Election talk

The election has not left me much to chuckle about but a commentary  from the Washington Post delivered: The reason why Harris lost this election was clear to the author and is obvious: she did not send enough Texts, Emails, and Robocalls.

Another: the Democrats lost because they acted like American Tourists in France ie when  it is clear the locals don’t speak English, the response is to speak more slowly and very loudly……in English……

While I have long been aware that I live in a bubble (what they used to call the Soviet of Washington State), this election makes me face something I already know: I am in a minority with respect to my thinking and motivation around national elections.

The election results are  unambiguous—several percentage points and a majority of total votes cast, I have to appreciate what it feels to be in a minority voting block. Moral outrage is pretty silly—what has that done for other minorities over time? The antidote for minorities who are powerless is to align together with some common goals. There is a lot of work to be done for an opposition party to compete with MAGA heads. On the other hand, world events are fickle and the public can turn on a dime.

My life as a doctor finds me reflecting on attitudes that helped me with a busy practice. Not everyone liked my advice or the advantage my education brought to a conversation and I found peace with that. When people made worrisome choices in their lives, often believing in things that made little seense to me, my reflection was, “Why should I care more than they do?”  The results were often not the disaster I forecasted and in fact, people turned my way more often than not, only when catastrophe did strike them.  I think that is the way it works….The results of this election are going to affect all of us though and in ways that are as yet, not clearly predictable.

I was rooting for Congressional Candidate Perez in Southwest Washington who won her district as a Democrat in a very red district. This link is informative to her approach which I would like to think mirrors my success as a doctor:  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/us/politics/marie-gluesenkamp-perez-interview.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

I enjoyed an editorial which asserted that this was less an election as it was a hostage negotiation, with,  the end-of-the-world as we have known it language being heard by both parties, should they lose. It does feel that way. I think that many people who have voted Democratic in the past, as I have, are questioning how the system in place is working for them after putting faith in it for so long. On reflection, I have been verbalizing disatisfaction and complaints for years now and the election puts it in a different context. I think healthcare, however you want to define it is not working well anywhere assuming you are not independently wealthy. I think Public Education is seriously flawed as it is administered by people who want to please everyone and have increasing debt with unfunded mandates—both formal and informal. Justice System? We have long had a justice system that cannot put wealthy men —and often not-so-wealthy men in jail within a few years of their crimes and convictions; the last decade has reflected this over and over again, Trump being the icing on that cake. Justice, Education, and Healthcare are on my list; all are bloated, customer unfriendly, capable of great harm, and suggestive of a failed state. But it isn’t just Government—big business is just as flawed. How has service and cost workeed for you when traveling, making a complaint, suggesting an improvement? For me, the Economy is not on my list—it was a focus of dissatisfaction in this election and yet is the envy of the rest of the world—my vote against Trump is despite the fact that I will not suffer economically during his administration and I am quite fortunate to be able to say that.

Economic issues are complicated and it always flusters me when during elections it becomes an albatross or a plus for a candidate who likely was of marginal influence given the effects of pandemics, wars, and economic planning, foundations decades in the making. At the end of the day, economics has always been about Faith. If you don’t believe in the system, why invest? If you can’t make sense of it and have lost Faith, why not invest in someone who has a black and white answer, based on just that—Faith?  What could go wrong?

I love Bernie Sanders and his ability to communicate. He has been demonized and as such, is not been considered a viable candidate by most—but this link to a discussion with college students over a decade ago is marvelous and links to the Perez comments above:

Bernie Sanders perfectly sums up Trump’s 2024 game plan in decades-old video

https://flipboard.com/video/independent/d2c10f8fc0

THERE’S EVEN MORE!  Consider this succinct analysis hitting many of the same buttons:

Yet now Mr. Trump has decisively won back the presidency. I would never claim to have all the answers about what went wrong, but I do worry that Democrats walked into the trap of defending the very institutions — the “establishment” — that most Americans distrust. As a party interested in competent technocracy, we lost touch with the anger people feel at government. As a party that prizes data, we seized on indicators of growth and job creation as proof that the economy was booming, even though people felt crushed by rising costs. As a party motivated by social justice, we let revulsion at white Christian nationalism bait us into identity politics on their terms — whether it was debates about transgender athletes, the busing of migrants to cities, or shaming racist MAGA personalities who can’t be shamed. As a party committed to American leadership of a “rules-based international order,” we defended a national security enterprise that has failed repeatedly in the 21st century, and made ourselves hypocrites through unconditional military support for Israel’s bombardment of civilians in Gaza.  (From this post: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/opinion/republicans-democrats-trump.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare.  )

Lastly: I am not a fan of RFK Jr.

1. So I am holding my breath. He's going to be in my shop. Years before Covid, I experienced the bloated inefficient and harmful practice of a large local hospital following the lead of all large institutions. I woman had to be delivered of her baby by C section because of recurrent genital herpes. The Infectious Disease process in the hospital led to a requirement that anyone entering the room of that patient had to vigorously wash hands, glove and gown up including a mask prior to entry. Stigmatizing? Logical? Necessary? RFK thinks he knows the science better than those who will be leaving positions of authority. I am going to put some predictions in an envelope and seal it and see in two years if I got any predictions right.

2. I am a fan of Obamacare and love the thorn in the side of conservatives that it has represented (Identity and party politics are messy—remember States voting for Trump also voted for abortion rights) but as a doctor, learning about details of Obamacare? It was clearly designed by a committee and tried to please a sea of constituencies to the detriment of the final product and those who had to use it. I would vote to reform it in a minute if credible people were to manage the process…….

I am going to take the lead from Perez and think and act locally; I am going to assume international relationships are no longer beholding to Cold War traditions. I think worse things could happen to the Ukraine than a Korean War-like solution. I think Israel’s policies as acted out are going to call for a reckoning and I won’t have much influence in any of that. I love international relations but for now, it is not a focus for the voting public and I will live with it and hope it does not backfire on all of us. In fact, that sums up my sense of the Trump administration. I expect them to fail and fail badly but if they don’t, what changes am I (and perhaps you) going to have to go through to reconcile that?

I encourage you to pick out a concern that interests youoo--of what might get better or worse in the next 2-4 years under the Trump administration and put it in a sealed envelope to see how you are at both divination and knowing your country.

RAM