Politically Homeless - It's All Exhausting

Real people, real letters, real problems, no solutions.

Politics these days have become so divided and divisive that it’s become the norm to view the other side of the aisle as “the enemy”. People are being told to “pick a side” and that there’s no room for middle ground. We here at Phetasy believe that there are a lot more people in the middle than politicians and the media would have us believe.

We’re collecting stories from the ever growing number of people who are finding themselves Politically Homeless and posting them here on Substack. If you have moved from conservative to liberal, or liberal to conservative, if you feel you’ve stayed in the same place and your party has swerved drastically away from you, if you had a moment that awakened you to the insanity and hypocrisy on both sides, if you keep your mouth shut anytime a political topic comes up because you’re afraid your opinion will cause you to lose friends or your job, you’re not as alone as you might think.

Our goal is to shine a light on people’s earnest, individual experiences and show them they’re not alone.

Some letters have been edited for clarity and brevity. If you’re politically homeless and would like to share your story, please email us at iampoliticallyhomeless@gmail.com. All submissions will remain anonymous.

Letter 24:

Hi,

First, you are the best.  Second, What the hell is going on? 

I am a mom in my late 40s with a 26 yr old and 2 kids under 12. I have lived in a small city in Southern California my whole life. One interesting thing is that when I had my daughter, I was looked down on by other moms since I was single and had to work.  Then a decade later when I had my younger 2, I was looked down on for not working and raising them.   

Growing up I knew my parents were Democrats and my dad's lifelong best friend and his wife were Republicans. So that meant holiday dinners could be heated but children were to be seen and not heard so I just would walk away.  

The most political thing I saw was my mom and dad dressing up for Halloween one year, my mom wrapped in chicken wire with plants coming out everywhere and my dad wearing a hat that looked like a quail head, hence Bush and Quayle.  It was super rad.

Anyway, my best years were in Grateful Dead land and Pennywise is always a good jam. I curse like a sailor, love to sew and think education is the bomb. I am an earth loving, eff authority but wildly Patriotic and “Girl, cover that ass,” type of lady.  So, it is crazy to me to be this age to be called "Alt-right" by an old friend.  

If the left did not lose their minds at Trump I never would have figured out the first Republican was Abraham Lincoln. I am related to Harriet Beecher Stowe so that's cool. 

Then the world got shut down that blew my mind.  The fear was like a black fog settling on people. I have already survived dying so I had to block the world's fear of that virus from infiltrating my home. I had to work for years to come back from cancer and dying to get my head straight to raise my little ones and there was no way I was gonna let others’ fear eff with my head.  

I live with collateral damage from a year of cancer treatment, while pregnant, so there was no way I was taking that shot that was created in a month hence I was not able to go to cancer support retreats or any public events. Wtf.

I can't work so I decided to keep my kids home to teach them versus sending them to wear stupid masks for 8 hours a day for a virus that, Thank God, is not a concern for healthy children. 

Then what the hell is going on with mutilating children's bodies.  I am all for tattooing and piercings on adults, but what the hell are these maniac parents doing letting a doctor cut off a young girl's healthy breasts?   

For real all this is too much. I am not sure I want to reread this before I send it because it seems so crazy.  

It is all exhausting.   

Sincerely,

Politically Homeless

Some letters have been edited for clarity and brevity. If you'd like to share your story, email us at iampoliticallyhomeless@gmail.com. All submissions will remain anonymous.