Best Advice for 2018

As I have, I am sure many of you have received numerous requests to participate in, or contribute to protest marches, petitions, rallies and other forms of public protest against the egregious actions of Congress and the Trump administration. The problem is that none of these actions results in any change as they fall on the deaf ears of our elected officials. After all, our elected officials only listen to their patrons and no longer listen to their constituents. And why should they? It’s the money from their patrons that gets them elected time after time after time. So long as they enact legislation benefiting their patrons instead of their constituents, the money keeps rolling in and they keep getting elected. The bottom line is that for 2018 in particular, we will be wasting time, money and energy in organizing and conducting public protests. Those resources would be much better spent elsewhere.

2018 will be a critical year for Americans. It will signal acceptance or rejection of Trumpian politics. The acceptance or rejection of this form of governance will be decided by voters, not protesters, not marchers and not petitioners – only voters. The best advice I have found for Americans who wish to reject Trumpism is in an op-ed piece written by Conor Friedersdorf and published in the Los Angeles Times on December 27. I will not attempt to re-state his advice because I cannot do it justice. I can only recommend that readers read it carefully and act accordingly. All I can add is that, since money is the deciding factor in our elections, we need to re-think how best to spend the money, time and energy available in 2018. Let’s not burn the candle out unwisely.