Politically Homeless But Still Believes in Left Values

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

Politics these days are 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.

Chris decided he wanted to have his letter published under his own name and read it himself. Submissions will not include names unless expressly stated otherwise.

Letter 4:

Hi Bridget,

So, here’s my story.

I was never really into politics. For most of my life, I was a nihilist about politics as I saw how much people centered their lives around it, yet their votes didn’t really change anything. Coming from a lower middle-class background, my life has never changed for the better under any politician.

Leading up to 2016, I noticed something really strange going on. As an older millennial who grew up as a gamer in the early days of the internet, I’m accustomed to people saying the most terrible things you can imagine on the internet. I got sober back in 2012 and I’ve become a much better person, but until that time, I was what many would call an “internet troll” or even an “edgelord”. My friends and I would have these little competitions to see who could say the most terrible things, and I’m grateful every single day that all of that was pre-social media or I’d probably be canceled on a weekly basis.

So, prior to Trump’s election, this thing called “Gamergate” happened. And for those who don’t know, in short, this sprung from feminists in the gaming community calling out sexism and misogyny. So, I started watching a lot of anti-social justice warrior content on YouTube and I really thought that a lot of these people were being just way too sensitive. They were all being, you know, what many would call “snowflakes”, if you will. I was personally just emotionless from internet trash talk, so I expected everyone to be the same.

But, when Trump got elected in 2016, everything changed. I started really getting into politics, and my best friend introduced me to Bernie Sanders and his policies. Before that, I didn’t even know how other countries were run and that it was even possible that America could do better. But, Sanders talked about free healthcare, and living wages, and legalized weed, and so much more.

Since then, I’ve become extremely political and pretty anti-capitalist. Although I’m not sure if socialism is the way to go, I feel we either need to A.) fix capitalism or B.) move a lot closer to a social democracy.

At this point in my life, I realized that I was in this really strange position. Everyone who agreed with me on the Bernie Sanders view of the world were also those who were super sensitive people that were screaming that everything was racist or sexist. It reminded me of one of the main factors that led to my addiction; I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere.

Then, in 2019, I was personally canceled. After getting sober, I started a mental health and addiction recovery YouTube channel that exploded to over 100,000 subscribers in less than a year. And, I unfortunately pissed the wrong people off and I had hundreds of thousands of strangers attacking me online, threatening my family and me, and this led to me spiraling into the worst depression imaginable. I also came really close to relapse for the first time in my sobriety.

This is when I became an avid reader and an advocate for free speech. I fell in love with books like The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff, and I became super vocal about how insane the Left had become as they pushed to silence anyone they disagreed with.

On paper, with everything that I believe, I should be writing this from the point of view of someone who left the Left, but that’s not the case at all. Every single story that I’ve heard of people who are no longer Leftists have similar stories to me, but being a Progressive Leftist is so much more than that.

Although it gets me in trouble, I think those who leave the Left over hurt feelings are no better than the sensitive people that they claim to be against.

For Progressives like myself, corporate Democrats are terrible, but they're the best option we have in a two-party system when it comes to my values. I believe we need free healthcare and student loans are absolutely ridiculous. I believe we need a livable wage.

And I don’t know if I mentioned this, but I’m half Black. So, while overblown sometimes, I believe that we have systemic racist issues that we really need to address by better policies in America. For example, Black and Hispanic people are more likely to be denied credit or a loan at all income levels. This means that even Black and Hispanic people making over a hundred thousand dollars a year are still more likely to be denied.

The Conservative party is not going to make any of the policy changes that I want to see. Especially when it comes to crime reform, which is awful because Black men receive sentences on average of 19.1 percent longer than white men for the exact same crime.

Hell, I believe in a woman’s right to choose, and we saw what recently happened with Roe v. Wade.

While I completely understand why people leave the Left because I’ve personally been through it myself, I couldn’t sleep at night leaving the Left over my hurt feelings. This is so much bigger than myself, and it absolutely breaks my heart seeing people say to vote Republican over these culture war issues.

When I got sober, I was taught to follow my values, and I was also taught to ignore trivial nonsense. Gender pronouns and microagressions are the least of this country’s problems. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying from suicides and overdoses, and we have a massive wealth inequality problem. Our prison system is broken due to capitalism, and women lost their right to choose in numerous states.

I’m sorry, but I’d rather feel politically homeless than ever vote for a president to spite the fringe people on the Left. To this day, I have fellow Leftists scream at me on Twitter and accuse me of being MAGA for telling them to just calm down. I had my own Black sister tell me I sound like Tucker Carlson for trying to have a nuanced conversation about cities on fire during the BLM protests and riots of 2020.

The Left is a pain in my ass sometimes, but I’m not going anywhere.

Sincerely,

Chris Boutté

Chris decided he wanted to have his letter published under his own name and read it himself. Submissions will not include names unless expressly stated otherwise.

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.