Voting for the Right to Sing our Own Song

The lesson from last night’s election reminds me of the Twisted Sister song, “We’re Not Going to Take it.” We witnessed real frustration with the direction of the country and voters exercised their rights to “change for the sake of change” instead of one party, one candidate or one issue.

Some of the key learnings aligned with this voter rebellion, as a CNN exit poll reported that only 22 percent of the electorate believed that their children would be better off than they were financially.   

Without exception, winners last night talked about working across party lines to get things done, which seemed to be top-of-mind for voters. FMI remains optimistic that this can happen, but it will not be easy:

• We need to return to regular order in the political process with hearings and markups, debate and amendments;
• Nominees requiring Senate confirmation should be presented, vetted and then confirmed or rejected – not recess appointed or left in limbo; and
• Executive Orders should be reserved for executive ordering, not legislating or regulating or attempting to address controversial policy issues without a true debate.

We learned from this election that this democracy is greater and more important than any one party, person or idea. In order to assert our voice in this new Congress, the supermarket industry must step outside of the competitive arena, and as the lyrics I’ve been humming today suggest, sing our own song.