Blogs on You Are Here with E.J. Kalafarski

Post-Trump Reforms Are Coming Into Focus

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 07:53:13 -0400

Much like the post-Nixon reforms, the reforms that we’ll need post-Trump are coming into focus, partially thanks to Supreme Court rulings.

A comprehensive and enforceable legal ban on making money off the Presidency. It was a norm before, but clearly it needs to be enforceable law. After all, Republicans forced Jimmy Carter to sell his damn peanut farm.
A Constitutional amendment to ban gerrymandering nationally. In particularly, anyone who‘s against this should have to be shamed into explaining why. And if they can‘t, maybe there‘s a bargain to be struck to get this done.
A Constitutional amendment to fix the decades-long erosion of campaign finance laws (including Citizens United) and ban money from politics. Once again, anyone against it will have to vote that way and explain to the masses why they love money in politics.

I’ve already mentioned that the next Democratic nominee for president will need their own “Project 2029” to energize voters, and those executive actions would, like Trump‘s 2025, have varying levels of plausibility. But these reforms are a platform for the entire post-Trump Democratic establishment to run on, to either implement, or to shame the MAGA remants into looking stupid for voting against.

Three Laws for Living With AI

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 19:14:13 -0400

We may not be at the point we need Laws of Robotics yet, but we’re reaching the point where we need some laws for living with AI.

I’m not an AI doomsayer (at least, not yet). AI will solve problems that would take us hundreds of years (like finding new medicines or gene sequences), and it will free up time for humans to be creative and together.

But alongside AI, we need laws to live with it without losing the essence of creativity—it’s here to assist us, not to replace us:

The Democrats’ Project 2029 Has To Go Big

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 07:52:48 -0400

Democrats are pitching their version of Project 2025. It appears to suck so far.

If Dems want to compete with the kind of platform that Trump swept into his second term with, they need big ideas that are dead simple to understand. Zohran Mamdani’s platform was “free pre-K, free buses, tax the weathly.” That’s something you can remember in a voting booth. Mild platitudes about addressing affordable housing or reducing annoyances aren‘t going to cut it.