Not long ago, I wrote a column on making America better and offered a few specific suggestions for how to do that. I suppose this column might be called Making America Better, Part II.
Major news media continue to report on Trump and his policies as if he were giving thoughtful attention to complex issues to determine the best course of action. I don’t understand why they turn a blind eye to the obvious. The public record is long and clear: he has little understanding of complex issues, appears to lack curiosity about them, claims his erratic and wandering statements are tactical moves, and is committed to the reality of whatever fiction is fed to him. He falls asleep when he should be paying attention, slurs his words, and shows energy only when speaking off the cuff about whatever wanders through his mind.
That alone is troubling, but it’s made worse by the utter incompetence of administration appointees—inept in everything except the heavy-handed demolition of government. Their goal is to make room for undemocratic, authoritarian rule that benefits the rich and powerful at the expense of ordinary people—and to call it progress. Particularly galling is the blatant profiteering by the Trump Organization, enriching the family at taxpayer expense and boasting about it as if it were a virtue.
Public outrage—expressed by millions at Hands Off and No Kings rallies—and the growing popularity of commentators willing to confront the administration with hard facts have led to headlines about “anti-Trumpism,” as if being anti-Trump were an end in itself. It isn’t. It’s a movement driven by the angry fear that American democracy is being demolished, the Constitution shredded, the less affluent and marginalized left without rights or resources, and a Gestapo-like police state replacing the rule of law.
But it is also a movement with a better vision for a better America. That vision needs to become the greater focus of its work and messaging.
The better vision is a leaner, more efficient, and more effective bureaucracy—one held accountable for high levels of “customer satisfaction.” It recognizes some parts of government need to be eliminated. It calls for reforming the civil service system to allow for greater managerial flexibility while preserving nonpartisan career paths.
The federal government’s highest priority must be to create policies and programs that foster conditions in which every person can access well-paid employment, decent housing, and adequate food. Think of it as finally fulfilling FDR’s Four Freedoms: freedom from fear, from hunger, of speech, and of religion—not just for some, but for everyone.
The movement also aims to restore the nation’s financial integrity by increasing taxes on the very wealthy, and by reducing or eliminating corporate welfare and tax breaks—reserving federal assistance when it is genuinely needed. The ease with which large corporations and the ultra-rich evade taxes by parking funds offshore must be curtailed. Finally—and perhaps most controversially—we need the world’s best military, but not the world’s largest.
And then there’s Congress. It is an institution so entangled in arcane rules and traditions that it often seems incapable of meaningful action. The obvious solutions are politically uncomfortable. What might be done, day to day?
Enforce strict rules against gerrymandering. Restore the Voting Rights Act nationwide. Pass legislation to overturn Citizens United, establish campaign time limits, and cap campaign spending. Elect leaders courageous enough to replace obstructive legislative procedures with clear, simple rules. None of it seems politically palatable—but you never know.
Immigration remains a major bugaboo. We’ve made immigrants the toxic enemy of white America and stripped them of their God-given human dignity. It’s a shameful outrage. But perhaps we’ve finally reached the point where we have the will to reform our immigration system with justice, order, and compassion. Of course, we want secure borders—but that doesn’t mean closed ones. Anyone who has tried to navigate the current legal immigration system knows it’s nearly impossible without money and legal counsel. I do not see why we cannot build a reasonably simple and accessible immigration system.
We have already seen the cruel damage an administration can do when it has a clear blueprint—like “Project 2025.” There is every reason to believe that a new administration, armed with a different blueprint, can rebuild rather than demolish. That new plan may run to hundreds of pages, but it must be distilled into a few trusted phrases—words that will offer real, tangible hope for a better life for all people.