It seems everyone wants to complain just as loudly when their time comes. Maybe even louder depending on how many of their principles are violated by the affront. I derive most of my optimism from ignorance, figuring the best way to avoid strife is to, well, avoid it. Don’t seek out drama in your free time. Plenty will find you on its own. The  standard format of today’s media is to target the populace with whatever fears you’ll most likely react to. Even actively avoiding current events on the world stage only delays the inevitable. Which is better, watching a tragedy approach or getting blind-sided?

Seeing my blue friends freak out in the exact same manner as my red friends 8 years ago is bittersweet with irony. My only conclusion is that Trump is the rebuttal of racists that hated seeing a black man elected president. The other option is that people believe the things they see on their screens. These same people probably quote Wikipedia as god given truth. Either way, this is easily the most embarrassing thing America has done in my lifetime. Not the worst – Bush Jr. was a distinctly worse political move – but certainly the most shameful. There’s no better proof that we live in an oligarchy than Donald Trump winning the presidential election.

I’m so solidly moderate I actually change colors depending what region I’m in. Memphis makes me seem like a firm liberal in comparison to the median. Moving to Seattle almost makes me look red. Not quite that far right but certainly a dark purple of mixed feelings. That’s because social policy is not the only thing I care about. My basic knowledge of how government works has me convinced that this country is too damn big for it’s current form of leadership. It’s just not possible to have a majority in anything anymore. The strongest coalitions in our society form when people react to a perceived problem. Proactive solutions are written off as idealism and the status quo is cemented in place by outdated powers.

The solution I’d like to see involves splitting the country into regions that have individual leaders who then meet as a group to dictate the executive branch decision. Delegates from the House and Senate would likely be involves in that round table for reference if nothing else. I also would like to see the executive branch housed somewhere other than DC and the White House becomes a place for non-partisan meetings and international dignitaries. At bare minimum though, we should make a law requiring public officials to release their tax returns. That’s a level of transparency I assumed was already in place. It seems wrong to allow someone that habitually evades paying taxes to run the entire country.