strat·e·gy

A plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.

Military leaders will tell you if you don’t get the big-picture overall strategy right, you aren’t going to win. Today neither the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party has as their big-picture strategy the use of government to make America stronger, more prosperous, and a happier place. And as a result, the American people sure aren’t winning.

Ironically, the strategies of Democrat and Republican elected officials are very similar, just similarly wrong. Their strategies are to raise obscene amounts of money, win elections … not as a means to the end of governing well but as an end in itself … in order to raise even more money and entrench themselves in even more power. As we are all aware, in too many cases they are still doing this long after they have principally become sclerotic tools of lobbyists and donors. Many have become too cowardly to do what they believe in their hearts would be good for America, but bad for their political careers. Others don’t even know or care what they think is right, having gotten elected and thriving in Washington by not paying attention to such old-fashioned, quaint values.

Voters need to stop this. We need to elect pragmatic, consensus-oriented public servants. We need to recognize that about half of us see issues very differently than the other half of us. We need to pay attention to the fact that history has demonstrated over the last few decades that neither side is going to prevail over the other.

More voters need to take an “Um, I could live with that” approach to politics, and insist their elected officials do the same. We need to insist that, regardless of their political views, our politicians be sensible, and endeavor to work with others to get things done. The alternative is likely more of the circus that most of us despise, and a continuing grinding down of our nation.

Note to those who have been kind enough to follow The Lone Liberal Republican project over the years. I am posting a lot less currently because it seems to me that until the upcoming elections are over, it is difficult to know how to frame posts. If President Biden is re-elected, especially with a Democratic Congress, the framing will most likely need to be about how to rebuild at least a portion of the Republican Party in more pragmatic, consensus-oriented directions. If President Trump prevails, especially with a Republican Congress, the focus will likely be about how to harness the energies of people of both or neither parties whose views, like mine, are centrist, again towards finding our way to a more pragmatic, consensus-oriented place.

As always, thanks for reading and be well.