The ideological noise is deafening. Or as you may prefer, the political noise—the noise about the noise.
Republicans have generally been known for conservative policies. More recently, the populist Right wing, led by President Trump, has emerged and prevailed, and often competed with the Left in urging one or another form of government intervention. In the tax code. In Iran. In computer chip manufacturing.
Now the far-Left, the Socialist one, is gaining some traction. The President, notwithstanding his flirtation with New York’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has started calling them Communists.
Jonah Goldberg, in a penetrating essay, recounted the shared ideology of Fascists and Communists; today’s breathless characterization of the Right and Left. Non-breaking news: both were statist movements with government ownership and heavy intervention in virtually all human affairs. And the ideology was used to kill a lot of people—tens of millions.
I understand the need for passion, real or feigned; every aroused person wants to take on the establishment. But Woke, Left or Right, doesn’t rhyme with nor mean working.
On the populist Right Trump buys parts of companies while strong arming ones with which he disagrees—his followers, maybe a little disoriented, nonetheless salute. Well, not Libertarian and Republican Rand Paul, who says the actions are more dangerous than ones by Zohran Mamdani and Bernie Sanders. The Trump movement frequently mimics a teeter-totter.
On the Left, the Trump-elevated Party—Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)— bobs along on anger while espousing higher taxes (not, by the way, to pay down debt) and aggressive market intervention. More conventional Democrats warily look over their shoulders as venomous rhetoric fills the air.
A brief aside. Capitalist markets yield to buyer sentiment on products, features and prices. Sellers don’t sell what buyers won’t buy or at price points that exceed what they can afford. A sure way for a business person to fail is to proceed from an attitude of “I know what is best.” Are there periodic and short-term market negatives? Yes, but regulatory power exists to minimize them.
The problem: when politicians of whatever stripe push the government button, it is most likely to get stuck. Stuck in the always on mode—a new bobble to decorate Washington’s leading industry, lobbying.
But, back to the larger issue. What about running on what works? We have been at this governing process for enough Centuries that human, much less artificial intelligence, should be able to get it right. Or, approximately right. It should be checkers now, not chess. Yes, even with the technology and demographic changes.
Yet, we seem to be caught up in a “perfect storm”. Everything is breathless these days. “Breaking News! Just in! This will change everything.” And on and on—light the fuse.
A few more thoughts about the billionaire class. Many of the billionaires were at one point entrepreneurs faced with market signals: continue straight ahead or change or close up. Often, to quote esteemed venture investor Vinod Khosla, this calls for “decision making in the face of ambiguity”. The record verifies that most leading entrepreneurs did it well.
Today, many of those in the billionaire class are ultra high-end consumers, sometimes in a competition to see who can build bigger or more lavishly. DSA tacticians looking for outrage savor their excesses—capitalists undermining capitalism; what could be better.
One characteristic of billionaires is the need for personal stimulus. Innately, each morning they want to awake to action, not golf. Many have faced ambiguity as they built their wealth. Virtually all would love to be asked to put their skills to use for America because all with a brain know that, absent American freedom, they would probably be irrelevant. Or striving for relevance in some massive government bureaucracy.
Which brings me back to “what works”. The crosscurrents of political outrage—charges, countercharges, will go on and on. What about a President who recognizes his/her limits and recruits several whose wisdom has been recognized in the marketplace and beyond? What about recruiting some with a different party label? Lincoln did it, and his success earned him an oft-recalled book title: Team of Rivals.
Tryouts to replace Trump are underway. The former everything in government, Rahm Emanuel, is the most active on the Democrat side, while the Republicans thought to have the best chance to work for Trump. My bet, the next Republican nominee does not currently work for Trump.
Regardless, I would like at least one candidate to include a team of potential rivals in his outreach. And most importantly, to use words as if they matter. If we want humanity to survive machines that think, we better elect a leader who is thoughtful.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.