Understanding Kamala's Loss

2024 election data, while still incomplete at the time of this writing, shows that Trump did not get more votes than he did in 2020, but that Kamala had roughly 10M fewer votes than she and Biden won in 2020. Trump didn't win new voters. Kamala lost voters.

This suggests that whatever Trump did was irrelevant! The loss was not the result of people supporting him. It was working-class Dems, mostly those with less education, who didn't bother to vote for what Kamala had to offer.

Kamala chose to stick with Biden, refusing to make any substantial new promises. Had she won, this would have been a great strategy of the "under-promise and over-deliver" variety. It even felt refreshing compared to Trump being the Over-promiser-in-Chief.

Here's the key: the few detailed promises Kamala made, occurred to working class voters as handouts—cash for first-time homeowners, cash for parents of young children, etc. These voters don't want handouts. They want the opportunity to build a better life through hard work. Kamala's "Opportunity Economy" message contradicted their idea of how opportunity is supposed to work.

Inflation was a key issue because these same working families couldn't get ahead, no matter how much they worked, due to increasing prices. They might not have any good ideas about how to stop inflation, but their gut told them that handouts were not the right answer. Trump didn't have any better answers so they just didn't vote.

To add insult to injury, the working classes look around and see Americans who are able to make money without working at all! Those on public assistance at one extreme and the wealthy who profit from investments rather than wages on the other.

While we cannot reverse dollar-denominated inflation, what if we can give working class families access to an all-American deflationary currency separate from the dollar. This way they, like the wealthy, can make money by putting their savings to work. This, combined with reducing the influence of money in politics, can level the playing field and prevent the wealthy from manipulating the system to their exclusive benefit.

Bitcoin is the perfect long-term savings instrument for the digital age. It is also the most American technology being truly by the people, for the people while it also represents a departure from big business AND big government. Democrats should unite with Republicans to make it the all-American currency for long-term savings like home ownership was for previous generations. "Work hard, save some money, and with time you can earn real prosperity." That's a message working families can get behind.