I Am So Politically Homeless

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 10:

I've been a registered Democrat for most of 50 years, and while I prided myself on voting a mixed ticket over the years, I voted for Democrats more often than not.  

I started falling out of love with the Democratic Party after their treatment of Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential run. I eventually looked to Jill Stein as my presidential candidate in 2016. The Green Party's platform resonated with me, and I loved Jill's revolutionary spirit. Alas, I watched as Dems painted her as an anti-vaxxer, a friend of Russia, and a spoiler candidate. I voted for her, but voters showed that the lesser-of two-evils strategy was alive and well and elected Donald Trump, and Democrats blamed Jill Stein for Hillary's loss.  

I still had hope for the Democratic Party into 2017. But at that year's DNC national convention, they elected Tom Perez as the new chair, voted to continue the use of superdelegates and to allow corporate lobbyists to serve as members-at-large. Shortly after that convention, I changed my voter registration to No Party Preference (aka independent) in protest. I remained NPP for about two years, but switched back to Democrat in 2019 so that I would be able to vote for Tulsi Gabbard in Arizona's closed presidential primary.  

The Democratic Party's treatment of Tulsi during the 2020 primary season and their push to nominate Joe Biden with Kamala Harris as his running mate further alienated me, so much so that I may not ever vote for another Democrat again. But sadly, the Republican Party doesn't really resonate with me either.  

In the months following the 2020 Democratic Party nominations, I caught wind of Bret Weinstein's Unity 2020 movement and was very excited about the concept of a left/right unity ticket. My dream ticket was (and still is) Tulsi Gabbard and Justin Amash, two principled candidates, one left-leaning and one right-leaning who had both spoken out against their respective parties. That seemed like just what we need to heal the divisiveness, but the Unity 2020 movement was too little, too late.  

I took a good hard look at the Green and Libertarian parties, wasn't crazy about either of their candidates, but I really liked Libertarian VP candidate Spike Cohen, so Jo Jorgensen and Spike got my presidential vote in 2020.  

Since 2020, my disdain for the Democratic Party has continued to grow and has almost reached the point of contempt. I was invited to Young Americans for Liberty's Revolution 2022 Conference in August and briefly entertained the idea that I might be a Libertarian. While I found a lot of common ground with Libertarians on the issue of bodily autonomy as it relates to Covid vaccines, and I'm passionate about freedom of speech as they are, little else resonates with me. While at the convention, I took the World's Smallest Political Quiz, and I came out decidedly Progressive with Libertarian leanings.  

So there you have it! That's how I came to be politically homeless. Some might say I've moved to the right, but my core values have not changed. The Democratic Party just reared its ugly head and has demonstrated repeatedly that it no longer cares about the issues that attracted me to it 51 years ago.  

According to the latest Gallup poll (https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx), 41% of us consider ourselves to be independents, while only 28% are Republicans and 29% are Democrats. I would love to see principled candidates like Tulsi and Amash (or any other common sense candidates willing to think outside of the duopoly) to run on an independent ticket.  

As a U.S. Citizen living abroad, I only only vote for Federal candidates (President/VP, U.S.  Senate and U.S. House). While my story above only details the presidential races, I'll have some serious thinking to do between now and this year's mid-term general election.  

Kind regards, 

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.