Election day jitters

• 📈 Trending Up: Buying (digital) ink by the barrel … stepping on your own genitals … OpenAI’s status as a non-profit (BBG) …

• 📉 Trending Down: Strikes at Boeing … focus at OpenAI … Netflix-EU relations … AI price cuts …

It’s election day in the United States. I’m taking our older daughter to the polls this afternoon when I vote. I think she’s come with us to vote before, but in our arms. This will be her first trip to watch one of her parents participate in democracy under her own power (her mother already voted). Small things, but when it’s your kids they fill you with pride.

Holden, the other half of Cautious Optimism — he edits the words, knows how DNS works, understands quarterly taxes, and is the best — challenged me last night to write the cautiously optimistic take on a potential Trump win in the coming days.

Via frank mckenna

Given CO’s prior writing on the former President, I don’t think that my general views are hard to parse. But, is there something that we can highlight to ameliorate some of the concern that many of you, and myself, are feeling?

I wrestled with the challenge, but after reading through Trump’s official policy page — mostly backward-looking, rose-tinted crowing about half-truths mixed with invective — I did find a few things that I like:

• “President Trump will push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress […] a lifetime ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and cabinet members, and a ban on members of Congress trading stocks with insider information.”

I cut out “a permanent ban on taxpayer funding of campaigns” which is a terrible idea, but I am very much in favor of not allowing our public servants to ride out the clock to collect larger checks, and no one in Congress should own individual stocks. Period. Term limits for Congress I am mixed on — experience is good, lifetime seats are bad — but there’s some good here.

• President Trump will “end surprise medical billing, increase fairness through price transparency, and further reduce the cost of prescription drugs and health insurance premiums. President Trump will always protect Medicare, Social Security, and patients with pre-existing conditions.”

This one warrants a ‘cool story, bro’ tag given that the Speaker of the House wants to get rid of the ACA and its constituent protections for pre-existing conditions, but these specific words sit well with me. Even if they won’t come to pass.

• President Trump will “cut the number of school administrators[.]”

Again eliding most of the present policy, fewer admins and more resources for in-classroom instruction makes good sense.

And there you have it. My best shot.

Rereading the Trump policy material reminded me why I don’t like the guy: Casual hatred of our trans brothers and sisters, work to grind down the wall separating religion and our government, more reactionary judge nominations, coerced speech at tech companies, the replacement of public servants with blind loyalists, a move away from common-sense vaccine policies, a complete lack of seriousness on deficit reduction, the list goes on.

Before I leave you to navigate the day on your own, keep in mind:

• We probably won’t know who won today. It will take time to count the votes. (This is not an accident.)

• If you voted, and did whatever else you consider to be your civic duty around election time, you have done what you can. You can’t do more.

• No matter who wins, we have a lot of work to do to support and energize our democracy. So, the work remains regardless of who wins.

• You do not have to watch cable news all day, evening, and night. You can do something else. It’s not abdication. It’s admission of reality. Check the results from time to time, but don’t overdose.

• Don’t drink too much no matter what.

CO will cover the venture and startup reaction to the election, which no matter who wins will be vibrant, if we wanted to dabble in British understatement. But today? Go vote. Try to get a little work done. Hug your family, and let’s see where the dust settles.

Long live democracy. — Alex