On Dec. 9, I was in attendance in Houghton in opposition to a proposed resolution that would codify there being only two genders in Houghton county policies and public records. But I realized there that this really wasn’t about transgender Americans or issues related to their public life. It was a political stunt. Political theater pandering to a segment of the voter base who are vocal about cable news talking points, but not truly in tune with the issues of their community.

That voter base didn’t turn out at this meeting.

Overwhelmingly, the most common sentiment expressed by those in attendance was “why are you wasting all our time on this non-issue? Don’t you have anything better to do?”

That common sentiment was, in my opinion, the correct take on Commissioner Keranen’s proposal. This wasn’t really about the Trans community at all. It was culture wars political theatre to galvanize his base before the upcoming midterm election. It backfired in spectacular fashion. Ten years ago, brash, opinionated politicians surged to the spotlight with this sort of grandstanding making politics engaging for the common voter. Meetings suddenly weren’t boring anymore. But a decade on, this made for social media brand of politics has produces few answers to problems the old status quo failed to address. People are struggling more than they have in a century with economic and domestic policy issues. All the grandstanding in the world can’t fix that and everyone knows it. They want smart politics and real solutions to real problems, not more political “shock jocks” that have driven this country to the brink of civil war with their rhetoric. The show’s over. Time to do the heavy lifting of building our future together.

In theater, it was common to say “Break a leg!” before taking the stage. Commissioner Keranen did more than that, as his campaign is now on life support. He may have sacrificed his political career for this stunt. But it did send one powerful message:

We, the People say “Leave the theater to the actors, We want political solutions and community unity.” I think this vote in Houghton was a good curtain call for this era of U.S. politics.