithetical to our entire Constitutional, founding principle ideals. Do Nothing and Hope For the Best? Apathy, complacency, ignorance…these are the things that have led to the disastrous political climate we are now in. We need to do better. Sitting back and staying quiet and hoping that people will miraculously “get it” so that we are provided better options in the future is denying reality. We need to be active in our attempts to inform fellow citizens of the real problems and solutions. Otherwise, they are learning it from Hannity, and Rush, and Trump (or their counterparts on the left). Instead, here is what I suggest we should be doing in order to actually start fixing the problems we face that are leading to the destruction of our Constitutional republic:

1. Turn off the hyper-partisan purveyors of outrage-politics. Anyone who listens day in and day out to right-wing talk radio and the FoxNews prime-time lineup are going to be very jaded in their viewpoints. Likewise with the clickbaity partisan websites whose sole purpose seems to be to mock and ridicule the other side. And yes, absolutely this also applies to the left and their own partisans.
2. Conscientiously seek out news from multiple sources, even (and especially) from those that you believe are biased towards the political side you disagree with. No, FoxNews is not “Fair & Balanced” and is not providing you with all of the facts, no more than CNN is. Make an attempt to only watch the hard news from these multiple sources and develop your own conclusions from them. You will find that each of them are definitely biased in the stories that they choose to report and the facts that they choose to include in those stories. However, in most all cases, the facts that they do present are indeed facts, even if they leave other facts out. They are rarely making up stories out of whole cloth. By viewing hard news like this from multiple sources, you will get more facts about each story than you would otherwise get from only one-sided sources. Once you have all of the facts, you don’t need the partisan “analysts” to present conclusions for you.
3. Limit the amount of news you obtain from the analytical/commentary branch of the news and only read/view this type of coverage after you have a good grasp of the topic from the multiple hard news sources. This way, you will be much better equipped to recognize the obvious biases and spin where it is being presented. There are some good, fair, reasonable analysts that attempt to provide you with reasoned commentary based on a fair presentation of all facts. Seek those people out and dismiss those who are obvious partisans simply spewing their team’s talking points.
4. Learn about the basic principles that were used as a basis for the creation of our Constitution and our unique form of self-government.
5. Learn about our Constitution. No, really…don’t simply state how much you support the Constitution without really knowing and understanding it and all of the reasons and arguments for all of the different aspects of it. Read some books about it. Read and study the Federalist Papers and the Anti-federalist papers.
6. Learn about the form and structure of our government. It’s not enough to say, “What a libtard! We are not a democracy, we are a republic!” It’s important to actually know what that means. It’s important to know why we have a separation of powers, why we have checks and balances, and what all of those are. It’s important to know why we separated Congress into the House and the Senate and what the roles of each are and why. It’s important to know what the Electoral College is and how and why it was implemented and why it would be disastrous to dismiss. It’s important to have a full understanding of federalism and what makes it so important, about the tyranny of the majority and why it’s so dangerous, and so much more.
7. Learn about basic economics. Nearly every one of the policy decisions that we debate has very important aspects of economics involved. Without a good knowledge of basic economics, it’s impossible to be able to understand and analyze each option rationally and reasonably. This applies to such issues as trade deals (including tariffs), immigration, welfare, minimum wages, taxes, energy policy, regulations, healthcare, etc. It amazes me that probably over 90% of people have strong opinions about all these things, but less than 10% having any clue about basic economics…meaning that the vast majority of viewpoints and resulting policies are based on complete ignorance.
8. As you are learning about all of these things yourself, make a strong effort to encourage everyone in your sphere of influence to join you in this learning.
9. Join a local community organization…one that is non-political, but likely to have members of all political stripes. Work with them, get to know them as friends and fellow community members. You will likely find that you have a lot more in common with them then you think. You will likely find that they are not anything like how the loudest voices on your political team say they are. Think about that and learn from it.
10. Reject the divisive politics of outrage and make a conscience effort to always remain civil and respectful in all political discussions.

So, Dad…those are my thoughts on what we should be doing to deal with Trumpism and, more importantly, the underlying causes that created it.