You my friend are not liberal. Libertarian maybe, a former liberal who hasn’t seen that his party has left him and isn’t coming back. A liberal of the past. An unhomed liberal. There are a lot of people like you out there. Okay, that was so long! If I had not been on a nine hour flight, I’m not sure I would have finished it. Which would have been a bummer because it was very well done and all very good information, but my goodness, quite the overload. Maybe a few essays instead of all at once? You had a lot that reminded me of Rob Henderson, even using his term “luxury beliefs”. I loved it. I don’t think that, as very well argued and logical as it was, you’ll change a single liberal mind unless they’re already on the fence. But a lot of libertarians, moderates, and moderate conservatives like me (also poor background, first generation college graduate, no social capital though I do have a strong family-ish) will appreciate what you’re saying and where you’re coming from.
I understand what you’re saying. These days I prefer to say that I’m moderate conservative vs saying Republican since that party is my best option compared to Democrat, but too often I’m not happy with their choices either, just less unhappy than with Democrat choices. All of them spend too much, argue too much and can’t get it together to end the back-pat crony-isms and get things fixed. And then I see these “Republicans” caught out using horrible racist terms, the ones like Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson going anti-semitic and I’m thinking good heavens, there’s no where left to be! I’d still rather be here than England or Germany but only just.
Indeed. I am a radical centrist, but for the present time and place, Republicans seemingly the only viable choice. I conscientiously did not vote in the election of 2016.
Nick Fuentes and some of these of these other pundits are unimaginable to me in the time that I grew up. The only reason that they have any traction is because intersectionalism took over the Democratic Party, and they decided to implement ethnic, and gender, based sorting at all levels of society and retaliate against anyone who reasonably objected. Nick Fuentes' logic and reasoning is the same logic that they use.
They are totally oblivious to the damage that they have done. I do not expect to convince any of these people.
I believe that these coalitions are significantly weaker than they believe themselves to be -- but that most people do not have good information about what is going on.
Thank you for taking the time to read it all and to respond. You are right about all your feedback. I did try to cut down the essay, or split it into multiple posts. However, I anticipate -- given that this is public writing -- that there will be retaliation against me. I want all the information to be available in a single place so that neutral observers of what follows can understand that any actions taken against me, or misrepresentations of what I have said, are entirely unjustified and immoral.
I am no longer a progressive -- but my core values have not changed, I was exposed to new information. As a former Navy Officer, I consider many elements of the Democratic Party to be fundamentally at odds with the constitution. And as such, domestic enemies of the constitution for the purpose of my oath.
I do not want any of this to come to violence, but I am seeing this as a very real possibility which I would like to avoid. For that to happen, people who believe in equality -- not equity -- need to stand up and insist on what they believe firmly and peacefully.
My more recent post, which is much shorter, describes my path to coming to that conclusion.
You my friend are not liberal. Libertarian maybe, a former liberal who hasn’t seen that his party has left him and isn’t coming back. A liberal of the past. An unhomed liberal. There are a lot of people like you out there. Okay, that was so long! If I had not been on a nine hour flight, I’m not sure I would have finished it. Which would have been a bummer because it was very well done and all very good information, but my goodness, quite the overload. Maybe a few essays instead of all at once? You had a lot that reminded me of Rob Henderson, even using his term “luxury beliefs”. I loved it. I don’t think that, as very well argued and logical as it was, you’ll change a single liberal mind unless they’re already on the fence. But a lot of libertarians, moderates, and moderate conservatives like me (also poor background, first generation college graduate, no social capital though I do have a strong family-ish) will appreciate what you’re saying and where you’re coming from.
I understand what you’re saying. These days I prefer to say that I’m moderate conservative vs saying Republican since that party is my best option compared to Democrat, but too often I’m not happy with their choices either, just less unhappy than with Democrat choices. All of them spend too much, argue too much and can’t get it together to end the back-pat crony-isms and get things fixed. And then I see these “Republicans” caught out using horrible racist terms, the ones like Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson going anti-semitic and I’m thinking good heavens, there’s no where left to be! I’d still rather be here than England or Germany but only just.
Indeed. I am a radical centrist, but for the present time and place, Republicans seemingly the only viable choice. I conscientiously did not vote in the election of 2016.
Nick Fuentes and some of these of these other pundits are unimaginable to me in the time that I grew up. The only reason that they have any traction is because intersectionalism took over the Democratic Party, and they decided to implement ethnic, and gender, based sorting at all levels of society and retaliate against anyone who reasonably objected. Nick Fuentes' logic and reasoning is the same logic that they use.
They are totally oblivious to the damage that they have done. I do not expect to convince any of these people.
I believe that these coalitions are significantly weaker than they believe themselves to be -- but that most people do not have good information about what is going on.
Thank you for taking the time to read it all and to respond. You are right about all your feedback. I did try to cut down the essay, or split it into multiple posts. However, I anticipate -- given that this is public writing -- that there will be retaliation against me. I want all the information to be available in a single place so that neutral observers of what follows can understand that any actions taken against me, or misrepresentations of what I have said, are entirely unjustified and immoral.
I am no longer a progressive -- but my core values have not changed, I was exposed to new information. As a former Navy Officer, I consider many elements of the Democratic Party to be fundamentally at odds with the constitution. And as such, domestic enemies of the constitution for the purpose of my oath.
I do not want any of this to come to violence, but I am seeing this as a very real possibility which I would like to avoid. For that to happen, people who believe in equality -- not equity -- need to stand up and insist on what they believe firmly and peacefully.
My more recent post, which is much shorter, describes my path to coming to that conclusion.
https://shablag.substack.com/p/the-exodus-of-a-progressive