There’s a temptation right now to believe we have to win every room.
The boardroom.
The classroom.
The newsroom.
The comment section.
The algorithm.
As if influence only counts if it happens under bright lights.
But that’s not where a country steadies itself.
A country steadies itself in the kitchen.
Not metaphorically. Practically.
The kitchen is where the mail gets opened.
Where the bill is slid across the table.
Where someone says, “Does this look right to you?”
Where a contract gets read out loud.
Where the news gets discussed without a camera on.
Where kids sit quiet and listen to how adults handle tension.
That’s the center.
You can’t sit in every room.
But you can sit in the kitchen.
And if the Baseline lives there, that’s enough.
Because what we’re actually talking about when we say “return to normal” isn’t politics.
It’s posture.
Normal is not a party.
Normal is not a slogan.
Normal is a way of centering yourself before you act.
Normal is slowing down before you sign.
Normal is lowering your voice before you escalate.
Normal is asking, “What’s the consequence?” before you click.
That doesn’t start in a think tank.
It starts at the table.
When people center themselves in the kitchen, everything else shifts downstream.
Families that think clearly spend differently.
They argue differently.
They vote differently.
They raise children differently.
They respond to pressure differently.
Not because they’re activated.
Because they’re anchored.
That’s the difference.
We don’t need to dominate distortion.
We need to refuse to adopt its rhythm.
Distortion is loud.
It is fast.
It rewards reaction.
The kitchen rewards deliberation.
You don’t shout in a kitchen unless something is on fire.
And if something is on fire, you reach for the extinguisher — not the megaphone.
The Baseline belongs there.
Not as ideology.
As discipline.
When the tax letter shows up.
When the refinance offer lands.
When the “limited time” upgrade flashes.
When the political argument heats up.
You don’t need to win the internet.
You need to steady the table.
“Let’s read this carefully.”
“Let’s define what they’re actually asking.”
“Let’s separate fact from assumption.”
“Let’s wait before we respond.”
That’s how normal returns.
Quietly.
One household at a time.
The reason this matters is simple.
Most large systems drift when small centers drift.
When kitchens lose discipline, everything above them gets louder.
When kitchens regain discipline, everything above them has to adjust.
You don’t have to correct every distortion.
You have to model something sturdier.
If your home practices consequence awareness, restraint, structured thinking — that becomes habit.
Habit becomes culture.
Culture becomes direction.
This is slower than shouting.
It is less glamorous than viral posts.
But it is durable.
You can’t sit in every room.
You don’t need to.
Sit where decisions are actually made.
Sit where kids watch how adults behave.
Sit where money moves.
Sit where arguments either escalate or resolve.
That room outlasts the others.
Empires debate in marble halls.
Families steady themselves at wooden tables.
If we’re going to convert back to something healthier, it won’t start with domination.
It will start with centering.
And the kitchen has always been the center.
Pull up a chair.
Stay steady.
Let the rest work its way outward.
micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org
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