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 99:
June 27, 2024
I am politically homeless.
And really, thanks to Bridget for helping those like us identify who we are as a group, and also for raising awareness that we are not alone.
A little bit about me. I am a Gen X identifying tail-end boomer. Born in 1962. I’ve been poor. I’ve been on the inside of the social safety net system that hands out money. The lure of “free” money that came with a very low bar of activity nearly got me.
I have a PhD. Mostly, I suspect, because no one had the good sense to kick me out of the program. I used to work for an industry R&D non-profit. I’ve been on the inside and seen how money influences research. And sure, let’s make sure we can stand behind our findings, but also, doesn’t it seem strange that we’re not addressing questions that could really move the needle? Super weird. It’s almost like there is a constituency that has a lot of money to hand out, that wouldn’t like those answers.
I have never been a Democrat. My experience with poorness showed me what was up with that. Feed off the system, stay in the system.
I used to think that I was a Republican. As a youngster I even helped distribute Gerald Ford paraphernalia and was devastated when Carter won. (He seemed like a nice man, but history showed he wasn’t fit for the job). When the Republican message was more aligned with the entrepreneurial spirit, I was 100% onboard.
But what are Republicans now?
For the most part, just another member of the Uniparty. There are only a handful of Republicans that appear to be on the side of the people and not on the side of the State. Everyone seems to be in it for themselves and hoping not to be the ones looking for a seat when the music stops playing.
But I must be the crazy one, right?
I recently took a WSJ poll. They think I am the far-right of the far-right. And of course, the researcher in me noted that several of the questions had leading bias and lacked nuance. It seems like if you can actually read research and not rely on people to tell you what you should think, to be able to break down an analysis and see holes… you just might land in the far-right of the far-right.
I do hold some pretty crazy ideas:
That we should secure the border
That the government should be held accountable for shenanigans
That we should be well-served by the government and get value for our dollar
That we shouldn’t be funding foreign wars especially when so much of that money is laundered right back into the pockets of the politicians that voted for those deals
That we can’t print an endless supply of money
That some people come to this country and have bad intentions regarding the rest of us
That physical attributes are not more valuable than competency
The thing is Democrats are probably against most of the things on that list. But there are a lot of Republicans that are, in practice, also against these things. Oh, they’ll say they’re with me, but they won’t do anything about it. Not really. I mean, unless you include strongly worded letters.
Who is on our side?
No one. No one is coming to save us.
The only people coming for us are the communists.
And that’s why I’m 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.
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