Politics is the new tech.
And for those scoring at home, tech usurped the throne from music.

It’s hard for those not there to understand. Music was everything from 1964-1976. Everybody knew the bands, not only did you know who was in town, you went. And musicians were kings whose pronouncements mattered, you hung on every word.

Now they can only talk about their sponsorships, they’re as soulless as the brands they emulate. Bland entities afraid of alienating any potential customer, they’re uneducated automatons who are vehicles for profit, rarely anything more.

And then the techies came along and tipped over the table. Not only did we not anticipate it, we wanted some of it. Remember the summer of ’95, when seemingly everybody bought a computer and signed up for AOL? It was a national mania, with new hits constantly on the horizon. The music may have stayed the same, but overnight there were new websites and apps and it was all very exciting and then we get the iPhone 7. An incremental improvement we don’t even need. As for apps… Uber’s cool, but that’s been around for years. Marc Andreessen keeps telling us the future is so bright we’ve got to wear shades, but Silicon Valley is now an overpriced club of self-impressed wankers who get too much publicity you don’t care about.

But politics…

You could say it’s Donald Trump. But really, it’s Bernie Sanders. How did a septuagenarian socialist from Vermont get such traction with young people? By speaking the truth, dreaming of a better tomorrow where those without hope could get ahead, where the nation could get back on track and all could flourish.

Maybe you don’t agree. Doesn’t matter. It’s just like music and tech. Many stayed on the sidelines. Then they got in the game.

The United States is the best country in the world, but it’s pretty messed up. There’s income inequality, racism, and everybody’s complaining that someone stole their cheese. Meanwhile, Washington, D.C. is gridlocked, with a Republican Congress that won’t even hear out a new Supreme Court nominee. It’d be like losing Eddie Van Halen and still booking Van Halen shows. With the band getting paid even though they didn’t play. Bitching that today’s staging is inadequate and until Live Nation heeds their wishes they’re on strike.

Wouldn’t be good for the music business.

And the government we have in so many instances is not good for the public.

Last night I drove to Pacific Palisades for a fundraiser for Proposition 64. The legalization of pot in California. If you’d have told me pot would be legal back in the seventies, I would have told you a black man could not be President. Both seemed impossibilities. But both came to pass.

And it’s not a dope issue, it’s a human rights issue. About keeping the disadvantaged and oppressed out of jail. About eliminating crime. Gavin’s wife doesn’t want marijuana legitimized, she doesn’t want everybody smoking dope, but that’s not what Prop. 64 is about. And it looks like it’s going to pass.

And it was spearheaded by this guy Ethan Nadelmann, head of the Drug Policy Alliance. In the rest of the world the good-looking and glamorous with empty insides don’t triumph. It’s those hard-working who believe in their cause who move mountains. And Ethan has. The proposition is sixty odd pages. It accounts for economic disparities. They’re trying to get it right, having learned from experiences in Colorado and Washington. It’d be like getting Yes after the Beatles, music used to evolve, what happened?

The featured speaker was Gavin Newsom. Lieutenant Governor of California. I see him all the time on Bill Maher.

That’s what I told him. I wouldn’t have started up a conversation except he was standing next to Jason Flom. So I moseyed on over and told him just that, that I was used to seeing him on “Real Time.”

Gavin chuckled.

And then Jason said he and Gavin were working on fixing bail. Jason’s all about fixing the inequities in the legal system, you may know him as the provider of hits, but his legacy will be getting people out of jail, changing crazy drug laws.

But since the door was now open, I talked to Gavin. I didn’t want to monopolize the conversation, but this was my chance.

I’ve met plenty of rock stars. They’re rarely verbal, oftentimes uneducated. You can bask in their glory but it’s rare to have a stimulating conversation, especially with the nitwits of today who believe their social media feeds are the epitome of ground-breaking opinion.

But Gavin looked like a rock star. Without an ounce of body fat and white teeth and a flashy smile, he oozed charisma.

But he had substance.

He talked about the football team’s low graduation rate at Berkeley. He spearheaded change, now the coach is compensated by the academic achievements of his players, not their accomplishments on the field. Berkeley is a university first and foremost, correct?

But in America everything’s topsy-turvy. We keep hearing about the economic miracle in Texas but that’s run out of gas, it’s California that’s burgeoning. They raised the taxes, jobs skyrocketed, it may not be a Garden of Eden, but here in the Golden State things are moving forward.

And it’s all because of politicians.

First and foremost Jerry Brown, who Gavin called the “adult in the room.” Brown has experience, and that counts, sorry to inform you of that Donald.

And we got into football at Berkeley because of the NCAA pulling out of North Carolina. Gavin knew the guy who ran the organization, it was a good thing. We need people to take stands as opposed to constantly checking which way the wind blows so they can say that which will move their game piece down the board.

And I asked Gavin why he got into politics.

He chuckled and said it was all about his mother, needing to prove…

I told him that’s the Southern California ethos, maybe he belonged in Hollywood.

And I’m noticing… Gavin’s not two-dimensional. Sure, he’s smiling a lot, but it’s more like hanging with a bro back in the dorm as opposed to meeting someone famous who’s shaking your hand as he looks over your shoulder for an exit. This guy was normal!

And he wasn’t boasting like Kanye, nor bitching that he didn’t get his chance, rather he was rationally laying out his achievements and desires in response to the topics being brought up. It was a conversation, not a stump speech.

And speaking of speech…

Gavin was the most dynamic speaker of the night. Passionate, rational, believable and not so brief that you thought he was punching the clock. And he didn’t leave after his part was done, he stayed, as opposed to someone too busy for the rest of us, who needs to jet away to some smoky boardroom where our lives will be influenced but we get no say.

Gavin Newsom is gonna be Governor of California. This is not opinion, everyone believes this is fact. Of course he could be derailed. But we live in a Democratic state where Arnold Schwarzenegger put the Republicans six feet under and Latinos and other immigrants are ensuring the state leans left.

And from there, maybe the White House. That was the ticket being bandied about, Gavin Newsom and Cory Booker. Although it was said Cory’s no longer good at returning phone calls, but you hear from Gavin right away.

Of course you can go on Wikipedia and find fault. That’s what our races have become, one of gotcha. As if no one ever smoked dope and we all married the first girl we slept with. We’re flesh and blood people, we need to give the keys to someone, someone’s got to drive.

But no one’s been driving in Washington, D.C. for far too long.

Kansas is letting the the rich run away with the state. Taxes have been lowered to the point where the government is dysfunctional, the court keeps saying more money has to be spent on education, but that’s not as important as taxes being low, after all, the rich are the job creators.

Huh?

We all need someone to believe in. We all need hope.

And last night I found it where I least expected it.

Used to be I believed in entertainers.

But now it’s politicians who are getting things done. Who are employing new ideas. Who want to lead. Who are truly accessible.

And I know I was up close and personal, and not everybody gets the chance, but really, it was no different from going to see Elvis Costello at the Whisky back in the seventies. You too can be first, if you get in on the ground floor, if you care.

The musicians were all about expanding horizons. The techies were about testing limits. And now it’s the politicians who’ve taken over the reins. They’re the new leaders. Not those gumming up the works, but those who are willing to get their hands dirty to effect solutions.

Disaffection isn’t everything. Life is not about pointing fingers at the enemy, saying they’ve stolen your opportunity.

No, life is about hard work in search of a better world where we all can thrive.

I’d about given up hope.

And then I met Gavin Newsom.