I am so with you on this. I fled from the religious right straight into the arms of the left where I was comfortable as a centrist liberal for decades - when they still championed free speech. Only to be faced with the regression of the left into a quasi- totalitarian mess of post-modernist theory over the past decade. And now, possibly, a resurgent conservative moral majority.
My Substack reading has indicated a growing chorus of people advocating for a return to shaming women’s sexuality and proscribing our roles to breeding and homemaking. Even discussions about rolling back suffrage. Even complaints that we are stealing men’s jobs. It’s a horror show.
I have concluded recently that I am not left nor right. I am pro-humanist and anti-authoritarian.
I mostly align these days with heterodox liberals and non-religious conservatives and sometimes libertarians when they aren’t screeching against abortion too loudly - but I have no true political home at present.
I think the crazies you mention are the most extreme--quite possibly offering some payback to the extreme craziness of the woke left. But yeah, those types are there and it's at least partly a backlash to all the woke left nuttiness. I remember reading an Ann Coulter in a book about twenty years ago, can't find the exact quote at the moment, but she suggested there should be 'consequences' for liberals who say and do the 'wrong thing'. It sounds rather a lot like 'cancel culture' to me. From someone on the right this time.
Both parties have gone insane, just on different issues.
Democrats believe in open borders that destroy working class wages, and increase housing costs when we can’t house our own citizens.
They believe that people can change their biological sex, an impossibility that destroys the rights of women to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons . They allow men in women’s sports which eliminates fair competition.
They encourage the mutilation and sterilization of children who would likely grow up to be gay in pursuit of the unattainable and obscenely call it “gender affirming care”.
They encourage homelessness and crime by refusing to say no to destructive behavior of the mentally ill (who deserve custodial care), the drug addicted and, of course, the criminal class.
They discriminate against whites, Asians and men in a futile attempt to compensate for past discrimination against others.
They have recently been led by a vacuous, word salad spouting, not that smart woman and a dementia ridden old man who refused to stand up against the insane left wing of his party.
Republicans deny the climate change that threatens humanity.
They denounce the vaccines that reduce deaths from disease.
They bow to religious fruitcakes who believe that a single cell ( . ) is a 👶 which can destroy a woman's future.
They support an ignorant, bullying sociopath who is increasingly showing signs of dementia soon to be a second time president.
I view the ultimate problem being binary logic where people take one side or the other in a debate.
Using your immigration example, the answer is sensible legal immigration. But the battle is between immigration yes and immigration no. Because people dig in on group selection criteria.
AFAIK, the right invented identity politics long before the far left promoted political correctness and DEI, by way of its burgeoning pro-Christian (and nationalist) movement many decades ago.
Maybe. It may also be a rebuttal to *extreme* tradition. Like, marriage isn't bad, but insisting people stay married no matter what is. Or that men can have as many wives as they want but women can only have one husband.
Or, patriotism is good but nationalism, not so much.
The problem is, of course, that unchecked, humans always turn good ideas into bad ideas. The best course is to dial it back, not ditch the tradition.
I am so with you on this. I fled from the religious right straight into the arms of the left where I was comfortable as a centrist liberal for decades - when they still championed free speech. Only to be faced with the regression of the left into a quasi- totalitarian mess of post-modernist theory over the past decade. And now, possibly, a resurgent conservative moral majority.
My Substack reading has indicated a growing chorus of people advocating for a return to shaming women’s sexuality and proscribing our roles to breeding and homemaking. Even discussions about rolling back suffrage. Even complaints that we are stealing men’s jobs. It’s a horror show.
I have concluded recently that I am not left nor right. I am pro-humanist and anti-authoritarian.
I mostly align these days with heterodox liberals and non-religious conservatives and sometimes libertarians when they aren’t screeching against abortion too loudly - but I have no true political home at present.
I guess we’ll see what happens.
I think the crazies you mention are the most extreme--quite possibly offering some payback to the extreme craziness of the woke left. But yeah, those types are there and it's at least partly a backlash to all the woke left nuttiness. I remember reading an Ann Coulter in a book about twenty years ago, can't find the exact quote at the moment, but she suggested there should be 'consequences' for liberals who say and do the 'wrong thing'. It sounds rather a lot like 'cancel culture' to me. From someone on the right this time.
Yes. I despise any side that thinks they have a right to control a narrative. Conversation and debate should always be options. Diktats not so much.
Both parties have gone insane, just on different issues.
Democrats believe in open borders that destroy working class wages, and increase housing costs when we can’t house our own citizens.
They believe that people can change their biological sex, an impossibility that destroys the rights of women to privacy and safety in their restrooms, locker rooms and prisons . They allow men in women’s sports which eliminates fair competition.
They encourage the mutilation and sterilization of children who would likely grow up to be gay in pursuit of the unattainable and obscenely call it “gender affirming care”.
They encourage homelessness and crime by refusing to say no to destructive behavior of the mentally ill (who deserve custodial care), the drug addicted and, of course, the criminal class.
They discriminate against whites, Asians and men in a futile attempt to compensate for past discrimination against others.
They have recently been led by a vacuous, word salad spouting, not that smart woman and a dementia ridden old man who refused to stand up against the insane left wing of his party.
Republicans deny the climate change that threatens humanity.
They denounce the vaccines that reduce deaths from disease.
They bow to religious fruitcakes who believe that a single cell ( . ) is a 👶 which can destroy a woman's future.
They support an ignorant, bullying sociopath who is increasingly showing signs of dementia soon to be a second time president.
A pox on both their houses.
I view the ultimate problem being binary logic where people take one side or the other in a debate.
Using your immigration example, the answer is sensible legal immigration. But the battle is between immigration yes and immigration no. Because people dig in on group selection criteria.
Where's Lyndon LaRouche when you need him??? :)
AFAIK, the right invented identity politics long before the far left promoted political correctness and DEI, by way of its burgeoning pro-Christian (and nationalist) movement many decades ago.
The Far Left was shutting down and shouting down academic professors during the '60s and '70s. And before that? Scopes Monkey Trial.
I maintain though that leftism is generally a rebuttal to tradition.
Maybe. It may also be a rebuttal to *extreme* tradition. Like, marriage isn't bad, but insisting people stay married no matter what is. Or that men can have as many wives as they want but women can only have one husband.
Or, patriotism is good but nationalism, not so much.
The problem is, of course, that unchecked, humans always turn good ideas into bad ideas. The best course is to dial it back, not ditch the tradition.
Identity politics have been the norm since before writing was invented.
Identity politics are nothing more than human tribalism. They both stretch back through the anuses (ar ar) of time....
The woke left was always a reaction to the identity politics of the right.
It's the Israeli-Gaza tit-for tat of politics. Both go back thousands of years.