They're Not Making This Easy For Me - 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 42:

2/16/23

I am a liberal at heart. I am for abortion and gun control. I am abhorred by Trump. However, my sense of fairness has brought me back to the middle when it comes to economic issues. I live in California, where some of my friends are small business owners. They are fleeced for every penny. Never mind that they work 12 hours a day, and that their income also has to pay for rent, utilities, insurance, inventory, staff, worker’s comp, health insurance, quality control and equipment, just to name a few. It would be one thing if their tax money was spent right, but a lot of it seems to disappear into administration or does not reach those who actually need it (a billion to homelessness and another billion to the high-speed rail between LA and San Francisco that never got off the ground). 

I feel that the left is too easy with spending other people's money. We all know that by design, the government does not spend money as accountably as privately-owned businesses do, for the simple reason that they do not lose customers or ultimately lose their business if money is misspent. I tutor academic writing and helped an engineering student with a class that was literally called "LEAN". It taught future business leaders how to curb wasteful spending (cut costs and increase efficiency, yet still retain quality). It would be nice if the government would do anything close to that. 

My liberal friends love to complain about big business' greedy practices, and yes, there need to be some controls on that, especially when it comes to large monopolies. However, not so much that it kills innovation. After all, greed is a great motivator. 

I think people do not realize how narrow the margin of profit actually is for people who run a business. I therefore think we should help them not hurt them. I appreciate the left's push for decriminalization of petty crime, for example, but it should not get to the point where the police does not respond to theft under $900 (new rule in California, although it might have been repealed since I wrote this). In other words, I would like to be to the left, but they are not making it easy for me. And please stop vilifying hardworking people who just want accountability for government spending. Not every Republican is a racist or homophobe, and not all are "doing the bidding of their big corporate overlords". 

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.