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 89:
December 19th, 2023
I have been politically homeless since college and George W. Bush was the catalyst. I was raised in a conservative evangelical Christian home that was primarily a one issue voting household. Abortion was the issue and whomever the pro-life candidate was, my parents and I voted that way. This is just my memory of events, so the stats might not meet my perception on all of the below, so I'll toss that caveat out there up front.
When GWB ran for president, he doubled down on the moral majority campaign strategy. He campaigned heavily towards the Evangelical Christian South, seeking to switch an area of the country that was still heavily Democrat in the late 90s. I worked on a campaign in high school (1997) for a GOP candidate running for state office. My candidate got destroyed and I remember thinking at the time, "Oklahoma will never have a GOP majority in their legislature." The pro-life issue was one of Bush's primary tools to switch the Evangelical South, and obviously he squeaked out a win in 2001.
I had just started college at that time, and I remember thinking, "Bush got the entire GOP on his side by harping on an issue he can do nothing about." In the meantime, he sent us into two never ending wars, failed in preventing 9/11, increased our national deficit, and did nothing about our debt. Something about that combination of events made me realize that he campaigned on a social issue that wasn't relevant to his job as president. At the same time, he betrayed all of his claimed conservative ideas regarding the economy, war, and taxes. After the election for Bush's second term, I switched my registration to Independent.
After college I went to law school and also during that time Oklahoma's state politics shifted from Yellow Dog Democrat to full on right wing red state. During that time, I continued to be fed up with the fact that rightwing state and national politicians did nothing to espouse common sense ideas on issues that were the provenance of government, like taxation, war, infrastructure, trade, economics, etc., while continuing to run for office on social issues that were none of government's business. I was disgusted with the GOP.
On the flip side, I couldn't go over to the Democrat party, because I believed progressive social ideas would become a nightmare and I disagreed with their tactics for handling social issues like poverty, criminal justice, drug use, etc. While I believe Americans should be largely free to live however they want, I also believed that a government that actively espoused irresponsible sexual behavior, profligate spending, and made everybody into a victim would be terrible for the country.
In the meantime, my state politics became more and more insane. Being a Republican politician in Oklahoma is absolutely meaningless because there is no accountability. If you want to be an elected official, you mostly have to run as a Republican if you want to win. As such, regardless of actual beliefs about the issues, politicians who want to win run as Republicans and then vote however they want once they're elected. Since there is no threat of a Democrat beating you in an election, and the GOP isn't going to support a primary challenger in most cases, you could be as progressive as you want and still win so long as you ran as a Republican. It's made Oklahoma politics into a Banana Republic.
Several years ago I switched my voter registration to the Democratic party. On a national stage, I do not support anything the Democrats stand for and I think they're a disaster. On a local stage, I realized that if I was a Democrat, I could have a voice in primaries for Democrat candidates who might actually have a chance to win and bring some accountability to the Oklahoma legislature. Good individuals do occasionally run for office, and more of those were on the DNC side locally.
That's where I'm at today. With the childish focus on identity politics by the DNC, and the pandering to Evangelical Christians by the GOP (I am an Evangelical Christian by the way. Heavily involved in my church. My wife teaches at a private Christian school which my kids attend. Member of the Board of Trustees for one of the top Southern Baptist universities in the country), I could not support either party. If a party came forward that said, "We're only interested in dealing with crime, infrastructure, providing national security against foreign threats, protecting American workers against foreign threats, taking the hard steps needed to address our national spending disease and supporting small business over international conglomerates" I would sign up in a heartbeat.
As it is, I cannot support either party for, basically, the same reason. Both are so focused on social and moral issues, that they've neglected to do the job of governance.
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.
I Cannot Support Either Party - Politically Homeless