Trump Is Not the Problem

When the rage and fear ebb, I’m able to see clearly that Trump isn’t the problem. However terrible a human being I judge him to be, he’s just a man. And, more importantly, just one man. The problem is the system that allowed Trump to have power. The fact that we’re a *kakistocracy (*government by the worst people) is a consequence of the system we’ve collectively created. The systems that interact to create the United States need changes.

A non-exhaustive list of things that need to change:

Money

  • The real problem isn’t income or wealth inequality. The problem is power inequality. Few people making decisions for the large number of the rest of us. Representative structures require guardrails for the people making decisions. Wealth inequality is a subset of the larger power problem.

  • Billionaires: Money is power (not speech). Billionaires have too much power (money) and too little accountability. The magnitude of the wealth accumulation rests on the lie that individual merit warrants their reward. The reality is that we all work hard and billionaires earned their wealth on the backs of other people. We all exist in a system, a context, none of us do what we do alone and unsupported.

  • Corporations are not people and should not have the same rights as people. The needs of corporations should not supercede the needs of people.

    • Corporate structures could be done well. Corporations are, after all, just a bunch of people getting together to do a thing. The real poison, in addition to the corporation as person idea, is shareholder primacy. Making investor return the end-all-be-all leads corporations to do terrible things.

  • It’s worth noting that none of the above precludes people and groups of people from buying and selling things.

Political Parties

  • We have two political parties who collude with each other to maintain the status quo. The three branches are unable to govern because party is put ahead of people. Just as the cure for bad speech is more speech, we need to bring in more political parties to increase the diversity of ideas.

Election Reform

  • End racially motivated re-districting
  • End politically motivated re-districting
  • Ranked choice voting at all levels of government
  • End corporate political spending (see above: money is not speech and corporations are not people)
  • Public funding of elections: Every qualified candidate receives the same amount

Legislative Reform

  • Fix Congress and state legislatures - Congress can’t govern themselves. How can they govern the country or state?
  • Stricter rules against lobbying
  • Gift bans
  • No passing bills that haven’t been read. If the representative or Senator (or their staff) haven’t read the bill they have no business voting on it.
  • Elites and business have huge impact policy outcomes while average citizens and interest groups do not. - End this.
    • Gilens, M., & Page, B. I. (2014). Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564-581. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592714001595

Actual human beings

  • Better safety nets for people. People should not have to worry about where they’ll live, eat, or receive medical care.
  • Development of cultural norms that acknowledge that people are people and we should live and let live.