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 75:
January 21, 2024
Hi. Yes. I am the vote they want and I suppose the Republicans have got me.
I was once a super woke, "vote blue no matter who" Democrat. And then I became a mother, and then my niece said she was a boy and that shit fell apart irreparably. (She's okay now, has desisted and mostly sees gender ideology as a falsehood. Mostly.)
I voted for Biden in 2020. I voted for Stacey Abrams the first time she ran. In the 2022 midterms, I voted for Herschel Walker (R, GA Senatorial candidate) and Brian Kemp (R, GA gubernatorial candidate.) Walker was and is an idiot, but I called Sen. Warnock (D, GA Senator)'s office five times and not once would they assure me that he wouldn't vote for the Equality Act, which would make gender self-ID the law of the land. And Stacey Abrams wanted to let boys compete in girl's sports. Pass.
I am pro-choice. I've had an abortion - one that I now deeply regret - so my feelings are mixed. But I am also a freebirther (unassisted homebirth), so I'm not interested in state regulation of female biology.
However. I am so deeply concerned with the anti-woman idiocy that is trans/gender ideology that I am willing to take the L on choice until the nation comes to its senses about sex, sex differences, and the inhumanity that is gender affirming "care." For adults and children - I don't care that someone is 26, 45, 19, it is barbarism to cut off their dick. Or their healthy breasts. Etc, etc.
I no longer see conservatives as evil. I no longer think Democrats can do no wrong. I evaluate ideas instead of picking a team. I read direct from the source. I am better for it and it rightly makes voting a bit harder.
Trump freaks me out. He is on tape asking the Georgia Secretary of State to "find me 10,000 votes." What the actual fuck, right? But our super Republican SOS wouldn't do it, so I still have faith in Americans and American checks and balances. I hope that if he wins he won't be able to go too far.
Biden is an asshole and for fuck's sake, he is too old. He wholeheartedly supports men who identify as women and thinks that girls like my niece are "at risk" from going through puberty. That scares the pants off of me.
I'm the vote they want, but I don't think I'll be voting. If anything, I suppose I'll chuck my vote, uselessly, I know, at Kennedy.
This note makes it sound as if I don't have hope, but I do. I am an optimist in general. I know that human beings like to catastrophize and yet we find a way through. My prayer is that more people like me wake up to the box they're living in. That they too find their way to truly questioning themselves and their pretty darlings, to deciding not to demonize the other side. I think the country is headed for a wake-up call and that when the alarm goes off, we'll get up and do a bit better.
All my 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.
I'm The Vote You Want - Politically Homeless