If you’re into politics, you’ve been glued to everything that has happened in this presidential race. You’ve faithfully followed the cable news networks and social media feeds that tell you what you want to hear. You’ve scrutinized every poll. You already have strong opinions about how your party will do and expect everyone feels the same way you do (except for those nut jobs on the other side).

Now that the election is getting closer, people who haven’t followed politics are paying attention. They’re the ones who want to think as little about government as they do the engine in their vehicle. And they’re only thinking about it now because it’s time to bring it in for maintenance.

And you despise them.

You don’t understand why they don’t care about the things you do. Why they would consider the other side when those people are so downright wrong, if not evil. And why can’t they just make up their minds?

If you want to address the “normies,” there’s a simple question you need to ask yourself: What problem does your policy solve?

Let’s be honest. Most of the policies proposed by the extremes don’t solve people’s real problems.

Let’s start with Project 2025. What problem does it solve? How does it make life better for ordinary Americans? Does it improve our children’s schools? (Probably not because they want to get rid of the Department of Education.) Will it make our healthcare system better? (Probably not because they will prohibit contraception and cause women to die from miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies, among other health issues.) Will it give us a sustainable future? (Probably not because they consider climate change a hoax and want to suck every last drop of oil out of the ground.) The only people Project 2025 benefits are billionaire tech bros, those who break out in hives when they see a Pride Flag, and Donald Trump, who wants to rule as a dictator. (And if you really want a dictator, do you want a guy who’s 77? Not quite the person you can build a Thousand-Year Reich around.)

Things aren’t better on the other extreme. You spend any time in a left-leaning algorithm, and you’ll inevitably wind up with the revolutionaries. They’ll tell you how much everything sucks. Capitalism sucks. Colonialism sucks. Joe Biden sucks. The Democratic Party sucks. America sucks. Let’s burn the whole motherf’er to the ground. If you study history long enough, you know revolutions never work out the way you want. Every revolution starts with high ideals and noble intentions, but they eventually spiral into senseless violence and anarchy. Then some authoritarian has to step in to restore order by giving a restless and violent people something to do, like invade neighboring countries. That’s why revolutions wind up replacing one repressive authoritarian regime with another.

And we have to go back to the original question: What problem does a revolution solve? None, because you don’t burn down your house because your air conditioner broke down. You fix it.

We have serious problems in this country, but the extremists aren’t interested in solving them. They have grandiose visions of reshaping our country into their version of utopia. Not to mention the politicians who slavishly defend a convicted felon (among his other crimes), owe fealty to Putin because of the kompromat he has on them, and want to turn American into a Christian theocratic dictatorship. That’s not what any of us want. We don’t want to question whether we’ll have a 2025 because of what happens in November 2024.

What we “normies” want in politics is normal. We want practical leaders who will listen to our issues, take them seriously, and work to resolve them. We want leaders who want to earn our vote. And when they get it, they will work diligently to serve us instead of focusing on making outrageous sound bites for fundraising. We are tired of a feckless Congress, local politicians who are more interested in hurting people they hate than making life better for their constituents, and the general ugliness we see from politicians these days. That’s not what America is about. We want better.

If you’re running for office, tell us what problems you intend to solve and how you’ll make our lives better. Otherwise, it doesn’t matter how right you are or how much all that is good and holy is on your side. We don’t want your pristine utopia. We want functional and normal.