According to the While House, the majority of Americans think we are on the right track.
Even MSN agrees (with the polls, if not the sentiment).
Wrong Train
I think the general population’s optimism centers on a few key topics.
- We want to feel safe. We rely on our government to protect us. This includes a wide range of topics from immigration to local law enforcement.
- We want to have wealth. Not Jeff Bezos wealth, but we need to feel like inflation is under control and daily expenses won’t break the bank.
Maybe a few other things, but those are the biggees.
I can understand how Americans may be responding positively when a pollster stops them on the street and asks if America is on the right track.
However, I do think there may be some indications that even if the country is on the right track, we may be on the wrong train. Let’s take a look.
Party Majority
I’m 62, so I get to say this. In the old days…the president set out the national agenda, and congress worked with the president to pass legislation. Democrats and republicans don’t see eye to eye on a lot of issues. That’s not new.
What I think is new is that either party seems unable to pass major legislation unless they control the presidency as well as the house and the senate.
And even that doesn’t seem enough. It seems like executive orders are all the rage. Why go through the time consuming process of writing legislation and making deals and concessions to create laws when you can declare an emergency and act unilaterally.
We’ve had 157 executive orders signed in 2025 so far. We had 162 between 2021 and 2025, and we had 220 between 2017 and 2021. Read more here.
We Don’t Talk Anymore
I live in a heavily democratic state. I recently attended a town hall with my congressman, and I couldn’t tell you all the issues and complaints discussed, but I can say that the most impactful to me was when the congressman told a story about partisan politics. He was at a bar in DC and had a drink with a republican colleague (my congressman is a democrat by the way).
The next day the colleague told hm “You know, you got me in a lot of trouble. I shouldn’t be seen talking with you.”
My congressman said this is new. As much as he and his republican colleagues didn’t see eye to eye on many issues, it was not unusual to get together over a drink and discuss.
It also seems it has become more common for republicans and democrats in congress to have closed door sessions where the other side is not invited.
Veep
One of my favorite shows. Everything was a negotiation. Every good idea got watered down because of the endless negotiation and deal-making.
But at least there was an effort.
A Quick Story
Years ago, my boss took our entire management team on an offsite and one of the activities was a game where we had to pretend we were on a plane that crashed in the Andes mountains.
The game was based on a true story.
We had to make real-time decisions about whether to stay with the plane or set off on foot, what to take with us if we left, how much of the remaining food could we eat and how to divide it up… We were scored based on making decisions that actually worked out in the real world plane crash.
We played the game as individuals, and then we played again as a group within each of our tables. Overwhelmingly the groups scored significantly higher than the individuals. Discussing ideas and coming to consensus yielded a better result than a single-minded decision.
Keeping Score
OK, back to our regularly scheduled program. I’ve been thinking about how I keep score. Am I so focused on the tactical issues in front of me. Is Trump right or is Musk? Should (name that migrant) have been arrested? Should it have been handled the way it was? Should military plans be shared with family and reporters?
I’m making light of serious questions and I apologize, but humor is how I get through stress. My point is not that these tactical items are inconsequential, I actually think they are quite important. but I feel like they distract me from the bigger questions.
Our Representatives???
While I try to avoid politics, this all started with some thoughts on a prior post, which, interestingly, was about why I dislike politics.
I wrote about how it seems that our choices for representative, whether it is congress or the presidency are skewing further and further from center. There is a far left and a far right and not much in between. As voters, we’re forced to choose between 2 options, neither of which truly reflects the majority of us who seem to be somewhere in the middle.
Wouldn’t it be great if our representatives represented our thoughts and ideals, as opposed to developing their own partisan identity with which we need to align.
Some of our readers posted comments which seem to agree.
Wrap Up
So aside from a strong recommendation for Veep, and a commitment to go back and rewatch a few episodes, what have we gotten out of this?
I need to think more about what heading in the right direction means to me.
I had my 40 year college reunion this weekend and I caught up with an old friend who is in the coast guard and has lived around the US and around the world. He had some interesting observations that started me thinking.
While I am not trying to tell you how to think, I encourage you to do so. What is the right track for our country? For you personally, not for your party or your favorite elected official, news outlet, influencer, or Hollywood star.
And next time one of the tactical issues rears its ugly head (and don’t worry, one will be by momentarily) instead of asking yourself do I agree with Fox News or MSNBC, ask yourself how you would have handled it. I don’t always come up with a decisive answer but I find it helpful to go through the process.