I’ve always been a conservative. I’ve always registered Republican. Today, I consider myself an independent with a lowercase “i.” No party. No checkbox.
For a moment, I’m going to step off my usual neutral track. My biggest disagreement has always been my distrust of Donald Trump and the hard-right MAGA movement, not the conservative Republican base generally. It seems to me that the political pendulum is going to swing left. I just don’t want it to swing wildly left. I distrust the hard left as much as I distrust the hard right.
Moderate. Remember.
So, looking toward 2028, the question becomes: who makes sense? Who can represent a country that is not neatly divided into two simple groups? Who can represent both the liberal and conservative values that exist across America?
The answer I keep coming back to is simple.
I like a team.
I think putting a team together on day one is the smart move. Not just a presidential candidate, but a governing team. Two people who complement each other, who genuinely work together, and either of whom could step into the presidency if necessary without the American people feeling anxious or uncertain about the future.
The old way, selecting one popular candidate and then having the party scramble to find a vice president who might help win a particular state or appeal to a particular voting group. is outdated. It does a disservice to the office and to the voters.
Why not build the team first?
Presidential candidates have one of the hardest jobs in America. They have to travel across a country where people have completely different needs, different economies, and different histories. What matters to a farmer in rural America may be very different from what matters to someone working in a technology center or a manufacturing community.
The president cannot personally solve every problem.
Nor should they.
What I want to hear from a candidate is something like this:
“I am here to help you solve your own problems. When you need help, the federal government will be there. But government should support 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 are examples of responsibilities that require a national commitment.
The challenge is finding the proper balance.
That is a pretty big order. We want someone who can make every decision, solve every problem, and manage every crisis. Wait a minute, don’t we have that right now? At least the current President seems to believe that is possible.
I’m not going to spend this article discussing Trump. I only mention him to reinforce the reason I believe a team is needed. The presidency was never designed to be a one-person operation. It was designed around a system of checks, balances, advisors, and institutions.
The team should not begin after the election.
It should already exist before the election.
I started with the idea of a President and Vice President. Yes, a President and Vice President, but a Vice President that the American people would genuinely trust if they had to step into those much larger shoes. If that happened, the country should know that the same governing philosophy and agenda would continue.
We are entering an era of artificial intelligence, robotics, space exploration, and challenges that previous generations could not have imagined. Why are we still choosing executive leadership the same way we did generations ago?
Why not modernize how America chooses its executive branch?
Imagine a system where the presidential team is not simply a candidate and a running mate, but the beginning of a governing organization. After the primaries, there is still time before the general election to assemble a proposed administration. The voters would know what they were actually voting for.
The country would not lose months after an election while Congress debates and fights over cabinet selections. The vetting process would already have been underway. The American people would have a clearer understanding of who would actually be responsible for running the government.
And here is another benefit.
Yes, today we are stuck with a two-party system. Hopefully, someday that changes. But a governing team could begin moving us beyond the idea that the only qualification that matters is the letter after someone’s name.
The team leader should have the ability to select the best people for the job. Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian, the question should be whether they are qualified and capable.
Today’s challenges are simply too great for one person, one party, or one ideology to solve alone.
I spent much of my career in engineering, and one lesson applies to every complex project: you do not hire one person and tell them, “Make it work.”
You assemble a team.
You identify the lead programmer, the project manager, and the people who can work together to accomplish the goal. You define the scope, the expected results, and the responsibilities before anyone starts writing code. Then you have oversight to make sure the project stays on track.
Government is the largest project any of us could ever undertake.
Yet we continue to pretend that one person can manage it all.
The president is still responsible. The buck still has to stop somewhere. But a strong team does not weaken leadership. It strengthens it.
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 respond by building a team.
Not just a campaign team.
A governing team.
A team with a realistic agenda that can actually be accomplished, not campaign promises made from a stage two weeks before Election Day.
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