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 90:
December 19, 2023
I live in Utah, which has a very religious conservative general population (although Mormons are different than run-of-the-mill Christians), but I work in media, which has a degenerate population filled with drugs and alcohol, and many of my clients are part of the outdoor industry, which is preposterously woke, almost to the point of absurdity. Weird bedfellows, to be sure.
Politically myself, I’m a child of the punk-rock era when much of punk had essentially morphed into mainstream pop music, so the actual anti-establishment punk of that same period was extremely edgy; think anti-war, anti-corporate, anarcho-communist types, but being in a conservative state it was pretty obvious to me growing up that communism ain’t got nothin’ on an actually free market, so when Ron Paul rose to national prominence in 2007 I jumped balls-deep into the Mises flavor of Libertarianism, which has been my political center ever since. Think Rothbard, Hoppe, Mises, etc. I’ve been reading Anti-War.com almost every day since like 2005.
But Libertarians don’t agree with each other about what constitutes liberty, let alone anyone else, and the COVID years really showed which of my peer group wanted Daddy (aka the government) to take care of them and which people were inclined to do it themselves. I ended up losing multiple friendships due to my being outspoken against lockdowns and mask mandates and vaccine mandates, mostly on grounds of liberty and business, and I lost a ton of clients in the process, in part due to the market constrictions of the COVID times, and also because it wasn’t politically palatable to work with people that didn’t simp for the regime.
Fortunately I’m a decent business person and I’ve been able to rebuild all my lost revenue and although it was really rough for a stretch, things are going well. It was fascinating at the time to see my politics, despite not being overly vocal about them online, affect my life in such a dramatic way. Now to be clear, none of the people who had issues with my politics actually knew what my politics were, they just assumed either that I was a Trump-loving Nazi or a Libtard squish and then applied whatever stereotype they wanted to me. Even close friends would complain about views that I supposedly held that were not my views at all, and then they’d be embarrassed and our friendship suffered as a result.
A few months ago I read a book called The Myth of Left and Right, and it really put a nice ribbon on a concept that I’d observed over the years, but hadn’t really been able to pin down: people in general don’t pick their principles then align their politics appropriately, they pick their teams, and let the principles follow where they may. This was abundantly true during Covid and especially true as you watch the fascinating dynamics between Ukraine and Israel and the public response to them.
Anyway, that’s my story. My wife has to tap me on the shoulder at parties if she sees that gleam in my eye whenever someone mentions tax rates or fractional reserve banking or, heaven forbid, US Foreign Policy…
Thanks for years of entertainment with Walk-Ins Welcome.
God bless,
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.
People Pick Their Teams And Let Principles Follow - Politically Homeless