Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but the "both sides" argument is a fallacy. I live in a red state whose natural environment has been devastated by Republican policies for over a century. What people see here today is a remnant of primordial old-growth wilderness. But they think it's natural and how it's always been. Similarly to the way that austerity drives struggle and suffering for working class families, but they continue voting conservativ…
That's exactly my point though. It's only a fallacy because of your particular view on certain topics. For some people it's guns and abortion, for you it's the environment. Imagine the world from the point of view of some one that truly believes that abortion is the murder of little children. I really mean it, just for 30 seconds. We all have these core issues that we hold most dear and assume others must as well. Ma…
It's not really possible to write about this without sounding political, but the article covers a problem of political origin. So I'll do my best here to stay objective.
The left is fairly aligned today along a number of ideological lines. Basically all democrats want renewable energy, recycling, regulated natural monopolies instead of privatization, minimal social safety nets in the form of unemployment insurance and food stamps, universal healthcare, higher taxes on the wealthy, etc. It feels that scaremongering over taxation is a distraction from the fact that corporations and the wealthy have received multi-trillion dollar tax cuts since the Reagan Revolution and trickle-down economics, which created the national debt, many argue by design.
The right however is divided between libertarian ideals and religious fundamentalism. Jesus would be sad that children are caged at the border, while Christian nationalists call for tougher border enforcement. Rivers are being poisoned while rightwing think tanks like The Heritage Foundation call for more deregulation. People are struggling to make rent, much less pay their taxes, while roads and bridges crumble due to siphoning of the general fund to pay for continuous war in the Middle East and the bloating of the military industrial complex via IOUs to social security. Just on and on and on. There is so much cognitive dissonance within the Republican party that its voters must hold their noses while continuing to vote for it, simply to avoid the pain of voting for the other guys. There is no unified Republican vision to speak of today like there was under a statesman like Eisenhower. So the party turns to strongmen like the former president and Ron DeSantis in desperation, while the left and the rest of the world watch in confusion.
I feel that the projection of the right's frustrations onto the left is not based in fact or reason. Florida is redder than ever, as you said. But Florida is becoming uninsurable. My friend just moved there and narrowly escaped having his home destroyed because hurricane Idalia turned east at the last moment. Homosexuals didn't cause that, centuries of CO2 emissions from the industrial revolution and complete denial of that fact by the right did. But the news makes both of those stances sound fair and balanced.
One of the major things that Republicans struggle with is materiality (relevance and prioritization).
Without a natural environment, humanity can't survive. Bitcoin may use a lot of energy (that's dwarfed by manufacturing and transportation) yet look how much it's popped up in the comments as a factor in the blackouts. Corporate welfare and defense spending dwarf food stamp costs like SNAP for children, yet Republicans consistency target that for spending cuts. Wind and solar costs fell below coal and natural gas a decade ago, yet rightwing think tanks continue to spread propaganda that renewables are more expensive, that photovoltaic panels and fiberglass windmill blades are worse for the environment than burning radioactive coal.
Even wedge issues like abortion aren't what they seem. The left argues that personal choice and responsibility should not be overridden by government overreach. But that's a Republican sentiment. Democrats would normally argue for the protection of embryos, since they are a vulnerable segment of the population and have no advocate. Yet the parties are flipped on this, using it as a tool to rally their bases. So indirectly, I agree with you here.
Same with gun control. Democrats aren't demanding that the government take away our guns. That's Republican propaganda. But the left is arguing for banning or at the very least licensing assault weapons, just like how a truck driver should probably have a class A driver's license to operate a vehicle with such destructive potential. The key here is that this is all beside the point, since both sides are trying to protect children in schools. But the right is still in denial that their own children aren't at risk as long as guns aren't regulated.
I don't really know what to say about all of this. And thankfully nobody cares what I think. And also I'm always wrong, luckily. But I believe in my heart that the pandemic opened our eyes to reality. The chickens have come home to roost. Formerly academic problems are now at our doorstep. I can see that Biden has survived nearly unsurvivable trauma, so now he's woke. He is no hero to the left, but its hero Bernie Sanders couldn't be allowed by the establishment. Where is an empathetic leader on the right? Where is the conservative leader that will rise above generational trauma to lead us into prosperity? There isn't one. Because the right isn't doing the work to move through a healing and growth process. There's only projection, finger pointing, half-truths and ridiculous eventualities like a whole state's power grid going down so that a few guys at the top can dip their sticky fingers into the public's electric bill.