As someone who voted for Harris in the great state of Florida, I felt confused in 2016. To understand it better, I read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance soon after—back when he still opposed Trump—and explored other perspectives to understand the challenges in Appalachian communities, midwest, Americans feeling left behind—whether from working-class struggles of getting squeezed out of a middle class life, inflation, or the opioid epidemic. I wouldn’t say I empathized with Trump voters, but I began to rationalize their choice.
Many of us sit in our physical communities or on social media, surrounded by echo chambers, which can make it easy to overlook the realities of American life for those who feel left behind. You can label these voters as sexist or racist for supporting Trump, but for many, Kamala Harris doesn’t seem like an option that will help them reclaim a solid middle-class lifestyle. Trump is absolutely not the solution either, but for some, supporting him feels like a last-ditch hope—a hail Mary—that life “might” get better.
There is a huge huge population of middle to lower class people who have felt increasingly left behind and ostracized by the liberal left. It hasn’t helped that the left has repeatedly said that if they were better educated and informed, they would vote differently. Oh and calling them bigoted racist nazis hasn’t helped.
If we want things to “get better” and look different, all of us need to stop being such judgmental assholes and try to understand other humans perspectives. It’s nice to be nice. Thank you fellow human, for trying to understand others. That is when we are at our best and I have been guilty too. We win with the common sense day to day issues and we can argue our political passions but in the end, if the voters aren’t feeling tangible benefits from government they are likely to change to the only other option and that is entirely what is wrong with our system and why we have arrived here to be a third party.
Once again I’d like to thank all the Democrats who stayed home for an election Trump won with several million fewer votes than in 2020. Thanks for blowing what should have been an easy win, so we can get this shit for the next four years. I’ve accepted it as serendipity so we can come in and provide another voice from the middle that is simply absent in today’s political discourse.
We have no idea what we’re doing on a larger scale at this point, except providing a temple and trying to reach others who think as we do. Both parties are hopelessly broken, captured by the one percent and working again the goals of 99% of Americans. We need to reclaim out power and the American dream for each and every one of us and I hope you’ll come with us on the journey.