Using AI to Build a Political Platform: Let’s Rebuild America

Yesterday, as I was reading Storybrand 2.0, I noticed that Donald Miler naturally gravitated toward political analogies when discussing the importance of putting power in the hands of customers (i.e. the people). So I thought it would be fun to use the AI tools to develop a political platform.

Today, I’ve begun refining that platform, because who doesn’t like to do that in their free time. But I thought it worthwhile to share with you how fun, informative, and useful this process can be. Certainly, I wouldn’t come away from these chat interactions (in this case with Gemini) feeling like I was an expert. And it’s important to know that AI often gets details wrong. Details would need to be verified before touting these ideas as realisitic goals. Not to mention that this kind of big picture thinking requires pragmatism if the ideas were to ever be implemented.

That said, it is a lot of fun doing this. At one point, I was reviewing a pillar of the platform called “Rebuilding Our Families,” which largely aims at making life more affordable, particularly around housing. One tenant of this plan goes like this:

Spurring Construction Technology: We will provide federal "Rebuild Loans" to domestic manufacturers of modular, 3D-printed, and mass-timber housing components, driving down material costs to mass-produce architecturally beautiful homes.

I wasn’t totally sure about this idea and wanted to dive deeper into it, so I asked and received really interesting information back. I should say that the political slogan of this entire platform is “Let’s Rebuild America” with a core value statement of “The power of our country comes from the power of our people.” This too is an idea from Storybrand 2.0, which emphasizes putting the power in the hands of the people/customer and making them the hero.

Anyway, here’s Gemini explaining the tenant I listed above:

The Three Technologies Explained

1. Modular Housing (The Lego System)

• What it is: Instead of building a house outside in the rain and mud for six months, workers build sections of the house inside an indoor facility. These sections have plumbing, wiring, and drywall already installed. The pieces are shipped to the site on a truck and assembled in days.

• Why it lowers costs: It eliminates weather delays, reduces material waste by up to 50%, and optimizes labor efficiency.

2. 3D-Printed Housing (The Robot Mason)

• What it is: A massive robotic arm moves along a track on the job site, squeezing out layers of a specialized, durable concrete mixture to build the foundation and walls of a house in less than 48 hours.

• Why it lowers costs: It requires a fraction of the traditional framing labor, uses cheaper materials, and allows for beautiful, curved architectural designs at zero extra cost.

3. Mass-Timber Components (The New Steel)

• What it is: Layers of wood are pressed and glued together to create massive, incredibly strong structural panels and beams. It is as strong and fire-resistant as steel but much lighter and made from a renewable resource.

• Why it lowers costs: Because it is lightweight and pre-cut by computers in a shop, a timber building can be erected much faster than steel or concrete structures, saving months of high-interest construction loan payments.

How "Rebuild Loans" Drive Down Costs

The federal government provides low-interest loans specifically to the domestic manufacturers who make these components, not the developers.

• Mass Production = Cheap Materials: By funding these factories to scale up, they can mass-produce walls, roofs, and 3D-printing concrete mixes.

• Passing Savings to the Consumer: When a local contractor buys these pre-made, high-tech components, their building costs drop dramatically. They can build a beautiful, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home in weeks instead of months, passing those savings directly to the homebuyer.

How to Explain This on the Stump

This framing explains the technical details to the average voter in simple terms:

*"We don't have a housing shortage; we have a building roadblock. For a hundred years, we've built houses the exact same way—one brick, one board, and one rain delay at a time. It's too slow, and it's too expensive.

We are going to use our Rebuild Loans to power American factories that build the homes of tomorrow. We are talking about 3D-printed walls, modular components built indoors with precision, and strong American mass-timber. We are going to mass-produce the pieces right here at home, cut out the supply chain delays, and drop the cost of building a beautiful house. We are going to build our way out of this crisis. Because the power of our country comes from the power of our people. Let’s Rebuild America."*

Pretty cool, right? I then had a follow-up question about the use of “cheaper” materials, because I didn’t want to build using something that cut corners or would be sub-par quality and this was the response I got:

The use of the word “cheaper” in this context refers to cost efficiency, not lower quality or structural flimsiness. In modern engineering, these advanced construction materials are actually stronger, safer, and more durable than traditional timber, brick, and drywall.

By scaling up domestic manufacturing, the production cost drops, allowing builders to use superior, high-performance materials for less money.

How Advanced Materials Outperform Traditional Building

1. 3D-Printed Concrete vs. Traditional Wood Framing

• The Strength: 3D-printed homes use a specialized concrete mortar mix that is layered seamlessly. This creates a solid, monolithic structure.

• The Endurance: These walls are completely impervious to termites, rotting, and mold. More importantly, they are rated to withstand Category 5 hurricanes and severe earthquakes far better than a standard wood-framed house.

• The Platform Fit: This perfectly aligns with the platform's emphasis on quality. It allows for the curved, organic architecture inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright without the immense labor cost of traditional masonry.

2. Mass-Timber Components vs. Standard Lumber & Steel

• The Strength: Mass-timber involves gluing large panels of wood in alternating directions under immense pressure. Pound for pound, it has a strength-to-weight ratio that rivals structural steel.

• The Endurance: While it sounds counterintuitive, mass-timber has exceptional fire resistance. During a fire, the outer layer of thick timber chars, creating a natural insulation barrier that protects the structural core from collapsing, whereas steel beams buckle and warp under intense heat.

• The Platform Fit: It elevates the "Aesthetic Renaissance" by exposing beautiful, natural wood structures inside public buildings and homes, proving that strength and organic beauty go hand-in-hand.

3. Indoor Modular Assemblies vs. On-Site Construction

• The Strength: Because modular home sections must be transported by truck over highways to the job site, they are engineered with extra structural bracing to handle the transit forces.

• The Endurance: Standard homes are built outside, meaning framing lumber is routinely exposed to rain, snow, and humidity for months before the roof goes on, trapping moisture in the walls. Modular homes are built in climate-controlled indoor factories, ensuring zero weather degradation or warping during construction.

Refining the Platform's Language

To ensure the media or political opponents cannot twist the word "cheaper" to mean "cheaply made," the platform should replace "cheaper materials" with "advanced, high-efficiency materials."

“...utilizing innovative construction methods, driving down manufacturing costs to mass-produce ultra-durable, architecturally beautiful homes.”

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Again, I want to emphasize that this was done last night and then this morning I reviewed it. So, these kinds of ideas and claims would need review from experts for their viability. But it’s an interesting way to look at problems and to develop potential solutions. I’ll look to expand upon the overall platform in future posts.