There Is No Going Back to the Way Things Were
The Reset Has Begun—Now Let’s Talk About What Comes Next
The difficult thing in writing about current events, especially current current events, is getting past individual bias. It’s too easy to get mired in outrage against the disruption. So let’s start with the facts.
Donald Trump is President. He’s moving with unprecedented speed and with unverified, but assumed, authority to reshape the fundamentals of America’s government, economy, culture, and global leadership.
Most of the issues he’s identified as priorities - immigration, government reform, labor practices, DOD procurement, trade - have been leveraged by the political industry for decades to raise money and divide Americans into narrower and narrower majorities. The result has been a gridlocked Congress unable (or unwilling) to abandon normal practice to resolve, or even address, these issues. Now, the co-equal branch of government is looking very unequal at the moment.
At the same time, a separate flurry of policies and reforms he’s proposing, largely driven by personal grievance and desire for provocative headlines, are keeping the conversation lively and away from the most important fact of all: We have crossed the point of no return. Dismantled institutions and broken relationships will be near impossible to recreate in our competitive domestic and global environments.
I understand the outrage many people feel. It’s easy to turn on the news and feel stunned by the hypocrisy and dysfunction. But, I try to focus my energy on fixing the conditions that got us here. I also try to remember the near mathematical tie presidential elections results, balance of power in the House and Senate-- we are a country with near equal numbers of people that find it hard to see the other side as anything but the enemy.
Over 200 years ago, the founders built a constitutional dam to, among other things, protect the Republic from extreme politics and personality. Behind it, among other things, the machinery of government was kept in line by a system of checks, balances, norms and traditions. Over time, largely due to the inattention and self-interest of Congress, that machinery grew to a size, shape, and purpose that made the dam vulnerable to political interests with something other, in my opinion, than the greater good. And while many Americans want to find the common good, there are fringe elements that use the cracks in the dam to sneak through their agendas such as unnecessary attacks on the LBGTQ community.
Now, the dam has been breached.
Amid the noise and division, we each have a choice: stand in shock, simmer in outrage, cheer on the disruption or help shape what comes next. This moment is like a man-made natural disaster—the institutions we relied on are collapsing under the pressure we helped build. The dam holding back the forces of disruption and chaos has been ignored, abused and not maintained for a very long time. There are a lot of people who want to see it gone. And then rebuilt.
The question now is how and what do we build on the new landscape?
I believe this is the moment to double down on the principles and projects that can reconnect people to the American Dream—and to one another.
These are what I call my Bright Lines—the five areas that drive my work every day, and that I believe are critical to building a stronger future:
🔦 The Five Bright Lines:
Fixing Our Broken Political System
Limiting partisanship and encouraging cross-party collaboration so government can actually work for the people again.
Updating the Workforce and Preserving the American Dream
Preparing workers for the jobs of the future through education, training, and smart policy.
Mainstreaming Innovation
Accelerating public and private innovation—from government to startups—to create real solutions for real people.
Building Infrastructure for the 21st Century
Modernizing everything from energy and transportation to digital access, cybersecurity, and clean technology.
Mentoring and Entrepreneurship
Sharing lessons, creating pathways, and supporting the next generation of leaders, especially veterans, students, and underrepresented voices.
Over the coming weeks, I’ll expand on these guiding principles so we can prepare for the reset ahead.
The storm has hit. The dam is breaking. The reset has begun.
Let’s get to work on the recovery.
This isn’t about partisanship or one demagogue. It’s about resilience. It’s about rebuilding. It’s about the future.
Let’s get to work,
Joseph