Jeffery, I never been a political activist and am too darn old to change now. I've always been more of a political strategist, a forecaster if you follow my monthly forecasts on DP. I was born and raised on a farm where we were pretty much self sufficient. Then I made the military a career, 21 years active duty, another 26 working for the army as a civilian.

Now I became interest in politics watching the democratic and Republican conventions on TV back in 1956. I liked IKE although most around me liked Stevenson. Even then I started thinking what IKE would need to do to win. The answer was nothing really, just be IKE cause everybody liked IKE. So even back at the age of 10 I started thinking political strategy. Even in the military, I could tell you who would win and why. I could tell you why so and so lost.

I never delved deep into policies or the issues. I still don't. What I want to see is both major parties working together for the good of the country, not just for the good of their party which has become the case today. If a party or a president wants to move on to bigger and better things tomorrow, sometimes the party or the president has to give up on that policy, issue or agenda today. A president has so much political capital to use before he ceases to be a factor.

JFK realized this with Medicare, civil rights etc. He knew the time wasn't ripe, pushing it and using up all his political capital would doom these things for the near and perhaps even far into the future. In 1964 and 65, LBJ realized the time had come. He jumped. But if JFK has pushed those things, you could be talking 1974 or 75 before they happened, if then. You have to get the American people on your side, that takes times.

Strategy wise the ACA was a mistake, the people weren't ready. It passed, then we got 6 years of nothing. 6 years of using up every bit of political capital Obama had just to keep it. 6 years of fighting tooth and nail by the democrats in congress to keep it. I'd have let it drop in 2009/10 and moved on to other bigger and better things until the time was ripe.

Sure you can say the ACA is a failure due to the Republicans, but if the people were behind the ACA to begin with, the GOP couldn't dismantle it as you put it. Not without huge electoral consequences. That's the difference, my thinking is dealing with strategy. What could Obama have accomplished with a Democratic congress throughout his entire eight years? We'll never know because he and the democrats decided to go against the majority of the peoples wishes in 2009/10 with the ACA. They weren't ready for it and rebelled. Now with Trump and company, what do you have left of that? There's an old saying, there's a time and a place for everything. The time wasn't right for the ACA. Not for the major overhaul anyway. Bits and pieces, you bet. Perhaps one should study history and learn from it.

Perhaps I'm dealing with what could have been, you with what was.

I did like the silo metaphor.

It's high past time that we start electing Americans to congress and the presidency who put America first instead of their political party. For way too long we have been electing Republicans and Democrats who happen to be Americans instead of Americans who happen to be Republicans and Democrats.