April 7, 2025
Yesterday, I took a little break and didn’t use social media.
The level of “it’s so over” sentiment in the timeline is higher than I’ve ever seen.
Usually, you can go outside and find that real-life friends are talking about different things, but this time, most people seem a little nervous in person too.
Even if not nervous, they’re definitely talking about what’s happening.
The Economic Landscape
I’m not a macroeconomic expert, so I’ll say little about tariffs.
My sense is this strategy works to redistribute wealth to younger and less wealthy people on a medium to long-term timescale and will come with short-term pain—BUT that’s not really what this article is about.
This is about a nation divided.
Reclaiming American Dynamism
Nearshoring or re-shoring is a great idea in a lot of ways. Most of us intrinsically know we’re not the country we used to be.
We miss American dynamism.
We know we have it in us to be the greatest country on earth, but we haven’t been showing up or performing our best.
Frankly, we can’t get our act together long enough to work out a long-term plan. Bringing manufacturing back to the US in any meaningful way requires a decade or more of planning and execution.
The Challenge of Unity
If we could work as a unified team and agree on a path to put America first in a meaningful way—and follow through on that plan—it’s likely the best long-term strategy.
Our over-reliance on foreign nations has been problematic for decades and is worsening. It makes sense to lay that foundation before implementing something like the current tariff strategy.
But we can’t. We’re subject to brutally tribalistic elections every four years.
Instead of focusing on building a future, too many people spend their days arguing about men in women’s sports, which politician had sex with whom outside of their marriage, who’s a Nazi this week, and what books should be in schools.
We can’t see the forest for the trees.
Time for Reflection
“United we stand, divided we fall” isn’t just a proverb—it’s a parable. And we’re living it out in real time.
It feels like an ideal moment for reflection—both self-reflection and a broader contemplation of what we’ve become as a society.
We’ll be back stronger if we can figure out how to work together again.