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 114:
November 16th 2024
OK so a lot of you are asking why did an asshole like Trump get re-elected? Well I'm here to answer. I believe there is a lot of frustration with the left, and the turn they have more recently taken. For example, you are not allowed to fire bad employees in the government. You are not allowed to deport criminal illegal aliens. You are not allowed to remove squatters from your home. You are not allowed to fire bad teachers. You were not allowed to prosecute thieves stealing less than $950 from your store. In fact, a lot of small shops went out of business because of that, and everything worth more than a couple dollars is now behind plexiglass. In fact, the cops won't even come out when you call them, and criminals are emboldened by it.
In addition, people felt like those who cut in line got benefits while hardworking people did not. People are happy to pay for those who cannot work or need help, but the left kept incentivizing getting benefits over working (food credit cards for illegals, one and half years of unemployment benefits, student loan forgiveness, enormous child tax credits, free sex change operations for inmates). Also, enormous amounts of fentanyl were coming across the border, although I do think the government sort of tackled that. In addition, there is still a lot of anger and distrust about Covid lockdowns, mandatory vaccines, and censorship. Lastly, I think people by and large were not on board with the woke stuff: sex change operations for kids, critical race theory in schools, having to apologize for using the wrong pronouns, admissions based on quotas rather than merit, and trans women using women's bathrooms or competing in women's sports. I think it goes back to a sense of fairness; people had a feeling things were no longer fair.
Although I am a Never Trumper, I am a big fan of Elon Musk and love that he was brought in to cut down government wasteful spending. I personally know people working in government who work the equivalent of one day out of five, something that would never happen in a private company, because businesses are forced to prioritize efficiency and reduce wasteful spending or they will go under. The government, on the other hand, has no such pressures because people are forced to pay taxes. The national debt is out of control and climbing, and I think that is a problem that needs to be addressed. That is not to say we do not need expertise. We need guardrails against rogue behavior, and we need oversight for corruption. Also, we do not need people getting fired just because they show insufficient loyalty to Trump. But overall I am hopeful there is a force to right the ship, because people don't always police themselves.
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.
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