Politically Homeless - The Covid Talk Is 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 34:

2/23/23

I remember being told to go home from work as it was announced in early March 2020 of a shut-down due to the Coronavirus. My wife, a schoolteacher, who teaches at the same elementary school my kids go to was also told to go home.

She was thrust into a remote learning environment teaching her kids off Zoom, Microsoft teams, etc, while we had our own kids who were in Pre-K & 2nd Grade learning remotely as well.

Obviously the first few months were scary and I ended up being furloughed for a few months which was a blessing in disguise. I was able to help with the kids' school and around the house more. However I was doomed to go stir crazy.

My wife had always been left of center politically and I was more or less independent. We were and still are big believers in community schools in that the public school you attend should consist of most of the kids from the neighborhood. It was always our belief that this is the best way to build communities. You work and live with neighbors who aren't politically aligned with you but you share a common purpose.

However the pandemic turned this belief on its head and for the time period we were siloed from each other-that accelerated this notion that if we weren't adhering to every single rule put out by the local and national public health officials you became ostracized or looked at differently. We picked up on this vibe quickly at our neighborhood pool. If you questioned the virus in any way you must be a right wing Trumper. And if you adhered to everything you were a believer in science. At the same time the country was experiencing the flare ups of rioting with both Left wing and Right wing activist groups. Overnight neighbors had a BLM sign in their yard right beside a "I Believe In Science" sign. The Trumpers had their flags. We didn't see as many of those in our neighborhood but you couldn't miss them. To confuse everyone in the neighborhood I was tempted to put a BLM and QAnon sign in my front yard just for kicks.

Going into the 2021 school year the kids started the year learning remotely and didn't go back until a few months in. Other Metro Counties were already back in-person. In Georgia, the governor left it to the school boards to decide. You can guess which school boards were liberal vs. conservative by which schools stuck it out with remote learning. Masks were mandated and it continued to be a shit-show. By this time my son was in kindergarten and towards the end of the year he vomited in his mask. He was scared to take his mask off because of these rules and once the teacher found out she still wouldn't take the mask off. She instructed him to walk to the nurse's office. He ended up in his Mother's classroom crying with puke smeared over half his face & head.  

It became abundantly clear that my daughter was struggling in school. The remote learning was a joke and put her behind. She is the youngest of her class by a full year with her birthday a day before the cut-off. Learning Loss is legit and is not addressed nearly as it should be by legacy media.

Neither my wife and I voted for Trump. We have family that did but other family and friends that did not. We grew sick and tired of both sides but honestly became more honest and unapologetic with people on our own views. The news that we watched was no longer viable because it became clear that cable news was following specific narratives. We found independent news sources and it was a big wake up call for us.

So here we are. We have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for the neighborhood I live in. It has some great people in it and we have made good friends and can respectfully disagree. Just drop the Covid talk, it's exhausting, and there are so many other issues that are way more pressing!

All the best,

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.