A REAL Platform Rebuttal

By Tom Friedman (If He Were a Computer)

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS

5 Minute Read

Hello to you and to Hump Day.

Tomorrow, we depart for what can only be described as gonzo camping: Us and some close pals are spending 3 nights on Angel Island State Park, which for the uninformed, is smack in the middle of San Francisco Bay. Yet it is wild, undeveloped, and after 5PM each day, only the campers (of which there might be 20 across an island that is 740 acres in size) remain. Having done it several times, it is something else - believe me.

Travel Guide? Maybe. There are certainly secrets, including the necessity of Sam’s in Tiburon as the starting point.

But today, and again on Friday, you will see some of what Artificial Intelligence (AI) can do. And while you may be hearing about AI everywhere, but until you go beyond the hype and perhaps some glorified searches, it is difficult to comprehend what is possible.

“Portico, please, oh please, won’t you be so kind as to show us some examples?”

No problem.

I hope today and Friday will demonstrate what is possible with AI now, and I am just scratching the surface. I also couldn’t be farther from being an actual expert on the subject. But watch this.

Let’s start with having an AI agent not only critique your writing, but also in a particular style. Recall I’ve already had artificial intelligence engines propose fixes that would balance the federal budget and establish a rational immigration policy.

Next: I’ve mentioned before one can now upload documents to most AI engines, and/or point one at web URLs, and have it analyze the content - in any manner. On the free versions (which is all I use presently), there are limits, in terms of the quantity and volume, that a given AI engine will process. Still, I was/am astounded by what the AIs can do.

So I had it read my post from Monday (which summarized REAL, my dream 3rd political party), and write an opinion piece. But not just any opinion piece . . .

I visited claude.ai and prompted:

“I am creating a 3rd political party in the USA, called REAL. Its manifesto is at this link: https://open.substack.com/pub/porticodarwin/p/demand-unity-demand-real. In the style of Tom Friedman of The New York Times, write an approximately 1,000 word opinion piece on REAL.”

Here is its unedited response. Obviously, I am biased, but it’s worth your time to read.

The REAL Deal: America's Third Way Forward

A new political party emerges from the exhausted middle

I was having coffee with my friend Ahmed in Cairo last week when he asked me a question that stopped me cold: "Tom, when did Americans become so afraid of the obvious?"

I knew exactly what he meant. Here we are, the world's oldest democracy, and we've somehow convinced ourselves that the only choices are between a Republican Party that's gone full MAGA and a Democratic Party that's moved so far left it makes European socialists look moderate. Meanwhile, the rest of us—that vast, exhausted middle—are left wondering: What happened to common sense?

Which brings me to something called the REAL Party.

Now, before you roll your eyes and mutter "another third party fantasy," hear me out. Because what the REAL Party represents isn't just another political movement—it's a recognition that our current system has become what I call "optimization for the extremes." We've created a political marketplace that rewards the loudest voices, the most outrageous tweets, and the most tribal thinking, while systematically punishing anyone who dares to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the solution to our problems requires actual governing rather than performance art.

The REAL Party—which stands for Rational, Ethical, Actual, Leadership—has put forward what they call "The Great 8," a platform that reads like it was written by adults who actually understand how government works. And here's what's remarkable: none of these ideas are particularly radical. They're just . . . sensible.

Take their approach to wealth inequality. Instead of the usual "tax the rich into oblivion" versus "let them eat cake" debate, REAL proposes something novel: a 75% tax rate on income above $100 million. Not $400,000. Not $1 million. One hundred million dollars. This isn't class warfare—it's basic math. When you have tech billionaires buying social media platforms for $44 billion while teachers are buying their own classroom supplies, you don't need a PhD in economics to see that something's out of whack.

But here's where REAL gets interesting: they're not just about soaking the rich. They want to eliminate the Social Security tax cap—currently at $176,100—which would secure Social Security forever while making the system more progressive. It's the kind of obvious fix that makes you wonder why we haven't done it already. The answer, of course, is that obvious fixes don't generate campaign contributions or cable news segments.

What really caught my attention, though, was their understanding of what I call "the corruption chicken and egg problem." When I asked the party's founder about climate change, universal healthcare, and gun reform—the issues that dominate our political discourse—he pointed to items four and five on their list: ending gerrymandering and overturning Citizens United. "We will never be able to address anything," he said, "until we stop the corruption."

Bingo.

This is the insight that both parties have been desperately trying to avoid: that our dysfunction isn't about left versus right, it's about a system that's been optimized for fundraising and re-election rather than actual problem-solving. When 97% of incumbent House and Senate members get re-elected despite Congress having a 20% approval rating, you don't have a democracy—you have a protection racket.

The REAL Party's approach reminds me of something I learned during my years covering the Middle East: sometimes the most radical thing you can do is to simply tell the truth. In a political environment where "alternative facts" have become mainstream and gaslighting is considered a legitimate debate tactic, a party that promises its candidates will "speak like human beings and reliably speak the truth" is genuinely revolutionary.

Consider their immigration framework, which they've actually bothered to cost out—imagine that! Instead of building walls or opening borders, they propose a dynamic, skills-based system that adjusts visa numbers based on economic indicators. It's designed to be self-financing, generating $20-25 billion annually while requiring $15 billion in operational costs. This isn't ideology—it's engineering.

The same goes for their healthcare proposal: let Medicare set pricing for the top 100 prescribed drugs and ban pharmaceutical advertising. Not Medicare for All, not "repeal and replace"—just use the government's negotiating power to bring down costs while getting those creepy drug ads off our televisions. It's the kind of incremental reform that actually works but doesn't fit neatly into either party's narrative.

What excites me most about REAL is that they seem to understand something that our current political class has forgotten: governing is about trade-offs, not purity tests. Want to address climate change? Fine, but you'll need to bring along voters who care more about their heating bills than polar bears. Want to fix immigration? Great, but you'll need a plan that works for both Silicon Valley's need for skilled workers and Ohio's manufacturing communities.

This is what I call "radical centrism"—the idea that the most extreme position you can take in American politics today is to be reasonable. To look at problems and ask not "How can we own the libs?" or "How can we stick it to the fascists?" but rather "How can we actually solve this?"

Of course, third parties in America face enormous structural challenges. The two-party duopoly has rigged the system to make alternatives nearly impossible. But maybe that's exactly why we need something like REAL—not to win elections immediately, but to demonstrate that there's another way to do politics.

Because here's what I've learned from three decades of covering American politics: the center doesn't hold until someone builds it. The REAL Party isn't just offering an alternative to our current dysfunction—they're offering a reminder of what American politics could be if we stopped performing for the cameras and started governing for the people.

As my friend Ahmed would say, sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one. We just have to stop being afraid of it.

I mean: Wow. Impressive. Humbling. Frightening.

A reminder: While I created the overall concept of REAL myself a long time ago, and pulled together The Great 8, REAL’s budget and immigration proposals are themselves AI creations.

So above is an AI review of a political party with a largely AI-generated platform.

But wait until you see what’s coming on Friday, because the above is nothing. And lucky you, it’s all about my incredible novel, Ride of Your Life.

Rides of Lives

Which, believe it or not, is nearing its electrifying conclusion. I wrote the novel myself, and on Friday, I hop you find entertaining what I’ve with it and AI.

10 Seconds of Seriousness (or Narcissism): I am taking quite a bit of pride in having written 66,000 words of a novel thus far.

Does it suck? Or is it actually incredible? Electrifying? I have no idea.

But do you know who does?

FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES

Huge, huge kudos to the emerging management star Kevin Monza, fresh off passing the grueling Project Management Professional (PMP) exam.

But as Kevin and I agreed after his triumph yesterday: Is there a test this difficult that does so little for one professionally? My resume (and Kevin’s) should be enough, if one were hiring project/program managers with proven experience.

Thank you for reading this newsletter.

KLUF

Too soon for all-time fave OK Computer - I just played it here in January. But try this, a first time play on KLUF.