The Path Ahead
Hello, I hope that you and yours are doing well.
I wrote a piece in Newsweek about how the Dems lost and a POLITICO piece as to what the Democratic Party should do now. I don’t expect the latter to be heeded obviously.
25 Forward Party endorsed or affiliated candidates won their races, including John Curtis in Utah and Don Davis in North Carolina. The win rate of our candidates was 20%, which was about the best you can hope for.
People are taking different messages and lessons from Election Day. Here’s my take: The institutions are dying. People are losing faith right and left. Mistrust is a winner. If you try to sell me on your virtue, you’re probably full of it.
The Democratic Party has taken on the mantle of the institutions; things are working, nothing to see here, believe us and believe in us, the experts know best. The Republican Party has taken on the energy of Donald Trump; everyone is full of it, the institutions are lying to you, I may say things you disagree with but at least I talk like a human being, I don’t pretend to be good.
Not believing has become a lot easier than believing. Here’s how I put it in The War on Normal People:
“We have entered an age of transparency where we can see our institutions and leaders for all of their flaws. Trust is for the gullible. Everything now will be a fight. Appealing to common interests will be all the more difficult.”
That seems about right.
As the fabric frays and the institutions unravel, individuals rise to replace them. Trump is a movement leader who survived two assassination attempts. Elon Musk is the richest man in the world who owns a social media platform. Joe Rogan is a martial arts expert who is the most widely listened to media figure in America. They each represent avatars of individuality.
At our base, we prefer human beings to faceless corporations, change agents to the status quo in a time of widespread discontent.
So what now?
Do I think the Democratic Party will reform itself in some way? I’m not optimistic, even as I lay out the steps I would take here. The Party reminds me of a big company that has lost touch with its constituents, but has a big regulatory moat keeping it in place.
I’ve always thought that building new ways of doing things or companies or organizations is a lot more fun and positive way to spend time than hoping that an incumbent will all of a sudden have a culture change.
Not surprisingly, Forward has seen a surge of interest in the past number of days. People know we can’t do the same thing over and over again and hope for a different result.
I’ve feared Trump for a long time as an accelerant to the decline of institutions. He’ll be President again. It’s time to build, both a new political movement but also in our own lives closer to home. Families are institutions. So are schools and businesses and places of worship and even book clubs.
We always need great people in our lives. Start there. And yes, believe in them.
To see my piece in Newsweek click here and for my POLITICO piece click here. To join Forward to help build the new party click here – some phenomenal people are coming our way.
