By my mid-20s I had read more Ayn Rand in a year than Paul Ryan had in his entire life. My information diet was Fox News, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh. I could pull a right-wing talking point out of a hat faster than a magician.
I had one foot planted in conservative libertarianism and the other in what we call today “barstool conservatism”.
I voted for John McCain and George H.W. Bush twice.
If I had been born 20 years later, I would have voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024, but I changed a long time ago. I voted for Biden and Harris. I am profoundly disappointed in the 2024 election outcome, and I’m here, as a former right-wing conservative, to tell liberals and Democrats how they screwed up.
…and how they’ve been screwing up for the last 10-20 years.
Today I live with my family in one of the most educated and liberal cities in America. I work in technology, and spend enormous amounts of time consuming political content. I also have numerous friends and family who define themselves as conservative. I straddle liberal and conservative bubbles that I like to believe gives me a unique and often challenging perspective.
This will come as no surprise to many, but this country is in trouble. If we’re going to save it, liberals and Democrats need to understand the exodus of formerly loyal blue-collar middle-class Americans without resorting to comfortable tropes of racism, sexism, and lack of education.
What does this have to do with being “cursed by a witch”, you might ask?
The critiques I will be making are correct, but you will ignore them. Just as every Trump voter ignored your clear (and accurate) argument that he is a danger to democracy, you will ignore me now. I will give you the answer to the question you are asking, “how did this happen!?”, but you will fall back on rote patterns that will leave you confounded and the country spiraling into authoritarian theocracy.
I am cursed to have the answers you are looking for, but for those answers to be ignored.
I am not a politician, legislator, or staffer. I don’t have a degree in Political Science or Journalism. I’m just a guy with connections to the whole spectrum of political views who has spent his entire adult life closely watching politics. Contact me here.