Better a Patriot than A Fool by Al Sikes

Who knew that the 21st Century would offer ambitious politicians a dull and inattentive version of the governed? Yes, you and me.

Or, perhaps we are simply a more forgiving generation—not confused or inattentive, just generous. Or forgetful. Or maybe simply comfortable with outsourcing what the law says is our responsibility.

The political party of Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) and Bill Clinton allowed a small coterie of politicians to maintain a fiction: Joe Biden was equal to a second term. “Cancel the primaries,” Biden’s spear carriers said, “let’s have a coronation.” The elders went along at the expense of the nation and their Party.

Or, the political party of Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan nominating a person whose transparent behavior revealed a self-aggrandizing narcissist claiming he would make America great again.

Truth is Biden and Trump were co-dependents. Biden in his shrunken condition acting like FDR while Trump was covering up his many deficiencies with bombastic slogans  aimed at exploiting our biases.

So what is it about us? Are we so distracted by our anxieties and indulgences that we no longer have time to govern? Are we so oblivious, that having our national credit degraded is just another 24 hour headline without impact? Our elected representatives promise to lower the debt; cycles come and go and the debt balloons. Oh well we will pass it on to our kids.

Are conservatives no longer conservative? Populism is never conservative. It is opportunism dressed up as regard. Sure there are both popular and rational arguments that pair but it is not a philosophy of governance. And when New York Times writers and others speak of various populous exclamations as “hard right” or “far right”, they are revealing bias not intelligence.

On the other side of the jagged line is the Left. I wonder whether identity politics is more important than unity politics? Giving way to the outer edges of pressure groups (sometimes misnamed as “progressives”) inevitably leads to countervailing estrangement. Severe cleavages create chasms that are spectacular in nature but result in ugly gaps in society.

Let me repeat: Governance. With a capital G. Governance that balances revenue and expenditures. Governance that  can manage weapons of mass destruction. Governance that is operationally strong. Governance that must reconcile ardent advocacy to gain majority support from a diverse electorate.

Regarding President Trump, maybe his cleverness cancels our common sense. For example, tariffs are on and then they are off. They penalize Canada more than enemy nations. And when the CEO of Walmart suggests he might have to pass some of the taxes on goods along, the President threatens him.

In the meantime he concentrates on the petroleum kingdoms of the Middle East whose Oligarchs, understanding his interior needs, lavish praise and do deals.

President Donald J Trump will make history in one category: the amount written about him while in office.

Blah, blah, blah! Attack, defend. Often written by people with attitude not experience. I get that, as people with experience often give the benefit of the doubt to people in the big jobs. The jobs are tough; they know that. They are more likely to use long-term measuring sticks.

Let me repeat that the jobs are not easy. The mission is important or it would not be done collectively (all together). There is generally a law behind it. Its origin is a finding that a State-by-State solution will not work. How, for example, could we defend our nation if all of our defense assets were in State national guards? And Maryland’s health is inextricably tied to Missouri’s.

Beyond the President here are some others that hold big jobs. The Secretaries of Defense, State, and the Department of Justice. They face almost minute-by-minute competing claims—do more, do less and here are the reasons why. “Hold the line, I just got call from the White House.” Or the Congress. “Cancel the meeting so I can prepare for a hearing.” In the meantime what does the data say; yeah, for example, flight patterns in and out of Newark’s airport.

In last Friday’s Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan’s column, Declarations, was titled: “Broken Windows at the White House”. “Broken Windows” was the title of a theory that said if you don’t keep up your building’s appearance, you risk being caught up in a spiral of bad things. Generally the description was used to characterize failing neighborhoods in big cities.  As Noonan noted, “The neighborhood will deteriorate, and crime will spread.”

She went on to note a lot of “broken windows in the Trump administration”. I need not list them; anybody who reads just the headlines is aware. But I want to go back to big jobs and their occupants and the Congressional vacuum.

Elon Musk’s DOGE spent the first three months of the Trump Administration rampaging through the operational parts of the national government. Daily the operational side of government would be declared broken and/or corrupt. It is hard to imagine the demoralization that resulted.

While Musk was on the move, the US Senate was quizzing Trump nominees to head various departments of government. The cast of characters came from people whose main service to Trump had been to massage his ego. Go down the list: Hegseth, Kennedy, Gabbard, etc.

This is a broken windows cast. They are not seasoned managers of difficult organizations or circumstances. Hold on.

My hope, perhaps unrealistic, is that at some point enough Members of Congress, in the President’s own Party will wake up to the facts at hand, operationally, fiscally and beyond. There is some evidence of pushback in the Republican House Caucus on spending; my advice: stand up to the President. Do not fold. If it causes you to lose the next election, so be it. Better a patriot than a fool. And, for sure, that goes for both political parties.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.