Who We Are Now

I think Kamala Harris was right to launch her campaign on positivity and Freedom, and somehow it feels like liberals have gotten so afraid of losing the progress we've made, that we're just playing defense to Trumpism.

I don't disagree that Trump is as terrible as the Democrats say he is, (and I don't think that the campaigns had much to do with the result, "It's the economy stupid") but I do think that there are lot of concerning signs going forward. Democrats say they're the big tent party, there are whole sets of voices and ideas that get crowded out, such that I think there's a perception that a popular vision of the future is owned by Republicans.

I'm big into endurance sports, and primitive living, and rural life, and all these people are right coded. Like I would say the left has CottageCore and the right has TradWife, but there's so many activities/hobbies/visions of the future that get right coded these days, and I think that's a big thing the right is doing right. Like CottageCore is not nearly as left coded as TradWife is right coded, and I think that's true for a lot of lifestyle media these days.

I don't know what the solution is. But this whole election feels to me like a bait and switch. That the right is going to go a lot farther right than the people who voted for Trump want it to go. My gut is that the Trump/RFK Jr/Tulsi Gabbard old school Democrat / moderate Republican voices are going to get drowned out by a hardcore conservative agenda of repealing Obamacare, shrinking the welfare state, and banning abortion/gay marriage.

But I'm openminded. And if the new Republican party really is the voice of reason and normalcy and Blue Collar workers; I don't know if I'll vote for them in the next election, but it will dramatically shift my perspective on the state of American politics.