Posts in Category: purple

OH My God We Are In Power!

On - Conspiracy theories, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, purple, Voting Rights

Yah, so we have been going on and on about the Democrats getting into power, taking control of the House, well, that’s a given and maybe even the Senate. That’s not a given, but there’s a good chance.

But okay. They do it.

So what?

What do you expect? Massive change? Impeach Trump, throw the administration behind bars where they belong? Oh, still my beating heart. If only it could happen that easily.

Reality is raising its ugly head. What’s going to happen? Well, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen.

A lot of INVESTIGATIONS.

A lot of ARM WAVING.

A lot of NAME CALLING.

A lot of NOTHING.

Why?

Because the Democrats have their own dirty laundry.

Because both parties depend on wealthy donors, corporations, interest groups and the mountains of money that now flow through our political system. Because the same basic system of campaign contributions, lobbying and dark money that Republicans complain about when Democrats benefit from it is the same system Democrats complain about when Republicans benefit from it.

The names are different.

The excuses are different.

The money is still money.

Don’t get me wrong. We will see change. We may see Trump and his political machine dismantled. We may see investigations that uncover things that actually deserve to be uncovered. We may see parts of the Trump political operation disappear.

But will the underlying system change?

That’s the question.

Because if you simply replace one political machine with another, what have you really fixed?

We aren’t going to see fundamental change until we start dealing with the two-party system itself, until Citizens United is addressed, and until the super-rich lose some of their influence over our government.

They will never lose all of it.

Because money is power, and that’s just the way it is.

This is a late-in-the-evening post.

I am reminded of Chuck Keller’s recent post where he brought up alcohol, and I made a comment about how every now and again I guess we all, including Hemingway, must stand there sober occasionally.

Well, today isn’t that day.

I cleaned my smoker. I scraped the grease from the BBQ. I showered twice. I even did a paying job.

And now I’m sitting here with a glass of bourbon, my poison of choice, which apparently makes me willing to admit that I can appreciate the Chinese game plan:

Don’t think about tomorrow. Think about the next 100 years.

So, looking forward:

Who are we going to let call the shots?

A bunch of rich dudes who only want to get richer?

Or…

Maybe that’s the question we should be asking before we decide that simply changing who holds the gavels means we have changed the system.

Because making that decision tomorrow may be too late.

Different Strokes — How Many Chips Do You Want? – Video

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Midterms then 2028, Politics, purple, Real Men, View From 1964

New York, New York. Zohran Mamdani. Labels. What does Trump call him? A communist, and worse, of course never to his face, because Trump hasn’t the huevos to say anything to anyone’s face. But let’s be polite. Maybe a democratic socialist?

And then there’s AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now there’s a woman I would vote for. Just like I would vote for Salma Hayek or Rachel Weisz, not because I agree with their politics, but because, well, damn. I think they’re hot. But hot doesn’t solve our country’s sociopolitical needs. At least I don’t think it does. The wife is reading this, so I’m going to move along quickly. She stopped laughing when I got to Rachel.

================================

That doesn’t mean every single thing gets decided at the local level. Basic education standards, welfare guidelines, healthcare and vaccination policy, freedom of religion guarantees, these need universal federal oversight. Some things belong to all of us equally. But how many chocolate chips go into your Toll-House cookie? That’s up to you.

How many chips do you want?

And while I’m telling you what I’m looking for in the next president, there’s one more thing. I want a team from day one. Not a successor chosen in some smoke-filled hotel room because they might carry a swing state. Not a running mate picked in the last forty-eight hours of a convention to patch the electoral math. A team. Built deliberately, from the beginning, with intention.

If you can’t give me that before you ask for my vote, I’m not interested.

Different Strokes — How Many Chips Do You Want?

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Midterms then 2028, Politics, purple, Real Men, View From 1964

New York, New York. Zohran Mamdani. Labels. What does Trump call him? A communist, and worse, of course never to his face, because Trump hasn’t the huevos to say anything to anyone’s face. But let’s be polite. Maybe a democratic socialist?

And then there’s AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Now there’s a woman I would vote for. Just like I would vote for Salma Hayek or Rachel Weisz, not because I agree with their politics, but because, well, damn. I think they’re hot. But hot doesn’t solve our country’s sociopolitical needs. At least I don’t think it does. The wife is reading this, so I’m going to move along quickly. She stopped laughing when I got to Rachel.

Back to Mamdani, AOC, and let’s throw Bernie in while we’re at it. All good people. I’m glad they’re out there fighting the good fight. A bit too far left for my taste, well, yes, more than a bit. But they have one thing in common and I genuinely respect them for it. They believe what they preach. No soapboxes with a shelf of snake oil hidden inside.

And their views? Valid, for where they come from. Just too extreme to export nationally. But here’s the thing about extremes, they produce something useful when they meet each other. Wait for it. It’s almost here and it’s worth the wait.

The middle.

Now before you check out — the middle doesn’t mean flatline. In an emergency room, a flatline is when they call time of death. The middle isn’t death. The middle is different strokes for different folks. What works beautifully in New York City works for New York. If rent has gotten out of hand, rent control makes sense there. But that doesn’t mean rent control belongs in Mayberry. Why can’t both New York and Mayberry co-exist with different solutions to different problems?

Because choosing a president isn’t obvious, that’s why. They have to thump on a stump everywhere. They have to sell their goods to people with completely different needs, different economies, different histories. And what I’m looking for, what I’ve been looking for, is a candidate who stands up and says: I’m here to let you solve your own problems, and if you ask for help, the federal government will be there. But only if you ask.

That doesn’t mean every single thing gets decided at the local level. Basic education standards, welfare guidelines, healthcare and vaccination policy, freedom of religion guarantees, these need universal federal oversight. Some things belong to all of us equally. But how many chocolate chips go into your Toll-House cookie? That’s up to you.

How many chips do you want?

And while I’m telling you what I’m looking for in the next president, there’s one more thing. I want a team from day one. Not a successor chosen in some smoke-filled hotel room because they might carry a swing state. Not a running mate picked in the last forty-eight hours of a convention to patch the electoral math. A team. Built deliberately, from the beginning, with intention.

If you can’t give me that before you ask for my vote, I’m not interested.

The Moment We’ve Been Building Toward

On - purple, shared, Voting Rights

The Moment We’ve Been Building Toward

The Forward Party may be on the verge of an independent governing fulcrum in the Senate.

For years, we’ve talked about what it would mean to have independent voices holding the balance of power in Congress. Now, with Todd Achilles in Idaho and Brian Bengs in South Dakota running competitive, one-on-one Senate races, we’re seeing that possibility take shape in real time.

Recent polling has Achilles within four points of Senator Jim Risch, while Bengs and Senator Mike Rounds are tied at 44% in South Dakota. South Dakota is getting plenty of attention for other reasons too, following recent reporting about Rounds’ senior advisor simultaneously working as a lobbyist for corporate clients including Meta.

Todd and Brian recently joined former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey on Boston Public Radio to talk about their campaigns and the independent opportunity.

About the Forward Party

The Forward Party is bringing moderates, conservatives, and progressives together to heal our political divisions, find our shared ground, and create a brighter future for America. Forward Party candidates are accountable to the voters, and they will focus on solutions, not partisan fighting, in order to serve their constituents better.

Forward March ’26: Rapid City, South Dakota Canvassing Opportunity

It’s time to hit the pavement in Rapid City!

Our affiliate partner, Moving America Forward, will be canvassing to connect with independent voters. Join them and get out into your community to have real conversations about real solutions. Whether your first time canvassing or you’re a seasoned veteran, all experience levels are needed! Training and materials will be provided.

There will be a morning deployment from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM and an afternoon deployment from 12:30 PM to 4:00 PM.

Additionally, Moving America Forward will be hosting a multi-partner coalition dinner (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) for participating volunteers and partner organizations, featuring special guest speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Brian Bengs.

Hope to see you there! Sign up at the link above.

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment.
👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
ForwardParty.com

The Greatest Show On Earth — Sorry Trump, Your Flatulence Still Stinks – Video

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Midterms then 2028, Politics, purple, Real Men, View From 1964

Did you watch it? Better yet, I’m old enough that I actually went to it. Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The greatest three-ring circus in the land. Celebrated in film back in 1952 with Cornel Wilde, Betty Hutton, and James Stewart. Before your time, maybe. Not mine.

Then in 2017, Hugh Jackman played P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. Entertaining both times. Good spectacle. Great misdirection.

But why do I feel like what I’ve been watching lately is just another circus remake, only this time starring Emmett Kelly the sad clown, sweeping up the spotlight after everyone else has gone home?

Where have we been? Asleep on Vance’s couch?

=====================================

Make your decisions with thought. Because whoever walks into the White House next walks in carrying way too much inherited power, and must be honestly, genuinely willing to give a lot of it back for the sake of the rest of us.

Only God is God. By whatever name you call him.

Sorry Trump. Your flatulence still stinks.

The Greatest Show On Earth — Sorry Trump, Your Flatulence Still Stinks

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Midterms then 2028, Politics, purple, Real Men, View From 1964

Did you watch it? Better yet, I’m old enough that I actually went to it. Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The greatest three-ring circus in the land. Celebrated in film back in 1952 with Cornel Wilde, Betty Hutton, and James Stewart. Before your time, maybe. Not mine.

Then in 2017, Hugh Jackman played P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. Entertaining both times. Good spectacle. Great misdirection.

But why do I feel like what I’ve been watching lately is just another circus remake, only this time starring Emmett Kelly the sad clown, sweeping up the spotlight after everyone else has gone home?

Where have we been? Asleep on Vance’s couch?

There has to be more than this. Noise. Non-stop noise. And guess who’s making it, and making it on purpose. Some call it distraction. Some call it ego. Some call it, ah, fudge, I’ll be polite and leave that one blank.

Bottom line: it’s all noise. Not governing. Not leading. Just noise.

Name one single thing that has been done that actually benefited you. And if you’re about to say immigration, I’ll counter with the hundreds of millions wasted on ICE theater, detention centers, the failed Alligator Alcatraz, vanity jets, and murdered innocents. So be smart and don’t go there.

It’s time for the circus to fold its tents, load the wagons, remove the fake freaks’ makeup, and leave town. And on the way out put the stolen assets back in the treasury where they belong.

So where do we go from here?

More extreme right MAGA? I hope not, and I think their scared leader has done more damage to that movement than any opponent could have managed. They took themselves down.

Looking at party labels right now would be a mistake. The midterms should put Democrats in power, and hopefully they’ll be wise enough to clean out the obvious corruption while doing a little honest housekeeping on their own side as well. Nobody’s hands are entirely clean and the ones who pretend otherwise are lying to your face.

So let’s look at people. Not parties.

I started this piece about the circus on purpose. Because who’s popping up as the early favorite for 2028? Who looks good? Maybe a little too good. Maybe a little too camera-ready, too well-spoken, too perfectly lit for every occasion? Could be that’s exactly what we need right now to get people’s attention again after four years of this.

But is a pretty face ultimately who we want as Commander in Chief? And who has he alluded to as his second in command? I’m going to keep harping on that angle, because I want to know the backup plan. I want to know from day one — or at absolute minimum, day two.

Then there’s Harris. Has she gotten past being Biden’s second? I’m not anti-Biden, but he was a fool for running again and the Democratic Party was plain stupid to go that route. He and Trump were just too damn old. Just like me, so don’t anyone get any ideas about talking me into running, even though I would be absolutely fantastic. Especially with Robert Reich as my number two. Geriatrics to the rescue. Combined age of about 160 years, zero interest in a second term, nothing left to prove, and no donors to protect. Dangerous combination in the best possible way.

The point I’ll keep making between now and 2028 is this: that election will be more important than anyone currently thinks it will be. It could be, it should be, the chance to start setting things straight. To pass laws that prevent this kind of unbridled power and corruption from happening again. To rebuild the guardrails that got quietly dismantled while we were watching the circus.

Make your decisions with thought. Because whoever walks into the White House next walks in carrying way too much inherited power, and must be honestly, genuinely willing to give a lot of it back for the sake of the rest of us.

Only God is God. By whatever name you call him.

Sorry Trump. Your flatulence still stinks.

Rebuilding How We Choose Leaders – Video

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Foundation, Politics, purple

I’ve always been a conservative. I’ve always registered Republican.

Today I find myself asking a different question. Looking toward 2028, who actually makes sense? Who can represent the broad range of Americans who don’t fit neatly into one political box?

My answer is simple:

I like a team.

I think putting a team together from day one is the smart move.

Not just a candidate. A governing team.

Two people who complement each other, who can genuinely work together, and who both understand the responsibility of the presidency. Two people where, if one had to step into the Oval Office, Americans would feel confident that the direction of the country would continue.

The old way — selecting one popular candidate and then scrambling to find a vice president who might help win a certain state or demographic — is outdated. It does a disservice to the office and to the voters.

Why not build the team first?

=========================================

A governing team.

A team with a realistic agenda, not promises made from a stage two weeks before Election Day.

A team ready to govern on day one.

The series as a downloadable PDF
Foundation of Government

Rebuilding How We Choose Leaders

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Foundation, Politics, purple

I’ve always been a conservative. I’ve always registered Republican.

Today I find myself asking a different question. Looking toward 2028, who actually makes sense? Who can represent the broad range of Americans who don’t fit neatly into one political box?

My answer is simple:

I like a team.

I think putting a team together from day one is the smart move.

Not just a candidate. A governing team.

Two people who complement each other, who can genuinely work together, and who both understand the responsibility of the presidency. Two people where, if one had to step into the Oval Office, Americans would feel confident that the direction of the country would continue.

The old way — selecting one popular candidate and then scrambling to find a vice president who might help win a certain state or demographic — is outdated. It does a disservice to the office and to the voters.

Why not build the team first?

Presidential candidates spend years traveling the country trying to understand the needs of people with different economies, different histories, and different challenges.

The farmer in rural America, the technology worker in the city, the small business owner, the factory worker, the healthcare worker — they do not all have the same problems.

The president cannot personally solve every problem.

Nor should they.

What I want to hear from a candidate is:

“I am here to help you solve your own problems. When you need help, the federal government will be there. But government should empower people, not replace them.”

That does not mean everything belongs at the local level. Some things belong to all Americans equally: basic education standards, protection of constitutional rights, healthcare standards, and guarantees of religious freedom.

Some responsibilities are shared.

But the idea that one person can personally make every decision, solve every problem, and direct every aspect of government is unrealistic.

Recent years have reminded us of the risks of placing too much responsibility in the hands of one individual.

This is why I believe in a team.

And not just a President and Vice President selected for political convenience.

A real governing partnership.

The Vice President should not be an afterthought. The Vice President should be someone Americans would trust to become President if circumstances required it. The agenda should not change because one person leaves office.

The team should already be working together before Election Day.

We live in an era of artificial intelligence, robotics, space exploration, and challenges we have never faced before.

Why are we still choosing executive leadership the same way we did generations ago?

Imagine a different approach.

After the primaries, instead of waiting for a winner to choose a cabinet after the election, a presidential team could begin assembling the administration before voters make their final decision.

The voters would know what they are voting for.

The country would not lose months while Congress fights over political appointments.

The vetting, planning, and preparation would already be underway.

Government is the largest project any of us will ever undertake.

I spent much of my career in engineering, and one lesson applies to any complex project:

You do not hire one person and tell them, “Make it work.”

You assemble the right team.

You identify the lead programmer, the project manager, and the people with the skills needed to complete the job. You define the goals, the scope, and the expected results before the work begins.

Then you maintain oversight to keep the project on track.

Government should be no different.

We still need accountability. The buck still has to stop somewhere.

But the idea that one person can successfully manage the entire operation alone is outdated.

A strong team is not a weakness. It is how complex organizations succeed.

And perhaps the greatest benefit is that it moves us beyond the idea that only one party has all the answers.

Yes, we have a two-party system today. Hopefully, someday we have more choices.

But a governing team built around competence should be able to draw from the best people available, regardless of party label.

The question should not always be:

“Who has the right letter after their name?”

The question should be:

“Who can do the job?”

Today’s challenges are simply too great for one person, one party, or one ideology to solve alone.

It is time to stop playing politics and start playing government.

While we still have one.

Maybe that is the lesson America should take from the Trump years.

Not simply who won or who lost.

But that our system needs to adapt.

Let’s build a team.

Not just a campaign team.

A governing team.

A team with a realistic agenda, not promises made from a stage two weeks before Election Day.

A team ready to govern on day one.

The series as a downloadable PDF
Foundation of Government

Forward Party is Everywhere 08/21/2026

On - Forward Party, purple, shared, Voting Rights

This week’s Fast Forward is building on the foundation we emphasized last week with the pursuits for ballot access, the expansion to 41 states, and the lasting infrastructure that will go beyond one election cycle. This week, we want to show you who that foundation is for.

In recent days, Forward Party endorsed three candidates in Ohio, New York, and Montana, whose regions could not be more different, and whose candidacies say the same thing: there are good people everywhere who are done waiting for the two parties to fix things, and they are doing something about it.

We would like to spotlight those candidates and the work they stand on.

Tracey Tackett

Independent Candidate – Ohio’s 4th Congressional District

Tracey Tackett has been doing the essential work of local government in Springfield, Ohio for years. As Assistant Mayor, she represents the city on boards and commissions covering economic development, transportation, neighborhood engagement, historic preservation, and community relations. This is the kind of work that determines whether a city functions, businesses open, or even if neighborhoods stay together.

She has also served in leadership roles with the Epilepsy Foundation of Ohio, the Glen Helen Association, Habitat for Humanity, the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, and the American Cancer Society.

Her campaign is built on the conviction that OH-04 deserves a representative who brings people together rather than using the district as a vehicle for partisan warfare. She is running as an independent not because she couldn’t choose a party but because she has decided that the party framework itself is the problem.

Alissa Ellman

Independent Candidate – New York’s 24th Congressional District

Alissa Ellman joined the military before she was old enough to vote. She served at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, came home, and then spent years teaching underprivileged students before helping fellow veterans navigate the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain the benefits they earned. She was doing that VA work when the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated her position.

That loss activated her. She began hosting town halls and listening sessions across New York’s 24th District and then launched a campaign for Congress that won the Democratic primary in June. She is now in the general election, and Forward Party is standing with her.

Her platform covers affordability, healthcare access, childcare, infrastructure, responsive constituent services, and election reforms including ranked-choice voting. But what defines her campaign more than any specific issue is the operating principle underneath all of them: listen first, govern pragmatically, represent everyone in the district, not just the people who share your political affiliation. That is a Forward Party principle as much as it is a campaign message. It is why we are endorsing her even as a Democratic nominee, because Forward has always said that good representation matters more than party label.

Dr. Michael Eisenhauer

Independent Candidate – Montana’s 2nd Congressional District

Dr. Michael Eisenhauer spent nearly 25 years in the United States Army as a physician and medical corps officer, serving in leadership positions around the world before deploying to Iraq as Deputy Forces Surgeon and Chief of Clinical Operations for Multi-National Forces–Iraq. He earned the Bronze Star for that service. When he retired from active duty, he came home to Montana and kept working, traveling to rural communities across the state to provide specialized cardiac care to patients who otherwise had no access to it.

He is running for Montana’s 2nd Congressional District as an independent because he believes the two-party system has stopped delivering for Montanans. Congress has dismal approval ratings, young Montanans are losing faith in the American Dream, and the people sent to Washington to fix these things keep prioritizing their party over their constituents. His platform focuses on affordability, healthcare, veterans’ issues, and reducing the partisan gridlock that has made Congress functionally useless on the issues Montana actually cares about. As an independent, he answers only to the people of Montana. That is the job as he sees it.

What These Endorsements Say

It is easy to make an argument for a better political system. Forward Party makes that argument every day. What is harder, and what matters more, is backing that argument with real candidates in real races, in places where real voters are being asked to make a choice this November.

Ohio, New York, and Montana are all very different but connected in wanting to revive faith in our democracy.

These are Forward Party’s megaphones. They speak in their own voices, from their own experience, to their own communities. That is the point. A movement that only produces candidates who sound like the party is not a movement. Forward Party is something different: a home for the kind of people who want to serve their communities and understand the needs of those communities better than any party leaders could.

As we get closer to November 3, Forward Party will continue endorsing candidates who meet our standard, wherever they are, whatever their background, ensuring more and better choices are on the ballot.

Please forward this to your friends, family, and coworkers. It helps us introduce them to Forward and to what we are building. Also consider inviting them to one of our upcoming events listed below. We’d love to meet them.

If you haven’t caught last week’s episode, Lindsey Williams Drath, Governor Christine Todd Whitman, and Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey dive in to two states where a new Governor is just around the corner.

Rick Bennett (ME) and Ken Block (RI) are both running as independents for governor in their states. They each have a unique state and a unique driver for running but they have one thing in common – an American independent spirit.

Click the image below to watch.

August 25, 2026 at 6:00pm Central Time

Illinois Forward Monthly Online Meetup

For our August meeting we’ll be learning about “Ranked Choice Voting”. What is it exactly? And can we/should we have it here in Illinois? As always, bring your friends, your neighbors, your questions and suggestions.

August 26, 2026 at 7:30pm Eastern Time

Women’s Committee Presents: Girls just want to Volunteer

Join the FWD Women’s Committee, along with special guests, co-chairs Lt Gov Kerry Healey and Gov Christine Todd Whitman, as they share their inspiring journeys from volunteer to elected official to leaders in this movement.

We will then discuss creative ways you can help support Forward candidates this campaign season, including using our new text banking platform prompt io. We will even have a couple of campaigns live if you would like to get started texting for incumbent Forwardists!

August 27, 2026 at 8:00pm Eastern Time

Black Voters Committee Volunteer Onboarding

Join the Black Voters Committee for our monthly call. We’ll connect, share committee updates, discuss current priorities, and plan upcoming initiatives. New and returning members are welcome.

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment.
👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

Boulder’s Bob Chew spends big in Colorado Senate race – Axios Boulder

Boulder independent Bob Chew is spending big to shake up Colorado’s U.S. Senate race ahead of the November election.

Harry Enten Examines Trump’s Declining Support from Indies

CNN poll says Independents are drivers of elections. The President is seeing a massive drop in Independent support- a group known to be drivers of the elections.

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
ForwardParty.com

The Art of The Victim – Video

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

The shell game. It never changes, but even after we’re shown how it works, we fall for it. No surprises. Maybe it’s the art of the distraction, or just the desire for distraction. But we get sucked in.

Trump’s book should never have been titled The Art of the Deal. He couldn’t deal his way out of a game of solitaire.

But what he can do is be the victim. Oh, the mighty victim.

The Art of the Deal left out that his success was really just taking people to court and appealing until they went broke or gave up. Pretty simple, if it’s all about you.

So don’t leave, thinking this is just another Trump bash — otherwise you’d never get out of bed, ever again.

This is about the book that should have been written: The Art of Being a Victim.

Step back. Really step back. He is the victim. You are the victim. But never fear, Don Quixote is here to take on those malicious windmills — the ones killing all the birds. (Forget that his own shiny Trump Towers kill more birds than wind turbines ever have.) And Quixote is the only one who can save them, and you. And maybe pocket a hundred million in gratitude from the coal industry along the way.

I===========================================

If you think that’s not really just Trump’s pocketbook too, you’ve been asleep for way too long.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Any more and it gets redundant, and besides, I’ll need something to write about tomorrow.

Poor, poor President Trump. He’s trying so hard to fix it for you, and suffering so much in the process.

Let’s see — what comes after two billion?

Do you even Know what a Commie is? You Moron.

On - Commentary, Midterms then 2028, purple

They need to unite. Even I’ve been known to say it lately, and in some way I’ll probably keep saying it: find your voice. Get together, form a band, be the Monkees.

The Monkees, why the Monkees, you ask?

Easy. They didn’t start off as singers. They hadn’t decided to get together in a garage. Heck, they were young actors put together for a sitcom, meant to appeal to teenyboppers, sell airtime and ads. Make money. And some young exec said to himself, “Self, what if they sang a song?” So the network had them sing a song. Among them, “Last Train to Clarksville.” What does Clarksville have to do with any of this? Nothing. Just a good opening.

At first, they didn’t even play the instruments. But isn’t that called politics?

So I wander, The Wanderer? No, that was Dion. Back to it: they need to unite, find a voice. Yes, unite. Yes, find a voice. But let me add a few words to that. They need to get together and speak the same language, but not say the same words.

Why does everything have to revolve around he-said, she-said? I just saw where Mamdani wants a few city-owned grocery stores in the poor parts of town, and the first thing the news did was jump to failed attempts tried before. Okay, some failed. Some didn’t. And I didn’t hear Mamdani say every grocery store in the nation needs to be state-owned. Did you?

Where I live, in the fall, we have local farmers markets. It works because we have local farms — imagine that. We grow tomatoes in our small backyard and still buy a basket of some of the greatest tomatoes you’ve ever seen, if you live in a city. Way too much to eat in a salad, or sliced for a burger. Oh, so sweet and tasty. Getting hungry.

I’ve dried them, soaked them in olive oil, made sauces and salsas galore. But we’ve finally settled on homemade tomato soup. Never buy Campbell’s again. Freezes well. And come a cold winter’s day, California Dreamin’, did I tell you I grew up on a SoCal beach? soup, alongside a BLT. Oh my. That’s non-partisan at its best.

But if my wife were Sue, I’d say I was Running Around again.

My aim here is that the voice needs to be consistent on core values, but tailored to the audience. It can still stand up, because it’s true: affordable food and groceries in a small rural town means exactly the same thing as affordable food in an affluent major city, as well as in a hardship community. But the methods of achieving it are different. The message can be the same, affordable groceries, but the solutions are not one-size-fits-all. And the message has to say that too.

One example: in my area we have a commercial chain of privately owned outlets called Grocery Outlet, usually found in college towns. They specialize in bulk-buying slow sellers from distributors at a discount, then selling with that discount passed along. Each store is privately owned, a franchise.

My message: RINO, Democratic Socialist, Democrat, or Independent, with or without an uppercase “I”, we may really all want the same thing in the end. But the solutions will be different from each other, because they have to be.

When someone calls you a communist, a radical, or worse, maybe the retort, and there should be a retort, is: “No, I’m not the label you just called me. I’m a representative of Rural Michigan, looking to provide my constituents the best services I can.” Feel free to replace “rural” and “Michigan” with whatever’s appropriate to you.

How about we ship snowshoes to Mar-a-Lago?

After all, Isn’t that what MAGA is trying to do? Make us all wear the same same thing, the same size? Doesn’t sound like freedom to me.

Here they come to save the day!

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Here they come to save the day!
Independents are on their way! Flipping seats left and right,
Upsetting the majority overnight—
No party line can hold them back,
They’re breaking the gridlock and tipping the stack! Here they come to save the day…
Independents are on their way!

The Democrats and Republicans, the war of the TITANS. Onward they march, threats made, slander cast, mud never left to dry.

MAGA turned the non-MAGA Republicans into RINOs. The Wokes are now Democratic Socialists. My head hurts. Must be my silver locks waving in the wind — no, that can’t be it, too old for the motorcycle, and the last convertible left the stable a while back. Must just be all the BS flying by.

But wait, the day is saved. The moderates to the rescue. The independents may save the day, those of us who aren’t out there slinging that brown stuff, take your pick on which kind.

How can that be? Yes, the House and Senate are almost 50/50, Republicans and Democrats. How can independents save the day, you ask? I’m glad you asked. But now I have to decide if I’ll bother telling you why. Smiley face, sitting here drinking my own coffee.

Well, I subscribe to the Forward Party newsletter. You know, that party started by Andrew Yang, the guy who ran for President that nobody voted for.

He started the Forward Party, and I won’t waste your time or risk explaining it wrong, look it up yourself, you might be impressed.

But their latest newsletter, dated 8/7/2026, titled “South Dakota is the Latest Domino to Fall,” has a piece about how South Dakota’s Democratic Senate nominee dropped out of the race last week. Same thing happened in Idaho’s Senate race the week before that. And before either of those, Nebraska’s Democratic nominee did the exact same thing back in July, clearing the way for independent Dan Osborn to run against Pete Ricketts. That’s three states now, not two, and three is a lot harder to wave off as a coincidence.

Oh no, three Democratic Senate candidates stepping aside, what will we do now? Probably rejoice, since none of those were exactly Blue states to begin with.

Now, I’ll be honest, it’s not all clean and tidy behind the scenes, when has politics ever been. Beaudion, the guy who dropped out in South Dakota, says he and his family got hit with “intimidating threats” to get out of the race, and he’s refused to endorse the independent, Bengs, or the Republican. He’s even said publicly that Bengs will “stoop to whatever level” it takes to win. And Rounds, the Republican incumbent, is calling Bengs a “fake independent” quietly backed by the Democratic Party the whole time. Take all of that with the grain of salt it deserves, politics doesn’t hand you a clean story, and I’m not going to pretend this one is spotless just because it helps my point.

Where this gets good is that in all three states, the independent candidates have real, measurable support. All three states seem to want a change. All three seem to want something other than MAGA leadership. And the polling in each of them looks genuinely favorable for these independents actually winning.

Now, to quote rather than paraphrase, so you can see why you just might want to start looking more toward the middle and watch that old pendulum swing a little less wildly:

“We previously noted that Bengs submitted the highest-validity petition of any statewide South Dakota candidate in 2026, which was 93.85% validity, beating both major party candidates in the quality of signatures gathered. This decision by a major party nominee to drop out is becoming an emerging pattern in one-party-rule states, with similar developments possible in additional districts and states. With under 100 days to go until midterms, this election cycle is seeing independent thinking taking root. Our strategy at Forward has always been about math. You don’t need 51 independent senators to change the United States Senate. You need enough to hold the balance of power: three or four members who answer only to their constituents, who can’t be controlled by either party, and who will vote on the merits of what’s in front of them. That math is now closer to real than it has ever been.”

And that’s really the main thrust of the whole thing. We keep thinking about Congress as 50/51 or 51/50, one party’s razor-thin majority against the other’s. But that framing only holds if every single vote lines up straight down party lines, every time, no exceptions. Add three or four senators who don’t answer to either party, who can’t be whipped into line by leadership, and 50/51 stops meaning what everybody assumes it means. Suddenly the majority doesn’t get to just push a bill through on party discipline alone, they have to actually make the case, to people who have no reason to owe them anything.

It may be time to realize you don’t need a majority of a single party to guide the decisions. In fact, consider this: the more independents in the mix, with genuinely different views and different constituents to answer to, the harder it becomes to ram through something like the Big Beautiful Bill on party-line muscle alone. If they’re not bought by any Super PAC, they’re not beholden to anyone either.

Wouldn’t it be something if no party held all the power?

Robin the Hood

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

If he needs to be Robin Hood, he will be. After all, the peasants have been abused over and over again by those commies — the Bidens and Obamas and their SNAP benefits and Medicaid. And let’s not forget school lunches.

Robin will protect you, as only Robin can, in his little green tights. Maybe that’s the problem, lack of blood flow to the thinking region.

Poor Robin Hood, he could succeed in helping you, if only all those horrible left-wing commies didn’t use the law to stop him. Meanwhile, back at the tenements, have you seen the digs poor Robin goes home to every weekend? Horrible. Just horrible. All those golf courses.

What was Robin good at again? That’s right, stealing from the rich and giving the spoils to the poor. Doesn’t seem like he’s doing much stealing these days, though. Maybe that wedgie’s slowing him down.

It looks a lot more like the rich are throwing money at our poor Robin. Cash, lots of cash. Poor Robin, getting buried in it. Bewildering, really. Why would all these super-rich people make such generous contributions to Robin of Mar-a-Lago?

Why would they gladly pay millions of dollars for a McDonald’s hamburger and fries, when they could’ve just gone to Five Guys for fifteen bucks? I wonder why.

Poor Robin had spent time in the Middle East before returning to fight the good fight for you. Of course, for you. And an Eastern prince saw the shoddy plane poor Robin had to fly around in and gave him a $400 million replacement. Just from the goodness of his oil-laden heart. Just so our Robin might remember the kindly prince with good thoughts. Nothing else.

Robin the Hood, sacrificing so much for the people, 24-7. Yes, 24-7, except for the twelve hours on Truth Social telling you how much he’s stealing from you (scratch that, from the rich), the three hours for the McDonald’s breakfast special, gotta keep the energy up, and the four-hour nap during those pesky cabinet meetings. So boring. Government business, you know. So boring, and they just praise me so much, so boring, good time to sleep.

Sacrificing himself to the burden of having to thank each and every rich donor with a kind thought and a fast-tracked monopoly merger, or drug approval, or a friend’s pardon. Nothing questionable. Maybe 600 tons of cocaine. Nothing questionable at all. Nothing any honorable Hood wouldn’t do.

But Robin the Hood did it all for you. Sacrificed it all for you. Spent all those miserable hours wondering why golf balls and bows don’t play well together, so much to do, he sacrificed almost every weekend analyzing the problem. After all, when it comes down to Medicaid or the eighteenth green, is there really anything to choose between?

So here we have famous Robin the Hood, receiving so very, very much from the rich, notice I left out the word “stealing”? And is he giving to the people? Health benefits, food benefits, education, housing credits?

Never. If he did that, he’d be labeled a radical left communist, and we can’t have that. Have to maintain the image. Besides, those communists would want an income tax, you know, that thing you pay every year, on the oligarchs, the super-rich, the ones whose immense wealth came from you, in one way or another.

No, our Robin the Hood only knows how to take. He never learned the meaning of the word “give.”

Why does he keep sending me emails asking me to support his efforts? As if I’ve gotten rich from his generosity, instead of running on half a tank. But if I do, I’ll get a real GOLD medal, emailed to me. And we all know what a GOLD medal in an email is worth. Don’t we?

We aren’t the Negotiating Ones – Video

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

A lot of what I write, well more than a lot. Most of what I write is a mental response to what I have witnessed or read, and I just read something that bothers me. A short quote: “Not the centrist, ‘negotiating’ Democrats but the fighters like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc.”

Now I may be interpreting this incorrectly, and to me this isn’t about a Democrat, but about the term CENTRIST, which I define as moderate. This can be a right-leaning Democrat or a left-leaning Republican, now referred to as a RINO. Or really just one of the 45% of us who are actually independents.

It’s not the term Centrist exactly, it’s that we would be considered “negotiating.” I’d say we’re the least negotiating bunch out there. Our agenda is the least agenda of the lot. It’s not that we don’t have a stand, oh, we do. It’s Don’t Tread on Me. It’s Hands Off.

=========================================================

And let’s be honest about something else while we’re at it: that federal help isn’t a gift. It’s not Washington being generous with its own money. It’s our money, every dollar of it started as a paycheck deduction before it ever became a program. The federal government depends on us, not the other way around. So why does it get talked about, year after year, campaign after campaign, like the relationship runs the opposite direction, like we should be grateful for the return of our own money, instead of the government being grateful we keep sending it in the first place?

What we don’t need is Bernie telling us all what we need any more than we need Trump forcing it down our throats with an executive order and a threat. The moderates don’t need to negotiate. They just need to be left alone to do the job.

We aren’t the Negotiating Ones

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

A lot of what I write, well more than a lot. Most of what I write is a mental response to what I have witnessed or read, and I just read something that bothers me. A short quote: “Not the centrist, ‘negotiating’ Democrats but the fighters like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc.”

Now I may be interpreting this incorrectly, and to me this isn’t about a Democrat, but about the term CENTRIST, which I define as moderate. This can be a right-leaning Democrat or a left-leaning Republican, now referred to as a RINO. Or really just one of the 45% of us who are actually independents.

It’s not the term Centrist exactly, it’s that we would be considered “negotiating.” I’d say we’re the least negotiating bunch out there. Our agenda is the least agenda of the lot. It’s not that we don’t have a stand, oh, we do. It’s Don’t Tread on Me. It’s Hands Off.

It’s: I can take care of myself, so take care of yourself. I don’t need you telling me what to do, and in return, I won’t tell you what to do. That’s not negotiating.

Now take the MAGA wing. They don’t want to negotiate either, but they don’t believe in live and let live, they want to set the terms and expect the rest of us to fall in line, one way or another. I’m not talking about the Republican Party here, because I believe that party’s been hijacked, and there are plenty of principled conservatives and honorable people who believe in a fair, helpful government for this country. Sadly, they’re just not the ones in office right now.

Look at the left side, fighters like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Socialists making headlines lately. I’m genuinely for what they represent. But they’re the ones who’ll eventually have to negotiate. Why? Simple. What they want doesn’t work for the whole country. It sounds good in New York. It doesn’t play the same in Pendleton, Oregon.

The Democratic Socialists always hold their rallies on or near a college campus. Not in a farming community.

That’s where this all falls apart. This is a Republic, and it’s a democracy too, both things at once, that’s the design, and part of that design is that what works in one place doesn’t automatically work in another. It’s not about negotiating. It’s about allowing self-governing. That’s where the centrists, the moderates, the independents come in. Let us take care of ourselves.

Now, I said “let us take care of ourselves,” and then I’m about to list off Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, FEMA. That’s not a contradiction, even though it might look like one at first glance. There’s a difference between the things that genuinely need to work the same everywhere, national defense, a safety net that doesn’t disappear the moment you cross a state line, disaster response, and the things that don’t. Self-governance was never “no federal government.” It’s “federal for what actually has to be federal, and local for everything else, and stop pretending every problem needs the same answer in New York and in Pendleton.”

And let’s be honest about something else while we’re at it: that federal help isn’t a gift. It’s not Washington being generous with its own money. It’s our money, every dollar of it started as a paycheck deduction before it ever became a program. The federal government depends on us, not the other way around. So why does it get talked about, year after year, campaign after campaign, like the relationship runs the opposite direction, like we should be grateful for the return of our own money, instead of the government being grateful we keep sending it in the first place?

What we don’t need is Bernie telling us all what we need any more than we need Trump forcing it down our throats with an executive order and a threat. The moderates don’t need to negotiate. They just need to be left alone to do the job.

BBQs, Candidates, and Grassroots support! 08/07/2026

On - Forward Party, Politics, purple, shared, Voting Rights

Hello Forward Friends-

As the summer begins to wind down and sample ballots start to go out, I have the scoop you’ve all been waiting for: Forward endorsed candidates! Filing deadlines are past and some amazing independents have emerged in some interesting races. There are still people in the pipeline, and we’re working to keep the website updated, so check back regularly. Also our state teams are doing their own endorsements this year, so make sure you check with your state to see who they’re supporting.

Of course I wouldn’t present you with candidates unless I also had a way for you to help them! We just launched our Campaign Opportunities section on your volunteer dashboard. Let us know what skills you have, and connect directly with a campaign to volunteer. Click the button below to check it out!

Support a candidate!

Builders Movement:

This fall we are partnering with our friends at the Builders Movement, a civic nonprofit with a community of 5M+ Americans, to encourage people to fire up their grill and strike up a conversation with someone different from you in an effort to bridge the divide in this country.

What it is
Builders Movement is asking Americans to host community gatherings across differences this summer, timed to America’s 250th anniversary. The ask is simple: invite someone you do not always agree with, sit down together, and start there.

The goal
250 gatherings across all 50 states.

How to participate
Register at BuildersBBQ.org. The first 250 host receives a free Builders Starter Kit with recipes, conversation starters, Builders Jenga, and goodies from our brand partners.

If you cannot host
Share the campaign with your community using #BiteToUnite. Even one post or mention can inspire someone in your network to host.

Why it matters
Because connection across difference does not happen on its own. Someone has to fire up the grill first!

Volunteer Spotlight:

Our volunteer of the month for August is Chris Stevens in NC! She has been an effective, organized leader in the efforts to gather signatures for ballot access, and has remained dedicated, even after having surgery! This is what she has to say about volunteering with Forward, “…because experience has taught me that positive change rarely happens without effort. Our election system is broken and so, therefore, is our country. The only way to fix the situation as far as I can tell is for regular people to step up and take action.” She’s right about that. We appreciate everything you do, Chris!

Upcoming Events:

Mon Aug 10th @ 7:30pm ET– National Volunteer Call

Your first stop to updates on the National party and how to plug into the work.

Tues Aug 11th @ 7:30pm ET- Forward to the Polls

Join us on National Poll Worker Recruitment Day to hear from others who have served and learn how to get involved.

Mon Aug 17th @ 7pm ET– Welcome Team Training

Learn how to call and have friendly conversations with other FWD supporters in your state.

Mon Aug 24th @ 7:30pm ET– How to talk about Forward

Tips and tricks on how to discuss Forward with people in your life.

Wed Aug 26th @ 7:30pm ET– Girls Just Want to Volunteer!

Special guests Lt Gov Healey and Gov Whitman inspire us to support candidates this fall!

You can find more things to do on our events calendar.

There was a lot to share with you this newsletter, thank you if you read this far. Next month I will resume bi-weekly communication to keep you informed on all our grassroots candidate support activities. Until then I hope to see you at an upcoming event, enjoy the rest of your summer!

With gratitude,

Carrie Anne
https://home.forwardparty.com/

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party®, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
ForwardParty.com

Anyone Home?

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

Okay, let’s impeach him. Down with the king. Vance is in, and who cares, the Democrats are in power — that’s what everybody wants, right? Right?

Come on now, that’s all I’m hearing and reading: get rid of Trump, get rid of the administration. And I’ll admit, I’m one of those voices too. I want all of them gone as much as anyone else out here does, but maybe for different reasons. That’s for another episode of the Twilight Zone. Today’s episode is about the vacuum.

We all listen to our favorites — Stephen, Jon, Desi on late night, or the Daily Show — satirizing the evils of today’s events. But do they offer a solution for what should fill the vacuum? No.

How about all those law professors and lawyers, either retired or unable to find clients, dissecting every Trump court case failure and predicting how the Democrats will win the midterms? Do they offer any idea of what should follow? No.

It seems to me it’s all about the evils of the Republicans and how the Democrats will come to the rescue. But for the life of me, I can’t seem to remember just who these Democrats are. And maybe that’s the game plan. If so, I think it sucks.

How many out here watched The Hunger Games and how that played out? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, skip the movies and just watch the ending on YouTube.

So here’s where I’m going with this: just who are these Democrats we’re cheering for? I’d like to have a clue, because I don’t trust them any more than I trust the Republicans.

News flash: Donald Trump became the 47th president. In my humble opinion, he won because he started campaigning before Biden was even sworn in. He campaigned every single day until the election — love him or hate him, he was in your face telling you he was going to take the crown back, that Biden and the Democrats stole the election, every single day.

News flash: the Republicans are going to win in 2028. What? What did I just say? Everybody says Trump is done, so why would Republicans win? Because they’re already campaigning. They’re already in the race. Where are the Democrats? Where are the Independents? Where’s my breakfast? I guess nobody really cares.

Nobody cares because “MAGA bad” isn’t a plan, it’s a mood. You say “wait for the midterms,” and I say why? What do the midterms actually have to do with 2028? They have everything to do with saving this country between now and then, and everything to do with limiting future executive power. But I fail to see what they have to do with who the Democrats’ choice will be in 2028.

If the Democrats don’t find their voice, and find it now, they won’t have a snowball’s chance in Trump’s hell. Trump is already on the attack. His McCarthyism is effective. The general public can be swayed by this kind of scare tactic — otherwise it wouldn’t keep getting used. Say it once, we laugh. Say it a hundred times, it starts to sound true.

MAGA is hurting, so I guess the best tactic is to do nothing? Let them regroup. Let them rebuild MAGA 2.0. Everybody’s got plenty of time, right? Wrong. No fight is a fair fight if you actually want to win. Oh, sorry, did you run out of bullets? Here, use mine. Last man standing gets the prize.

Whoever steps up will be attacked. That’s a fact. That’s the game plan. Grow a thick skin and develop a “so what.” There are a lot of good potential players who should be making their move, and I’m suggesting they make it now. I’m impressed with Buttigieg’s town halls, but if he’s looking to run, say so now. I’m sure Newsom’s already planning his play. Don’t wait for an endorsement.

In fact, waiting for an endorsement seems foolish to me. A party that can’t tie its own shoes right now needs a leader to actually lead it. So if I were building the bench today, here’s who’d be on it: Gina Raimondo, Larry Hogan, Lisa Murkowski, Michelle Obama, Adam Kinzinger, Cory Booker, Dan Crenshaw, Joe Manchin, Amy Klobuchar, Mark Cuban, Andrew Yang, Gavin Newsom, Pete Buttigieg, Condoleezza Rice — just to name a few. Let’s go crazy, forget the politicians entirely: I think Jon Stewart would stir things up, and his late-night tweets would be a lot more entertaining than most of what’s on offer now.

Bottom line: Democrats, Independents, even RINOs — get a voice, and get it now. 2028 is just a little more than two Christmases away. Stay quiet, stay the same, and Trump’s already got his Trump 2028 hat ready.

Is it Time for a Time Out?

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

Mamdani is MAGA’s Golden Ticket to 2026 — that’s right, that’s the actual headline, from Clandestine’s Newsletter on Substack. What, Substack? Who cares? Well, every single person should care. Every voice gets heard, every voice gets repeated. Glory be to miracles, even my voice gets echoed back every now and again.

So where am I going with this? It’s Trump’s “the commies are coming, the commies are coming.” If you don’t vote like he tells you to, the commies will eat your dogs and cats and educate your wives, and then where will you be?

Mamdani, in case you haven’t been awake this year, is the new mayor of New York. And guess what he did, rent control. In New York, no less, where even the rats can’t afford their rat holes.

And as usual, Trump’s making it up as he goes. Democratic socialism and communism aren’t the same thing, no matter how many times he says “communist” in the same breath as Mamdani’s name. Communism means the state owns everything. Democratic socialism means the government invests in workers. That’s not a technicality, that’s the whole difference. But Trump knows the label doesn’t need to be accurate, it just needs to be scary. He’s not making an argument. He’s manufacturing a boogeyman he can point at.

Now here’s what’s actually important: Mamdani is the mayor of New York because New York decided that’s what they wanted, and they voted for him. So, Donald, are you saying it isn’t valid, even though they voted for it, and for him?

Haven’t you played that exact card elsewhere this year? You don’t like it, so you invalidate it. But you say we’re a democracy, right? Hmm. I’ll have to think about that one.

What’s even more important is: where are the Democrats? Why aren’t they defending Mamdani? Are they afraid of Donald’s McCarthyism? Yes, I know I’ve said that before. Yes, I know you’re tired of hearing it. And yes, I still want you to go read up on it anyway.

Whatever tactic Trump reaches for, ninety percent of his playbook runs on hate and fear and, please don’t take offense, stupidity. He builds his hate speech and fear-mongering on fringe topics that were never clearly defined to begin with, or that everyone else forgot about years ago.

The other ten percent is calling people stupid names, because he isn’t clever enough to come up with better ones. Or grown up enough to be past the name-calling stage at all. He thinks it makes the President of The United States of America look inteeligent (wink).

Democrats, where are you? Hey, Independents, you’re being awfully quiet. Even the RINOs should have something to say, if not something to yell.

Well? I’m listening. Awfully quiet out there. Are you going to just let the clown, and that’s not name-calling, that’s just what he is, run the same tired routine all over again? Haven’t you learned anything yet?

How about somebody standing up and explaining what a democracy actually is, and what it isn’t? How it’s perfectly fine for one part of the country to choose one thing, and a different part to choose something else entirely. That’s not chaos. That’s self-government, working exactly as designed.

If New York wants rent control, and I’m only using that as one example, then more power to them. That was their choice, and they made it. That doesn’t mean it would work in Dallas, or even be wanted there. That should be the loud voice coming out right now.

Mister President: shut up, and let us make our own rules for where we live. Stop the childish name-calling, or we’re putting you in time out.

Mr. President, it’s perfectly fine for one state to be a blue state that runs better on liberal policy, and another to be a red state that runs better on conservative policy. That should be the voice coming from the gallery, and it needs to be loud, and it needs to be clear. And just because a state didn’t vote for you doesn’t mean they don’t like you. Well, maybe it does, at that.

I feel like we’re sitting in a vacuum right now, with the only noise coming from a clown, and all the air getting sucked out of the room. We need leaders to come out, stand up, and speak out. Now. Not next week. Not when it feels safe. Because if they wait for it to feel safe, it never will, and by then it’ll be too late.

I keep hearing and reading that MAGA is done for. I hope so. But who, or what, replaces it? So far all I hear is “when the Democrats…”

If that’s really the plan, I’ve got one very big question I’d like answered soon. Who, exactly, is this Democrat? This Independent? This RINO? Take your pick. But whoever it is better make a stage entrance soon, before the curtain comes down on them and the audience walks out.

The Art of The Victim

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

Trump’s book should never have been titled The Art of the Deal. He couldn’t deal his way out of a game of solitaire.

But what he can do is be the victim. Oh, the mighty victim.

The Art of the Deal left out that his success was really just taking people to court and appealing until they went broke or gave up. Pretty simple, if it’s all about you.

So don’t leave, thinking this is just another Trump bash, otherwise you’d never get out of bed, ever again.

This is about the book that should have been written: The Art of Being a Victim.

Step back. Really step back. He is the victim. You are the victim. But never fear, Don Quixote is here to take on those malicious windmills, the ones killing all the birds. (Forget that his own shiny Trump Towers kill more birds than wind turbines ever have.) And Quixote is the only one who can save them, and you. And maybe pocket a hundred million in gratitude from the coal industry along the way.

I’ve shown you the results first, to illustrate the shell game, you see the sleight of hand before and during the switch, but the showmanship keeps you watching anyway. Maybe because it’s all explained by The Plan. You know, THE Plan. The one he’ll unveil in two weeks. The one promised since, what, 2016? That’s 494 weeks and counting.

The game plan, and it’s important you understand this, it is a game plan, established from the beginning, is this: you’re being taken advantage of by lazy people sucking the system dry, or stealing it dry, and only he can save you. Only Trump can make it right.

Every day he tweets his little fingers away, telling you he would have done this for you, but those commies stopped him. He tried to give you the 1776 Fund, but the radical left stopped him. (Forget the hundred million he was taking, and the immunity for him and his family on tax issues, and that money was yours, ours, to begin with. Not his.)

He can only save you if you keep voting him and his MAGA crew back into office.

So how’s that going? Let’s see. First year and a half: the number one victim, Trump, up $2,000,000,000. The victims who voted for him, the ones he’s here to save, lost SNAP benefits, lost daycare, higher grocery bills, higher gas prices.

And let’s not forget the war. Only Trump can save you from Iran’s nuclear bombs, the same bombs Trump claimed to have already destroyed all capability of, months earlier. On this one, I have to think maybe he should’ve counted the deck before he sat down, because somebody played him, the same way he’s been playing you. And now his ego is digging you a deeper hole than any Iranian bomb ever could have. But hey, it’s your money, not his.

If you think that’s not really just Trump’s pocketbook too, you’ve been asleep for way too long.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Any more and it gets redundant, and besides, I’ll need something to write about tomorrow.

Poor, poor President Trump. He’s trying so hard to fix it for you, and suffering so much in the process.

Let’s see, what comes after two billion?

Robin the Hood – Video

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

If he needs to be Robin Hood, he will be. After all, the peasants have been abused over and over again by those commies — the Bidens and Obamas and their SNAP benefits and Medicaid. And let’s not forget school lunches.

Robin will protect you, as only Robin can, in his little green tights. Maybe that’s the problem, lack of blood flow to the thinking region.

Poor Robin Hood, he could succeed in helping you, if only all those horrible left-wing commies didn’t use the law to stop him. Meanwhile, back at the tenements, have you seen the digs poor Robin goes home to every weekend? Horrible. Just horrible. All those golf courses.

What was Robin good at again? That’s right, stealing from the rich and giving the spoils to the poor. Doesn’t seem like he’s doing much stealing these days, though. Maybe that wedgie’s slowing him down.

============================================

So here we have famous Robin the Hood, receiving so very, very much from the rich, notice I left out the word “stealing”? And is he giving to the people? Health benefits, food benefits, education, housing credits?

Never. If he did that, he’d be labeled a radical left communist, and we can’t have that. Have to maintain the image. Besides, those communists would want an income tax, you know, that thing you pay every year, on the oligarchs, the super-rich, the ones whose immense wealth came from you, in one way or another.

No, our Robin the Hood only knows how to take. He never learned the meaning of the word “give.”

Why does he keep sending me emails asking me to support his efforts? As if I’ve gotten rich from his generosity, instead of running on half a tank. But if I do, I’ll get a real GOLD medal, emailed to me. And we all know what a GOLD medal in an email is worth. Don’t we?

One size doesn’t fit all. It never has – Video

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

One size doesn’t fit all. It never has, and it never will. Maybe that’s the problem. Trump is telling everyone that his size is the right size, and people are buying it. Why are they buying it? That’s a damn good question that should be very hard to answer. But sadly, it’s very easy to answer.

It’s because no other sizes are being offered. Everyone’s sitting around either chasing their own tail or chasing the last stupid thing Trump did. Why is everyone talking about the dinner and the stupid 2028 cap? Who cares about the cap? Everyone cares, because nobody’s gotten together and decided what to actually do instead. And Trump and MAGA don’t just know this, they’re working it.

I call it Diversion 101. It works. On Mondays, he’s going to eradicate the Iranians. On Tuesdays, he controls the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesdays, he sounds even more stupid and draws elephants. On Thursdays, he claims victory. On Fridays, he sends troops to some blue state. On Saturday, he accepts donations. And on Sunday, he prays over his golf course for more contributors. Every evening, his team of trained monkeys will start sending out so, so sad tweets for half the night, and upon the magic hour of eating a McDonald’s, he’ll rinse and repeat.

============================================

I can sit here and write jokes about the clown in the White House all day long.

But there’s nothing funny about an opposition that screams foul all day long and has nothing else to offer, and nobody to back it up.

Ironically, that last paragraph could have been written about either side. So I’ll just let it sit.

Right now this is playing like vaudeville theater, with one glaring exception. In vaudeville, when they used the hook to pull the clown off the stage, they had another act ready to take his place. I have the sinking feeling the stage is going to be empty.

I’m really starting to wonder if the Democrats actually have anyone who could be a good presidential candidate. Any independents worth looking at? I’m not against a good moderate, real Republican, a RINO, as they’re now known, not one of those posers on the Hill. Is there anyone worthy of the title?

Now is the time to step forward. Not after the midterms, not after Trump and his machine make more headway and do more damage. Let’s see some leadership. Someone, or maybe a team, with an actual plan. What a concept. A plan that might work for both the blues and the reds. Oh my, I must still be dreaming.

The campaign for the 2028 presidency started the day Trump made his first joke about running for a third term. What has anyone done since, other than run around like a chicken in the farmyard? If that sounds cruel, then maybe I’m making my point.

By my count, as of August 1st, 2026: whoever plans on taking down the Trump regime and becoming the 48th President of the United States has already lost 3,073 days of campaigning. Trump made his first third-term announcement on March 3, 2018.

Democrat Drops Out Setting Up Idaho Showdown 07/31/2026

On - Forward Party, Politics, purple, shared

Bill —

This week, the disruption in Idaho’s Senate race opened up a new viable path for our independent to win. The Democratic nominee dropped out of the race, narrowing the field and leaving it a one-on-one race between Todd Achilles, an independent Army veteran, and Jim Risch, the 83-year-old Republican incumbent. In a state President Trump won by 36 points, this is a real opportunity to compete in a deep-red state, and most notably, Achilles has been consistently polling ahead with voters informed about him.

Until this week, the conventional wisdom said that no matter how strong an independent candidate might be, a Democrat on the ballot in a deep-red state would split the non-Republican vote and hand the incumbent an easy win. That math just changed.

David Roth, the Democratic nominee, had raised less than $10,000 before stepping aside. Achilles has raised almost 100 times more than that!

Todd Achilles served his country as an Army officer and tank commander and then came home and built a career as a telecom executive, college professor, and state legislator. He ran for Senate as an independent because he saw the dissatisfaction happening in Idaho that stemmed from Washington leaders.

Farmers being hit with tariffs and veterans exhausted from partisan dysfunction are growing more and more disenchanted by the day in Idaho–all while their incumbent, Jim Risch, has not held a town hall in 18 years.

This ballot change matters not just for Idaho but for the entire country and for everything the Forward Party has been building toward.

The strategy at play here is something we have pushed for years. The Senate today operates with margins so narrow that a small number of members not beholden to either party could determine the balance of power on every vote. They would not be a majority but a bloc that neither party could control or ignore.

This is where we have a game of numbers. You don’t need 51 independent senators to change the Senate. You only need 3 or 4. In a chamber that regularly deadlocks on party lines, 3 or 4 members who answer only to their constituents would be the most powerful voting bloc in Washington.

This is a golden opportunity to show that we can improve American politics from outside the two-party system rather than waiting for the system to fix itself. No one in American politics thought that Idaho’s Senate seat would be contested, but here we are.

That is what we are trying to build. And as of Tuesday, the map just became more realistic than it has ever been.

That map includes polls now showing Independent Seth Bodnar ahead of the Republican in Montana if it’s one-on-one and Independent Brian Bengs ahead of the Republican in South Dakota. Each of them has raised 4 times more than the Democrat in the race. The map could spread further than anyone had imagined.

The Lineup for Change in the Senate

Idaho

Todd Achilles – U.S. Senate

One-on-one as of Tuesday. Democrat dropped out. Achilles leads Risch in polling on informed ballot.

Montana

Seth Bodnar – U.S. Senate

Polling ahead of the Republican one-on-one. Raised 4x more than the Democrat in the race. Approximately 30,000 petition signatures submitted across 52 of 56 counties. We are watching for a similar development in Idaho.

South Dakota

Brian Bengs – U.S. Senate

Polling ahead of the Republican one-on-one. Raised 4x more than the Democrat. A Navy and Air Force veteran and law professor. The Democrat remains on the ballot, but the race has a similar dynamic to Montana.

Colorado

Bob Chew – U.S. Senate

Running on the Forward Party ballot line against Sen. Hickenlooper. A large ad buy is running statewide. He has over $1m cash on hand to compete with.

The Forward Party has been building the infrastructure for this moment. The results are starting to show up where it counts: on the ballot, in the polls, and now in a one-on-one race that nobody thought was possible six months ago.

If you haven’t yet, sign and share our Declaration of Independents!

Earlier this month, we declared our independence from the two parties and invite you to share with friends and neighbors so we can stand together in working towards a better democracy.

We also restocked our 250th shirt on our store, get yours before they are gone forever!

Continuing with our Idaho Showdown, we have Todd Achilles on a brand new podcast episode this week with Bob Chew from Colorado! They will be talking with our hosts about what drew them to the Forward Party, why they are running, and what a few good Forwardists in the Senate means for the country.

Click the image below to watch.

— August 01, 2026 at 5:00pm Eastern Time

Young Forwardists Introduction

Join members of the Young Forwardists as they introduce you to the Forward Party and how you can get involved in our pivotal movement to make politics better.

— August 02, 2026 at 8:00pm Eastern Time

Girls Just Want To Have Fun- Women’s Committee Virtual Meet and Greet

The Women’s Committee has been growing, and we want to learn more about our new members. Join us and get to know each other better.

— August 06, 2026 at 5:30pm Arizona Time

Discussion – “Reawakening the Spirit of Philadelphia” by Chris Gibson

Join us for the first of a series of virtual discussions with fellow Forward Party supporters. Each discussion will dive into ideas for strengthening our political system, reducing partisan division, and creating a culture of problem-solving and consensus-building.

Our first book discussion will be on “Reawakening the Spirit of Philadelphia” by Chris Gibson

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment.
👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

Idaho Just Got Real – Andrew Yang Newsletter

Forward Party Co-founder Andrew Yang breaks down the Idaho race and highlights his conversation with Todd Achilles

Trump administration petitions Supreme Court to enforce mail-in voting order | FOX NEWS

The administration argues the order prevents non-citizen voting, while opposing state officials say it unconstitutionally overrides state authority before the midterms. Featuring CEO Lindsey Drath speaking on redistricting

When the House is on Fire, You Call a Firefighter. Nate Powell is Hoping to Come Out of a Crowded Primary Unsinged.

In Washington’s 5th Congressional District, Forward-endorsed candidate Nate Powell is running for the U.S. House in a highly contested field.

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

One size doesn’t fit all. It never has

On - Commentary, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

One size doesn’t fit all. It never has, and it never will. Maybe that’s the problem. Trump is telling everyone that his size is the right size, and people are buying it. Why are they buying it? That’s a damn good question that should be very hard to answer. But sadly, it’s very easy to answer.

It’s because no other sizes are being offered. Everyone’s sitting around either chasing their own tail or chasing the last stupid thing Trump did. Why is everyone talking about the dinner and the stupid 2028 cap? Who cares about the cap? Everyone cares, because nobody’s gotten together and decided what to actually do instead. And Trump and MAGA don’t just know this, they’re working it.

I call it Diversion 101. It works. On Mondays, he’s going to eradicate the Iranians. On Tuesdays, he controls the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesdays, he sounds even more stupid and draws elephants. On Thursdays, he claims victory. On Fridays, he sends troops to some blue state. On Saturday, he accepts donations. And on Sunday, he prays over his golf course for more contributors. Every evening, his team of trained monkeys will start sending out so, so sad tweets for half the night, and upon the magic hour of eating a McDonald’s, he’ll rinse and repeat.

All the while, the opposition keeps reacting in outrage, chasing every false lead, filing another lawsuit that won’t be settled until 2045, and claiming victory over what, exactly?

They need to stop falling for this. It’s the same routine. Have we learned nothing from Ivan Pavlov? He’s got the MAGA base salivating on command, and he’s got the rest of us reacting right on cue too. That must have been the one book Trump actually read.

What’s the plan, Stan? What’s the scoop, Troop? What’s the agenda, Brenda? What’s the move, Groove? What’s the action, Jackson? What’s the play, Ray?

Come on. If I have to come up with this corny stuff, the Democrats can start getting their act together. So what’s the plan? Don’t feed me a warmed-over Harris. Give me some skin to work with. Because if you keep sitting on the bench like you have been, the game will be over before you even get warmed up.

If you think you’re still playing by the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s rulebook, heck, I’ll even go up to the ’24s rulebook, then you’ve already lost. Save your money and just go home.

I can sit here and write jokes about the clown in the White House all day long.

But there’s nothing funny about an opposition that screams foul all day long and has nothing else to offer, and nobody to back it up.

Ironically, that last paragraph could have been written about either side. So I’ll just let it sit.

Right now this is playing like vaudeville theater, with one glaring exception. In vaudeville, when they used the hook to pull the clown off the stage, they had another act ready to take his place. I have the sinking feeling the stage is going to be empty.

I’m really starting to wonder if the Democrats actually have anyone who could be a good presidential candidate. Any independents worth looking at? I’m not against a good moderate, real Republican, a RINO, as they’re now known, not one of those posers on the Hill. Is there anyone worthy of the title?

Now is the time to step forward. Not after the midterms, not after Trump and his machine make more headway and do more damage. Let’s see some leadership. Someone, or maybe a team, with an actual plan. What a concept. A plan that might work for both the blues and the reds. Oh my, I must still be dreaming.

The campaign for the 2028 presidency started the day Trump made his first joke about running for a third term. What has anyone done since, other than run around like a chicken in the farmyard? If that sounds cruel, then maybe I’m making my point.

By my count, as of August 1st, 2026: whoever plans on taking down the Trump regime and becoming the 48th President of the United States has already lost 3,073 days of campaigning. Trump made his first third-term announcement on March 3, 2018.

Three Independent Governor Candidates – 06/20/2026

On - Forward Party, Midterms then 2028, purple, shared, Voting Rights

Bill —

This week we are looking at our slate of gubernatorial candidates. As we see in our candidates, Governors’ races are where the independent movement becomes most tangible. A governor doesn’t need a caucus to sign a veto. A governor doesn’t need party leadership to appoint a cabinet secretary. The executive office is, in many ways, the role most naturally suited to an independent. It is someone who answers only to the electorate, not to a party structure. This week, three of the most compelling independent governor candidates in the country have news worth telling.

Ken Block

Independent Candidate for Governor of Rhode Island

Ken Block is a software engineer, data analytics expert, and government accountability watchdog making his third run for governor. He founded the Rhode Island Moderate Party in 2010, ran as a Republican in 2014, and is now running as an independent because, as he puts it: “My flavor of politics doesn’t align well with either political party.” He is a problem solver, a manager, a builder, and he has the credentials to back it up.

Block’s most significant credential for this moment in American politics is the important work he did after the 2020 election. In the wake of the 2020 election, he was hired by the Trump campaign to search for election fraud. After a thorough, data-driven investigation, he found no evidence of fraud sufficient to change the outcome in any swing state. He then did something even more remarkable: he told them so directly, and published his findings for the entire country to see in his 2024 book, Disproven.

Ken Block This Week:

Block appeared on CNN and C-SPAN to discuss the renewed national conversation around election integrity and what the data actually shows about the security of American elections.

Block is running because Rhode Island’s governance has frustrated him for years. He has been a leading voice speaking out against the sudden closure of the westbound Washington Bridge, a symbol of what he sees as the chronic management failures of a state run without accountability. His view of the governor’s job is to fix the systems, eliminate the waste, and manage the institution better.

Lauren Pinkston

Independent Candidate for Governor of Tennessee

Lauren Pinkston is a seventh-generation Tennessean, a former Lipscomb University professor, entrepreneur, and nonprofit leader who spent years starting businesses with survivors of human trafficking, researching employment gaps in the workforce, and advising global organizations before deciding that the most urgent injustice she could address was the system itself. She is running as an independent for governor to change a system that seems to reward political extremism and fails to represent all Tennesseans, not just party loyalists.

Her campaign slogan, Not Red, Not Blue. Just You, reflects a deliberately citizen-first approach in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since 2006 and has long been treated as a foregone conclusion for Republican leadership. Pinkston is challenging that assumption by pointing to a growing constituency of Tennesseans who feel left behind by the partisan framework entirely. She cited 2024 Gallup data showing 43% of Americans considered themselves independent voters, affiliated with neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party, and is building her coalition from that reality on the ground.

The TN race this week:

The Tennessee gubernatorial race has been rocked by new reporting on Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn. New recordings allege that Senator Blackburn’s office pressured its staffers to illegally participate in political activity, warning colleagues that they would be “asked to break the law on some level.”

The story raises questions that Forward and Lauren Pinkston’s campaign are built to answer: How do voters trust their own government when those in charge believe the rules don’t apply to them?

Pinkston is the most credible independent in the governor’s field by fundraising and institutional support, running a grassroots campaign that has resonated with voters who are exhausted by the partisan binary. She launched her campaign late last year with three stops across the state making clear from the beginning that she was running for all of Tennessee, not for a party’s base.

Rick Bennett

Independent Candidate for Governor of Maine

Rick Bennett has an impressive resume by any standard. With 18 combined years in the Maine House and Senate, including a unanimous election as President of the Maine Senate, Bennett has the receipts to prove that work can be done across party lines. He has spent nearly two decades doing exactly that in Augusta. He knows every committee chairman. He has negotiated budgets with members of both parties. He has been in the room when deals get made. Ultimately, he has a legislative record that highlights a willingness to get things done.

The general election field is now set: Bennett faces Democrat Hannah Pingree and Republican Bobby Charles in a three-way November race without ranked-choice voting, meaning the winner takes a plurality, and every vote is consequential. His path runs through primary voters whose candidates didn’t survive RCV, the independents that make up an equal share of Maine’s electorate as members of either party, and whatever slice of moderate Republicans conclude that Charles is too closely aligned with Trump to be credible in a state that voted for Harris by seven points in 2024.

Bennett Campaign this week:

Rick Bennett unveiled his tax affordability plan this week, including provisions to build income-sensitive property tax relief, eliminate corruption and misuse of government funds, and create an office of the inspector general to investigate whistleblower complaints. “Property taxes fall hardest on people with fixed incomes, older Mainers and small business owners,” he said at a Portland event Monday. “That is where I will start.”

Bennett describes what drove him to leave the Republican Party in terms he’d clearly been sitting with for a while: the parties, he says, have gone “deeper, darker, and dumber into this cesspool of politics that is really driving a lot of ordinary people not just out of politics, but out of the public space entirely — and I think that’s intentional.” He added: “There are people who are putting their kids through college by keeping us fighting with each other rather than solving issues.”

What Three Governors’ Races Tell Us

Ken Block, Lauren Pinkston, and Rick Bennett are running with different ideologies and solutions for their home states. It is what makes the Forward Party design essential in today’s politics. Each understands what works for their constituents and what will solve the problems unique to their state. A party’s leadership should not dictate that.

The Forward Party supports leaders who reflect a more representative politics, one where problem-solving matters more than party labels and where elected officials are accountable to the people they serve.

Please forward this to your friends, family, and coworkers. It helps us introduce them to Forward and to what we are building. Also consider inviting them to one of our upcoming events listed below. We’d love to meet them.

If you haven’t caught last week’s episode, Lindsey Williams Drath, Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, and guest host Jackie Salit examine the barriers independent candidates face in getting on the ballot.

Joined by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Hugh Lytle and Texas lieutenant governor candidate Mike Collier, they discuss restrictive election laws, court challenges, and a system that often favors the two major parties.

Click the image below to watch.

July 29, 2026 at 7:30pm Eastern Time

A Conversation with Lindsey Williams Drath, FWD Party CEO

Join the Forward Party Women’s Committee for a discussion with Forward Party CEO Lindsey Williams Drath and her outlook on the future of women in the party.

August 01, 2026 at 5:00pm Eastern Time

Young Forwardists Introduction

Join members of the Young Forwardists as they introduce you to the Forward Party and how you can get involved in our pivotal movement to make politics better.

August 02, 2026 at 8:00pm Eastern Time

Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Women’s Committee Virtual Meet and Greet

The Women’s Committee has been growing, and we want to learn more about our new members. Join us and get to know each other better.

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment.
👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

Ken Block on C-SPAN Washington Journal

Ken Block joined the program in response to President Trump’s actions and speech last week on voting and election integrity.

Congressman Kevin Kiley on CBS News The Takeout

Representative Kevin Kiley (I-CA) joined Major Garrett to discuss the procedural hurdle in the House this week.

House passes government funding extension: NPR

Lawmakers avoided a government shutdown and proposed changes to handling budget fights in the future.

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
ForwardParty.com

They must be commies, or my middle name isn’t McCarthy

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, purple, View From 1964

The Orange Man walked into the Situation Room. Before him stood the Secretary of Death and Destruction. Orange Man’s blond comb-over barely moved a micrometer, even though the air conditioner was working overtime, blowing a steady 45-mile wind, trying to keep the air fresh as a daisy. After all, the Persian warlords had offered to make him their daisy, and even though he hadn’t a clue what that meant, he wanted to be prepared.

“Chief Warlord,” he asked, “who are those minions questioning my commands?” He pointed to the lady in blue to his left. Chief Warlord responded, “Oh, my mighty Orange Man, that is a journalist.” The Orange Man then pointed to the dapper, good-looking gentleman in front of him. The mighty Boot Licker promptly replied, “Your Majesty, he is a great senator, and he represents a blue state.”

After a few more, the great and wise comb-over turned to his grand wizard, the Supreme Adviser Zuzie, and asked, “Did any of them vote for me?”

She promptly replied, “Oh Greatness, no, they did not vote for you. In fact, they think you are really just a grand putz.”

The greatest of them all, even greater than Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin, stood there and made a royal proclamation: “Sad, So Sad, Well then, if they didn’t vote for me, and if they don’t agree with what I do, then they must be COMMIES, or my middle name isn’t McCarthy.”

Director calls, “Cut, that’s a wrap.” Producer asks, “Well, do you think the sheep will buy it?” The check writer answers, “Sure, why not, they bought everything else so far.”

What Do We Need? (A Question Asked Mid-Toke)

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Midterms then 2028, Politics, purple, Real Men, View From 1964

So much to think about. My brain hurts.

What does this wonderful country need in a President? What do I need in a President? Are those even two different questions? Can they be the same thing?

I’ll be honest, I’m out back, enjoying something local again. Enquiring minds need to know.

So what do we actually need? Big question, if I do say so myself. And I’m here to tell you, yes, why me? Because apparently I’m the only one asking. Just me and my doobie.

Well , I’m in Oregon. What’s that? You’re in North Carolina? Well, fudge. That plan just went right out the window. What’s best for me may not be what’s best for you. Maybe that’s exactly why we have state governments. Could be. What do you think? Is that why we’re called a Republic in the first place? Fancy that.

Now, a quick detour into Trump bashing. How much money and energy has that fool spent trying to punish blue states simply because they didn’t vote for him? What a waste of presidential energy. But what do you expect from Second String Donny? Okay. Trump bashing over. Doobie’s out.

Let’s make this even more confusing.

I live in a suburb close to wine country and farmland, but also close to the big metro. Almost all of Oregon is fishing, timber, hunting, or farming, yet nearly every political decision in this state gets made by the blue, because the population centers are Portland, Eugene, Salem, and Corvallis. College towns, every one of them. So the majority of the money and the decision-making gets structured around housing, homelessness, drugs, and freeways, while the rest of the state quietly picks up the bill.

Doesn’t sound very fair, does it?

Now zoom that out to the national scale and you start to understand a real piece of the division we’re living through. Too many decisions get built around the needs of the masses in the cities, while rural communities pick up the tab, if not in coin, then in grain.

I’ve oversimplified the problem here, deliberately, just to make the point land. But I think the point landed anyway.

So let’s simplify the original question. Who, or what, do we actually want for our next President, other than a golf hack with an ego problem and an image obsession?

I’ll be looking for someone who genuinely recognizes diversity and understands that micromanagement from Washington is a fool’s errand they have no business attempting. I’ll be looking for candidates who understand that the answer for New York isn’t the answer for Phoenix, and who are willing to let each region work out its own problems, asking for federal help only when it’s actually needed. I’ll be looking for candidates who believe in a strong military as a deterrent, not a submissive club to be quietly dismantled or weaponized for personal grievance.

This is a post that’s going to take on many forms in the months ahead. All I really want to accomplish today is getting you to start asking the same question I’m asking, what do you think we actually need, and to stop listening to the BS in the meantime.

Okay by you?

Ballot Access is Just the Beginning 07/18/2026

On - Forward Party, Politics, purple, shared, Voting Rights

This week, we’re spotlighting endorsements in two states where Forward Party has earned party status.

It is not a fast process and requires meeting state-specific requirements for voter registration, petition thresholds at the organizational level, plus a sustained presence in the states’ politics over time. It is strong foundational building by Forward that changes everything for our candidates.

In Colorado and Minnesota specifically, for endorsed candidates Celeste Landry and Jay Reeves, that ballot line means they can bypass ballot access hurdles and focus on reaching voters.

There are certain government jobs whose entire purpose depends on the nonpartisan execution of duty. Celeste Landry, running for Colorado Secretary of State, and Jay Reeves, running for Minnesota State Auditor, are running because they understand the importance of those holders of these offices remaining loyal to the citizens first and foremost.

Both are running as Forward candidates, which mean they are also bringing the right values and credibility with them.

Colorado

Celeste Landry

Candidate for Secretary of State

Forward Party Ballot Line

Celeste Landry has been working on election integrity and voter rights in Colorado for more than two decades as a civic advocate who shows up for the process itself. She’s been a member of the League of Women Voters, testified before the Colorado legislature on voting rights legislation, and spent years identifying the unintended consequences of election laws that sound neutral but aren’t. She has worked with legislators from both parties and pushed back on both when she believed they were making things harder for voters. Her platform as Secretary of State is built on three pillars: the right to vote, better representation, and election integrity.

The Secretary of State is Colorado’s top election official. Celeste Landry’s argument is direct: elections belong to the voters, not to political parties, not to special interests, and not to whoever happens to be in power. That office exists to protect the integrity of the process for everyone. She is running to do exactly that.

Minnesota

Major Jay Reeves (Ret.)

Candidate for State Auditor

Forward Party Ballot Line

Jay Reeves grew up in a union family and earned his work ethic the hard way. He spent nearly 17 years serving in the United States Army as a lab scientist and data analyst. He is now running for State Auditor because, as he puts it, the job requires someone who follows the numbers, not the politics. His background speaks for itself: union labor, independent small business ownership as a truck driver, and nearly two decades of military healthcare leadership and data analytics. He brings a combination of experiences that is genuinely rare in a government oversight candidate and entirely suited to an office whose job is to audit public finances without fear or favor.

His platform is built on independence, transparency, data integrity, accountability, and technology modernization. He wants to build a modern data dashboard with township-level detail, create a standardized statewide reporting system, and ensure that fraud is reported to the right authorities with the law driving every decision. Jay Reeves has spent his entire adult life in service without an agenda. That is what the State Auditor’s office requires.

This is What Forward Party Infrastructure Actually Looks Like

It gives candidates who want to run outside the two-party system a real path forward. Without a party ballot line, independent candidates such as Landry and Reeves would face strict petition requirements, thousands of required signatures, and tight deadlines just to earn the right to appear on a ballot. The Forward Party’s ballot line removes those barriers entirely. Instead of spending their time and resources fighting to get on the ballot, they can put their energy into actually reaching the voters.

The Forward Party’s ballot lines in Colorado and Minnesota are proof that alternative exist. Every candidate who runs on them is evidence that the path is real and that voters can have more choices.

Celeste Landry and Jay Reeves are not just good candidates. They are proof of what this infrastructure is built for.

Please forward this to your friends, family, and coworkers. It helps us introduce them to Forward and to what we are building. Also consider inviting them to one of our upcoming events listed below. We’d love to meet them.

On this week’s episode, Lindsey Williams Drath, Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, and guest host Jackie Salit examine the barriers independent candidates face in getting on the ballot. Joined by Arizona gubernatorial candidate Hugh Lytle and Texas lieutenant governor candidate Mike Collier, they discuss restrictive election laws, court challenges, and a system that often favors the two major parties.

Click the image below to watch.

Young Forwardists Introduction

July 18, 2026 at 5:00pm Eastern Time

Join members of the Young Forwardists as they introduce you to the Forward Party and how you can get involved in our pivotal movement to make politics better. Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, or anything in between, there’s a place in the Forward Party for you.

A Conversation with Lindsey Williams Drath

July 29, 2026 at 7:30pm Eastern Time

Join the Forward Party Women’s Committee as we discuss with Forward Party CEO Lindsey Williams Drath the future of women in the party.

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment.
👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

NM Forward Party files lawsuit challenging state’s ballot access requirements

Forward Party nominee for Colorado’s U.S. Senate seat puts $1.1 million into his campaign – Colorado Springs Gazette

Moderates, independents push to shake up Central WA politics | Tri-City Herald

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
ForwardParty.com

It’s Not Which Side, It’s Looking In The Mirror – Video

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Our Heritage, Politics, purple

Parades of proud people marched in Washington on the 4th, so proud they wore masks to hide their cowardly faces. Sound familiar? The Klan. You remember those rejects from laundry detergent commercials, white robes and all. Hoods with teeny weeny little holes to see through, small enough that no decent person would notice their nice neighbor was really just another piece of cow dung.

And what do we have doing the muscle work now? Federal agents. Right, I forgot — Second String Donny’s private ICE army, the ones he thinks will protect him in his little bunker after Air Force One runs out of fuel.

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Here’s what I don’t think they’ve figured on. Here’s the calculation they screwed up. We the people don’t want to turn back that clock. We don’t want to be racist — we already did that, and it cost us. We don’t want to hate our neighbor — we already did that too. We’re not doing segregation again, so don’t play those games. And when you push too hard, and I know you will, because you’re stupid enough to try — here’s what happens.

At some point, and I don’t know when or where, the minorities aren’t going to just stand up and fight back. The people are going to stand up with them, and squash you like a bug.

And this 80-year-old whitey, who used to be afraid of the very people he’ll be standing next to — I’m going to be right out there with them.

Why is Trump DESPERATE to pass the SAVE America Act?

On - elections and media, Protest 2026, purple, Voting Rights

The SAVE America Act , The Wolf in Sheeps Clothing, Hey Lamb Chop.

Who it makes voting harder for:

Ordinary Americans broadly — More than 21 million Americans lack ready access to those documents. Roughly half of Americans don’t even have a passport.

The SAVE America Act , The Wolf in Sheeps

Voters of color and younger voters — The SAVE Act would disenfranchise Americans of all ages and races, but younger voters and voters of color would suffer disproportionately.

Older Black Americans specifically — Decades after segregation left gaps in citizenship documents, the bill could create new barriers at the ballot box for people who were never properly documented during that era.

Married women (and anyone who changed their name) — The bill would disproportionately affect women whose current legal names differ from the names on their birth certificates or passports. It does not include exceptions for eligible voters whose names differ from those on their identification documents, and would force them to submit additional documents — such as marriage certificates, divorce decrees, or court orders to prove their identities.

People who register by mail or online — In 2022, more than seven million Americans registered to vote by mail, and almost 11 million registered online. The bill would severely threaten mail registration and require online registration systems to be overhauled.

Naturalized citizens — Naturalized citizens are particularly at risk for being inaccurately flagged for removal from voter rolls under the bill’s data-verification requirements.

People with disabilities and the elderly — People with disabilities and older voters who may not be able to register in person would also face new barriers.

Supporters’ argument

Proponents say the bill is necessary to ensure only citizens vote and that it simply enforces existing law. They argue an affidavit process exists for those without documents.

Critics’ counterargument

All available evidence, including from the Trump administration itself, indicates that only American citizens vote and the exceptions are vanishingly rare. Critics point to Kansas as a cautionary example when Kansas adopted a similar proof-of-citizenship law in 2011, it prevented over 31,000 eligible citizens from registering to vote before it was blocked by federal courts.

Do You want to be turned away?

It’s Not Which Side, It’s Looking In The Mirror

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Our Heritage, Politics, purple

Parades of proud people marched in Washington on the 4th, so proud they wore masks to hide their cowardly faces. Sound familiar? The Klan. You remember those rejects from laundry detergent commercials, white robes and all. Hoods with teeny weeny little holes to see through, small enough that no decent person would notice their nice neighbor was really just another piece of cow dung.

And what do we have doing the muscle work now? Federal agents. Right, I forgot — Second String Donny’s private ICE army, the ones he thinks will protect him in his little bunker after Air Force One runs out of fuel.

So White Nationalists take to the streets, masks and all. Must be Bobby-Bob over there. Confederate flag wavers too — what’s wrong with the good old Red, White and Blue? The land of Real Men, so proud they strut their stuff on Independence Day. And being the free nation that we are, we let them. Who cares that a little darker skin no longer feels safe on the streets. After all, why did we fight for integration, equal opportunity, equal rights? Why did we write laws against racial discrimination? Why did so many already die in the streets? Just to let these jerks loose again.

That’s right, freedom — we fought for freedom. But somewhere in there should be a guarantee of protection. And I don’t see anyone way up the ladder caring about protecting anyone anymore, except themselves. Have you seen that bulletproof barrier they use now? I’d have loved that contract. Bet it didn’t go to in-house cronies — not if he wanted it done right.

If it sounds like I’m climbing up on a soap box, you’re probably right. The more I sit here and write this, the angrier I get. We’ve already been through all this BS.

If you didn’t read my series on The Long View From 1964, I joined the National Guard in Manhattan Beach, California, November 1963. Had basic and engineer school in ’64, so my first summer camp got delayed by the Watts Riots of ’65.

Here’s the part I don’t dress up. In 1965, I was the enemy. I was the man. I was whitey living ten miles from East LA. I wouldn’t say I was a racist bigot but here is the thing, you grow up segregated, you grow up afraid, the black skin was different, the features were different, I’m being politically correct but the bottom line is really just fear. Intimidation works. That’s why hate works so well.

That’s the truth of who I was at nineteen. It took years, and a country tearing itself apart a few miles from my house, to teach me different.

Which is exactly why I have the right to say what comes next. Not because I was always on the right side. Because I wasn’t, and I changed anyway.

So do they really think everyone’s forgotten? Do they think all white people are racist bigots waiting to be reactivated? Do they think we’re going to sit around and let a bunch of insecure cowards in masks start another war? Because if you’ve been paying attention, that’s exactly what the playbook is calling for. Proud Boys. Masked ICE agents going after Latinos and anyone else less white than themselves. Listen to the speeches. Really listen. The barbs, the slurs, the put-downs. It’s the playbook, and it’s in play.

It’s a time machine, take your pick, Back to the Future or Days of Future Past, doesn’t matter. They’re trying to turn the clock back to when wives wore dresses baking cookies and pearl necklaces fixing dinner, and all she knew to say was “yes dear, as you say dear, would you like another beer, and oh dear, please fill out my ballot for me.”

Here’s what I don’t think they’ve figured on. Here’s the calculation they screwed up. We the people don’t want to turn back that clock. We don’t want to be racist — we already did that, and it cost us. We don’t want to hate our neighbor — we already did that too. We’re not doing segregation again, so don’t play those games. And when you push too hard, and I know you will, because you’re stupid enough to try — here’s what happens.

At some point, and I don’t know when or where, the minorities aren’t going to just stand up and fight back. The people are going to stand up with them, and squash you like a bug.

And this 80-year-old whitey, who used to be afraid of the very people he’ll be standing next to — I’m going to be right out there with them.

Behind the Scenes — The Secrets of Mediocrity and Old Age

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, purple

Or: How to Sound Smart in a Sea of Noise

I woke up one morning and knew it all. Isn’t that what our children think? Or our wives? After all, she calls me a know-it-all all the time. So she must be right. Right?

Well, yes, in some ways. And no in others. I married her, which proves I’m not entirely stupid. So at least I have that going for me.

Let me back up so you know what I’m actually talking about, because this has become a very boring and tedious morning. My real work, the paying kind, has just been pushed off another two days. Like the Secretary of Good Humor that I apparently am, I work at the pleasure of my clientele. And when they say “not today, will Friday work?” all I can do is say very loudly, under my breath: fudge. Then change the calendar.

When I went crazy, let’s see, that was late 2024, just after Trump won the election, I decided I would become a world-class graphic satirist that nobody would ever discover. I watched every move the Putz made. I made cartoons about every stupid thing he did. I couldn’t keep up. A hundred of me couldn’t have kept up.

Then I started writing short barbs to go with the visual absurdities. On and on. Day after day. And guess what, he kept doing things and I kept chasing the same diversions, the same outrage cycle, the same predictable parade of manufactured chaos.

Then the lightbulb. Probably an LED, so it was blue and cold. But I understood.

I was chasing. And it was predictable. I was getting to where I could do half a dozen cartoons a week before the events even happened, because I had figured out the pattern. Which led me to a certain conclusion about myself.

I was a GOD.

Well. Maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe it was just that he’s so damn predictable.

Here’s the thing. The only memes I make now are when I’ve genuinely had enough, and I let about nine ticks go by before that happens. So that leaves the writing. And I found something surprising: I love writing. What I also found was that I had been chasing the outrage just like everybody else. Sitting here with bated breath waiting for the next diversion, the same diversion I already knew was coming, on schedule, because I’d seen it the week before.

Refer back to the GOD comment.

When the dust settled I realized I do my best work when I stop caring about the noise. Others have the followers. Let them write about it when it happens. I still read their work and I get ideas from it. But if I have to wade through 3,000 words to find what could have been said in one paragraph, I’m lost. What I think I can do is take that one paragraph and make it interesting. Because I found it interesting. And maybe today isn’t even the right day for it. Maybe August is when it needs to land.

So here is my secret.

For every small article, video, or post of mine you read at any given moment, there are between thirty and forty more already written, recorded, and scheduled. Because I am not chasing the noise anymore. I am trying to educate myself. And if I pass some of what I’m learning along the way, then I am a success.

How can I do this besides being a GOD? Because the Putz is so damn predictable and MAGA’s playbook is an open book. Stop fixating on the daily noise or you’ll wake up and realize they did it to you again. Step back. It’s all right there, out in the open, if you’re willing to look at the whole picture instead of the piece they’re waving in your face.

I used to say I had one goal. I was wrong. I have two.

For both you and me to think for ourselves.

Wake up and smell the jasmine. I’ve found that roses, the ones everybody tells you to stop and smell, have thorns. And thorns can be dangerous if you’re not paying attention to where you’re putting your hands.

250 Years, and you don’t know why we are celebrating?

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

If this is what you want, it’s what you got, sucker. 250 we celebrated, what did we celebrate. We have an educational system, we have schools, universities, home education, no longer are we raised in the fields picking cotton or tobacco while our mothers are raped.

We are the free and the mighty, so let me ask you a question, just what was the 250 year celebration about? Why were the fireworks set off, why did King Putz drone on?

Well it seems that if you ask the average American, over 50% of them will answer something like George Washington’s Birthday, The Civil War, or the day McDonald’s introduced the nineteen-cent hamburger. They don’t have a friggen clue.

No wonder we are in the poop circus we are in. Nobody knows what is going on and nobody really cares to know. It just makes me want to roll up my placards and go home, as if you would actually care.

The worse part isn’t just the ignorance, it’s the self-imposed ignorance. And I got a fresh reminder of exactly what that looks like, same day, different flag.

I had a friend, sadly the wrong side of the aisle from my point of view, send me a gif of political isms.

In political theory, “isms” represent canonical frameworks defining how societies should be governed. The 10 most prominent political ideologies are: Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, Communism, Libertarianism, Nationalism, Fascism, Anarchism, Authoritarianism, and Imperialism.

So I asked the friend — MAGA, Masters degree, the whole package — a simple question.

Me: so, if you were to be honest, which one applies to today?
Him: Capitalism has been a winner.
Me: we are talking about politics, our government, so let me rephrase the question. so, if you were to be honest, which one applies to today?
Him: You – liberal. Me – conservative. (Because I’m against Trump, I’ve apparently become a Communist.)
Me: Our Government, as in who is running the country, not you, not me. so, if you were to be honest, which one applies to today?
Him: Congress running the country.
Me: You just can’t do it, can you? Or I should say, you won’t do it. Trump has taken Congress’s ability to run the country away.

End of conversation, till the next morning, with another gif on state property taxes.

Is that forced ignorance? Or fear of admission? Would answering the question have been an admission he’s been wrong, and that’s just unacceptable, even to himself?

I don’t know. But what I do know is that we are living in a world created by that kind of mentality, and if it isn’t willing to go back to school, then maybe this is what we deserve. Another bust on Mt. Rushmore, paid for by, guess who?

And while I’m on it — who knows why we are celebrating 250 years — I can tell you who can and will answer that question with 100% accuracy, every single time you ask them. Repeat: every single time. Those who decided to become United States citizens. Those who went through the immigration process and took the tests and gained citizenship. They know why we celebrate 250 years of independence.

Meanwhile the home-born, the ones handed this country at birth, the ones who never had to sit for a test or prove they earned it — half of them can’t tell you what happened 250 years ago, let alone what’s happening right now.

We just handed them a democracy nobody bothered to study for.

The Purple Rose of Texas – Video

On - Dark Money, purple, Voting Rights

Thank God I’m not from Texas, because being a Purple Rose is being a screwed Rose in Texas not much better than being a Yellow Rose.

Only Red roses and Blue Rose have a chance there.I’m just flabergasted Vance and Rubio haven’t article 25ve

A rose by any other color is just fertilized out of luck.

Try being an independent in Texas, Oh your allowed , maybe have to sit inn the back of the bus, if they can find a seat. And that’s a big maybe. But then again, the Fight at Alamo was as much about retaining slavery as gaining independence, don’t believe me, go read your history books.

The two party system has a choke hold on us, it has to change, we have to stop and it won’t be easy. The battle will look like we are fighting the Democrats and the Republicans but in reality, we will be fighting dark money.

The fight will be against Citizens United, the Federalist Society, the Superpacs, Acs American Constitution Society, Leonard Leo, Arabella Advisors and the list goes on. It’s the dark money, they want to control and control is easier when there are fewer choices.

Open the field and the Superpacs become less effective. Then we have can have a Congress that become MORE effective.

The choices are yours.

The Purple Rose of Texas

On - Dark Money, purple, Voting Rights

Thank God I’m not from Texas.

Because being a Purple Rose in Texas is being a screwed rose. Only Red roses and Blue roses have a chance there. A rose by any other color is just fertilized out of luck.

Try being an independent in Texas. You’re allowed — technically. Maybe you get to sit in the back of the bus, if they can find you a seat. And that’s a big maybe.

But then again, the fight at the Alamo was as much about retaining slavery as gaining independence. Don’t believe me — go read your history books.

Here’s what Texas law actually requires of an independent candidate running for statewide office.

First — collect more than 81,000 valid voter signatures just to get on the ballot. That’s a steep hill by itself. But Texas doesn’t stop there.

Independent candidates aren’t allowed to start collecting signatures until after the party primary runoff elections are finished. This year that meant waiting until May 26th.

Read that again because it matters.

Independent candidates aren’t allowed to start collecting signatures until after the party primary runoff elections are finished.

The petitions were due June 25th.

Do the math.

Thirty days to collect over 81,000 signatures statewide — a task that would challenge even a well-funded campaign with an established organization behind it.

Then it gets more interesting.

Anyone who voted in either a party primary or runoff election is prohibited from signing an independent candidate’s petition. Texas shrinks the pool of eligible signers before the process even begins.

Thirty day deadline. Reduced pool of eligible voters. Statewide signature requirement that would be difficult under the best of circumstances.

You can decide for yourself whether that’s about election integrity or ballot access.

Texas didn’t write these laws in a vacuum. The machinery that benefits from limited choices operates at a national level even when the laws are written state by state. Similar barriers — different deadlines, different thresholds, different methods — exist across the country. The details change. The effect is the same. Fewer choices. Less competition. A political system that protects the existing parties from having to compete with anyone who doesn’t carry their label.

Whether it’s gerrymandered districts reducing competition or ballot access laws making it nearly impossible for independent candidates to qualify — the result is consistent. A chokehold.

And the hands on that chokehold aren’t just Republican or Democrat.

They’re darker than that.

Citizens United opened the floodgates. Leonard Leo built the judicial architecture. Arabella Advisors operates the left side of the same coin. Federalist Society. SuperPACs. Dark money flowing through nonprofits that don’t have to disclose their donors to anyone.

The two party system isn’t just a political habit. It’s a business model. And it’s extraordinarily well funded by people who understand that fewer choices means more control and more control means more return on their investment.

Open the field and the SuperPACs become less effective. More candidates means more variables means less predictable outcomes means less return on the dark money investment.

That’s why the field stays closed.

The Purple Rose doesn’t get fertilized by accident.

It just gets shit on.

The choices are yours.

But first you have to fight for the right to make them.

The Forward Party and You

On - Forward Party, purple, shared

One of my Menu Selection is Shared Content, labeled Forward because that’s where it started. A year ago I was reading up on Andrew Yangs Forward Party and was impressed enough to start adding their news letter to the Elephants Ink Room. Well time goes on, I have been publishing their news letter and though that maybe it was a time to do a reality check.

For the record, I do read their news letter, but I don’t follow the candidates they endorse, to many in to many different states. And I have other import stuff to do, like bake muffins and mow lawns.

So, I asked Claude to do a little background for me, why Claude, well first off, Anthropic told the Powers That Be to F off, a point in their favor and Claude has seen most of what I write and understands my position. So here is the conversation and I will continue to publish the Forward Newsletter.

Me:

What is your take on the forward party? are they staying pretty true to their stated position?

Claude:

Let me check on where the Forward Party actually stands right now rather than rely on what I knew at training time — this is exactly the kind of “current status of an organization” question that needs a fresh look.

Searched the web

Good question, and the data backs up a genuinely interesting picture. Here’s the honest take.

On staying true to their stated position:

Yes, remarkably so. Forward has stuck consistently to its core platform of electoral and democratic reform — nonpartisan primaries, independent redistricting commissions, ranked-choice voting, STAR voting, and approval voting — and has deliberately avoided taking positions on hot-button issues like guns and abortion, leaving those to state chapters and individual candidates. Joel Searby, the party’s former managing director, put it plainly: they want a party that gives elected officials flexibility to meet local needs instead of a rigid top-down platform. That’s the exact “one size does not fit all” argument you’re building toward.

Where it gets interesting — and validates your skepticism about national third parties:

Andrew Yang himself said there’s a misconception that Forward is “the third party” — in places like New Mexico, he argues, they’re actually positioning as the second party, since many Democrats run unopposed there. That’s a smart, regionally adaptive strategy rather than a one-size-fits-all national push — which tracks with your own instinct that political solutions need to be local first.

The honest weaknesses:

Critics on the left have called Forward’s platform “vague” and “blandly conventional,” raising more questions than it answers — and Yang has faced criticism for launching a third party despite never winning elected office himself. At the end of 2025 the party claimed about 250,000 supporters total — meaningful for a startup party, but nowhere near the scale needed to be a national force yet. Their actual 2026 traction is mostly in smaller races — Senate endorsements in places like Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota, and a gubernatorial endorsement in Rhode Island — not exactly headline contests.

Bottom line for your purposes: Forward is one of the more honest attempts at structural reform you’ve been writing about — they’re literally campaigning on the Electoral College problem and the primary system problem you’ve identified yourself. But they’re small, slow, and arguably more of a proof-of-concept than a near-term electoral threat to the duopoly. Worth a mention in your Electoral College or Two to Tango lineage, maybe, as evidence that the appetite for structural reform exists — even if Forward isn’t yet the vehicle that delivers it.

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So there you have a pretty honest take on Andrew Yangs Forward Party. I think it is worth you looking into and if you want to make a change then I would suggest getting involved.

The reason I haven’t, isn’t because I don’t believe in them, I do. But writing this drivel for the Elephant, for Substack, publishing on another 7 social media platforms, creating the videos, and working full time to pay the bills because so far no one has seen fit to buy me a cup of coffee hasn’t left me much time time for anything other than to smoke a good rack of ribs, maybe a brisket and play with the grand-kids after I try to make sure there is a world for them to grow up in.

What are you doing?

The Electoral College: A Solution Looking for the Right Problem?

On - activism, Commentary, elections and media, Politics, purple, Voting Rights

Most debates about the Electoral College start with people choosing sides. One side wants to keep it. The other wants to abolish it.

I think the more interesting question is: What problem was it designed to solve, and does that problem still exist?

In 1787, information traveled at the speed of a horse. Most citizens knew little about candidates from distant states. The United States was less a single nation than a collection of states agreeing to work together. The Electoral College was part compromise, part practical necessity, and part protection against direct democracy in a world where voters had limited information.

For its time, the system made sense.

Today, none of those conditions exist.

A voter in Oregon can watch a speech made in Florida in real time. News travels instantly. Candidates campaign nationally. Americans think of themselves as citizens of one country first and residents of a state second.

The original reasons for creating the Electoral College have weakened or disappeared.

Yet replacing it raises legitimate concerns.

A pure popular vote could encourage candidates to focus heavily on large population centers. The current system encourages candidates to focus on a handful of swing states. Neither approach feels particularly representative.

Today, millions of Republicans in California and millions of Democrats in Texas know their presidential vote is unlikely to matter. At the same time, a relatively small number of voters in a few battleground states effectively decide the election.

That suggests the problem is not simply the Electoral College. The problem is that our current system leaves large numbers of Americans feeling their vote has little impact.

I don’t pretend to know the perfect answer.

Perhaps it is a modified Electoral College. Perhaps it is a national popular vote. Perhaps it is a system nobody has proposed yet.

What I do know is that institutions should be judged by whether they solve today’s problems, not yesterday’s.

The Electoral College was created to address concerns that were real in 1787.

If the Electoral College is broken, what replaces it?

A straight popular vote?

A proportional allocation of electoral votes instead of winner-take-all states?

A ranked-choice national election?

A system where states award electoral votes by congressional district?

A constitutional convention to redesign the whole thing?

I don’t know.

What I do know is that every system solves one problem by creating another.

A pure popular vote values every vote equally, but raises concerns about population concentration.

The Electoral College protects state influence, but leaves many voters feeling irrelevant.

Winner-take-all states simplify elections, but turn most states into spectators.

There may not be a perfect answer. There may only be better compromises.

Before we argue about which system to adopt, we should at least agree on which problem we’re trying to solve.

If we can’t answer that question, we’re just rearranging the furniture.

And unlike the spare toilet paper at my house, nobody seems to know where the solution is stored.

The Electoral College asks how states should be represented.

Ranked-choice voting asks how voters should be represented.

Maybe before we decide which system is best, we should decide whose voice we are trying to hear more clearly.

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Protecting Your Voting Rights – Video

On - Commentary, Politics, Protest 2026, purple, Voting Rights

Protecting voting rights is a fundamental aspect of American democracy, and your concern about potential executive overreach is valid given recent reports. While presidents have issued executive orders related to elections in the past, they don’t have unilateral authority to control how states run them, elections are primarily a state responsibility under the Constitution (Article I, Section 4), with Congress able to set or alter regulations for federal races. Any attempt to impose sweeping changes via executive order, especially if premised on unsubstantiated claims like foreign interference from past elections, would likely face immediate legal challenges and injunctions from federal courts, as happened with a similar order in March 2025.

Courts have repeatedly affirmed that such actions can’t override constitutional limits or state authority without clear statutory backing.

When Seeing Isn’t Enough, Who Builds?

On - Mental Healthcare, Private Funding, purple

When Seeing Isn’t Enough, Who Builds?

We’ve become good at noticing problems.

We see the tents.
We see the people fading away.
We see the cracks in systems that were supposed to catch them.

And we often respond.

We volunteer.
We donate.
We organize what little we can.

But noticing isn’t the same as building.

The real gap is in the people and organizations who actually structure solutions.

Not charity. Not awareness campaigns. Not temporary fixes.
I mean the kind of work that requires:

Capital, invested with intent
Teams, operating with accountability
Systems, designed to scale

Without that, even the best efforts stay islands.

There are occasional sparks.

Someone rallies a community.
A small operation starts and grows.
News catches it because it’s novel, or outrage makes it visible.

But those sparks are rare. And rare sparks can’t hold a fire.

We’ve trained ourselves to believe that scale only comes from government, or from huge organizations.

But history shows otherwise.

Railroads weren’t built by committees waiting for permits.
Cities weren’t lit by ideas held back by bureaucracy.
Movements weren’t started by people waiting for permission.

Scale comes when someone decides to start building—and then invites others to join.

That’s the space we’re missing now.

Not awareness.
Not compassion.
Not even outrage.

We’re missing builders.

People willing to put together the teams, the capital, the structure, and the commitment to make solutions grow.

We may not know the full answer.

No single person does.

But the signal is clear: wherever there’s a problem too big for charity and too complex for government… there is a role for builders.

Somebody has to start.

Guest Post – Outrage Turned Us vs. Them Into Us vs. Us

On - Foundation, Politics, purple

The political class does not need every citizen to agree with its agenda. It only needs citizens to remain divided enough that they never organize around the things they already agree upon. The cost of living, safe communities, transparent government, affordable healthcare, accountable leadership, fair wages, reliable infrastructure, and reduced corruption are not fringe concerns. They are the ordinary expectations of people who still believe a modern nation should function reasonably well.

Yet functioning government is terrible entertainment. Competent administration does not generate ratings. A successful infrastructure project is not nearly as exciting as a culture war. A balanced budget lacks the emotional punch of outrage. Solving problems rarely creates the same level of engagement as arguing about them indefinitely.

As a result, the public often finds itself trapped in a cycle where the issues that divide Americans become permanent campaign material, while the issues that unite Americans become optional. The disagreements remain unresolved because unresolved conflicts are politically valuable. They provide fundraising opportunities, campaign slogans, media appearances, and endless reasons to return voters to the polls convinced that disaster is one election away.

Meanwhile, many of the structures that citizens regularly complain about remain largely untouched. Bureaucracies continue to grow and evolve. Lobbying networks remain deeply embedded. Regulatory systems become increasingly complex. Major donors continue to enjoy access that ordinary citizens can only imagine. Regardless of which party wins a given election, the machinery itself often proves remarkably durable.

This is not to suggest that elections do not matter. They do. Policies matter. Laws matter. Judicial appointments matter. The outcomes of elections can and do have significant consequences for millions of people.

The problem is that Americans are increasingly encouraged to view politics as a never-ending battle between ordinary citizens rather than as a mechanism for governing a country. Political disagreement is natural and healthy in a free society. It is impossible to have liberty without disagreement because free people inevitably reach different conclusions about how society should be organized.

The trouble begins when disagreement ceases to be a challenge that politics attempts to manage and instead becomes the product being sold.

In that environment, conflict acquires value of its own. Outrage becomes a commodity. Fear becomes a fundraising strategy. Anger becomes a marketing tool. Citizens become consumers of political entertainment rather than participants in self-government.

The result is a nation in which people spend extraordinary amounts of time debating one another while exercising surprisingly little influence over the institutions that affect their daily lives. Americans can instantly identify the latest cultural controversy, yet many struggle to explain how legislation is written, how regulatory agencies operate, or how lobbying organizations influence policy. They know the arguments they are expected to have because those arguments are constantly placed in front of them. They are far less likely to know where the money flows, who benefits from specific decisions, or why certain reforms never seem to advance beyond campaign promises.

None of this requires a grand conspiracy. Human nature is sufficient. Politicians respond to incentives. Media organizations respond to incentives. Activist groups respond to incentives. Consultants, donors, corporations, and advocacy organizations all respond to incentives. If outrage generates attention, and attention generates money, influence, or power, then outrage will be produced in abundance.

That reality should concern citizens regardless of ideology.

A conservative who believes government has become unaccountable should be concerned. A progressive who believes corporations wield excessive influence should be concerned. An independent who simply wants competent leadership should be concerned. The specific diagnosis may vary, but the underlying problem remains remarkably similar: institutions often benefit from public division in ways that ordinary citizens do not.

The challenge, therefore, is not to eliminate disagreement. That would be impossible and undesirable. A healthy society needs vigorous debate. It needs competing ideas. It needs people who are willing to challenge one another’s assumptions and defend their beliefs.

What it does not need is a political culture that treats every disagreement as evidence that fellow citizens are enemies.

Americans can disagree about gun policy while still demanding affordable housing. They can disagree about abortion while still insisting upon accessible healthcare. They can debate immigration policy while expecting government agencies to function efficiently. They can argue about climate policy while wanting clean water, reliable infrastructure, and accountable public officials.

In fact, the ability to maintain those distinctions may be one of the most important civic skills a democracy can possess.

The danger is not disagreement itself. The danger is allowing disagreement to become a leash that can be pulled whenever those in power need citizens looking somewhere else.

When people are exhausted, angry, and constantly reacting, they become easier to manage. They spend their energy fighting one another instead of examining systems. They become focused on symptoms instead of incentives. They become consumers of outrage rather than organizers of solutions.

Outrage can be useful. It can draw attention to genuine injustice. It can motivate action. It can expose corruption and force accountability.

But outrage alone is not power.

Power comes from organization. It comes from persistence. It comes from understanding how institutions work and demanding that they serve the public interest. It comes from citizens who are willing to track promises, follow legislation, monitor spending, attend meetings, vote consistently, and remain engaged long after the cameras have moved on to the next controversy.

Most importantly, power comes from recognizing that fellow citizens are not automatically enemies simply because they disagree.

The country does not need another lecture about unity from politicians who profit from division. It does not need another campaign built entirely around fear of the other side. It does not need another election cycle in which Americans are told that their greatest threat is the person living across the street.

What it needs are citizens willing to notice the trick.

The divide in America is real. Some disagreements are profound and unlikely to disappear anytime soon. But division is also useful to those who benefit from keeping the public fragmented and distracted.

That reality does not erase legitimate differences between left and right. It simply raises a different question: who benefits when citizens become so consumed by fighting one another that they stop paying attention to the people holding the matches?

The sign still insists everything is under control.

Perhaps it is finally time to stop arguing long enough to ask who keeps fueling the fire.

This is a long form version of

Rory Kelly

The Wake Up Call We Needed — Now What? – Video

On - Commentary, Politics, purple

Fast times in DC.

Who could have guessed one person could do so much damage in so little time? Boy did we get blindsided.

But who is to blame?

The ugly answer is you, me, and the rest of the sheep basking in the sun, being spoon fed from the easy café.

The power will be taken from Trump. That’s a given. The question is who ends up with it.

And what they do with it.

That question is what the rest of this series is about.

The Wake Up Call We Needed — Now What?

On - Commentary, Politics, purple

Fast times in DC.

Who could have guessed one person could do so much damage in so little time? Boy did we get blindsided.

But who is to blame?

The ugly answer is you, me, and the rest of the sheep basking in the sun, being spoon fed from the easy café.

In a year and a half we have watched our checks and balances reveal themselves as profoundly unbalanced. We have watched the courts become so partisan that the blind lady of justice simply threw away her scales. We have watched corruption we never considered possible — insider trading making the obscenely rich richer, our heritage torn down and rewritten to honor a grifter, due process replaced by the rule of whoever wears the crown.

None of it was subtle. It was thrown in our faces. We were sneered at, belittled, and abused. And told it was for our own good.

For once I agree.

It has been for our own good. Not the abuse — the exposure. We needed a wake up call. Not a gentle alarm. A slap across the face.

Are you awake yet?

Do you see what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen if we don’t put a stop to it?

But wait. Before we stop it something else must be decided. How do we make sure this never happens again?

And so far the answer from most quarters seems to be — put the Democrats in power.

That’s a rather simplistic view.

Consider this honestly. What would you do with absolute power? Power corrupts. Absolute power means the same old fleecing — just someone else holding the shears. Do you really believe the Democrats are immune to that power rush? Would you be?

Oh, but they’re the Democrats. Right.

I don’t trust them any more than I trust the Republicans. And I say that having watched both parties for six decades.

This didn’t start with Trump. For decades — through conservative and liberal administrations alike — the machinery of power has been slowly redirected toward the people operating it rather than the people it was built to serve. Term limits have never passed because nobody in power wants to give up power. Legislation shifts like sand from side to side depending on who holds the majority. Congress spends more time and money on Congress than it does on the rest of us. We exist to justify them and to pay them.

Trump accelerated what was already in motion. He didn’t build the road. He just drove it off the cliff faster than anyone expected.

So here is my advice. Take it or leave it. But remember — you will have to live with the results. I am old. The changes we make or fail to make won’t affect me nearly as much as they will affect my children and their children. That’s why I’m still paying attention.

Elect moderates. I don’t care if they carry a D or an R. Get away from the extremes. Flush MAGA down the toilet. Dump the wokes in a landfill. Look for people who want a functional government — leaders who understand that America is a member of the world community, not its boss. We are powerful enough to guarantee mutual destruction. Why are we too weak to simply get along?

The power will be taken from Trump. That’s a given. The question is who ends up with it.

And what they do with it.

That question is what the rest of this series is about.

This One Is For You The Moderates. The Independents. The People With No Checkbox.

On - Commentary, Politics, purple

This one is for the people who don’t know which box to check. The ones who get called moderate like it’s an insult. The ones who believe in fiscal responsibility and social decency simultaneously and can’t find a party that does both.

You exist. You are not alone. You are actually the majority.

And nobody is talking to you directly.

You are not a Democrat who drifted right. You are not a Republican who got left behind. You are something specific and real that the current system has no checkbox for.

Around 33 to 35 percent of American adults self identify as moderates. Around 45 percent identify as political independents. The majority doesn’t fit in either shoebox. And yet the candidates are selected in primaries dominated by the most committed voters on each extreme — which means by the time the general election arrives the choices have already been made without you.

So we get screwed. Politely. Democratically. But thoroughly.

The most effective tactic available to a moderate right now is not supporting the champion — because the champion isn’t on the ballot. It’s weakening the worst option. Registering in the other party’s primary and voting against the most dangerous candidate. It’s a shame that’s where we are. But that’s where we are.

And even that doesn’t give you the candidate you actually want.

What you can do — what has to happen before anything else changes — is make noise. The two party system and the electoral college won’t dismantle themselves. But they can be pressured. Start early. Find the candidates from either side you can live with and say so loudly. Support the ones closest to sanity regardless of the label they wear.

Noise works. It’s why you’re reading this.

Right now all we hear is Democrats telling us the only effective way to address the current disaster is to vote Democrat. They’re probably right in the short term because they’re the only ones making noise. The moderates and independents are watching. Reading. Thinking.

And staying silent.

That has to stop.

You can’t complain about being ignored if you’re silent. This isn’t Christmas. Silence doesn’t belong in the equation.

I’m not going to tell you what to say. You are probably the least sheep of anyone paying attention right now. The least likely to follow blindly. The most likely to have thought this through.

So why aren’t you speaking up?

The only way independents and moderates get a checkbox is if we force it into existence. Not by waiting for permission. Not by hoping one of the two parties decides to represent us. By showing up, making noise, and refusing to be invisible any longer.

I know who I would vote for.

Do you?

Hint: It isn’t Newsom or Harris.

Bernie, Bernie, Bernie

On - Commentary, purple, Your Money

I received a “look at what I am doing” email from Bernie Sanders and because I hate comments or sound bites taken out of context I decided to share the complete email — without the “oh, send money” part. You’re welcome.

The gist of his proposed legislation is having America take a stake in the developing AI revolution. And I have to admit the general idea could help fill the enormous hole in our coffers created by the current administration and their efforts to bankrupt this nation.

His first point I am all for. Sounds great.

“This legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer.”

It’s this part I have an issue with. Big Brother having a 50% voting and control share.

“The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them.”

Let’s be honest. The American people still would not have a voice in how AI is developed. A few politicians would have that say. They would tell us it’s our voice — but all you have to do is look at the gilding of bronze statues to understand what our voice is actually worth these days.

Sorry. That just slipped out.

Bernie’s diagnosis is correct. AI is being built on the collective knowledge of humanity — every book, article, conversation, and creative work ever digitized. The people who happen to own the compute infrastructure shouldn’t be the sole beneficiaries of that collective inheritance.

But his prescription has a fatal flaw.

We have already seen the debate around AI and government power play out in real time. Anthropic — one of the companies named in Bernie’s legislation — has publicly stated that it does not want its technology used for fully autonomous lethal weapons or the mass surveillance of Americans. That is exactly the kind of ethical guardrail that responsible AI development requires.

Do we really want whichever party happens to be in power having direct influence over whether those guardrails stay in place? Do we want political considerations overriding ethical ones when the technology has the potential to do tremendous good and tremendous harm simultaneously?

This isn’t about losing jobs. It’s about losing what’s left of our freedom. Our personal freedom. Do we really want anyone looking over our shoulder — reading everything we write? This article. A private letter. A conversation between a grandparent and a grandchild.

So Bernie — 50% sounds good financially. But maybe it should be non-voting stock.

I don’t trust billionaires enough to hand them AI.

I don’t trust politicians enough to hand them AI either.

We need guidelines. We need oversight. But that has to be done with the help of government — not by government.

If the public is going to own a stake in AI that ownership should be managed by an independent public trust. Not elected politicians. Not the companies themselves. An independent entity charged with protecting the public’s investment while remaining insulated from political pressure and corporate influence.

A Public Investment Authority. Something like the Alaska Permanent Fund — created to ensure that the wealth generated from a public resource actually benefited the public rather than whoever happened to be in power when the resource was discovered.

The question isn’t whether public investment in AI should exist.

The question is how to structure it so that neither politicians nor corporations can abuse it.

Bernie is asking the right question.

He just needs a better answer.

Bernies email.

“Since A.I. is built on the collective knowledge of humanity, the wealth it generates must benefit humanity. Not just Mr. Musk, Mr. Altman, Dario Amodei and other moguls whose companies are positioned to dominate the industry. Not just venture capitalists in Silicon Valley or money managers on Wall Street who undoubtedly see A.I. as the next great wealth-extracting machine.

That is why I will soon be introducing the American A.I. Sovereign Wealth Fund Act. This legislation would give the public a direct ownership stake in the largest A.I. companies in our country. How? It would create a sovereign wealth fund through a one-time 50 percent tax — not on the profits of OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and other companies, but paid with something far more valuable than that: the stock.

If passed, this legislation would do two crucial things. First, it would give the public a direct role in determining the future of this technology. No longer would the future of A.I. and the transformation of human life that it will bring be dictated by a handful of Big Tech oligarchs. The federal government would have the power, through its voting shares and an equal representation on each company’s board, to block decisions that hurt our citizens and to push for policies that help them.

Second, this legislation would guarantee that the trillions of dollars potentially generated by A.I. are used to improve the lives of all of us — not simply to make the richest people in the world even richer. If the big A.I. companies continue to grow as rapidly as many analysts expect, then the value of the sovereign wealth fund will grow as well — and the benefits to the American people will grow along with it.”

We See It Every Day. So Why Isn’t Anything Changing?

On - Mental Healthcare, Private Funding, purple

We See It Every Day. So Why Isn’t Anything Changing?

You don’t have to go looking for it anymore.

It’s under overpasses.
Along sidewalks.
In places that used to feel like part of the normal rhythm of a city.

Tents. Makeshift shelters. People existing in plain sight, but somehow outside of everything around them.

We see it enough now that it’s become background.

And when something becomes background, it stops demanding answers.

There are responses, of course.

Cities clear areas and call it progress.
Organizations step in where they can.
Churches open kitchens, shelters rotate beds, volunteers show up with good intentions.

None of it is wrong.

But none of it is changing the direction of the problem.

We’ve settled into a pattern:

Address what’s immediately visible.
Move it. Manage it. Contain it.
Then repeat.

Over and over.

There’s also an assumption sitting underneath all of this:

That if the problem is big enough, government will eventually organize around it.

But this isn’t something that fits cleanly into a single department, a single budget, or a single political cycle.

So it gets divided, delayed, and debated.

And while that happens, the visible part keeps growing.

On the other side, there’s charity.

And there is a lot of it.

People care. They show up. They give time, food, money.

But most of it exists in small, isolated pockets.

A meal here. A bed for the night. A temporary service.

It helps—but it doesn’t carry forward.

It resets every day.

So we end up in between two things that aren’t built to solve it:

A system that moves slowly.
And efforts that don’t scale.

That leaves something missing.

Not compassion.
Not awareness.

Something more basic than that.

Nothing we’re doing is designed to grow into a solution.

Nothing connects.
Nothing compounds.
Nothing builds on itself.

And that’s the part that’s easy to miss, because everything we are doing looks like action.

It just doesn’t add up to progress.

At some point, the question changes.

Not:
Why is this happening?

But:
Why isn’t anything we’re doing capable of getting ahead of it?

Because those are two very different problems.

And only one of them can actually be built for.

The Ripple Effect, The Cost of Donny the Toddler’s Revenge

On - Commentary, Protest 2026, purple, Trump

We are in a strange environment where nothing feels as it was.

Because it isn’t as it was.

I have contracted in companies where the boss was a hands-on micromanager and every failure was blamed on whoever was closest. Never the real culprit. Never the micromanaging boss. It was never their fault.

Sound familiar?

When decisions are made with a sense of satisfaction, a score settled, a grievance answered, to the person making them it feels like justice.

The action itself can seem small. A policy change. A funding cut. A shift in priorities framed as strength or loyalty. Something done not just because it is believed to be right, but because it answers a need to get even. To punish an enemy.

A stone dropped into still water.

At first nothing dramatic happens. Just a small disturbance. A ripple that feels contained, manageable, even insignificant.

But ripples don’t stay where they begin.

They move outward, quietly, steadily, touching places far removed from the original decision. People who were never part of the argument. Communities that had no voice in the conflict. Families who don’t follow the headlines closely but live with the outcomes.

A clinic closes earlier than it should.
A farmer faces one more season with less support.
A family sits at a table trying to make numbers work that no longer do.

None of them were in the room when the decision was made.

None of them were the target.

But they feel the result all the same.

This is the danger of governance driven by grievance rather than responsibility. The intent may be narrow, focused on winning, punishing, proving a point, but the consequences are not.

They spread.

Leadership isn’t measured by the force of the initial action or the satisfaction it brings in the moment. It’s measured by how far those ripples travel and who they reach when they arrive.

Our government is being run by a micromanager governing out of grievance, without care or foresight for the damage the ripples of his decisions are creating.

Sometimes a ripple becomes a tsunami.

Who is going to clean up the carnage?

20260227 1525 Image Generation simple compose 01kjgpn3xtegksbj2mxygejkdd

Protecting Voting Rights is a fundamental aspect of American Democracy

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Protest 2026, purple, Voting Rights

Protecting voting rights is a fundamental aspect of American democracy, and your concern about potential executive overreach is valid given recent reports. While presidents have issued executive orders related to elections in the past, they don’t have unilateral authority to control how states run them, elections are primarily a state responsibility under the Constitution (Article I, Section 4), with Congress able to set or alter regulations for federal races. Any attempt to impose sweeping changes via executive order, especially if premised on unsubstantiated claims like foreign interference from past elections, would likely face immediate legal challenges and injunctions from federal courts, as happened with a similar order in March 2025.

Courts have repeatedly affirmed that such actions can’t override constitutional limits or state authority without clear statutory backing.

That said, litigation can take time, so proactive steps are key to safeguarding access to the ballot. Here’s what individuals and communities can do, based on established strategies from voting rights organizations:

20260227 1525 Image Generation simple compose 01kjgpn3xwe56sa3wwxmrszbfs

If There Are No Records, There Is No Legacy

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

There is a quiet contradiction taking shape—one that deserves more attention than it’s getting.

In recent statements and reporting, Donald Trump has suggested, directly or indirectly, that presidential records are his to control—perhaps even to destroy. Whether that claim holds up legally is almost beside the point.

Because if it’s true in spirit, it collapses something much bigger.

Under the Presidential Records Act, presidential records are not personal belongings. They are the property of the American people. They exist not for vanity, but for accountability—for historians, for oversight, for future generations trying to understand what was done in their name.

That is the entire reason presidential libraries exist.

They are not monuments to ego. They are archives of record.

They are entrusted to the National Archives and Records Administration because history, in this country, is not supposed to be curated by the people who made it.

So here is the simple question:

If the records are disposable… what exactly are we preserving?

If a president can treat official documents as personal property—something to be kept, hidden, or destroyed at will—then the very foundation of a presidential library disappears. You cannot build a monument to history while simultaneously erasing the evidence of it.

And if that is the posture being taken, then the conclusion is unavoidable:

There is no justification for a presidential library.

No justification for public land transfers.
No justification for taxpayer-supported infrastructure.
No justification for the quiet reshaping of public resources into private legacy projects.

If the records have no enduring value, then neither does the archive meant to hold them.

Return the land.
Cancel the project.
Call it what it is.

Because a library without records is not a library at all.

It is a stage set.

And the American people deserve more than a carefully constructed empty room where history used to be.

Not Every Collapse Happens in Public

On - Mental Healthcare, Private Funding, purple

Not Every Collapse Happens in Public

Not every failure looks like a tent on a sidewalk.

Some of it happens quietly.

In apartments.
In classrooms.
In lives that, from the outside, still look like they’re moving forward.

There’s a tendency to separate things.

Homelessness over here.
Mental health over there.
Addiction somewhere else.

As if they’re different problems.

But they’re often just different points along the same path.

And not everyone reaches the visible end of it.

Some people fall apart long before that.

Without ever becoming part of the public conversation.

Even when there are signs, they’re easy to miss.

Or easy to misread.

Or easy to put off dealing with until later.

Because most people aren’t trained to recognize what they’re looking at.

And even if they are, they often don’t know what to do next.

So moments pass.

Windows close.

And what could have been interrupted… isn’t.

Afterward, there’s reflection.

Looking back. Connecting dots. Seeing things more clearly than they were at the time.

That happens more often than people talk about.

But even that awareness doesn’t automatically translate into something usable.

It doesn’t create a system.

It doesn’t create a path others can follow.

It just becomes another isolated experience.

That’s the pattern again.

Pieces that exist.
But don’t connect.

We tend to think of intervention as something formal.

Something that belongs to institutions, professionals, or systems.

But those systems are often hard to access, hard to navigate, or already overwhelmed.

So people are left in a kind of in-between space.

They can see something isn’t right.

But they don’t have a clear way to act on it.

And just like with the visible side of the problem, that space doesn’t stay empty.

It fills with delay.

With uncertainty.

With missed chances.

Not because people don’t care.

But because nothing around them is structured in a way that helps them act in time.

That’s a different kind of gap.

Less visible.
But just as real.

And just like the one we can see every day, it raises a similar question:

If the pieces are already there…
why don’t they come together in a way that actually works?

Political figures in 20th century conflicts

The Illusion of Control: From Vietnam to Iran

On - Blog, Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

1963.

At the time, Vietnam wasn’t “the war”—not yet. It was something smaller, something contained. Advisors. Strategy. A situation we believed we understood.

Looking back, that belief may have been the most dangerous part.

Because by 1963, the United States was already working from a playbook it had used before—most notably in Iran just ten years earlier.

In 1953, the U.S., alongside Britain, helped remove Iran’s democratically elected leader,
Mohammad Mossadegh, after he nationalized the country’s oil industry. In his place, we reinforced the rule of
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi—a leader more aligned with Western interests.

At the time, it looked like a clean success.

No drawn-out conflict. No troop buildup. Just decisive action in the name of stability and Cold War necessity.

But what we couldn’t see—or perhaps didn’t want to see—was what we had set in motion.

Vietnam unfolded differently, but the thinking behind it felt familiar.

We didn’t begin with war. We began with confidence.

Confidence that we understood the threat.
Confidence that we could shape the outcome.
Confidence that backing the “right” leadership would bring stability.

So we supported governments in South Vietnam, including leaders like
Ngo Dinh Diem, even as their footing at home became more uncertain.

We believed we were preventing something—communism spreading across Southeast Asia.

What we didn’t fully recognize was what we were creating in the process: instability, resistance, and a conflict that could not be managed from the outside.

Iran and Vietnam were not the same.

But the pattern was.

In both cases, American policy was driven by a mix of real strategic concern and a powerful assumption—that we could influence events inside countries we did not fully understand.

In Iran, that assumption produced short-term stability and long-term resentment, culminating in the
Iranian Revolution.

In Vietnam, it led to gradual escalation, a prolonged war, and a divided country at home.

Different circumstances. Same blind spot.

The illusion wasn’t that we acted without reason.

The illusion was that we were in control.

That belief—that with enough planning, pressure, or precision we could shape another nation’s future—has echoed through decades of American foreign policy.

Sometimes quietly. Sometimes with consequences that take years to fully reveal themselves.

Today, the names and places have changed, but the instincts can feel familiar.

We still face moments where distant conflicts are framed in simple terms. Where intervention is presented as measured, necessary, and under control. Where the complexities on the ground are compressed into something easier to act on—and easier to explain.

And once again, the question isn’t whether the concerns are real.

It’s whether our confidence matches our understanding.

For those of us who remember Vietnam, this isn’t abstract history.

It’s personal.

It’s the distance between what we were told and what we later came to understand.

And it leaves us with a question that still matters:

Have we learned to recognize that pattern when it appears?

Or do we still mistake influence for understanding—and action for control?

History doesn’t repeat itself exactly.

But it does repeat its assumptions.

And if there’s one lesson that connects Iran in 1953 and Vietnam in 1963, it’s this:

We are far better at shaping events in the moment
than we are at living with what follows.

Addressing Mental Health – “A Practical Approach:”

On - Mental Healthcare, Private Funding, purple

A Practical Approach: When Something Obvious Isn’t Being Done

There’s a lot of noise right now.

Wars. Elections. Markets. Politics layered on top of politics. Everyone talking, few people listening. Most of it feels unstable. Most of it feels out of reach.

And maybe that’s part of the problem.

Because while we’re all focused on the big, complicated, unsolvable things… there are problems sitting right in front of us that aren’t complicated at all.

They’re just not being picked up.

Addiction treatment is one of them.

Not addiction in isolation—because addiction is often the visible problem. The root often lies in untreated or poorly managed mental health challenges. But addiction is treatable. It’s measurable. Interventions can work. And it’s where we can actually make a difference.

We see it everywhere. In cities, small towns, emergency rooms, police calls, families trying to hold together. People falling through the cracks of systems that were supposed to catch them.

We’ve known this for years. Studied it. Funded it. Debated it. Reframed it. Turned it into policy arguments, budget fights, election talking points.

And still—it sits there.

Not solved. Not improving in any meaningful, consistent way.

Just… managed.

Part of the reason is that we’ve treated it like a political problem. Something to be argued over. Something funded or defunded depending on who’s in charge. Something that shifts direction every few years without building real continuity.

But addiction doesn’t wait for elections. It doesn’t follow politics. And this doesn’t feel like a political problem anymore.

It feels like a systems problem.

Systems problems—when they’re clear enough—can be built differently.

This isn’t about overhauling healthcare. It’s not about rewriting insurance laws or building another layer of bureaucracy.

It’s simpler than that.

It’s about creating **places where people can go when they’re not okay—and actually get help for the things we can treat**.

Structured help. Humane help. Recovery-focused help.

Places designed from the beginning to focus on outcomes, not billing cycles. Where addiction is addressed alongside the underlying mental health context. Where accountability is measured by whether people stabilize, recover, and return to life with some form of independence.

Right now, we spend an extraordinary amount of time and energy reacting to crises after they’ve already spilled out.

Emergency response. Law enforcement. Crisis management.

All necessary. None designed to fix the root.

The quieter question is whether we’re willing to build something that works before people reach that point.

This isn’t impossible.

It’s neglected.

And sometimes the difference between the two is simply whether someone decides to pick it up.

Why is Trump DESPERATE to pass the SAVE America Act?

On - elections and media, Protest 2026, purple, Voting Rights

The SAVE America Act , The Wolf in Sheeps Clothing, Hey Lamb Chop.

Who it makes voting harder for:

Ordinary Americans broadly — More than 21 million Americans lack ready access to those documents. Roughly half of Americans don’t even have a passport.

Voters of color and younger voters — The SAVE Act would disenfranchise Americans of all ages and races, but younger voters and voters of color would suffer disproportionately.

Older Black Americans specifically — Decades after segregation left gaps in citizenship documents, the bill could create new barriers at the ballot box for people who were never properly documented during that era.

Married women (and anyone who changed their name) — The bill would disproportionately affect women whose current legal names differ from the names on their birth certificates or passports. It does not include exceptions for eligible voters whose names differ from those on their identification documents, and would force them to submit additional documents — such as marriage certificates, divorce decrees, or court orders to prove their identities.

People who register by mail or online — In 2022, more than seven million Americans registered to vote by mail, and almost 11 million registered online. The bill would severely threaten mail registration and require online registration systems to be overhauled.

Naturalized citizens — Naturalized citizens are particularly at risk for being inaccurately flagged for removal from voter rolls under the bill’s data-verification requirements.

People with disabilities and the elderly — People with disabilities and older voters who may not be able to register in person would also face new barriers.

Supporters’ argument

Proponents say the bill is necessary to ensure only citizens vote and that it simply enforces existing law. They argue an affidavit process exists for those without documents.

Critics’ counterargument

All available evidence, including from the Trump administration itself, indicates that only American citizens vote and the exceptions are vanishingly rare. Critics point to Kansas as a cautionary example when Kansas adopted a similar proof-of-citizenship law in 2011, it prevented over 31,000 eligible citizens from registering to vote before it was blocked by federal courts.

Do You want to be turned away?

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Healthcare in America vs Socialized Medicine Today- End of Series

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Healthcare in America vs Socialized Medicine Today

1. What We Have Now (U.S. Model)

The U.S. system is a hybrid, multi-payer system:

Private insurance (employer-based and individual market)
Public insurance:
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- TRICARE
- Veterans Health Administration
Private hospitals (mostly nonprofit, some for-profit)
Private physician practices (increasingly consolidated)

Important reality:

Roughly half or more of U.S. healthcare spending already flows through government programs. We are not a pure market system. We are a complex blend.

2. What “Socialized Medicine” Actually Means

People often use “socialized” loosely. There are actually three different models internationally:

A. Fully Socialized (Government Owns & Employs)

Example: National Health Service in the UK

Government owns hospitals
Doctors are government employees
Government sets budgets directly
Care funded through taxes

That’s true “socialized medicine.”

B. Single-Payer (Government Pays, Private Providers Deliver)

Example: Medicare (Canada’s system)

Private hospitals & doctors
Government is the main insurer
One public payment system
Funded via taxes

This is not government-run hospitals — it’s government-run insurance.

C. Multi-Payer Regulated System

Example: Statutory Health Insurance

Private and nonprofit insurers
Strict national rules
Price controls
Universal coverage mandate

3. So How Different Are We?

Structurally:

We already have heavy government financing.
We already regulate pricing in public programs.
We already operate large government-run care systems (VA hospitals).
We already subsidize private insurance through tax exclusions.

What we don’t have:

A unified payment structure
National price controls across the board
Universal automatic coverage
Simplified billing

The biggest structural difference isn’t just “who pays.”

It’s:

Fragmentation
Administrative layering
Pricing freedom in private markets
Employment-tied insurance

4. Where the Real Divide Is

The debate isn’t simply:

Private vs Socialized.

It’s about:

Who controls pricing?
How risk is pooled?
How incentives are aligned?
How much administrative complexity is tolerated?

Even a “socialized” system still rations care — just differently (wait times vs cost-sharing).

Even our current system has price controls — just unevenly applied.

5. If the U.S. “Moved Toward Socialized” — What Would Actually Change?

Not necessarily hospital ownership.

More likely changes would include:

Centralized bargaining power
Uniform reimbursement rates
Elimination of employer-based insurance
Tax-based funding instead of premium-based funding
Dramatically reduced administrative overhead
Reduced insurer role

The money flow changes.
The power centers shift.
Administrative structure simplifies.

But doctors would still practice medicine.
Hospitals would still exist.
Care would still be rationed — just through different mechanisms.

6. The Quiet Truth

We are already halfway between models.

The U.S. system is not a free market.
It is not socialized.
It is a layered hybrid with competing incentives.

The question isn’t:

“Would we become socialized?”

The real question is:

“How centralized do we want payment and pricing authority to be?”

That’s a structural debate — not just a funding debate.

To go deeper, we have to explore:

What would actually happen to costs?
What happens to innovation?
What happens to wait times?
Or what a realistic transition would look like?

The real questions aren’t ideological. They’re mechanical:

How do you unwind employer-based insurance?
What happens to 150+ million people currently covered through work?
How do you transition provider payment rates?
What happens to hospital revenue if Medicare rates become universal?
How do you fund it — payroll tax? VAT? income tax?
What happens to innovation incentives?
What happens to wait-time management?
What happens to administrative jobs?
How long would the transition take? 5 years? 10?
Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 6 Technology & Telehealth Optimization

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 6 Technology & Telehealth Optimization

Technology in healthcare is often talked about as the next big fix. But without careful design, it can add complexity instead of reducing it. When implemented thoughtfully, tech and telehealth can improve access, coordination, and outcomes, completing the reforms outlined in this playbook.

Why Technology Matters

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and data integration reduce duplication and improve continuity
Telehealth expands access for rural and underserved communities
Remote monitoring supports chronic disease management and preventive care

Technology is a tool, not a solution in itself. Used strategically, it amplifies other structural reforms: integration, transparency, and incentive alignment.

Key Levers

Streamlined Telehealth Platforms
- Simple, user-friendly interfaces for patients and providers
- Integration with EHRs to ensure continuity and data flow
- Focused use for follow-ups, consultations, and chronic disease monitoring
Remote Patient Monitoring
- Devices track blood pressure, glucose, heart rate, and more
- Data feeds into provider dashboards for timely interventions
- Reduces preventable hospitalizations and complications
Data Integration & Analytics
- Unified patient records improve care coordination
- Analytics identify high-risk patients and resource gaps
- Supports evidence-based decision making and oversight

Why This Matters for Patients

More convenient access to care, especially in rural or underserved areas
Reduced travel and wait times
Better tracking of chronic conditions and preventive measures
Fewer surprises in billing or treatment, thanks to integrated systems

Structural Insight

Technology alone won’t fix systemic inefficiencies, but it enhances the levers already discussed:

Integration becomes more effective
Administrative burden is reduced
Incentive alignment and preventive care are easier to track

When combined with oversight, transparency, and coordinated care, technology turns abstract reforms into real-world improvements that patients can see and feel.

Closing the Playbook

This concludes the Structural Reform Playbook:

Administrative Oversight & Waste Reduction
Price Transparency & Negotiation
Integrated Care & Coordination
Incentive Alignment for Prevention & Chronic Disease
Rural & Underserved Access
Technology & Telehealth Optimization

The series shows that practical, achievable reforms exist, even without overhauling the entire system. Small, structural changes — applied thoughtfully — can reduce friction, preserve access, and improve outcomes.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 5 Rural & Underserved Access

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 5 Rural & Underserved Access

The healthcare system functions differently depending on geography. Rural and underserved communities often face the highest friction and the least margin for error. Structural reforms here can make a real, tangible difference.

Why Rural Access Matters

Rural hospitals are smaller and see fewer patients, making them financially vulnerable.
Administrative complexity, rising costs, and low volumes can force closures.
Residents face long travel times for basic care, emergencies, or specialty services.

Even small structural adjustments can preserve access and prevent critical gaps.

Key Levers

Support Small Hospitals & Clinics
- Scalable administrative support reduces overhead
- Shared billing, coding, and claims systems lighten the burden
- Focus resources on essential services like emergency care and maternity
Expand Telehealth Thoughtfully
- Remote visits, monitoring, and virtual coaching extend care
- Requires investment in broadband, training, and user-friendly platforms
- Not a replacement for in-person care but a critical supplement
Regional Collaboration Networks
- Hospitals and providers pool resources for staffing, equipment, and specialty coverage
- Shared protocols and coordination reduce redundancy and improve efficiency

Why This Matters for Patients

Local access is preserved, reducing travel and treatment delays
Care is more coordinated and consistent
Chronic disease management and preventive care remain accessible
Rural communities gain stability without requiring massive system changes

Structural Insight

Rural and underserved populations are canaries in the coal mine for healthcare stress. Structural interventions — not political promises — determine whether access is preserved.

Centralized support, telehealth, and collaboration provide practical, achievable levers.
Protecting care in these areas also reduces systemic costs: fewer preventable hospitalizations, emergencies, and complications.

Transition

Next, we’ll close the playbook with Post 6 — Technology & Telehealth Optimization, showing how thoughtful tech can further enhance care without adding unnecessary complexity or cost.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 4 Incentive Alignment for Prevention & Chronic Disease

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 4 Incentive Alignment for Prevention & Chronic Disease

Chronic disease drives the majority of U.S. healthcare costs. Managing it is not just a clinical challenge — it’s also a matter of incentives. Even small changes in how care is reimbursed or structured can produce better outcomes and lower costs.

Why Incentives Matter

Fee-for-service models reward volume, not long-term health.
Preventive care, counseling, and lifestyle support are often undervalued financially.
Patients may delay care or skip follow-ups because short-term costs are unclear.

The result: high spending, fragmented management, and preventable complications.

Key Levers

Reward Preventive Care
- Screenings, vaccinations, counseling, and early intervention
- Payments tied to outcomes, not just visits or procedures
Support Chronic Disease Management
- Encourage care teams to coordinate long-term plans
- Incentivize adherence to treatment and monitoring programs
Align Patient Behavior with Health Goals
- Use tools like health coaching, reminders, and education
- Reduce barriers to preventive visits and healthy lifestyle adoption

Why This Matters for Patients

More attention on prevention and long-term management
Reduced complications and hospitalizations
Lower out-of-pocket costs over time
Greater clarity and consistency in care

Structural Insight

Incentive alignment does not require a system overhaul.
Shifting focus from procedure volume to health outcomes produces measurable improvements.
When paired with integration and transparency, it closes the loop between dollars spent and health achieved.

Transition

Next in the playbook: Rural & Underserved Access, a deep dive showing how structural levers can protect vulnerable communities and preserve essential services.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 3 Integrated Care & Coordination

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 3 Integrated Care & Coordination

The U.S. healthcare system works, but often in fragments. Patients move between hospitals, clinics, specialists, and pharmacies — and each transition creates duplication, delays, and cost. Integrated care offers a structural solution: connecting services under one system or coordinated network.

Why Integration Matters

Fragmented care drives redundant tests, inconsistent records, and delays.
Chronic disease management suffers when providers don’t share information.
Rural or smaller hospitals struggle to provide comprehensive care without support.

Integrated models — like Kaiser Permanente or other vertically coordinated systems — reduce these frictions by aligning care delivery, records, and financial flows.

Key Features of Integrated Care

Shared Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
- All providers within the network can access patient history
- Reduces repeated tests and improves treatment consistency
Coordinated Care Teams
- Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and specialists collaborate
- Focus on patient outcomes rather than billable procedures
Streamlined Financial Flows
- Centralized billing and contracting reduces administrative burden
- Clearer incentives for prevention and long-term management
Monitoring & Accountability
- Data-driven tracking of outcomes and efficiency
- Encourages continuous improvement without adding complexity

Why This Matters for Patients

Fewer redundant tests and appointments
Smoother navigation through the system
Better management of chronic conditions and preventive care
Potentially lower overall costs, even within existing insurance structures

Structural Insight

Integration is not a cure-all, and scale can create new challenges (like monopolistic pricing). But when paired with oversight, transparency, and incentive alignment, integrated care provides a measurable path to efficiency and better outcomes.

Transition

Next, we’ll examine Incentive Alignment for Prevention & Chronic Disease, a tight post showing how small shifts in payment models can improve health outcomes while controlling costs.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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A Pivot Opportunity on America’s Mental Health Crisis – Redirecting Priorities from Endless War

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Elon,You’ve already highlighted failures in mental health policy—deinstitutionalization left untreated severe cases on the streets, fueling homelessness, addiction, crime, and chaos (your “Make Asylums Great Again” posts in Feb 2026 nailed the critique of that 20th-century cost-cutting disaster). You’ve been open about personal struggles too (prescription ketamine for dark states, calling out “mental rabies” in violent offenders who need containment/treatment, not release).

The current hypocrisy is glaring and worsening: The Iran war (started late Feb 2026) is burning ~$1 billion/day (Pentagon briefed Congress on $11.3B+ in first 6 days; estimates now push $12–18B+ cumulative by mid-March, per CSIS/Reuters/NYT). That’s endless foreign escalation with no clear end, spiking gas prices and hurting Americans at home—while behavioral health funding gets squeezed (billions cut/reversed in SAMHSA grants under recent efficiencies).

A subtle distance from the current admin’s trajectory (less close proximity to avoid shrapnel from backlash) could open huge ground for you to lead on this domestically. Champion modern psychiatric treatment centers/recovery campuses (avoid “asylums” stigma—frame as humane, evidence-based facilities with safeguards, voluntary where possible, mandatory for severe threats). Tie it to protecting families/communities from exploitation, trauma, addiction cycles—subtly “shines” your image amid any lingering noise (e.g., old Epstein file smears).

Bring in Bezos, Zuckerberg, Ellison (Oracle) for a consortium: Announce an initial $19.5B fund (roughly 2–3 weeks of current war burn—people can do the math). Position it as:

Not replacing DEA street-level enforcement (that’s federal law job).
Funding treatment infrastructure: beds, crisis units, integrated SUD/mental health care, recovery housing, peer programs.
“Giving back”—this money originated from American taxpayers; redirecting a fraction to heal at home instead of endless abroad conflicts.

You have the platform (X), cash, and disruption cred to make this viral and bipartisan—addressing blue-city street crises and rural opioid/mental health gaps without heavy ideology. It aligns with your existing views, scales like your big missions, and could force national conversation/pressure for reallocations.

Worth considering? The timing (lame-duck dynamics, midterm/economic pain building) might be right.

No pressure—just an idea from a purple independent who’s tired of misplaced priorities.

@elonmusk – worth considering?

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 2 Price Transparency & Negotiation

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 2 Price Transparency & Negotiation

Even with insurance, many Americans are surprised by healthcare bills. One visit, one test, one procedure — and the costs can feel like a mystery. Price transparency and negotiation are levers that can fix that without upending the system.

Why Transparency Matters

Patients rarely know the true cost of care until after the service.
Insurers, providers, and pharmacy benefit managers negotiate complex contracts that are invisible to patients.
Confusing bills reduce trust and make it harder to choose cost-effective care.

Making costs visible empowers decision-making — for patients, employers, and even smaller providers.

Key Levers

Publish Standardized Prices
- Hospitals and providers should clearly list costs for common procedures and services.
- Patients can compare in-network and out-of-network pricing before care.
Simplify Insurance Coverage Explanations
- Standard summaries of deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance, and coverage rules.
- Easy-to-read formats reduce mistakes and surprise bills.
Encourage Negotiation & Bundled Payments
- Regional or employer-level negotiations can lower costs for common procedures.
- Bundled payments align provider incentives with outcomes, not volume.

Why This Matters for Patients

Fewer surprise bills and unexpected out-of-pocket costs
Clearer choices when selecting providers or treatments
Stronger leverage to choose value over volume

Price transparency is not about “free market” ideology; it’s about clarity, fairness, and predictability. When patients see costs clearly, the system becomes easier to navigate — and wasteful practices are exposed.

Transition

Next in the playbook is Integrated Care & Coordination, a deep dive showing how putting services under one roof (or at least in a coordinated network) can improve outcomes and reduce duplication.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 1 Administrative Oversight & Waste Reduction

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Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Part 1 Administrative Oversight & Waste Reduction

Structural Reform Playbook — Visual Map

Post	Type	Focus / Reform Lever	Key Takeaway
1 — Administrative Oversight & Waste Reduction	Tight	Reduce friction and unnecessary costs	Streamline billing, claims, coding — more dollars toward care
2 — Price Transparency & Negotiation	Tight	Clear costs for patients and payers	Publish prices, simplify insurance explanations, negotiate bundled payments
3 — Integrated Care & Coordination	Deep Dive	Connect services for efficiency	Shared EHRs, care teams, centralized flows — reduce duplication
4 — Incentive Alignment for Prevention & Chronic Disease	Tight	Align payments with health outcomes	Reward preventive care and long-term management, not volume
5 — Rural & Underserved Access	Deep Dive	Preserve essential care	Support small hospitals, telehealth, regional networks
6 — Technology & Telehealth Optimization	Tight	Amplify reforms with tech	Streamlined telehealth, remote monitoring, integrated data

Healthcare in America Structural Reform Playbook Post 1 Administrative Oversight & Waste Reduction

The U.S. healthcare system is enormous. It works, but it also carries layers of administrative complexity that drive cost, slow care, and frustrate patients. The good news: some of this friction can be addressed without overhauling the entire system.

Why Oversight Matters

Administrative tasks — billing, claims processing, coding, approvals — are necessary, but studies show U.S. administrative costs are roughly double those of comparable countries. That’s hundreds of billions of dollars each year that could be redirected toward actual care.

Even small improvements in oversight and efficiency can have immediate, measurable impact.

Key Levers

Streamline Claims and Billing
- Standardize forms and electronic submissions
- Reduce redundant approvals and prior authorization bottlenecks
- Encourage faster reconciliation of payments
Audit Administrative Waste
- Identify duplicated services, double billing, or unnecessary bureaucracy
- Focus on high-cost providers and high-volume claims
- Track savings and reinvest them in patient care
Simplify Coding & Reporting
- Standardized medical codes reduce errors and denials
- Training and technology investments can cut hours of administrative work
- Clearer documentation improves patient experience and staff efficiency

Why This Matters for Patients

Faster claims and billing reduce confusion
Less paperwork for providers frees up time for patient care
Savings can improve access, staffing, and resources

Administrative reform is not flashy. It won’t make headlines. But it works quietly, and it works fast. It’s a foundational step toward reducing cost and improving care, without needing politics to change overnight.

Transition

Next in the playbook: Price Transparency & Negotiation, where we tackle one of the most visible frustrations for patients — confusing costs and unpredictable bills.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 10 Reform Principles: Aligning the System

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 10 Reform Principles: Aligning the System

We’ve traced the U.S. healthcare system from dollars to delivery, explored administrative complexity, chronic disease, and rural pressures, and analyzed incentives. Now the question becomes: what would a system look like if it aligned with outcomes rather than complexity?

This is not about ideology or politics. It’s about structure and function.

1. Simplification

Reduce unnecessary administrative layers.
Streamline claims, billing, and prior authorization processes.
Standardize coding and reporting where possible.

Goal: Money and effort should flow toward care, not paperwork.

2. Transparent Pricing

Make costs clear for patients, employers, and payers.
Standardize pricing across hospitals and providers where feasible.
Ensure out-of-network and surprise bills are minimized.

Goal: Reduce confusion, improve decision-making, and empower patients.

3. Incentive Alignment

Reward preventive care and long-term health outcomes rather than volume of procedures.
Align provider reimbursement with patient health metrics and chronic disease management.
Encourage insurers to focus on outcomes and accessibility rather than purely risk mitigation.

Goal: Make the system work for health, not just billing.

4. Rural Stabilization

Support small hospitals and critical access facilities with scalable administrative support.
Consider alternative models for staffing, telehealth, and regional collaboration.
Protect essential services even in low-volume communities.

Goal: Ensure equitable access regardless of geography.

5. Data-Driven Oversight

Use data to identify inefficiencies, high-cost drivers, and gaps in access.
Encourage transparency in spending and outcomes across all layers.
Support continuous improvement rather than static regulation.

Goal: Make evidence the foundation for policy and operational decisions.

6. Patient-Centered Design

Simplify insurance interactions.
Educate patients on coverage, preventive care, and cost implications.
Make navigation of care intuitive and friction-free.

Goal: Ensure patients experience the system as a service, not a puzzle.

Closing Insight

The U.S. healthcare system is enormous, expensive, and complex. But it is not irredeemable. By focusing on structure, transparency, and incentives, it is possible to reduce waste, improve access, and align resources with actual care.

The principles outlined here are nonpartisan and structural: they do not depend on ideology, politics, or personalities. They depend on understanding the machine and reshaping it to serve the people it was meant to help.

This completes the Follow the Money series:

Post 1: $4.5 Trillion Machine
Post 2: Who Actually Funds the Machine?
Post 3: Where the Money Goes
Post 4: Following the Dollar
Post 5: Administrative Complexity
Post 6: Insurance Design
Post 7: Chronic Disease
Post 8: Rural Healthcare & Consolidation
Post 9: Incentive Audit
Post 10: Reform Principles

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Christian nationalism isn’t really about Christianity at al

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez recently argued on her Substack that Democrats chasing religious voters are missing the point entirely. She’s right, and the reasons go deeper than most people realize.

Christian nationalism isn’t really about Christianity at all. At its root, it’s about tribe: white, native-born, conservative Protestant identity under siege. The scholars who study it (people like Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry) are clear: this isn’t a theological movement you can talk or preach someone out of. It’s loyalty to a group defined by race, grievance, and the feeling that their way of life is being erased. Social science has shown for decades that when a group feels attacked, waving their symbols back at them doesn’t convert anyone. It just feels like invasion. They dig in harder.

That’s why the old Democratic playbook of trying to out-Jesus the right in places like Texas keeps failing. The consultants are still chasing an older, whiter, more church-going version of the state that is literally shrinking every year. Meanwhile the actual Texas, younger, browner, more urban, more secular, is being ignored. Religiosity is dropping fast nationwide, especially among the generations driving Texas’s growth. One in four Texans is under 18. The future isn’t waiting for a moderate white candidate to sound more pious.

And here’s the tell: if Republicans truly owned Texas the way the maps pretend, they wouldn’t have had to redraw congressional districts mid-decade in 2025, surgically cracking Latino and Black neighborhoods and packing them into as few seats as possible. You only gerrymander that aggressively when you’re terrified the real electorate is slipping away. Real Texas, majority nonwhite, increasingly independent, tired of a rigged system, doesn’t need pandering. It needs policies that treat its existence as fact, not a problem to be diluted. The GOP knows exactly who that Texas is. That’s why they keep changing the rules.

Georgia just showed what happens when Democrats stop chasing ghosts and start talking to the people actually in front of them. In November 2025, two Democrats swept statewide elections to Georgia’s Public Service Commission, flipping seats Republicans had held for nearly two decades and winning nearly 63% of the vote. They didn’t run on culture war counterattacks or carefully triangulated faith messaging. They ran on electricity bills. On the audacity of a utility company raising rates while its shareholders cashed in. On the basic idea that a regulatory body should regulate for people, not for Georgia Power.

And an even bigger upset is Democrat Shawn Harris’s lead to take Marjorie Taylor Greene’s seat, Harris who is leading the GOP candidate’ Fuller could very well add one more Democrat prior to the 2026 Midterms.

The results were read, even by Republican strategists on the ground, as less anti-Republican than anti-incumbent, a signal that voters are furious about grocery prices, housing costs, and energy bills, and will vote for whoever seems to take that fury seriously. That’s not a narrow opening. That’s a door standing wide open.

The Democrats flipped 22 counties that had voted for Donald Trump in 2024, not by persuading those voters to abandon their cultural identity, but by giving them something concrete to vote for. The tribe instinct is real, but it has a threshold. When the lights cost too much and nobody in power seems to care, people will cross it.

This is the playbook Democrats keep forgetting they have. Not the one written around finding the right white moderate who can quote scripture without wincing. The one built around material conditions, the cost of staying alive in the place you live. It doesn’t require anyone to abandon their identity. It just requires a party to show up and say: the people running this system are getting rich while you fall behind, and we’re going to make that stop.

Texas is the long game. The demographics are real, the gerrymandering proves the GOP knows it, and the question is whether Democrats will organize around the electorate that exists rather than the one their consultants remember. Georgia is the proof of concept: a red state, a low-turnout race, a utilitarian message, and a landslide.

But templates only travel if someone picks them up. And that’s where the Democratic Party keeps losing the thread. The Georgia win didn’t happen because a national committee handed down a strategy. It happened because two candidates decided to talk about something real and voters responded. The problem isn’t that Democrats lack a message. It’s that no one seems authorized to carry it everywhere, not just in the districts where winning already feels possible.

The GOP has a unified voice. You can agree with it or despise it, but you always know what it is. Democrats keep waiting for permission to find theirs. That’s not a messaging problem. That’s a leadership problem, and until the party decides to solve it, Georgia stays an asterisk instead of becoming a blueprint.

The party doesn’t need a new theology. It needs someone willing to say the same true thing in everywhere and mean it every time.

This piece was inspired by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez’s essay “No, Jesus Won’t Save the Democratic Party” on her Substack, Alisa Writes.

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 9 Incentive Audit: Who Really Benefits?

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 9 Incentive Audit: Who Really Benefits?

We’ve traced the system from dollars to delivery, explored chronic disease, and examined rural pressures. Now we ask a crucial question: who actually benefits from the way the system is structured?

Understanding incentives is key to seeing why healthcare costs continue to rise, even when outcomes lag.

1. Providers

Hospitals and physician groups benefit when patients utilize services — more procedures, more visits, more tests.
Fee-for-service payment models reward volume rather than long-term outcomes.
Administrative complexity can create higher revenue for larger organizations that can manage it efficiently, leaving smaller providers struggling.

Insight: scale and complexity often favor larger, well-resourced providers.

2. Insurers

Insurance companies benefit from predictable revenue through premiums and from managing risk pools.
Complexity (deductibles, prior authorizations, network rules) allows insurers to control costs and reduce risk exposure.
Administrative layers are part of this management — they protect financial stability but also add friction for patients.

Insight: the system is designed to manage risk, not maximize simplicity.

3. Pharmacy Benefit Managers & Drug Manufacturers

PBMs negotiate prices and rebates, influencing which medications are accessible or costly.
Drug manufacturers benefit from high-cost specialty medications and brand exclusivity periods.

Insight: financial structures shape access and cost, sometimes more than clinical need does.

4. Patients

Patients benefit from insurance coverage, access to advanced care, and risk protection.
Yet they also bear the cost of complexity: premiums, deductibles, co-pays, travel for care, and confusing bills.

Insight: patients participate financially at multiple points but rarely see the full flow of funds, which reduces visibility and understanding.

5. Communities

Urban centers with high volumes and consolidated hospitals often maintain stable services.
Rural communities with low volumes and fewer resources are vulnerable to closures and service reductions.

Insight: structural scale advantages create unequal outcomes across geographies.

Structural Takeaways

Complexity, consolidation, and financial engineering create winners and losers.
The system works for efficiency and risk management, but not always for access, affordability, or simplicity.
Understanding incentives is essential before discussing reform: any solution must realign motivations, not just cut costs.

Transition

With incentives mapped, we can now move to the final post — Reform Principles. Here, we shift from analysis to constructive thinking, outlining structural ideas that could reduce friction, improve access, and align incentives with health outcomes.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 8 Rural Healthcare & Consolidation: When the Machine Strains

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 8 Rural Healthcare & Consolidation: When the Machine Strains

So far, we’ve mapped who pays, where money flows, how a dollar moves, and explored administrative complexity and chronic disease. Now we see how these forces converge in rural America — where hospitals are small, margins are thin, and system complexity hits hardest.

1. Hospital Closures

Over the past two decades, hundreds of rural hospitals have closed.
Causes include low patient volumes, high uncompensated care, and increasing administrative burdens.
When a local hospital closes, patients must travel farther for care — sometimes hundreds of miles for emergencies or maternity services.

This is where the structural cost of complexity becomes tangible: every layer of administration, insurance negotiation, and provider reimbursement adds to the financial pressure, threatening the survival of small facilities.

2. Consolidation and Private Equity

Many rural hospitals are acquired by larger health systems or private equity firms.
Consolidation can bring resources and standardized care, but also centralized decision-making that prioritizes financial performance over local needs.
Private equity ownership often emphasizes cost-cutting and profit margins, which can reduce staffing or eliminate underused services.

The result: communities lose local services, and residents experience less access — all while the total dollars flowing through the system continue to grow.

3. Limited Access & Telehealth

Telehealth promises expanded access, but it cannot replace all in-person care.
Broadband limitations, staffing shortages, and technology adoption challenges reduce effectiveness in many rural areas.

Even when care is “available” virtually, the real-world friction remains: long travel times, delayed treatment, and fragmented services.

4. Structural Insight

Rural healthcare exposes the tension at the heart of the system:

Complexity and consolidation allow the machine to operate efficiently at scale.
But small, low-volume communities lack the buffer to absorb costs and friction.
High spending doesn’t guarantee access — in fact, it can coincide with service loss.

The system is not uniformly broken — it is stressed where scale, demand, and resources collide.

Transition

With rural pressures laid bare, the next step is to examine incentives across the system: who benefits from complexity, chronic disease, and consolidation? This sets up the final discussion on reform principles, where we start talking about solutions grounded in structure rather than ideology.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

Protecting Your Voting Rights

On - Commentary, Politics, Protest 2026, purple, Voting Rights

Protecting voting rights is a fundamental aspect of American democracy, and your concern about potential executive overreach is valid given recent reports. While presidents have issued executive orders related to elections in the past, they don’t have unilateral authority to control how states run them, elections are primarily a state responsibility under the Constitution (Article I, Section 4), with Congress able to set or alter regulations for federal races. Any attempt to impose sweeping changes via executive order, especially if premised on unsubstantiated claims like foreign interference from past elections, would likely face immediate legal challenges and injunctions from federal courts, as happened with a similar order in March 2025.

Courts have repeatedly affirmed that such actions can’t override constitutional limits or state authority without clear statutory backing.

That said, litigation can take time, so proactive steps are key to safeguarding access to the ballot. Here’s what individuals and communities can do, based on established strategies from voting rights organizations:1. Stay Informed and Monitor Changes

Follow reliable sources for updates on election laws and any proposed executive actions. Organizations like the ACLU, Brennan Center for Justice, and League of Women Voters track voter suppression efforts and provide alerts.
Sign up for their newsletters or use tools like the Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) website to check your state’s rules.

Track bills in Congress, such as efforts to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (e.g., the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act), which could counter discriminatory changes.

The Act’s preclearance provision historically required federal approval for changes in states with discrimination histories, though it was weakened by the Supreme Court in 2013.

2. Register, Vote, and Help Others Do the Same

Ensure you’re registered and update your information if needed—use the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) provisions, which allow registration at DMVs or online in many states.
Encourage friends, family, and neighbors to register early to avoid last-minute barriers.
Vote in every election, including primaries and locals, where turnout can influence who shapes voting rules. If mail voting or early voting is available in your state, use it to reduce reliance on Election Day logistics that could be disrupted.

Know your rights: Federal laws like the Voting Rights Act prohibit discrimination based on race, color, or language, and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) ensures provisional ballots if your eligibility is questioned. If you face issues at the polls (e.g., intimidation or denial), report them immediately to the DOJ’s Voting Section or the Election Protection Hotline (866-OUR-VOTE).

3. Support Advocacy and Legal Efforts
Donate to or volunteer with groups fighting voter suppression, such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Common Cause, or the Brennan Center. They file lawsuits to block unlawful changes and have successfully challenged past executive orders.

For instance, multiple courts blocked key parts of the 2025 election integrity order.

Push for state-level Voting Rights Acts, which some states have adopted to fill gaps left by federal weakenings.

Contact your state legislators to advocate for expansions like automatic voter registration or protections against purges.

4. Engage Civically and Build Community

Contact your members of Congress to oppose bills like the SAVE America Act if they create unnecessary barriers (e.g., strict proof-of-citizenship requirements), and support reforms like the Freedom to Vote Act for national standards on early voting and mail ballots.

Volunteer as a poll worker, watcher, or nonpartisan monitor through groups like the EAC or local election boards. This helps ensure transparency and can deter irregularities.
Join or form community groups to educate others—host voter registration drives or workshops on recognizing misinformation about elections.

5. Prepare for Potential Challenges
If an executive order is issued attempting to mandate things like nationwide voter ID, bans on mail voting, or federal oversight of state systems, expect rapid court action.

Advocacy groups are already poised to challenge them, arguing they exceed presidential authority and violate states’ rights.

In the meantime, focus on state-level protections, as federal overreach often gets enjoined quickly.

Document and report any suspicious activity, like voter purges or intimidation, to the FBI or state attorneys general.
Ultimately, the strongest defense is high participation and collective action—history shows that when voters mobilize, attempts to restrict access often fail. If things escalate, resources like the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division can provide enforcement.

Stay engaged, and remember that protections like the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments provide a solid foundation against discrimination.

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 7 Chronic Disease: The Real Cost Driver

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 7 Chronic Disease: The Real Cost Driver

We’ve traced who pays, where the money goes, how a dollar moves, and insurance mechanics. Now we turn to the factor that drives most healthcare spending: chronic disease.

1. The Scale of the Problem

Chronic diseases — including diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and autoimmune conditions — account for roughly 70–80% of healthcare costs in the United States.

Millions of Americans live with multiple chronic conditions.
Treatment is ongoing: doctor visits, tests, medications, hospitalizations.
Costs compound over time, often creating financial stress for patients and strain on insurers and providers alike.

The system is designed to manage acute events well, but chronic conditions create persistent demand, exposing structural inefficiencies.

2. Incentives and Misalignment

Fee-for-service care: Providers are reimbursed for procedures, tests, and visits rather than long-term outcomes.
Preventive care under-incentivized: Counseling, lifestyle support, and early intervention are often undervalued financially.
Patient behavior vs system support: Access, food systems, socioeconomic factors, and education all influence health outcomes, but the system primarily reacts to illness rather than preventing it.

The result: the machine is built to treat disease efficiently — not necessarily to prevent it.

3. Chronic Disease and Costs

Hospitalizations: recurring admissions for complications
Medication: often lifelong, especially for diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease
Long-term care: as patients age, care needs increase
Lost productivity: societal costs from absenteeism and disability

Even when the system works “as intended,” costs escalate because chronic disease requires ongoing resources.

4. Why This Matters

Understanding chronic disease as a cost driver changes the conversation:

It is not about villainizing providers, insurers, or patients.
It is about structural incentives and the mismatch between treatment and prevention.
It shows that high spending is not random — it reflects the persistent demand created by population health trends and system design.

Do you begin to see a pattern:?

“The machine isn’t broken because of greed. It’s stressed because of chronic demand and misaligned incentives.”

Transition

Next, we will examine rural healthcare and consolidation, showing how the same structural pressures hit small communities even harder. Hospitals close, services disappear, and the machine’s complexity has real, tangible consequences for everyday Americans.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 6 Insurance Design: Why It Feels Complicated

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 6 Insurance Design: Why It Feels Complicated

We’ve traced who pays, seen where the money goes, and explored administrative complexity. Now let’s look at the layer everyone touches directly: insurance design.

Even the simplest plan can feel confusing. Deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance, in-network vs. out-of-network — it’s easy to feel like the system is rigged. But most of this complexity is built into the way insurance is designed.

1. Deductibles and Co-Pays

Deductible: The amount you pay before insurance begins to cover care.
Co-pay: A fixed fee for specific services, like a doctor visit.
Coinsurance: A percentage of costs you pay after the deductible.

These mechanisms aren’t arbitrary. They’re designed to share cost between the patient and the insurer and to limit unnecessary use of services.

Yet, they also create confusion. Patients may not know what counts toward the deductible or which services trigger co-pays.

2. Networks

Insurance plans contract with providers to create a network.

In-network providers: The insurer has negotiated rates.
Out-of-network providers: No negotiated rate; patients often pay more.

Network design can be narrow, meaning that not every local provider is covered. This protects insurers from excessive risk but can frustrate patients who assume all doctors are treated equally under their plan.

3. Prior Authorizations

Before certain services or procedures, insurers may require approval.

Designed to prevent unnecessary or unsafe procedures.
Adds friction to care delivery.
Can delay treatment even when clinically justified.

This is another invisible layer that increases both time and cost — often unseen by the patient until the delay occurs.

4. Surprise Costs

Even insured patients can face unexpected expenses:

Out-of-network bills
Balance billing
Specialty drug costs

These aren’t “gotcha” moments. They’re consequences of multiple layers of negotiation and reimbursement flowing through complex contracts.

Structural Insight

Insurance is financial engineering in action. It shapes behavior, distributes risk, and manages cost — but it also produces friction, confusion, and unpredictability for the patient.

The patient experiences only the tip of the iceberg.
Premiums, deductibles, and bills are the visible outcomes of a multi-layered system.
Understanding this prepares readers for why chronic disease and cost escalation become the next major challenge.

Transition

Next, we move into chronic disease as a cost driver. This is where personal behavior, population health, and system incentives intersect — and where the machine’s structure starts producing real-world consequences for everyone.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 5 Administrative Complexity: The Invisible Cost

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 5 Administrative Complexity: The Invisible Cost

American healthcare is enormous. We’ve seen who pays and where the money goes, and even traced a single dollar through the system. Now let’s examine one of the largest, least visible drivers of cost: administration.

Why Administration Exists

No single entity is “to blame.” Administrative layers exist because:

Compliance requirements: Hospitals and insurers must follow federal, state, and local regulations.
Revenue protection: Providers need billing, coding, and collections departments.
Risk management: Insurers need claims review, denials, and appeals processing.
Coordination: Multiple payers, network contracts, and patient eligibility require staff to manage flow.

Each of these layers solves a problem — but each also adds cost.

How It Breaks Down

Consider a typical hospital:

Clinical staff: Doctors, nurses, therapists — directly delivering care
Administrative staff: Billing, coding, claims review, human resources, IT, compliance, legal
Revenue cycle management: Collecting, processing, and reconciling payments from insurers and patients

In the United States, administrative costs account for roughly 8–12% of total healthcare spending. That’s hundreds of billions of dollars annually — roughly double what similar countries spend.

Doctors spend more time on paperwork than in almost any other system. Nurses and support staff spend hours on documentation and prior authorizations.

This is why physicians burn out and hospitals struggle with margins, even when they are busy providing care.

Administrative Complexity vs. Clinical Care

The problem isn’t just cost. It’s friction.

Prior authorizations delay treatment.
Coding errors trigger denials.
Complex claims systems confuse patients.

Every layer of administration increases time, effort, and uncertainty for everyone: providers, payers, and patients.

In other words, money spent on administration doesn’t directly improve outcomes, yet it is essential to keep the machine functioning.

Why You Should Care

Administrative complexity is invisible to most patients. You see your bills, your deductible, your co-pay — but rarely the thousands of small interactions behind them.

Following the dollar in the previous post, you now understand: a significant portion of each premium and tax dollar never touches clinical care. It’s diverted to manage, track, and control the system.

This is the first clear point where incentives collide with outcomes: the machine works, but it also imposes invisible costs that no one directly sees.

Transition
Next, we’ll examine insurance design, where financial engineering meets patient experience. This is where the system’s complexity begins to influence behavior, choices, and ultimately, cost.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 4 Following the Dollar

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money, Part 4 Following the Dollar

Step 1 — The Employer Layer

The $100 is collected as part of payroll. The employer passes it along to an insurer.

Even here, the dollar is split: part covers the premium contribution from the employee, part comes from the employer’s share. Often, employees never see this money — it’s folded into total compensation.

Step 2 — The Insurer Layer

The insurer receives the full $100. What happens next?

Provider network contracts: A portion is reserved to pay hospitals, clinics, and doctors who treat the plan’s members.
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs): Another slice goes to manage prescriptions, negotiate drug prices, and administer formularies.
Administrative costs: Claims processing, billing support, compliance, and IT systems take their share.
Reserves & profit: Insurers keep a portion in reserve or as profit.

At this stage, the dollar has already been carved up multiple times before it reaches clinical care.

Step 3 — The Provider Layer

When a patient visits a clinic or hospital, the dollar arrives in pieces.

The clinic receives its payment based on negotiated rates, not the sticker price.
Some funds are deducted for administrative overhead, billing, or staffing costs.
Denied claims or rejected charges may reduce the effective payment even further.

By the time the provider gets the money, a substantial portion has been diverted to administrative friction rather than patient care.

Step 4 — The Patient Layer

Even after this, the patient often pays out-of-pocket:

Deductibles
Co-pays
Coinsurance
Out-of-network charges

This means the same dollar has been contributed multiple times: first through the paycheck, then through taxes (if federal programs subsidize care), and again at the point of service.

Structural Insight

Following the dollar exposes a simple truth: complexity drives cost.

Each layer exists for a reason — regulation, risk management, negotiation, or compliance.
But layering creates inefficiency.
Patients, employers, and taxpayers see only fragments of the total flow.

And yet, the system appears opaque, expensive, and unpredictable — not because someone is “hiding” money, but because the machine is built to operate through multiple intermediaries.

Next Step:

Now that we’ve traced the dollar, we can examine administrative bloat and its effect on clinical care. This is where the incentives of the system meet reality, and where we start to see why costs escalate without necessarily improving outcomes.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 3 Where the Money Goes

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althcare in America, Follow the Money, Part 3, Where the Money Goes

Knowing who pays is only the start. To understand the system, we need to see where those dollars actually land.

The $4.5 trillion flowing into healthcare doesn’t go to one place. It is split across several major buckets, each with its own dynamics and incentives.

1. Hospitals — Roughly 30–35% of Spending

Hospitals are the single largest cost center.

Inpatient care: surgeries, ICU, long stays
Outpatient care: ER visits, imaging, labs, procedures
Facility costs: building, equipment, administration

Hospitals are complex organizations:

Clinical staff
Administrative staff
Compliance, IT, revenue cycle management

Every additional layer adds cost, even if it doesn’t touch patient care directly.

2. Physicians & Clinicians — About 20%

Doctors, nurses, and other clinicians account for roughly one-fifth of total spending.

Compensation varies widely by specialty
Fee-for-service models often reward procedures over preventive care

Here, incentives shape behavior: more complex, billable procedures generate revenue, while counseling or preventive care may not.

3. Prescription Drugs — 10–15%

Prescription spending includes:

Branded drugs
Generics
Specialty medications

Price negotiation occurs through insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, but patients often experience unpredictability in costs, especially for high-cost or specialty medications.

4. Administrative & Billing Costs — 8–12%

One of the largest invisible drivers of cost:

Claims processing
Coding
Prior authorizations
Billing disputes

Studies show U.S. administrative costs are twice those of comparable countries, yet they do not directly improve patient care.

5. Long-Term & Post-Acute Care — 5–10%

Includes:

Nursing homes
Rehab facilities
Home health care

Population aging and chronic disease prevalence drive spending in this area.

6. Other Services & Public Health

The remainder covers:

Preventive care
Public health initiatives
Mental health services
Emergency preparedness

Small individually, but collectively essential.

Structural Insight

Looking at the buckets, one pattern emerges: complexity drives cost.

Hospitals and physician care dominate, but are themselves entangled with administrative and billing layers.
Drugs and specialized services add unpredictability.
Individuals and payers have little visibility into total flow.

The next step is tracing the flow of a single dollar — from paycheck to provider — to make the system tangible. That’s where things get almost counterintuitive, and where the first real tension appears between intention and outcome.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 2 Who Actually Funds the Machine?

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money, Part 2, Who Actually Funds the Machine?

Before we trace how money moves, we need to answer a simpler question:

Who is paying for the $4.5 trillion?

The answer is not “the government.”
It is not “insurance companies.”
And it is not “other people.”

It is a layered mix of employers, taxpayers, and individuals — often the same people wearing different hats.

1. Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Roughly half of Americans receive health coverage through an employer.

That coverage is not free.

So when we talk about employer-based insurance, we’re really talking about compensation being routed through a benefits system instead of directly into paychecks.

2. Federal Government Programs

The federal government funds several major programs:

Medicare (primarily for seniors and certain disabled individuals)
Medicaid (jointly funded with states)
ACA exchange subsidies
Veterans’ health programs
Federal employee plans

These are financed through payroll taxes, general tax revenue, borrowing, and state contributions.

Again, the payer is not abstract. It is the tax base.

3. State Governments

States share Medicaid costs and fund public health systems, university hospitals, and safety-net services.

That money comes from state taxes — income, sales, property — depending on the state.

4. Individuals

Even with insurance, individuals pay:

Premium contributions
Deductibles
Co-pays
Coinsurance
Out-of-network charges

Out-of-pocket spending remains a substantial portion of total health expenditures.

The First Structural Insight

Almost every American is paying into the system in more than one way:

As an employee.
As a taxpayer.
As a patient.

The same dollar may leave your paycheck as a premium contribution, leave your income as a tax payment, and leave your wallet again at the pharmacy counter.

The system feels expensive because it is funded through overlapping streams.

And we haven’t even discussed where the money goes yet.

That’s next.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money Part 1 The $4.5 Trillion Machine

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Healthcare in America, Follow the Money, Part 1, The $4.5 Trillion Machine

The United States spends more than $4.5 trillion a year on healthcare.

That’s nearly one out of every five dollars produced in the American economy. It’s more than the GDP of most nations. It is, by scale alone, one of the largest financial systems in the world.

And yet Americans routinely report confusion, frustration, and distrust when they try to use it.

We pay more than any developed country.
We fill out more paperwork than anyone.
We argue about it constantly.
And still, almost no one can explain — in plain terms — how the money actually moves.

Ask a simple question:

When you pay your premium, where does that dollar go?

How much reaches a nurse?
How much goes to administration?
How much is negotiated away before a bill ever reaches you?
How many entities touch a single claim before it’s paid?

The debate we usually hear is political.
The structure underneath it is financial.

American healthcare is not a single program. It is a layered payment network built over decades — employers, insurers, federal programs, state programs, hospital systems, physician groups, pharmacy benefit managers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, compliance divisions, coding departments, billing contractors, and regulators — all interacting at once.

Each layer was added for a reason.
Each layer solved a problem.
Each layer also introduced cost.

Over time, the layers became the system.

If we are going to talk about reform — or even fairness — we need to start here. Not with ideology. Not with outrage. But with mechanics.

Because until we understand how the machine works, we will keep diagnosing the wrong disease.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Dark Money Today: From Montana to California and Beyond

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Dark Money Today: From Montana to California and Beyond

Two months ago, we explored the Montana initiative as a test case for curbing dark money. The story didn’t end there. Today, states like California are building on that example, showing that structural solutions — not just outrage — can reshape the rules of political influence.

The Current Landscape

Hidden political spending remains a major driver of elections and policy. Corporations, nonprofits, and 501(c)(4)s continue to funnel large sums into campaigns with little transparency. But now, state-level reforms are gaining traction:

California is preparing ballot initiatives and legislation aimed at limiting corporate influence, expanding public financing, and enforcing stricter disclosure rules. Voters could see the California Fair Elections Act in November 2026, giving candidates alternatives to reliance on big donors.
Montana remains a test case. After a legal challenge stalled an earlier initiative, new filings are moving forward, backed by strong public support. These efforts focus on restricting corporate spending and making dark money sources visible.
Other states are watching. Models from Montana and California are providing a blueprint for structural reform nationwide.

Legal & Structural Innovations

States are exploring ways to sidestep Citizens United without waiting for a federal reversal:

Some leverage state corporate charters to limit corporations’ political spending at the source.
Public financing programs allow candidates to run competitive campaigns without large outside contributions.
Disclosure rules ensure voters see who is influencing elections, making money less “invisible.”

These approaches shift the focus from partisan debate to structural solutions, changing the incentives in the system itself.

Broader Implications

Dark money isn’t only about corporations. Nonprofit groups, super PACs, and LLCs contribute heavily to elections while keeping donors hidden. This creates outsized influence on local and national politics, often at odds with public interest.

Structural reforms like Montana’s and California’s tackle this from the ground up, offering practical paths forward rather than relying on idealistic federal solutions.

Connecting Back

As we discussed in the previous Montana series, states can push back against big money in meaningful ways. California’s emerging initiatives show that these strategies are not isolated — they’re part of a growing national movement. Readers following that series can now see how lessons learned in Montana are spreading and evolving.

Takeaways

Progress is possible through state-level reforms, disclosure requirements, and public financing.
Structural changes can reduce hidden influence and increase accountability.
Like in healthcare, small, practical reforms can create measurable improvements, even in complex systems.

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How to Protect your Voting Rights

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In the coming months we will told up is down, right is wrong and a myriad of lies designed to confuse and intimidate the way you vote in the 2026 Midterm Elections.

Question what you are being told, check with your State, The State controls voting, not the Federal Government and especially not the current administration. You will lied to and you will be threatened.

Follow these common sense guidelines to insure your vote will count and above ALL. vote early, do not wait until the last day to be heard as that will be when most efforts to disrupt the voting process will be.

Register, Vote, and Help Others Do the Same

Ensure you’re registered and update your information if needed—use the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) provisions, which allow registration at DMVs or online in many states. Encourage friends, family, and neighbors to register early to avoid last-minute barriers.
Vote in every election, including primaries and locals, where turnout can influence who shapes voting rules. If mail voting or early voting is available in your state, use it to reduce reliance on Election Day logistics that could be disrupted.
Know your rights: Federal laws like the Voting Rights Act prohibit discrimination based on race, color, or language, and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) ensures provisional ballots if your eligibility is questioned. If you face issues at the polls (e.g., intimidation or denial), report them immediately to the DOJ’s Voting Section or the Election Protection Hotline (866-OUR-VOTE).

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Healthcare in America Series III – Kicker: Security Is a Feeling. Risk Is a Structure

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Security Is a Feeling. Risk Is a Structure.

“Over the past three episodes, we’ve looked at something that rarely headlines discussions about healthcare.

Risk.

We’ve said that risk does not disappear — it moves.
We’ve looked at where it settles: patients, families, providers, institutions.
And we’ve considered what happens when that transferred exposure accumulates over time.

Now we step back.

Healthcare debates often center on security. People want to feel protected — protected from catastrophic illness, from unexpected bills, from system failure. That desire is reasonable. It is human.

But security is a feeling.

Risk is a structure.

A system can create a sense of security while quietly relocating exposure. It can maintain surface stability while shifting volatility outward. It can operate smoothly at one layer while fragility builds at another.

Understanding this difference does not require choosing a political position. It requires recognizing that distribution determines durability.

If urgency reveals pressure in the moment, and if accumulation reveals fragility over time, then risk reveals something deeper: where uncertainty ultimately resides.

This series has not offered solutions. It has not ranked models. It has not declared winners or losers. Instead, it has tried to make one structural reality visible.

Exposure exists.
Uncertainty exists.
The question is not whether risk is present — but who carries it, and for how long.

In the next chapter of this conversation, we will begin to look more directly at one of the mechanisms through which risk moves — money.

But for now, we pause with this:

Security can be promised.
Risk must be structured.

And structure determines what endures.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series III – Part 3 When Risk Accumulates

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Healthcare in America Series III – Part 3 When Risk Accumulates

“Welcome back to Healthcare in America.

In this series, we’ve said that risk does not disappear — it moves. We’ve looked at where it settles: patients, families, providers, institutions.

Now we need to ask a harder question.

What happens when transferred risk accumulates?

Risk is manageable in small amounts. Systems are designed to tolerate variability. Individuals can absorb limited uncertainty. Institutions can adjust to periodic strain.

But accumulation changes behavior.

When financial exposure increases year after year, patients delay care. Preventive visits are postponed. Prescriptions are stretched. Small conditions become larger ones — not because people are irresponsible, but because uncertainty has weight.

When navigational complexity increases, administrative errors multiply. Missed authorizations, delayed referrals, incomplete follow-ups — these are not moral failures. They are predictable outcomes when informational risk exceeds capacity.

When families carry prolonged coordination burdens, fatigue sets in. Care becomes harder to sustain. Emotional strain compounds physical illness.

Providers absorb accumulated exposure differently. Staffing shortages stretch shifts longer. Documentation expands. Professional judgment operates within narrowing margins. Burnout becomes structural rather than episodic.

Institutions respond to accumulated volatility with contraction. Service lines close. Mergers increase. Rural facilities shut down. Stability is preserved by reducing scope — but reduction has geographic and community consequences.

At the community level, accumulation can reshape access entirely. When a hospital closes, travel times increase. Emergency response lengthens. Recruitment of clinicians becomes more difficult. Economic stability shifts. Healthcare infrastructure is not separate from community infrastructure — it is intertwined with it.

None of this happens overnight.

Accumulation is gradual. It often appears manageable until a threshold is crossed. And thresholds are rarely visible in advance.

This is the nature of structural risk. It does not announce itself dramatically. It builds quietly until fragility becomes apparent.

Again, this is not an argument for a particular reform or political direction. It is an observation about stability.

Systems that continuously relocate exposure outward may maintain surface balance — but relocation has limits. Eventually, someone or something cannot absorb more.

In our final reflection for this series, we’ll step back and consider the difference between feeling secure and being structurally stable.

For now, the recognition is simple:

Risk can be transferred.
It can be managed.
It can be delayed.

But when it accumulates, it changes the shape of the system itself.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series III – Part 2 Invisible Risk Carriers

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Healthcare in America Series III – Part 2 Invisible Risk Carriers

“Welcome back to Healthcare in America.

In the last episode, we said something simple but important: risk in healthcare does not disappear. It moves.

Today, we’re going to look at where it lands.

Risk is rarely distributed evenly. Exposure tends to accumulate where buffers are weakest. Some individuals and institutions are better positioned to absorb volatility. Others are not. And the distribution is often quiet — not announced, not debated — just experienced.

Patients are often the first visible absorbers of risk.

Financial exposure can begin long before insurance activates. Deductibles, copayments, and uncovered services create uncertainty before treatment even starts. But financial risk is only part of it.

There is navigational risk — referrals, approvals, coverage rules, and paperwork that must be managed correctly. A missed form or misunderstood instruction can delay care. Informational risk compounds this: patients frequently operate without full clarity about what is covered, what is authorized, or what will happen next.

There is also time risk. Waiting for appointments, coordinating schedules, losing wages during illness — these pressures rarely appear in formal accounting, but they are real exposures.

Families absorb risk as well.

When care transitions from hospital to home, coordination becomes informal. Someone manages medications. Someone schedules follow-ups. Someone interprets discharge instructions under stress. This labor is unpaid, often unrecognized, and structurally necessary. Without it, outcomes decline.

Families also absorb emotional uncertainty. They stabilize environments while waiting for results, while watching for symptoms, while navigating systems that were not designed for clarity.

Providers carry a different kind of exposure.

Clinical risk is inherent in medicine. But modern practice also carries moral and structural risk. Practicing under constraint — limited time, limited staffing, insurance limitations, documentation demands — forces tradeoffs. Liability exposure exists alongside ethical strain. Burnout, in this context, is not simply fatigue. It is accumulated tension between professional obligation and structural limitation.

Institutions absorb risk too.

Hospitals manage volume volatility — unpredictable surges and declines. Rural facilities operate with thin margins and limited redundancy. Workforce shortages increase fragility. Service lines close not necessarily because care is unneeded, but because stability requires contraction somewhere.

On paper, systems can appear stable. Metrics may show balance. But stability at one layer can conceal fragility at another.

This episode does not rank these exposures. It does not assign blame or prescribe reform. It simply observes distribution.

Risk pools where protection is thin.

In the next episode, we’ll look at what happens when that pooled exposure accumulates over time — and how quiet redistribution can eventually reshape entire communities.

For now, the important recognition is this:

When risk moves, it does not vanish.
It settles somewhere.
Often quietly.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series III – Part 1 Risk Doesn’t Disappear. It Moves

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Risk Doesn’t Disappear. It Moves.

“Welcome back to Healthcare in America.

In our last series, we looked at urgency — what happens when care can’t wait, when decisions compress, and when someone must act before clarity arrives.

Now we’re going to step back from the moment of crisis and look at something quieter, but just as powerful: risk.

Before we talk about money, before we talk about policy, before we debate systems — we need to understand something fundamental.

Healthcare risk does not disappear.
It moves.

Risk is not the same thing as cost. Cost is what shows up after something happens. Risk is the exposure that exists before it happens. It is uncertainty — about illness, about timing, about outcome, about complication.

No healthcare system eliminates uncertainty. At best, it redistributes it.

Illness is inherently unpredictable. Some conditions are manageable. Others escalate. Some recoveries are smooth. Others are not. Systems exist to absorb and manage that unpredictability — but they do not erase it.

So the question becomes: who holds the uncertainty?

Historically, risk has sat in different places. Hospitals once absorbed more uncompensated variability. Employers buffered insurance volatility. Communities bore collective responsibility for certain types of care. That arrangement was never perfect, and we don’t romanticize it. But distribution has always shifted over time.

Today, risk often moves quietly.

It can move through higher deductibles — increasing the financial exposure before insurance begins to absorb cost.
It can move through narrower provider networks — limiting flexibility when care is needed.
It can move through administrative complexity — preauthorizations, coverage rules, and paperwork that shift informational burden outward.
It can move through time — waiting, navigating, coordinating.

None of these mechanisms are inherently malicious. They are structural adjustments designed to stabilize institutions. But when systems stabilize themselves, exposure does not vanish. It relocates.

And risk is not singular. It takes multiple forms.

There is financial risk — the possibility of unexpected bills or gaps in coverage.
There is informational risk — not knowing what is covered, what is approved, or what is required.
There is time risk — delays that affect work, income, or progression of illness.
There is clinical risk — the uncertainty of outcome itself.
And there is moral risk — borne by providers who must practice within constraints that limit what they can offer.

When risk moves to individuals, it is often described in the language of responsibility. We hear phrases like “consumer engagement” or “skin in the game.” But exposure and empowerment are not the same thing. Responsibility can feel like choice — but sometimes it is simply proximity to uncertainty.

This is not a debate about political models. It is not an argument for or against any specific reform. It is an observation.

Risk in healthcare is structural.
And structure determines stability.

In the next episode, we’ll look more closely at who absorbs that risk most quietly — and what happens when exposure accumulates beneath the surface.

For now, the key idea is simple:

Risk does not disappear.
It moves.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Who’s your daddy?

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, purple

Good morning. Steam rising from my cup of home-roasted Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Washed Gr. 2 – Banko Chelchele, pushed dark right to the edge of second crack—robust, semi-sweet, heavy on that baker’s chocolate bite with a lingering tea-spice finish that cuts through the fog like a clean shot.

Meanwhile, over in the political jungle, it looks like Trump just took one clean, decisive shot at the old Republican Party elephant—dropped it cold. The party’s still twitching, but the carcass is there for everyone to see: fractured unity, stalled agendas, midterm doom clouds gathering, and a base that’s equal parts furious and exhausted.

Act 2? Could be chaos, reinvention, or just the slow bleed-out of an era. Either way, this brew’s strong enough to face whatever comes next. Cheers to dark roasts and darker days—what’s your take on the fallout?

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 8 – What Patients Are Expected to Know (But Don’t)

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

By the time someone interacts with the healthcare system, they’re often expected to make decisions that would be difficult even with training.

Which setting is appropriate?
How urgent is urgent?
Who coordinates what happens next?

These expectations exist — but the instruction rarely does.

Decisions Patients Are Quietly Asked to Make

Without formal guidance, patients are expected to know:

When primary care is appropriate
When urgent care makes sense
When the emergency room is necessary
How referrals work
Why timelines feel slow
Why follow-up can be fragmented

Most people learn these rules only by experiencing them — often during stressful or painful moments.

Why the Boundaries Aren’t Intuitive

Symptoms don’t arrive labeled.

Pain, swelling, fever, shortness of breath, or sudden changes can feel alarming even when they aren’t life-threatening — and sometimes they are serious.

From the patient’s perspective:

The cause is unclear
The risk feels personal
Waiting feels irresponsible

In that context, choosing the most comprehensive option available often feels like the safest decision.

The Hidden Expectation

Healthcare systems often assume patients will:

Navigate access points correctly
Understand which services are limited
Know when to escalate care
Interpret delays accurately

But those expectations are rarely communicated clearly, consistently, or at all.

That gap isn’t a personal failure.
It’s a design problem.

When “I’m Not Sure” Is the Honest Answer

There are times when the right response truly is uncertainty.

Symptoms evolve. Conditions change. Risk isn’t always obvious in the moment.

Acknowledging that reality doesn’t weaken the system — it humanizes it.

A system that relies on perfect decision-making from untrained users will always struggle.

Why This Matters

When patients are expected to navigate complexity without guidance:

Emergency rooms absorb uncertainty
Frustration grows
Trust erodes
Blame replaces understanding

Clarifying roles and expectations doesn’t solve every problem — but it reduces unnecessary friction throughout the system.

Closing the Week

This week wasn’t about solutions.
It was about structure.

Understanding how healthcare is organized — and where expectations break down — is the foundation for any meaningful discussion about cost, access, or reform.

Next, we’ll move forward carefully.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Is This You?

On - Daily, or my first cup of coffee, Politics, Protest 2026, purple, Voting Rights

I must say terms like RINO are offensive and inaccurate. It should also be noted that the largest percentage of voters, over 45% align themselves as independents, maybe that’s why both parties fight so hard to keep this a two party system and are against ranked choice voting. If given the opportunity, both sides would lose.

Rank them in the order you prefer 🙂

“I’ve always thought of myself as a [Republican/Democrat], but it feels like the party has moved in a direction that doesn’t quite match where I’ve always stood. I haven’t really changed—it’s more that things have shifted around me.”
“I’m still the same [Republican/Democrat] I’ve always been, but lately the party seems to have gone in a different direction from the values I first signed up for.”
“I get why people might think I’ve switched sides, but honestly, I haven’t left the party—it just feels like the party’s priorities have drifted away from what drew me to it in the first place.”
“My views haven’t really changed over the years, but I do feel like the party as a whole has evolved in ways that don’t line up with mine anymore.”

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 7 – The Invisible Layer — Administration

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Most people experience healthcare through exam rooms, waiting areas, and conversations with clinicians. What they don’t see is the layer that sits between care and payment — the administrative machinery that keeps the system running.

This layer is largely invisible to patients, but it shapes cost, access, and workload in ways that are hard to overstate.

What “Administration” Actually Means

Healthcare administration isn’t a single office or department. It’s a web of functions required to make modern healthcare operable:

Billing and coding
Insurance verification
Compliance with federal and state regulations
Documentation requirements
Quality reporting
Audit preparation
Contract management

None of these activities deliver care directly — but nearly all are mandatory.

Why So Much Paperwork Exists

Healthcare is one of the most regulated industries in the country, and for understandable reasons: safety, fraud prevention, privacy, and accountability all matter.

Over time, however, layers of rules, reporting requirements, and payer-specific processes have accumulated — often without coordination.

The result is a system where:

The same information is entered multiple times
Different insurers require different formats
Documentation is written for billing as much as for care

This complexity doesn’t disappear just because patients don’t see it.

The Staffing Reality Most People Don’t Know

It’s common for a single physician to require multiple non-clinical staff members to support their work.

These roles may include:

Billing specialists
Coding experts
Authorization coordinators
Compliance staff
Administrative support

This isn’t inefficiency in the casual sense. It’s the operational cost of navigating a fragmented system.

How This Affects the Exam Room

Administrative demands shape clinical care indirectly:

Less time per patient
More time spent on documentation
Delays caused by approvals and verifications
Burnout among clinicians who trained to practice medicine, not paperwork

Patients feel the effects even if they never see the cause.

A Quiet but Important Point

When healthcare costs rise, it’s tempting to assume the increase comes from tests, treatments, or clinician salaries.

Often, it doesn’t.

A significant share of growth occurs outside the exam room, in the systems required to document, justify, process, and pay for care.

That reality doesn’t assign blame — but it does challenge assumptions.

In the final post of this week, we’ll step back and look at the system from the patient’s perspective: what people are implicitly expected to know — but are almost never taught — when navigating healthcare.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 6 – Insurance Is Not Healthcare

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

One of the most persistent misunderstandings in healthcare is the idea that insurance and care are the same thing.

They’re related — but they are not interchangeable.

This confusion shapes expectations, frustration, and even how people judge their own experiences inside the system.

What Healthcare Actually Is

Healthcare is delivered by:

Clinicians
Facilities
Equipment
Time
Coordination

It exists where people practice medicine, provide treatment, and manage illness.

None of that is created by an insurance card.

What Insurance Actually Does

Insurance is a financial tool.

Its purpose is to:

Spread risk
Manage costs
Decide how and when payments occur

Insurance does not diagnose, treat, or heal. It determines coverage, not care.

That distinction matters more than most people realize.

Why Coverage Doesn’t Equal Access

Having insurance does not guarantee:

Timely appointments
Available specialists
Nearby providers
Approval for recommended care

This is why someone can be “insured” and still struggle to receive treatment — or wait weeks or months for services that feel urgent to them.

The system is working as designed, even when it feels broken.

Prior Authorization and Delays

Prior authorization is often described as interference in medical decisions. In reality, it is a cost-control mechanism built into insurance design.

It exists to answer one question:

“Will we pay for this?”

That question may align with clinical judgment — or it may not. But it is fundamentally financial, not medical.

Understanding that difference doesn’t make delays less frustrating.
It does make them less confusing.

Why This Confusion Persists

Insurance became tightly coupled to healthcare access over decades, especially through employers. Over time, the two concepts blurred in the public mind.

As a result:

Denials feel personal
Delays feel arbitrary
Frustration is aimed at clinicians who don’t control the process

This misdirection erodes trust on all sides.

A Clearer Way to Think About It

Healthcare delivers care.
Insurance controls when and under what conditions that care is paid for.

They interact constantly — but they are not the same system.

Recognizing that difference is essential before we talk about costs, efficiency, or reform.

In the next post, we’ll look at a layer of healthcare most patients never see — but pay for every day: the administrative machinery that operates between care and payment.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 5 – Why Emergency Rooms Are Overwhelmed (And It’s Not “Abuse”)

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Emergency rooms are often described as being “overused” or “abused.”
It’s a familiar claim — and an easy one.

But it’s also an incomplete explanation that misses how people actually experience healthcare when something feels wrong.

To understand why emergency departments are overwhelmed, we need to look at how decisions are made in real time, not how they look in hindsight.

The Decision Most People Are Asked to Make

Imagine a sudden health issue:

Pain is increasingAll Episodes
Swelling is obvious
The cause isn’t clear
It’s happening now, not next week

Is this urgent care?
Is it the emergency room?
Is it safe to wait?

Most people were never taught how to answer those questions.

Take something as simple — and as ambiguous — as a spider bite. It’s swelling. It looks alarming. It hurts more than expected. Infection is a possibility, but not a certainty. Is that urgent care? Or the ER?

For most people, the safest choice feels obvious: go where help is guaranteed.

That instinct isn’t misuse. It’s risk avoidance.

What Emergency Rooms Are Required to Do

Under federal law (EMTALA), emergency departments cannot turn people away based on ability to pay or perceived severity. If someone shows up, they must be evaluated and stabilized if necessary.

That obligation is essential — but it also means ERs become the default safety net when other options are unclear, unavailable, or delayed.

Why the ER Becomes the Catch-All

Several structural factors push people toward emergency care:

Limited primary care access, especially after hours or in rural areas
Urgent care boundaries that aren’t well explained or intuitive
Insurance rules that complicate same-day care elsewhere
Fear of “missing something serious” when symptoms escalate quickly

In those moments, people aren’t choosing the ER because it’s convenient. They’re choosing it because it feels responsible.

The Mismatch No One Talks About

Emergency medicine is designed for stabilization, not continuity.

That means:

The problem is addressed, not managed long-term
Follow-up happens elsewhere — if it happens at all
The ER absorbs pressure created upstream in the system

When primary care access shrinks or urgent care becomes ambiguous, emergency departments feel the strain.

This isn’t random. It’s predictable.

Reframing the Conversation

Blaming patients for showing up doesn’t fix overcrowding.
It just ignores why they came in the first place.

Most ER visits that later get labeled “non-emergent” only look that way after a clinician has evaluated them. Before that evaluation, uncertainty is real — and fear is rational.

Understanding this doesn’t excuse system inefficiencies.
It explains them.

In the next post, we’ll untangle another common source of confusion: the assumption that insurance is the same thing as healthcare — and why that belief quietly shapes access, delays, and frustration throughout the system.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series II – Kicker: Why We Struggle to Talk About the Unavoidable

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

“Welcome to the final moment in this mini-series, Healthcare in America: When Care Can’t Wait. Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4.

What we’ve just seen — urgent care, strained systems, and the people who bear the consequences — is uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable because it is real, unavoidable, and profoundly human.

Most conversations about healthcare skip this moment. We jump to policy, budgets, and blame. We treat crises as exceptions rather than as signals. But the truth is that someone always absorbs the weight when care can’t wait. Patients, families, frontline providers, and entire communities share the burden — quietly, unevenly, and often invisibly.

This series isn’t here to solve the system in three episodes. It’s here to notice it, to observe it, and to name what exists. By doing so, we give ourselves a chance to engage with it honestly — without illusions, without slogans, and without pretending the weight disappears.

Sometimes, the first step toward understanding is simply acknowledging reality. That is what this series hopes to do: hold a mirror, pause, and recognize the unavoidable.”

Kicker: Why We Struggle to Talk About the Unavoidable – outline

Healthcare is easiest to discuss when it’s optional, scheduled, or abstract.

But urgent care does not wait for comfort, familiarity, or convenience. It arrives whether systems are ready or not. It exposes where efficiency falters, where responsibility is invisible, and where human effort quietly fills the gaps.

This is why the subject is hard to discuss honestly. It carries no simple solution, no tidy numbers, no clear hero or villain. It’s uncomfortable because it is real, unavoidable, and profoundly human.

The point of this series is not to fix healthcare in three weeks or six episodes. It is to notice, to observe, and to respect what exists when care can’t wait.

By naming this reality clearly, we give ourselves the chance to approach the next questions with eyes open — not blindsided by ideology, not distracted by slogans, but aware of the pressures, the tradeoffs, and the human work the system requires.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 4 – How the System Is Actually Structured

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Before we talk about costs, delays, frustration, or reform, we need to pause and do something that rarely happens in public conversations about healthcare:

Define the system.

Most of the anger and confusion people feel about healthcare doesn’t come from bad intentions or unreasonable expectations. It comes from assuming that healthcare is a single thing — a place, a person, or a service — when in reality it’s a collection of distinct parts, each designed for a specific role.

When those roles blur, frustration follows.

This week is not about blame. It’s about understanding how the pieces fit together — and just as importantly, where they don’t.

Primary Care: Continuity and Coordination

Primary care is designed to be the foundation of the system.

Its role is not urgency. It is continuity:

- - - Preventive care
    - Managing chronic conditions
    - Tracking changes over time
    - Coordinating referrals and follow-ups

Primary care works best when it knows you — your history, patterns, risks, and medications. It is the long view of healthcare.
When primary care access is limited or delayed, pressure builds elsewhere in the system.

Urgent Care: Episodic and Limited by Design

Urgent care exists to handle non-life-threatening issues that can’t wait, but don’t require hospital-level resources.

Examples include:

- - - Minor fractures
    - Infections
    - Wounds requiring stitches
    - Sudden but stable symptoms

Urgent care is intentionally narrow. It is not meant to replace primary care, and it is not designed to manage complex or escalating conditions. Its value is speed and accessibility — not depth.

Because its boundaries aren’t intuitive, urgent care is often misunderstood.

Emergency Departments: Stabilization, Not Ongoing Care

Emergency departments are built for one purpose: stabilization.

They exist to address:

- - - Life-threatening conditions
    - Severe trauma
    - Rapidly deteriorating symptoms
    - Situations where delay could cause permanent harm

Emergency medicine is about minutes and hours, not weeks or months. It is not designed for continuity, follow-up, or long-term management — even though it is often asked to fill those gaps.

This distinction matters more than most people realize.

Specialists: Depth Without Context

Specialists focus deeply on specific systems or conditions.

They provide expertise, not oversight.

- - - Narrow scope
    - Referral-driven access
    - High value in defined situations

Specialists are essential — but they rely on other parts of the system to provide coordination and context.

Hospitals, Systems, and Networks (Not the Same Thing)

One final distinction that often gets overlooked:

- - - Hospitals are places where care is delivered
    - Health systems manage multiple facilities and services
    - Networks manage contracts and access

These are operational and organizational layers — not clinical ones — but they shape how care is delivered and accessed.

We’ll come back to why that matters later.

Why This Structure Matters

When one part of the system is missing, overloaded, or inaccessible, pressure shifts to another part — often one that was never designed to handle it.

That’s not chaos.

That’s predictable behavior in a complex system.

In the next post, we’ll look at one of the most visible consequences of this mismatch: why emergency rooms are overwhelmed — and why it’s not as simple as blaming patients.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 3 – Who Absorbs the Consequences When Waiting Isn’t an Option

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

“Welcome back to Healthcare in America: When Care Can’t Wait. So far, we’ve looked at what urgent care actually is, and how systems designed for efficiency respond under pressure. In this episode, we turn to the people — the ones who carry the weight when care can’t wait.

Urgency does not distribute impact evenly. Some patients are more vulnerable than others. Some families are better equipped to navigate complexity. And some communities have far fewer resources. The system doesn’t decide this intentionally. It just happens, quietly, invisibly, and sometimes tragically.

Patients absorb uncertainty. Decisions are made with incomplete information. Recovery doesn’t end at discharge — it continues at home, often with guidance that is partial, confusing, or hard to follow. Financial exposure, where it exists, is deferred but rarely avoided. Patients bear responsibility for a system that cannot fully hold them.

Families become care coordinators by default. They manage transitions between facilities, interpret medical instructions under stress, and fill gaps the system cannot or will not cover. This work is essential, unpaid, and largely invisible — yet it is critical to outcomes.

Frontline providers absorb moral and emotional load. Triage decisions, long hours, and high-stakes judgment fall on individuals with limited authority to change the system itself. Burnout, moral injury, and fatigue are structural consequences, not personal failings.

Communities absorb strain too. Rural hospitals operate with thin staffing and limited capacity. Urban safety-net hospitals serve the most complex populations with the fewest resources. When one facility closes or reaches capacity, pressure is simply shifted elsewhere, often without public recognition.

And yet, over time, this strain becomes normalized. Hallways fill, delays become routine, and improvisation becomes standard operating procedure. What begins as crisis quietly becomes baseline.

We’re not here to assign blame, propose fixes, or debate policy. Our goal is to observe and understand. By recognizing who carries the consequences, we can begin to see the human cost of urgency — the weight borne by those least able to absorb it, and often, the weight that goes unnoticed entirely.

In the next and final piece of this mini-series, we’ll step back in the kicker, to reflect on why these realities are so difficult to talk about honestly. Stay with us.”

Part 3: Who Absorbs the Consequences When Waiting Isn’t an Option – outline

Purpose of Part 3

To identify where the strain goes when urgent care collides with limited capacity — without assigning villains or prescribing solutions.

This part answers:

When the system can’t flex enough, who bends instead?

I. Urgency does not distribute impact evenly

Time pressure forces prioritization
Not all delays carry the same risk
Vulnerability compounds urgency

Key idea: Urgency magnifies existing inequities without intent.

II. Patients absorb uncertainty

Decisions made with incomplete information
Financial exposure deferred, not avoided
Recovery includes administrative burden

Care continues after discharge — often alone.

III. Families become care coordinators by default

Managing transitions without training
Interpreting instructions under stress
Filling gaps between institutions

This labor is invisible, unpaid, and assumed.

IV. Frontline providers absorb moral and emotional load

Triage decisions under constraint
Working beyond sustainable limits
Bearing responsibility without authority

Burnout here is not personal failure — it is structural.

V. Communities absorb institutional strain

Rural facilities stretched thin
Urban safety-net hospitals overburdened
Closures shift pressure elsewhere, not away

Capacity lost in one place reappears as urgency in another.

VI. The quiet normalization of strain

“This is just how it is”
Temporary measures become permanent
Crisis becomes baseline

Normalization masks risk until it doesn’t.

VII. What this part intentionally leaves open

No policy answers
No budget math
No ideological framing

Only the question of who is carrying what.

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 2 – When Systems Built for Efficiency Meet Urgency

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

“Welcome back to Healthcare in America: When Care Can’t Wait. In the last episode, we explored what urgent care actually is — and what it isn’t. Today, we’re going to look at how systems, designed for efficiency and predictability, respond when urgency shows up uninvited.

Most healthcare systems are built around averages. Schedules, staffing, and workflow all assume a level of predictability. Efficiency depends on forecasting, and forecasting depends on stability. But urgent care doesn’t follow a curve or a plan. It arrives in spikes, in crises, in moments that no one could schedule. And when that happens, even the best-designed system starts to strain.

Bottlenecks appear immediately. Staff are limited, physical space is fixed, and specialized resources can’t be conjured out of thin air. What begins as a minor delay can cascade into something much bigger. Temporary workarounds — hallway beds, boarding patients, delayed transfers — start to look permanent. What was supposed to be exceptional quietly becomes routine.

The hidden costs of making the system work under stress are not just financial. They are human. Providers carry moral and emotional weight. Burnout rises. Errors increase. Decisions once carefully considered now have to be made in compressed time, with imperfect information.

Urgency also exposes upstream failures. Preventive care that didn’t happen shows up as crisis. Mental health needs that were deferred now land in emergency rooms. Chronic conditions unmanaged become acute. The system absorbs what the rest of the infrastructure failed to address — but it does so imperfectly, at a human cost.

And yet, on paper, it looks like control. Metrics suggest management. Dashboards track throughput. Administrators and observers can say the system is functioning. But what they are really seeing is workarounds, improvisation, and quiet suffering. Throughput becomes the proxy for success, and the deeper pressures remain invisible.

We’re not here to point fingers or propose solutions. Today is about noticing behavior under pressure — seeing where the system flexes, and where it strains. Because only by understanding this can we begin to grasp the consequences when care can’t wait.

In our next episode, we’ll explore exactly that: who absorbs the consequences when the system can’t flex enough, and what that looks like for patients, families, providers, and communities. Stay with us.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

Part 2: When Systems Built for Efficiency Meet Urgency – outline

Purpose of Part 2

To show how systems optimized for efficiency, predictability, and throughput behave when forced into urgent, unpredictable conditions.

This part answers:

What breaks first when urgency enters a system not designed for it?

I. Efficiency assumes predictability

Scheduling, throughput, and optimization rely on forecasts
Most healthcare infrastructure is designed around averages
Urgency introduces spikes, not curves

Key idea: Efficient systems are brittle under stress.

II. Bottlenecks appear immediately

Staffing is fixed in the short term
Physical space cannot expand on demand
Specialized resources are finite

Under urgency, small constraints cascade.

III. Workarounds become the system

Hallway beds
Boarding patients
Delayed transfers
Informal prioritization

What starts as exception quietly becomes routine.

IV. The hidden costs of “making it work”

Burnout replaces sustainability
Errors rise under compression
Moral injury accumulates

The system functions — but at a human price.

V. Urgency exposes upstream failures

Preventive care that didn’t happen
Conditions unmanaged until crisis
Mental health needs with nowhere else to go

Urgent care absorbs what the rest of the system defers.

VI. The illusion of control

Metrics suggest management
Dashboards replace understanding
Throughput becomes the proxy for success

Urgency is managed, not resolved.

VII. What this part deliberately avoids

Funding formulas
Payment models
Assigning blame
Proposing fixes

The focus stays on behavior under pressure.

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Healthcare in America Series II, Part 1 – What Urgent Care Actually Is (and Is Not)

On - activism, Healthcare, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

“Welcome to the first episode of Healthcare in America: When Care Can’t Wait. Today, we’re going to look at what urgent care really means — and what it doesn’t.

Most of the time, when we talk about healthcare, we think about appointments, schedules, and choices. But urgent care isn’t optional. It doesn’t wait for comfort or convenience. It arrives whether the system is ready or not, and it changes everything.

Urgency collapses options. Decisions that would normally take days, weeks, or months are compressed into minutes or hours. There’s no time to compare prices, shop for the best facility, or negotiate who sees you first. Consent still exists, but it’s constrained. Choice becomes secondary to need.

Triage replaces preference. Clinical judgment determines who gets attention first, and who waits. Resources are allocated, not selected. What begins as exception — a single patient needing immediate attention — can quickly become the new normal, because urgent care is cumulative. Emergencies don’t happen in isolation. Chronic neglect, unmanaged conditions, and mental health crises feed into the system until every gap becomes a pressure point.

At its core, urgent care is about responsibility. Someone must act. Delay itself is harm. And yet, the system doesn’t pause to announce this. The ethical load is quiet, invisible, and heavy.

In this episode, we’re not going to talk about costs, insurance, or policy solutions. That comes later. Today is about observation — about noticing how care behaves when it becomes unavoidable.

If this episode feels incomplete, that’s intentional — because urgent care itself is incomplete by nature. It demands action before understanding.

By the end, I hope you’ll see urgent care not as an anomaly, but as a lens: a way to understand the pressures, constraints, and human work that sustain healthcare when waiting isn’t an option.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Part 1: What Urgent Care Actually Is (and Is Not) outline

Purpose of Part 1

To reset assumptions about urgency in healthcare — before ERs, costs, or policy enter the room.

This part answers:

What changes when care becomes immediate?

I. Urgency changes the rules

Urgent care is not just “faster care”
Time becomes the dominant variable
Delay itself becomes harm
Decision-making compresses

Key idea: Urgency collapses options.

II. Choice behaves differently under urgency

No shopping
No meaningful comparison
No negotiating scope or price
Consent exists, but it’s constrained

This is not a failure — it’s a condition.

III. Triage replaces preference

Clinical judgment overrides consumer preference
Severity determines sequence
Resources are allocated, not selected

This is where healthcare quietly stops behaving like a market.

IV. Urgent care is not rare — it’s cumulative

Emergencies aren’t anomalies; they accumulate
Chronic neglect turns into acute crisis
Mental health and physical health intersect here

Urgency is often the end point, not the beginning.

V. The moral baseline

- Care cannot be deferred without consequence
- Refusal is not always an option
- Someone must act, even without clarity

This is where ethics quietly step in — without fanfare.

VI. What this part does not address (explicit restraint)

Costs and reimbursement
Insurance mechanics
Institutional blame
Policy fixes

We name these absences intentionally.

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Healthcare in America — Series II: When Care Can’t Wait – Podcast Prelude

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“Welcome back to Healthcare in America. Over the next three episodes, we’re going to look at urgent care — not the kind you schedule, not the kind you shop for — the kind that doesn’t wait.

In the first episode, we’ll explore what urgent care actually is, and what it isn’t. We’ll see how immediacy changes the rules, compresses choices, and forces decisions that no one wants to make lightly.

In the second episode, we’ll look at what happens when systems designed for efficiency are suddenly forced into urgent, unpredictable situations. We’ll see where bottlenecks appear, where workarounds become routine, and how pressure spreads across the system in ways that aren’t always visible.

In the third episode, we’ll ask a simple but important question: Who carries the consequences when care can’t wait? Patients, families, frontline providers, and communities all bear the load — often quietly, without recognition.

At the end of the three episodes, we’ll pause to reflect on why this reality is so difficult to talk about honestly. No solutions, no slogans — just a clear look at what happens when care is unavoidable.

This series isn’t about pointing fingers or making policy. It’s about understanding what exists, so we can see the system clearly before we decide what to do next. Let’s begin.”

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

Healthcare – Closure of State Run Mental Facilities and Increase in Homeless Population

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Historical Context: The National Deinstitutionalization Trend State-run psychiatric hospitals were once the primary providers of long-term mental health care in the U.S., peaking in the 1950s with around 559,000 inpatient beds nationwide.

By the 1990s, this number had plummeted to about 40,000, a roughly 92% reduction, as facilities closed or downsized dramatically.

This wasn’t isolated to Oregon; it happened across nearly every state, driven by a combination of factors: Policy Reforms and Federal Incentives: The Community Mental Health Act of 1963, signed by President Kennedy, aimed to shift care from large institutions to community-based centers, supported by new antipsychotic medications and civil rights advocacy against abusive asylum conditions.

Federal funding encouraged states to deinstitutionalize, but promised community resources were chronically underfunded — only about half of the planned 1,500 community mental health centers were ever built.

Budget Pressures and Cost-Shifting: States faced rising costs for institutional care amid economic shifts in the 1970s–1980s. Many closed facilities to cut expenses, relying on Medicaid and other federal programs to fund outpatient alternatives. However, this often meant discharging patients without sufficient follow-up, housing, or treatment options.

Examples Across States: Closures mirrored Oregon’s timeline (e.g., Dammasch in 1995). Nationally, facilities like Topeka State Hospital (Kansas, 1997), Metropolitan State Hospital (Massachusetts, 1992), and Allentown State Hospital (Pennsylvania, 2010) shut down in similar waves.

By 2023, many states had fewer than 10 state-operated psychiatric hospitals left, with total public beds dropping to historic lows.

In Oregon, the closure of Dammasch — opened in 1961 and shuttered amid reports of inhumane conditions — exemplified this, releasing patients into communities ill-equipped to support them.

The state’s Eastern Oregon Psychiatric Center in Pendleton closed in 2014, further reducing capacity.

Today, Oregon has only about 743 state hospital beds for adults, with even fewer staffed.

How This Contributed to the National Homeless Crisis While deinstitutionalization wasn’t the sole cause of homelessness — factors like affordable housing shortages, poverty, and substance use disorders play major roles — it undeniably exacerbated the issue by leaving many with severe mental illnesses without stable support. Here’s how the evidence connects the dots: Discharge Without Adequate Safety Nets: Many patients were released from institutions with minimal planning. Nationally, the lack of community mental health funding meant former inpatients often ended up cycling through emergency rooms, jails, or streets.

Studies show a direct correlation: as hospital beds vanished, homelessness among the mentally ill rose, with estimates that 25–30% of homeless individuals have severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

In Oregon, around 40% of the homeless population has a serious mental illness, higher than the national average, and closures like Dammasch directly led to increased street homelessness in Portland in the 1990s.

Rising Homelessness Statistics: U.S. homelessness hit a record 771,480 people on a single night in January 2024, up 18% from 2023 and 40% from 2018.

Chronic homelessness (long-term, often with disabilities including mental illness) surged 73% over the same period, from 97,000 to 168,000.

About 22% (140,000) of homeless adults in 2024 met criteria for serious mental illness.

Researchers attribute part of this to deinstitutionalization’s “trans institutionalization,” where people shifted from hospitals to prisons or homelessness.

Broader Systemic Failures: The affordable housing crisis amplified the impact — median rents outpaced wages, making stable housing unattainable for those with mental health challenges.

In states like California and Oregon, this led to visible increases in unsheltered homelessness (36% of the total in 2024).

Oregon’s experience echoes this: without enough community treatment or housing post-closures, many cycle between the Oregon State Hospital, jails, and streets.

Nationally, experts note that while deinstitutionalization aimed for better outcomes, underfunding turned it into a “system designed to fail.”

Key Nuances and Ongoing Implications Not every closure was detrimental — some states maintained or repurposed facilities, and advances in outpatient care have helped many. However, the national bed shortage (now about 50 per 100,000 people, far below the recommended 50–60) leaves gaps, especially for acute crises.

In Oregon, this manifests in long waits for care and over-reliance on emergency departments.

Recent federal efforts, like executive orders promoting institutionalization for homelessness reduction, highlight the debate: some advocate for more beds, others for better community funding to prevent crises.

Overall, Oregon’s closures are a microcosm of a national policy that prioritized deinstitutionalization without the necessary infrastructure, directly fueling homelessness by stranding vulnerable people. If you want to dive deeper into this topic, sources like HUD’s Annual Homelessness Assessment Reports or AMA ethics journals provide robust data for further exploration.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Fifteen Years later, Citizen United still is in the news and still the center of controversy

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Key recent highlights (from late 2025 into early 2026):

Anniversary reflections and ongoing effects: On the 15-year (2025) and now 16-year (January 21, 2026) anniversaries of the ruling, groups like the Campaign Legal Center, Brennan Center for Justice, and others published analyses showing how Citizens United has enabled billions in outside spending, dark money surges, and megadonor influence. For example, super PACs set records in 2024 elections, with dark money topping $1 billion in some cycles. Posts from figures like Senator Chris Van Hollen criticized it for paving the way for “unchecked & secret money” in politics.

Calls for reform and constitutional amendments: In September 2025, Democratic lawmakers (including Reps. Summer Lee, Joe Neguse, Jim McGovern, and Sen. Adam Schiff) introduced the “Citizens Over Corporations Amendment” to overturn Citizens United, restore limits on corporate spending, and distinguish between people and corporations in campaign finance. This builds on long-standing efforts, with endorsements from groups like CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington).

State-level and alternative strategies: Discussions continue on state actions to push back, such as “trigger laws” (laws that activate if the ruling is overturned) or rethinking corporate powers via state incorporation laws to make Citizens United “irrelevant.” A Montana initiative and reports from groups like the Center for American Progress highlighted these in 2025. Polls (e.g., from American Promise in early 2026) show broad public rejection of “money = speech,” with support for reforms across party lines.

Broader commentary: Advocacy organizations (e.g., Brennan Center, End Citizens United) and critics frequently tie current political dynamics—like billionaire influence in transitions or elections—to the decision’s legacy. On X (formerly Twitter), users continue debating it in contexts like big donors, election integrity, and specific politicians.

How does this affect you, in my opinion, it reduced our voice. It is no longer one person, one voice.

What can we do about it? As with anything thing in politics, the louder the voice, the more often it will be heard. You know where your phone is, you know where your email is, use them.

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Coda: What We Know Now – Healthcare in America Series 1

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CODA: What We Know Now

This series was not an argument for a particular healthcare system, nor an indictment of any single group. It was an attempt to slow the conversation down long enough to observe something that usually gets buried under urgency and outrage.

Healthcare in the United States does not fail because people don’t care.
It strains because the structure no longer matches the reality it serves.

Across these six parts, a pattern emerged. Risk is endlessly redistributed, but rarely resolved. Responsibility is divided into pieces small enough that no one holds the whole. Language meant to clarify instead cushions the impact of hard truths.

Individually, each decision makes sense. Collectively, they produce a system that functions—until it doesn’t.

What this series set out to do was name the illusions that keep the system moving without being examined.

The first illusion is that healthcare behaves like a normal market. In many places, it doesn’t. Urgency removes choice. Complexity obscures price. Delay compounds harm. These are not moral failures; they are structural realities.

The second illusion is that responsibility can be shifted indefinitely. Costs move, risk moves, paperwork moves. Eventually, the weight settles somewhere. Increasingly, it settles on patients, families, frontline providers, and communities least able to absorb it.

The third illusion is that political disagreement is the primary obstacle to reform. In truth, dysfunction has become comfortable. It fuels narratives, fundraising, and positioning on all sides. Real reform would require tradeoffs, and tradeoffs require accountability. Accountability disrupts stories people rely on.

What holds all of this together—often invisibly—is effort. Care still happens. Professionals still show up. Systems still stretch to cover gaps they were never designed to hold. That endurance deserves respect, not exploitation.

Nothing in this series argues that healthcare must be simple. It argues that pretending it already is has consequences.

The purpose here was not to provide answers, but to establish a starting point grounded in reality rather than ideology. Any serious conversation going forward has to begin with what healthcare actually is: partially market, partially public, and fundamentally human. It cannot be reduced to slogans without losing something essential.

This is a pause, not a conclusion.

The questions raised here do not disappear because they are uncomfortable. They wait. They accumulate. And they resurface wherever care becomes unavoidable and responsibility can no longer be deferred.

Before solutions are proposed, before sides are taken, clarity matters. That clarity is the work of this series.

What comes next will deal with the parts we tend to avoid—not because they are controversial, but because they force choices. Those choices will deserve their own space, their own discipline, and their own honesty.

For now, this much is enough to know.

BUT, we are far from done. This was just series 1

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

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Part 6: When the System Stops Pretending – Healthcare in America

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Part 6: When the System Stops Pretending

For years, America’s healthcare debates have circled the same familiar arguments: cost, access, innovation, choice. Each side insists the problem is just one adjustment away from being solved — a different payer mix, a different incentive, a different set of rules.

What rarely gets said out loud is simpler and more uncomfortable:

The system no longer matches the reality it is supposed to serve.

This isn’t a failure of compassion, and it isn’t a failure of effort. It is a failure of structure — a system built on assumptions that no longer hold.

A system optimized for avoidance

Modern healthcare is not primarily organized around outcomes. It is organized around risk avoidance.

Risk is shifted:

From insurers to providers
From providers to patients
From institutions to families
From policy to paperwork

Each step is rational in isolation. Each makes sense on a spreadsheet. Together, they create a system where no one is fully responsible for the whole.

The result is not efficiency. It is fragmentation.

The language that shields the problem

We rely heavily on comforting language:

“Consumer choice”
“Market efficiency”
“Personal responsibility”
“Innovation”

These phrases are not lies, but they are incomplete. They work well for elective care, predictable conditions, and people with time, money, and literacy to navigate complexity.

They break down when care becomes urgent, unavoidable, or human.

When health stops being optional, the language stops working.

Who carries the weight now

As responsibility diffuses upward, the burden concentrates downward.

Patients manage billing disputes while recovering.
Families coordinate care without training.
Providers burn out navigating systems designed to protect revenue, not judgment.
Rural hospitals absorb losses with no margin for error.

None of this shows up cleanly in political talking points. It shows up in closures, staffing shortages, delayed care, and quiet financial collapse.

The place the system can’t avoid

There is one place where all of these distortions converge — where care cannot be deferred, denied, or negotiated in advance.

The system depends on it.
The system resents it.
And the system refuses to fully account for it.

This is not because it is inefficient, but because it is honest.

It is where every upstream decision eventually lands.

The political stalemate

Healthcare dysfunction has become politically useful.

One side uses it to fundraise.
The other uses it to posture.
Both promise fixes that stop short of structural change.

Real reform would force tradeoffs.
Tradeoffs create accountability.
Accountability threatens narratives.

So the system limps forward, managed rather than repaired.

The fork in the road

We are now past the point where incremental adjustments can hide the mismatch.

We can continue to:

Shift costs
Narrow networks
Add complexity
Manage decline

Or we can acknowledge the truth that has been visible for years:

A healthcare system that pretends everything is a market, everything is optional, and responsibility can always be deferred will eventually fail at the moments that matter most.

This series is not about choosing sides.
It is about deciding whether we are willing to stop pretending.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

How Citizens United Came to Be: From a Hillary Hit Piece to Unlimited Corporate Cash in Elections – Dark Money

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The 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC remains one of the most divisive rulings in modern American history. It didn’t just tweak campaign finance rules—it blew the doors off them, allowing corporations, unions, and wealthy donors to pour unlimited money into elections through “independent” spending. Super PACs, dark money groups, and billionaire influence? Thank (or blame) this case.

But how did we get here? It all started with a conservative nonprofit, a scathing documentary about Hillary Clinton, and a bold challenge to longstanding restrictions on political speech.

The Origins: Citizens United and “Hillary: The Movie”

Citizens United, a conservative advocacy group founded in 1988 by Floyd Brown (known for attack ads like the infamous Willie Horton spot in 1988), positioned itself as a producer of political documentaries. In 2007–2008, during Hillary Clinton’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination, the group created Hillary: The Movie—a 90-minute film portraying Clinton as power-hungry, untrustworthy, and unfit for office.

They planned to air it on DirecTV and promote it with TV ads right before primaries. But they hit a wall: the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002—better known as the McCain-Feingold law—banned corporations and unions from funding “electioneering communications” (ads naming candidates) within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election if those ads reached a broad audience.

Citizens United wasn’t just any corporation; as a nonprofit, it argued the rules violated its First Amendment rights to free speech. They sued the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in December 2007, seeking to declare parts of BCRA unconstitutional, both on their face and as applied to the film and its ads.

A federal district court mostly sided with the FEC: the film was basically election advocacy, not a neutral documentary, so the ban applied. Citizens United appealed directly to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court Showdown

The case was argued in March 2009, but the Court surprised everyone by ordering a rare reargument in September 2009, expanding the question to whether prior precedents like Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce (1990)—which allowed bans on corporate independent expenditures—should be overruled.

On January 21, 2010, the Court ruled 5-4 in favor of Citizens United, going far beyond the narrow issue of the movie.

Majority (5 justices):

Anthony Kennedy (wrote the main opinion): Argued that spending money on political speech is protected expression. Banning corporate independent expenditures based on the speaker’s identity (corporation vs. person) violates the First Amendment. “If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”

Joined by: Chief Justice John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas (Thomas concurred separately, dissenting on disclosure rules).

Dissent (4 justices):

John Paul Stevens (wrote a blistering 90-page dissent): Called the ruling a “radical departure” that threatens democracy by allowing corporate wealth to drown out ordinary voices. Corporations aren’t “We the People,” he argued, and unlimited spending risks corruption and erodes public trust.

Joined by: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor.

The Court struck down the corporate spending ban, overturned Austin, and opened the floodgates for unlimited independent expenditures—as long as they weren’t coordinated with candidates.

The Controversy: Free Speech Victory or Corporate Takeover?

The decision ignited immediate firestorms.

President Obama blasted it in his 2010 State of the Union address:

“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests—including foreign corporations—to spend without limit.” (That line drew a viral “not true” mouthed response from Justice Alito.)

Supporters hailed it as a triumph for the First Amendment, preventing government censorship of political views just because they’re from corporations (seen as groups of individuals). Critics decried it for equating money with speech, amplifying megadonors, and enabling “dark money” nonprofits to hide sources—leading to billions in outside spending that many say distorts democracy.

Fifteen years later (and counting), the ruling birthed super PACs, record-shattering election spending, and ongoing calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn it. Polls show overwhelming public opposition across party lines.

Was Citizens United a principled defense of free expression, or did it hand elections to the highest bidders? In the elephant in the room: the money keeps flowing, and ordinary voices often get shouted down.

What do you think—time to amend the Constitution, or is this just how free speech works in a capitalist democracy? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

Sources: Supreme Court opinion, Brennan Center for Justice, FEC records, Wikipedia summary (cross-verified).

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A Real-Time Example (Why Markets React Faster Than Voters) – Healthcare in America

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A Real-Time Example (Why Markets React Faster Than Voters)

In a surprise move, the Trump administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed a near-flat 0.09% increase in payment rates to private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans for 2027—far below Wall Street expectations of 4–6% and following a more generous 5.06% boost for 2026.

The announcement triggered an immediate sector sell-off the following day, with major insurers losing double-digit percentages in market value, led by sharp declines across the Medicare Advantage space.

Analysts cite tight insurer margins, rising medical costs, and efforts to curb overbilling (including changes to risk adjustment excluding certain chart reviews) as reasons the minimal increase could force benefit cuts, higher enrollee costs, or plan reductions for the more than 35 million seniors enrolled in MA plans.

Industry groups warn of potential disruptions when 2027 coverage renews in late 2026, though final rates will not be set until April. This adds pressure to an already challenging Medicare Advantage landscape, where many plans have recently faced premium increases, benefit adjustments, or network changes.

What matters here is not the stock reaction itself, but how quickly payment signals translate into market behavior — a dynamic we’ve been examining throughout this series.

For beneficiaries, this is a reminder to pay close attention to Annual Notice of Changes documents and enrollment windows, particularly if plan costs, benefits, or provider access begin to shift.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

It isn’t funny anymore, so let’s get ready for tomorrow – Healthcare in America

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After a year of sharp satire aimed at one particularly loud clown who’s now less funny than frightening, I’ve shifted gears. For the past month, I’ve worked hard not to let the current atrocities wag me or incite me — because the chaos, as dangerous as it has become, is still a self-serving diversion.The parody landed its points. But I’ve shifted gears.

The noise is deafening — endless sky-is-falling takes, reaction bait, and soundbite wars. Parody can’t out-absurd reality forever, and outrage isn’t insight.So I’m moving on to something more useful: helping people understand the actual systems we live inside, not just the circus around them.

I’ve just wrapped up a month of breaking down dark money mechanics (how it flows, manipulates, and warps decisions on both sides). Not conspiracy theories, just a better understanding of the how and why. My goal wasn’t to be partisan — it was to help readers better grasp the mechanics behind the curtain and make better, self-informed decisions.

Next up: a 4 series, 43 chapter discussion on institutional healthcare. Not the latest premium hikes, Trump tweets, or partisan talking points. Instead:

How the U.S. healthcare machine evolved historically
Who really makes the decisions (incentives, gatekeepers, power structures)
What access actually looks like on the ground
A clear comparison of free-market vs. socialized models — trade-offs, not team cheers

The goal isn’t to push an agenda; it’s to equip you with context so you can think, decide, and act from knowledge instead of reflexes. For the majority of my life, my knowledge of healthcare was condensed into these three or four questions, asked under stress:

Am I insured?
Will my spouse’s job still cover us?
What happens if we get pregnant / sick / laid off?
Can we afford this surprise?

Knowing the answers to those 4 questions is not enough.Occasional memes will still sneak in (old habits die hard), but the main lane now is education over entertainment. Thanks for reading along so far. If this resonates, stick around.

Healthcare In America – The Nuts and Bolts – The Series

Dark Money and Influence, It’s time to move on.

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At that point, the choice is yours.

You can go to the bar and complain.
You can leave angry comments online.
You can declare the right evil, the left evil, or both — and feel briefly satisfied.

Or you can do something about it.

To close out this section on dark money, We’ve pointed to the largest national players we know on each side of the ideological divide. On the right, the Federalist Society and Leonard Leo. On the left, the American Constitution Society and Arabella Advisors.

This wasn’t done to assign blame or score points.

It was done to show that influence networks exist on both sides, operate differently, and are rarely as simple as the slogans used to describe them. We’ve tried to approach this non-partisanly — not because “both sides are the same,” but because understanding requires honesty, not loyalty.

Our goal isn’t outrage.
It’s perspective.

If we want to slow the pendulum, regain some sanity in the process, and move forward in a way that doesn’t leave communities feeling manipulated or powerless, it starts here — with awareness, restraint, and local engagement.

What happens next is up to you.

What we could expect with Major reform in campaign finance / donation transparency

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What we could expect with Major reform in campaign finance / donation transparency

Most of this was included in the Pendulum Swing, assuming a right to left shift, but the organizations need to be brought to light and understood.

On the surface, what we might see would be more honest campaign promises as the backroom financing would become more transparent. This would be more obvious on the local level but would migrate up the National Ladder.

Major reform in campaign finance / donation transparency — if laws tighten, anonymity and dark-money flows shrink.

- Economic collapse or disruption to corporate profits — institutional money depends on capital; if the economy sours, so does financial influence.
- Mass public backlash / grassroots insurgency — if voters demand structural change, elite influence may become a liability rather than an asset.
- Global shifts (trade, climate, geopolitics) that outgrow traditional domestic lobbying and require new alignments — making old networks obsolete or forced to transform drastically.

Major Networks & Institutions Likely to Persist Through a Shift

Name / Network	Why They Endure /What Makes Them Resilient
Sixteen Thirty Fund (and affiliated Arabella Advisors funds)	Long-standing “dark money” powerhouse for the left. Provides fiscal-sponsorship and funding to many progressive causes and campaigns. As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, it can channel money — often anonymously — into activism, ballot initiatives, and elections. Wikipedia+1
Berger Action Fund (network tied to Swiss billionaire support of progressive causes)	Serves as a major donor funnel for progressive policy agendas. Its role shows how international money and large-scale philanthropy can influence U.S. politics regardless of which party is in charge. Wikipedia+1
Priorities USA Action	One of the largest Democratic-leaning super PACs. Has shown flexibility in shifting strategy (e.g. moving toward digital campaigning rather than just TV ads), which suggests institutional agility in changing political climates. Wikipedia
American Bridge 21st Century	A major liberal opposition-research and election campaign group—effective at media and messaging work. Such infrastructures are portable: no matter who’s in power, they can redirect resources toward oversight, opposition, or new causes. Wikipedia
Tides Foundation / Tides Network	A long-standing donor-advised fund and fiscal-sponsorship network. Its versatile structure lets wealthy donors fund causes under the radar — meaning it can remain influential regardless of which party holds power. Wikipedia+1
Major Conservative Mega-Donors (e.g. Richard Uihlein & family, Scaife-linked foundations, etc.)	These “big-money backers” have deep pockets and substantial influence on think tanks, policy-planning networks, and regulatory lobbying. Their funds tend to follow structural interests (tax law, business regulation, corporate incentives) — which can often survive major party shifts. DeSmog+2The Good Men Project+2
Embedded Think Tanks and Policy Networks (e.g. Heritage Foundation, Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), and other longtime policy infrastructure)	These institutions provide long-term ideological frameworks, produce research, influence judiciary nominations, shape legislation drafts — and have memberships, staffs, and networks that outlast electoral cycles. DeSmog+1
Financial-industry donors and Super-PAC backers (e.g. Kenneth C. Griffin, other hedge-fund and Wall Street funders)	Money from big finance often plays both ends: campaign donations, policy lobbying, influence over regulation. Because their interest is often stability, deregulation, and favorable economic policy — not always party ideology — they can pivot if a left administration offers similar benefits. Fiscal Report+1

Why These Actors Are So Durable

Legal and structural opacity: Many are nonprofits or 501(c)(4) / donor-advised funds that are not required to publicly disclose all donors or spending. That secrecy makes them hard to trace — and easy to reorient quietly.
Networks over individuals: Their power rests in institutions, infrastructure, think tanks, PACs, and donor webs — not individuals whose fortunes rise or fall with elections.
Financial interests over pure ideology: Many of these players (especially donors, think-tanks, financial backers) prioritize economic, regulatory, and institutional stability — interests that survive either party being in power.
Adaptability: Super-PACs and nonprofit umbrellas can shift focus quickly: from supporting one party to supporting causes, ballot initiatives, or policy campaigns under any administration.
Trans-partisan appeal: Particularly for business interests and big donors — maintaining influence requires access from whichever side controls power. So pivoting becomes strategy, not betrayal.

Arabella Advisors (via the Sixteen Thirty Fund)

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Leonard Leo	Arabella Advisors
Builds and steers a network	Builds and steers a network
Operates mostly out of public view	Operates mostly out of public view
Uses nonprofits and fiscal vehicles	Uses nonprofits and fiscal vehicles
Focuses on long-term institutional outcomes	Focuses on long-term institutional outcomes
Rarely the public face of campaigns	Rarely the public face of campaigns

The Other Side of the Leonards Coin: Arabella Advisors and the Progressive Influence Network

Arabella Advisors dissolved in late 2025 and transferred its services to Sunflower Services. That organizational change does not alter the relevance of what follows. This discussion focuses on the methods, structures, and influence models that operated under Arabella’s umbrella—models that continue to exist across the political spectrum regardless of name or branding.

If you’ve read about Leonard Leo and wondered whether there’s an equivalent force operating on the other side of the political spectrum, the short answer is: yes — but it looks different.

If you are unfamiliar with Leonard Leo then I suggest you read our brief on him, it will make my cross references here clearer.

Rather than centering on one highly visible figure, progressive influence has tended to operate through organizational networks. One of the most significant of those is Arabella Advisors.

This is not a critique or an endorsement. It’s an attempt to understand how modern political influence actually works.

What Is Arabella Advisors?

Arabella Advisors is a for-profit consulting firm that specializes in managing and supporting nonprofit organizations and advocacy efforts. Its influence comes less from public messaging and more from infrastructure.

Arabella administers several large nonprofit funds, including:

The Sixteen Thirty Fund
The New Venture Fund
The Hopewell Fund
The Windward Fund

These funds act as fiscal sponsors, meaning they legally host and manage hundreds of projects that may not have their own independent nonprofit status.

In practical terms, this allows advocacy campaigns to:

Launch quickly
Share administrative resources
Receive funding efficiently
Operate under existing legal umbrellas

This structure is entirely legal and widely used across the nonprofit world.

How the Network Operates

Unlike traditional nonprofits with a single mission and brand, Arabella’s model supports many separate initiatives at once, often focused on:

Voting and election policy
Climate and environmental advocacy
Healthcare access
Judicial and legal reform
Democracy and governance issues

Most people encountering these efforts don’t see “Arabella” at all. They see:

A campaign name
A policy group
A ballot-issue committee
An issue-specific advocacy organization

That’s not secrecy — it’s organizational design.

Why Some Critics Raise Concerns

Criticism of Arabella’s network usually centers on three issues:

1. Donor opacity
Some of the funds administered through the network do not publicly disclose individual donors, which raises concerns similar to those voiced about conservative dark-money groups.

2. Scale and coordination
Because many projects are housed under a small number of fiscal sponsors, critics argue this can concentrate influence in ways that are hard for the public to track.

3. Distance from local impact
National funding routed through professionalized networks can shape outcomes in local or state-level debates without local communities fully understanding where the support originated.

These concerns mirror critiques made of conservative influence networks — which is precisely why Arabella is worth understanding.

Why Others Defend the Model

Supporters argue that Arabella’s structure:

Improves efficiency
Reduces administrative duplication
Allows rapid response to emerging issues
Helps smaller or newer causes compete in an expensive political environment

They also point out that conservative networks have used similar structures for decades — often more visibly and more successfully — and that progressive donors were slow to build comparable infrastructure.

Why This Matters

Arabella Advisors isn’t the progressive version of a political party, a campaign, or a single leader.

It’s something subtler:

An influence platform — not for persuasion, but for coordination.

That makes it powerful, and it also makes it easy to misunderstand.

Just as Leonard Leo represents how conservative legal influence became institutionalized, Arabella represents how progressive advocacy adapted to a landscape where money, law, and organization matter as much as ideas.

The Larger Point

Seeing Arabella Advisors clearly helps avoid two common mistakes:

Believing influence only flows from one side
Confusing infrastructure with ideology

Modern politics is less about speeches and more about systems — systems that decide which ideas get sustained, funded, and repeated over time.

Understanding those systems doesn’t require agreement.
It requires attention.

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Leonard Leo has done more to reshape the American legal landscape than many senators, presidents, or judges.

On - Conspiracy theories, Dark Money, Politics, Protest 2026, purple

Most Americans can name Donald Trump. Many can name Joe Biden.

Fewer can name Brett Kavanaugh or Amy Coney Barrett.

But almost no one knows the name Leonard Leo, and that’s exactly how he prefers it. While the country fights over policies, Leo quietly builds the structures that decide them. He’s not an elected official. He doesn’t run for office. But over the past two decades, Leonard Leo has done more to reshape the American legal landscape than many senators, presidents, or judges. And he’s done it behind the curtain. As co-chairman and former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leo advised on the selection of Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, narrowed voting rights, and limited environmental protections.

But he didn’t stop at the high court, he built a pipeline. From district courts to appeals courts, Leo’s influence extends like a legal shadow network, placing originalist judges where precedent used to live.

And now he has the money to go even further. In 2021, Leo’s Marble Freedom Trust received a staggering $1.6 billion donation from Chicago businessman Barre Seid, the largest known political gift in American history.

Not to fund a campaign, but to advance conservative activism in his vision. That means supporting legal challenges against government regulation, climate policy, abortion access, and even election processes. The playbook? It aligns with efforts like Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-led initiative to overhaul the federal government, and Leo’s networks have funded groups preparing for similar conservative policy shifts.

He’s also facilitated lavish, undisclosed trips for Supreme Court justices like Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, the kind of perks organized through his donor networks that would get a public servant fired, but which have evaded strict ethics enforcement in a judiciary with limited oversight.

And yet, the headlines rarely mention his name. That’s the danger. While we’re busy arguing on social media about candidates and slogans, Leonard Leo is writing the footnotes of history, in fine print most of us never see. This isn’t conspiracy. It’s coordination. And it’s working. So the next time you wonder how a fringe legal theory became binding law, or why public trust in the courts has cratered, remember this name. Not because he shouts it, but because he doesn’t have to. Leonard Leo. The most powerful unelected man in America. And we’re letting him do it in silence.

1.He’s almost completely invisible to the public

Most Americans couldn’t pick him out of a lineup, and yet he has arguably reshaped more of the American political landscape than any living figure, without ever running for office.

2.He operates through permanence, not popularity

While presidents come and go, Leo’s real power comes from engineering a judicial supermajority and embedding his ideology into the law for decades, particularly through lifetime federal judges.

3. He has billion-dollar influence with zero accountability

Through his networks (like the Marble Freedom Trust), he’s moved $1.6 billion from donors into judicial activism, legal campaigns, and media shaping, with almost no oversight or press scrutiny.

4. His agenda is deeply ideological, and strategic

This isn’t just about being “conservative.” It’s about remaking the constitutional framework:

Weakening federal oversight
Empowering state-level authority
Rolling back decades of precedent on voting rights, reproductive rights, regulatory power, and civil protections

He’s the force behind decisions like Dobbs, Shelby County, and the Chevron deference rollback, each systematically shifting power away from elected government and toward courts, corporations, and conservative legal theory.

So, a quick recap:

Co-chairman and former executive vice president of the Federalist Society
Longtime judicial kingmaker on the American right
Key advisor in the conservative legal revolution, including stacking the Supreme Court
Aligned with networks supporting Project 2025, the policy playbook for a conservative overhaul of government

Why He’s Dangerous

He doesn’t run for office. He runs people who do.

He’s behind the curtain shaping judicial, legal, and policy infrastructure that outlasts any election.

His fingerprints are on decisions gutting voting rights, abortion access, campaign finance law, and federal agency power.

He builds systems, not headlines.

While Trump tweets and shouts, Leo advises on the manual, places the judges, and engineers the undoing of the administrative state.

Bureaucratic reprogramming disguised as “liberty.”

He understands how to leverage chaos.

The louder the MAGA noise, the more quietly Leo’s network rewires the levers of power: Supreme Court, state AGs, education boards, religious coalitions, media outlets.

He has billions at his disposal now.

In 2021, he received $1.6 billion from Barre Seid, the largest known political donation in U.S. history, and he’s using it not to run ads, but to reshape the legal battlefield.

Why People Overlook Him

No bombastic rallies, no orange spray tan, no obvious cult of personality.

The media mostly sees him as “that judicial guy from the Federalist Society.”

But under the radar, he’s weaponizing legal legitimacy, which is far more enduring than any single politician’s charisma.

If Trump is the actor, Leonard Leo is the playwright, and the stage manager, and the guy who installed the trapdoor under the audience.

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Yah, so we have been going on and on about the Democrats getting into power, taking control of the House, well, that’s a given and maybe even the Senate. That’s not a given, but there’s a good chance.

But okay. They do it.

So what?

What do you expect? Massive change? Impeach Trump, throw the administration behind bars where they belong? Oh, still my beating heart. If only it could happen that easily.

Reality is raising its ugly head. What’s going to happen? Well, I’ll tell you what’s going to happen.

A lot of INVESTIGATIONS.

A lot of ARM WAVING.

A lot of NAME CALLING.

A lot of NOTHING.

Why?

Because the Democrats have their own dirty laundry.

The names are different.

The excuses are different.

The money is still money.

Don’t get me wrong. We will see change. We may see Trump and his political machine dismantled. We may see investigations that uncover things that actually deserve to be uncovered. We may see parts of the Trump political operation disappear.

But will the underlying system change?

That’s the question.

Because if you simply replace one political machine with another, what have you really fixed?

We aren’t going to see fundamental change until we start dealing with the two-party system itself, until Citizens United is addressed, and until the super-rich lose some of their influence over our government.

They will never lose all of it.

Because money is power, and that’s just the way it is.

This is a late-in-the-evening post.

I am reminded of Chuck Keller’s recent post where he brought up alcohol, and I made a comment about how every now and again I guess we all, including Hemingway, must stand there sober occasionally.

Well, today isn’t that day.

I cleaned my smoker. I scraped the grease from the BBQ. I showered twice. I even did a paying job.

And now I’m sitting here with a glass of bourbon, my poison of choice, which apparently makes me willing to admit that I can appreciate the Chinese game plan:

Don’t think about tomorrow. Think about the next 100 years.

So, looking forward:

Who are we going to let call the shots?

A bunch of rich dudes who only want to get richer?

Or…

Maybe that’s the question we should be asking before we decide that simply changing who holds the gavels means we have changed the system.

Because making that decision tomorrow may be too late.

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New York, New York. Zohran Mamdani. Labels. What does Trump call him? A communist, and worse, of course never to his face, because Trump hasn’t the huevos to say anything to anyone’s face. But let’s be polite. Maybe a democratic socialist?

================================

How many chips do you want?

If you can’t give me that before you ask for my vote, I’m not interested.

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New York, New York. Zohran Mamdani. Labels. What does Trump call him? A communist, and worse, of course never to his face, because Trump hasn’t the huevos to say anything to anyone’s face. But let’s be polite. Maybe a democratic socialist?

And their views? Valid, for where they come from. Just too extreme to export nationally. But here’s the thing about extremes, they produce something useful when they meet each other. Wait for it. It’s almost here and it’s worth the wait.

The middle.

How many chips do you want?

If you can’t give me that before you ask for my vote, I’m not interested.

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The Moment We’ve Been Building Toward

The Forward Party may be on the verge of an independent governing fulcrum in the Senate.

Todd and Brian recently joined former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey on Boston Public Radio to talk about their campaigns and the independent opportunity.

About the Forward Party

It’s time to hit the pavement in Rapid City!

There will be a morning deployment from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM and an afternoon deployment from 12:30 PM to 4:00 PM.

Additionally, Moving America Forward will be hosting a multi-partner coalition dinner (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) for participating volunteers and partner organizations, featuring special guest speaker and U.S. Senate candidate Brian Bengs.

Hope to see you there! Sign up at the link above.

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment. 👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

Copyright © 2026 Forward Party, all rights reserved.

Our mailing address is: 1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. ForwardParty.com

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Did you watch it? Better yet, I’m old enough that I actually went to it. Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The greatest three-ring circus in the land. Celebrated in film back in 1952 with Cornel Wilde, Betty Hutton, and James Stewart. Before your time, maybe. Not mine.

Then in 2017, Hugh Jackman played P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. Entertaining both times. Good spectacle. Great misdirection.

But why do I feel like what I’ve been watching lately is just another circus remake, only this time starring Emmett Kelly the sad clown, sweeping up the spotlight after everyone else has gone home?

Where have we been? Asleep on Vance’s couch?

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Make your decisions with thought. Because whoever walks into the White House next walks in carrying way too much inherited power, and must be honestly, genuinely willing to give a lot of it back for the sake of the rest of us.

Only God is God. By whatever name you call him.

Sorry Trump. Your flatulence still stinks.

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Did you watch it? Better yet, I’m old enough that I actually went to it. Ringling Bros.-Barnum and Bailey Circus. The greatest three-ring circus in the land. Celebrated in film back in 1952 with Cornel Wilde, Betty Hutton, and James Stewart. Before your time, maybe. Not mine.

Then in 2017, Hugh Jackman played P.T. Barnum in The Greatest Showman. Entertaining both times. Good spectacle. Great misdirection.

But why do I feel like what I’ve been watching lately is just another circus remake, only this time starring Emmett Kelly the sad clown, sweeping up the spotlight after everyone else has gone home?

Where have we been? Asleep on Vance’s couch?

There has to be more than this. Noise. Non-stop noise. And guess who’s making it, and making it on purpose. Some call it distraction. Some call it ego. Some call it, ah, fudge, I’ll be polite and leave that one blank.

Bottom line: it’s all noise. Not governing. Not leading. Just noise.

It’s time for the circus to fold its tents, load the wagons, remove the fake freaks’ makeup, and leave town. And on the way out put the stolen assets back in the treasury where they belong.

If you’re tired of waiting for the system to fix itself — this is your moment.
👥 Volunteer | 🗳️ Run for Office | 💸 Donate | 🌐 forwardparty.com

Our mailing address is:
1701 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036, United States

Paid for by Forward Party and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.
ForwardParty.com

The series as a downloadable PDF
Foundation of Government