Recess Appointments

Posted on 2024-11-18 by David

I’m still working on the first draft of the Platform for America but there will be a section about protecting and improving our democratic safeguards. Trump’s preemptive demand that Senate Republicans step aside and just let him make recess appointments to get his cabinet in place faster is a great example of why defending our constitutional system has to be high on the platform priorities. While my preference is to establish baseline principles first and then use those to evaluate actions, claims, and proposals as they come up (like that one) I think we need to talk about recess appointments and the constitutional system of advice and consent from the Senate now because we will need to understand that and be ready to defend it before we get to January 20th.

Among the many checks established in the Constitution is the requirement that the Senate vet the proposed members of a President’s cabinet (as well as judicial appointments, but that’s not the subject for today). The idea is that even the leader of the executive branch should have someone looking over their shoulder and checking their homework so to speak. The founders understood that anyone, no matter their intelligence or moral character could make mistakes. They also understood that anyone who operated with unchecked authority could quickly begin to forget where the primary source of their power was supposed to reside and who they were supposed to be working for. (That would be “we the people.”)

Understanding the realities of their day, like the fact that it could potentially take several weeks to call the Senate back into session in the event of an emergency, the founders granted the president the power to appoint people without Senate consent when vacancies occurred during a Senate recess. Tellingly those appointments automatically expired at the end of the next Senate session unless they were confirmed during the session. Recess appointments were clearly not meant to evade Senate oversight, just to keep things running when the Senate wasn’t available.

When President Obama made some recess appointments during a Senate recess the Supreme Court eventually overturned those appointments and noted as they did so that the need for recess appointments no longer really existed. What president-elect Trump is telling the elected officials of his party to do is blatantly disregard the plain intent of the Constitution. That violates not only the oath he will be swearing on January 20th but also the paths that each of them will swear earlier in January.

Posted in National, politics | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

From Mourning to Morning

Posted on 2024-11-13 by David

It took a week but I am now finished with my bout of pessimism after the election. No, things aren’t any better than they were when it became clear that Trump would win, and no, I have not concluded that Trump is likely to be any better than my worst fears after January 6th. Instead I have decided to focus on America and the proactive work that we needed to do even if the election had turned out better.

The fact that polls throughout the campaign consistently told us that roughly half of America was willing to vote for Trump no matter what outrageous or nonsensical thing he was doing or saying at the time meant that even if he had eventually lost the election we were obviously overdue for some national soul searching.

Besides searching our own souls and trying to more clearly understand why so many people around us were willing to put a character with no moral character back into the Oval Office, we also need to get about the business of accurately understanding and effectively addressing the underlying causes of so many very real problems that our nation is grappling with. Despite the fact that Harris lost we can take good ideas that she campaigned on and refine them based on what we learn and prepare to implement them wherever and whenever we find a path to do so. (Yes, even with Trump at the helm there will be some opportunities if we watch out for them.)

I was prepared to take a defensive posture and simply try to survive the next four years but I’m done with that. There will certainly be defensive things we can and should do but I’m planning to spend the bulk of my energy proactively trying to build the better America around me that I optimistically believe is still/always within reach. After all, our Founding Fathers concocted a representative democracy that has lasted almost 250 years despite being under the rule of King George when they started. Surely we, who have lived under their republic (“if we can keep it”) can move forward even with these headwinds.

And hey, if you still need to do some grieving before you have strength to stand up—head held high—and move forward with optimism for what America can be, take whatever time you need. I’ll be over here, working and waiting (but not judging anyone) until you are in the headspace to move forward optimistically in creating the America that deserves to be a shining city on the hill for the rest of the world to both envy and learn from.

Posted in politics, thoughts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Trump’s deportation priority

Posted on 2024-11-11 by David

I had expected to outline the basic policy priorities I think would be a good campaign platform and then use that as a reference to evaluate the actions and proposals of parties, candidates, and elected officials. I’m finding that I may not have time to outline my baseline platform before responding to the actual policy positions being articulated by our incoming president (at least if I want to do it in a timely manner).

I’ve decided to use Trump’s declared Day 1 priorities to give an initial example of how I will evaluate policies and priorities as they come up.

One of my teenagers brought up the fact that Trump has indicated his Day 1 priorities are ending the criminal cases against him, pardoning the January 6th convicts, and beginning his promised mass deportations. Normally I would link to the original article but I don’t have one in this case. I am willing to respond to this because those things are in line with things Trump has said repeatedly on the campaign trail. The other unusual things I will do here is let my teenager respond to the idea instead of responding directly myself.

When we got talking about these Day 1 priorities my teenager said “mass deportations are going to wreak havoc on our economy.”

Knowing that it is possible to arrive at a true conclusion based on daily information or faulty logic I decided to quiz my kid on this subject (which we have not talked about before). I asked, “why would that be bad for the economy?”

The immediate response was “lots of immigrants do low paying jobs that Americans don’t want to do, if we remove them from the country that work will get a lot more expensive.”

I would have focused specifically on the risks to our food prices but all I can really say is, my teenager has a better understanding of our economy and the role immigrants play in it than our president-elect.

Posted in National | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Setting Expectations

Posted on 2024-11-09 by David

My plan with regard to Platform 2028 is to outline the main points before inauguration day in January and then spend the months and years after that drilling down to specifics, modifying as needed with changing circumstances, and pointing out how Platform 2028 would differ from our agree with the actions and proposals of the administration as a way of comparing in real time.

It should be an interesting and enlightening ride—especially if I’m getting feedback and perspectives from others along the way.

Posted in thoughts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Crafting Platform 2028

Posted on 2024-11-08 by David

Several months ago I decided to craft what I would consider to be an ideal platform for a presidential candidate in 2028. It was much too late to do it for 2024. My idea was to both articulate my ideal platform and use it as a measuring stick to evaluate the presidential candidates we’ll start seeing in 24 months.

I postponed working on it until now because I wanted to devote what limited political capacity I had to promoting a presidential candidate who actually believes in the Constitution of the United States. Her loss makes it that much more apparent that we need to start from the ground to build a winning platform without reference to the past platforms of any party or candidate.

I’m hoping that in this process of articulating what I think the platform should include there will be people to push back, hone my thinking—and maybe even change my mind about some of it—until we arrive at a platform that would lead America forward toward being the shining city on a hill that it was always meant to be.

The fact that voters elected someone who openly disregards the rule of law and grounds himself in a universe where truth and fiction are indistinguishable from each other is not a reason to give up on the idea that we the people can “form a more perfect union, (re)establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

Posted in National, politics, thoughts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What if Trump was right?

Posted on 2024-11-07 by David

A good portion of the presidential campaign was framed around the issue of access to reproductive care. The claims made by the two campaigns were vastly different on the topic—as expected.

Trump repeatedly said that he was proud to get Roe overturned claiming that “everybody” wanted abortion returned to the states. That claim didn’t feel like it had much evidence behind it for two reasons: first, ever since the Dobbs decision abortion advocates all over the nation performed better than expected in the 2022 midterms and I’m ever special election with any abortion access component at play and second, because as soon Roe was overturned the most vocal opponents of Roe went right to work repeatedly proposing various national abortion bans—very much NOT trying to leave it to the states.

On the other side, the Harris campaign leaned into the Aaron that basically everyone agreed that the government shouldn’t interfere with women making their own reproductive choices. That claim did seem to be grounded in reality based on the midterms and special elections since Dobbs along with all the medical horror stories coming out of states with restrictive bans.

After Trump won the election with a surprisingly strong showing it got me questioning if Trump might have been right that voters in aggregate are content to handle abortion policy at the state level. It’s clear that many people are rightly appalled at the results of the more restrictive abortion policies but while activists want to enshrine the protections of Roe nationally the presidential results suggest that either 1) the issue is not as important to voters as the Harris campaign believed, 2) voters might be skeptical about the prospect of passing legislation through Congress (that would be well warranted skepticism), or 3) voters overall are satisfied with (or resigned to) trying to correct the more restrictive abortion bans at the state level even if they are horrified by some of the traffic results of those bans. (I suppose in this era of widespread disinformation that there is a fourth option of voters either being unaware of those traffic stories or of believing that they are exaggerated or fabricated.)

Posted in National, politics, thoughts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Assigning blame

Posted on 2024-11-06 by David

Long before Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race I was saying that regardless of whether he started in the race, if Trump won the blame would fall primarily on Biden. Now that the election is over I want to share a slightly more detailed assessment of who bears the blame. (Spoiler, it’s not Kamala Harris. She did as much as could be hoped given the constraints of her situation.)

In chronological order, here are the three people whose choices brought us another Trump victory. (Trump hates each of them.)

Kevin McCarthy

Running down to Mar-a-Lago like a scolded puppy after Trump was impeached because Trump was mad that McCarthy had the audacity to acknowledge that Trump had been out of line (in the gentlest way he could) served to signal to the GOP that even under a second impeachment Trump remained at the center of GOP power. Had McCarthy not paid homage the GOP might have moved on without Trump in those early days while his dishonor was fresh in the minds of the nation.

Mitch McConnell

The political cowardice of McConnell after January 6th allowed Trump to escape when he was most vulnerable. If he had taken a stand immediately that impeachment was an appropriate response to Trump’s insurrection the House and Senate could have excised Trump from any future political power. Instead McConnell dragged his feet and put party over country hoping (irrationally) that Trump would go away without the GOP having to take any action.

McConnell magnanimously told his GOP Senate colleagues that they could vote their conscience in the 2nd impeachment after doing everything possible to hamstring the trial. He then had the audacity after voting to acquit (based on a contrived technicality that he arranged in advance) to declare that Trump was “practically and morally responsible” for January 6th and that “Trump is still liable,” that he “didn’t get away with anything yet,” and that Trump could still be held accountable in civil or criminal court.

In handing this blame to McConnell I don’t mean to pretend that he was uniquely cowardly. I’m confident that many GOP senators would have done the same thing in his position.

Joe Biden

If Biden had chosen not to run for a second term the Democratic nominee would have been able to run a campaign that lasted more than 4 months which would have allowed views to feel like they had a voice in the selection process and would have allowed the candidate to hone their message before the spring of the general election. Even deciding to run and then dropping out after October 7, 2023 to focus on the middle east would have been okay.

While this blame goes on Biden’s shoulders we can still recognize that the Democratic party was complicit in leaving him essentially unchallenged. The person in the worst position to challenge Biden was his Vice President since doing so would not only damage the party but would also have undercut both his work as President and her work as Vice President.

Posted in politics, thoughts | Leave a comment

When to cast a 3rd Party Vote

Posted on 2024-11-04 by David

Disclaimer: I don’t want to tell someone how to vote in any race but I think it’s important for anyone casting an untraditional vote (ie. not selecting between the candidates with any realistic chance of winning) to be very cognizant of the electoral effect of their vote so that they don’t unknowingly produce an effect opposite to what they intended.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the effect of third party voting and when it might be appropriate to “throw away your vote” as some people call it or “send a message” as others would frame it. That might seem unusual for someone who lives in a state where the majority of races are already decided before the general election ballots have even been formulated but after decades of thinking about and participating in politics I have come to some solid conclusions on the topic.

The effect of voting for a 3rd Party candidate is that you are allowing those viewers who vote for the major candidates to decide the election without your input. I think the majority of people who contemplate casting 3rd party votes hope to send a message about what candidates, issues, or positions they want to see—which is fine. In the case of races that are anything but competitive this might be exactly the practical effect of casting those votes. On the other hand, for competitive races this message is likely to be overlooked as all the focus is on the final outcome.

When deciding to cast a 3rd party vote in a competitive race you are effectively voting for whichever major candidate you like the least. This only makes sense in one of two situations:

  1. The major candidates are all essentially decent and there is no more significant downside to any given candidate.
  2. The major candidates are so universally terrible that you can’t vote for any of them in good conscience.

If you find yourself in situation 1, congratulations your case is enviable. If you find yourself in situation 2, condolences and I’ve been there a time or two (although it wasn’t competitive in my cases).

So yes, it’s okay to cast a 3rd party vote but please do so responsibly and not when you are knowingly risking an outcome that is obviously worse than a viable if imperfect alternative.

Posted in National, politics, thoughts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Harris’s closing argument

Posted on 2024-10-31 by David

Harris offered her closing argument at the Ellipse in Washington DC. Here I have gone through the transcript of her speech trying to extract the main points. At 3000 words and just under 40 minutes Harris delivered more substance in half the time compared to Trump in his closing argument.

Of the 27 thoughts I captured 8 were about her policy ideas (middle class tax cut, cap drug costs, address housing problems, child tax credit, home care for seniors, protect social security, reinstate reproductive choice, immigration), 6 were characterizing Trump, and 13 were framing the election.

Everything in my list is in the order these ideas appeared in her speech. Most ideas are summarized but a few are direct quotes as indicated.

  • “This election is more than just a choice between two parties and two different candidates. It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division.”
  • We know who Donald Trump is. He stood here and sent a mob to the Capitol that injured 140 Capitol Police and when he was told they wanted to hang the vice president he said “so what.”
  • He’s focused on his problems and has an enemies list for his second term.
  • “Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That is who he is. But, America, I am here tonight to say that is not who we are. That is not who we are! That is not who we are!”
  • Democracy doesn’t mean we have to agree in everything but just because we disagree doesn’t make us enemies.
  • It’s time for a new generation of leadership.
  • I know many of you didn’t feel like you know me.
  • I’ve spent most of my career outside of DC so I know not all good ideas come from here.
  • “There’s something about people being treated unfairly or overlooked that, frankly, just gets to me.”
  • “I’ll be honest with you, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. But here’s what I promise you: I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me. I will always tell you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear. I will work every day to build consensus and reach compromise to get things done.”
  • I’ve been the Vice President but my administration will be different because we are facing different problems from four years ago. We had to end the pandemic and rebuild the economy. Now we need to lower costs.
  • Trump wants to have a 20% tariff which will cost regular Americans thousands of dollars in higher prices.
  • Trump wants to give tax cuts to billionaires but I want to give tax cuts to working class and middle class Americans.
  • I want to cap prescription drug costs.
  • I will fight to help first time home buyers with down payment assistance and work with the private sector and local governments to get more houses built.
  • I want to help parents have the resources to raise their children by increasing the child tax credit.
  • I want to have home care covered by Medicare so families don’t have to deplete their savings to get Medicaid to cover it.
  • I want to protect social security.
  • Trump got Supreme Court Justices to overturn Roe v Wade and now many states have bans that have led to women dying. The government should not be telling women and doctors what to do.
  • We need to solve immigration including securing our border with the bill Donald Trump killed and providing a path to citizenship for productive members of society.
  • “As Commander in Chief, I will make sure America has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”
  • “I will always honor, never denigrate the service and sacrifice of our troops and their families and fulfill our sacred obligation to care for them. I will strengthen, not surrender, America’s global leadership, and I will stand with our friends because I know that our alliances keep American people safe and make America stronger and more secure.”
  • “Here is my pledge to you: I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to make your life better. I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress. I pledge to listen to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make, and to people who disagree with me. Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy; He wants to put them in jail, I’ll give them a seat at the table. I pledge to you to approach my work with the joy and optimism that comes from making a difference in people’s lives.  And I pledge to be a president for all Americans, and to always put country above party and self.”
  • I’ve lived the promise of America
  • I see the promise of America in young people, in women fighting for reproductive freedom, in Republicans putting country over party.
  • “America, I know the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. I know it, and that’s why I am in this race to fight for the people, just like I always have.”
  • “The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised, a nation big enough to encompass all our dreams, strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us, and fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities. So America, let us reach for that future. Let us fight for this beautiful country we love.”
Posted in National, politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Trump’s closing argument

Posted on 2024-10-31 by David

Trump’s speech at Madison Square Garden on Sunday was billed as his closing argument for the election. I want to try to summarize what he said there (not any of the other content at that marathon event). I went through the transcript of his speech and tried to extract the main points of what he said. At nearly 80 minutes and over 11,000 words I hope I’ve done it justice.

Of the 47 thoughts I captured 6 were about his policy ideas (cut taxes—twice, drill baby drill, deportation, build a defense shield, make flag burning illegal), 10 were characterizing Harris and/or Biden, 5 were framing the election, and 26 were random (we’ve got a great crowd, I love my family, Jim Jordan is great, catching a rocket, etc.)

Everything in my list is in the order these ideas appeared in his speech. Most ideas are summarized but a few are direct quotes as indicated.

  • We’ve got so many people here
  • All our problems will be quickly solved
  • Harris trashed our economy, spiked inflation, and killed manufacturing
  • I’ll cut taxes on tips, overtime, and social security. And today I’m announcing a tax credit for people taking care of loved ones and I’ll make interest on car loans tax deductible.
  • We’re gonna drill baby drill and cut energy prices in half in 1 year
  • I’ll protect America from the immigrant criminals the world is dumping on us.
  • The US is now an occupied country. I’ll launch the largest deportation program ever.
  • Joe Biden goes to bed at 4PM
  • FEMA ran out of money for hurricane relief
  • They tried to kick me off the ballot in Colorado
  • Kamala needs a teleprompter but I don’t
  • We’re practically in World War III but none of that would have happened if I were President.
  • People died in Afghanistan and Kamala wants to start a draft again but I’m the only president who never started a war.
  • Our military has stupid generals who said we can’t win a war with China
  • I ended the pipeline in Europe but Biden ended the pipeline in the US.
  • Kamala is crooked and vicious
  • We have 325,000 missing children
  • Go vote
  • Jim Jordan is great
  • I could be on vacation right now anywhere in the world
  • I watched SpaceX catch a rocket on TV. Russia and China can’t do that.
  • Elon Musk likes to wear a black MAGA hat.
  • “We’re not going to let him go too crazy, Elon, with the oil and gas stuff because Robert F. Kennedy cares more about human beings and health and the environment than anybody…I’m going to let him go wild on medicines.”
  • We call oil and gas liquid gold
  • My wife has a to selling book
  • JD and Usha Vance are both Yale Law School graduates
  • I’ve got a great family
  • Senator Tommy Tuberville is great
  • We’re going to win the House because we have a secret. 
  • Madison Square Garden is great
  • Kamala Harris is a Marxist who wants to defund the police
  • MS-13 are animals
  • Kamala Harris wants to ban fracking and confiscate your guns.
  • “She (Harris) even called for free sex change operations on illegal aliens in detention at taxpayer expense.”
  • Google told me they got more hits on McDonald’s after I visited there than ever before.
  • Kamala tried to turn out military woke.
  • This will be the greatest political comeback of all time.
  • Kamala never called the Border Patrol as the border czar
  • We have endorsements from border patrol, firefighters, and police
  • “I am under investigation more than the great late Alphonse Capone.”
  • We sort of need steel in this country
  • We’re winning with Muslims in Michigan
  • “We will cut your taxes, end inflation, slash your prices, raise your wages, and bring thousands and thousands of factories back to America.”
  • “We will build a massive defense shield all made in the USA. We’re going to build a beautiful dome over our country.”
  • People should get a year in jail if they burn the American flag.
  • Crime in New York is terrible
  • “We will make America powerful again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America healthy again. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again.”
Posted in National, politics | Tagged | 1 Comment