I do not come from an especially political family. My dad has not voted in decades, and while my mom votes regularly, she’s not an enthusiast and values harmony over potentially-divisive political discussions. Politically, I am left of center and the middle child in both age and political leanings: one brother to the left of me, and one brother to the right.

As a kid, my parents thought Republicans were the good guys. Bill Clinton’s depravity didn’t help matters at all. In high school, I had one Political Science teacher who challenged my default “I’m a Republicans, I guess” posture. I think I voted for Al Gore when I turned 18, although I have no particular memory of doing so. As a college freshman, I studied early American history and read many of the letters and musings of America’s founders, gaining a much broader understanding of the amazing story behind the founding of this nation, the risks the founders faced, and the compromises that linger to this day. I watched West Wing and thought it was brilliant. John Kerry visited Microsoft, gave a nice speech, and I voted for him in 2004. In 2008, I eagerly voted for Obama, although I greatly respected John McCain until his disastrous choice of running mate. I voted for Obama again in 2012 although I believe, gaffes aside, the country would be just fine under Romney. I watched The Newsroom, and I still believe that its opening scene is the best and most important five minutes of television ever made. In 2016, I voted for Hillary, despairing that Trump was even a contender for the nation’s highest office. In 2020, I supported Buttigieg and Warren in the primaries, holding my nose to vote for Biden in the general (I think Biden is an admirable patriot and his reward for a lifetime of public service should be a pleasant retirement, not working into his 80s.)

I was furious that Biden announced that he’d run again in 2024, and that both parties had failed to prepare the next generation of leaders to take over.

On The Issues

Guns are the leading cause of death for American children. This is an insane travesty, and a stain on our nation that so little has been done about it. Locally, Texas has significantly loosened its gun laws over the last twelve years.

Climate Change: Austin just notched its hottest October in history. Atop Kilimanjaro in 2023, I saw the sad state of the depleted glaciers, and I worry that there may be nothing left when I summit again on New Years’ Eve just before the calendar ticks over to 2026. I can’t help but believe that technology is going to bail us out (yet again) and we’ll avoid the worst projections. But we are playing with fire, and we risk activating tipping points we don’t even know about. As with most things, the poor and powerless are going to pay most of the price.

Taxes: It’s common for those on the left to scream “Tax the rich! Make them pay their fair share!” This clip from West Wing is a great and important one– we should tax the rich more (Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, to their credit, both agree). But it’s also important to recognize that even if we taxed the rich at a rate of 100%, we would not be able to balance the budget for long.

Hard choices must be made, and our system is such that politicians are punished for making them.

I’ve come around to the notion that the existence of billionaires is a policy failure, and there are absolutely insane loopholes in the tax code (e.g. the IRA one, “step-up basis” on inheritances) that should go away.

I’m infuriated that so many on the right should be voting for higher taxes, but don’t because “the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” The rich see you as suckers.

Abortion: I have a deep ambivalence about abortion– extremists exist on both sides of the divisive issue, and most folks refuse to think deeply about their own position, let alone listen to the other side. After decades of thinking about this, I’ve settled into a simpler position: “Abortion is healthcare” and think that’s where the political realm should leave it.

Trump: Truer words were never spoken: “Trump is a poor man’s idea of a rich man, a weak man’s idea of a strong man, and a stupid man’s idea of a smart man.” Trump is both a symptom of great rot in America, and an accelerator of that decay. Trump claims to “love the poorly educated” not because he aims to improve their lives and help their families attain the American Dream, but because he knows a sucker when he sees one. I am furious with the Democratic Party who supported Trump in 2015 literally betting the future of our country on the idea that such a clown couldn’t possibly win.

The Supreme Court: For many years, the Supreme Court was the branch of government that I respected most. Justices mostly kept their mouths shut, and an appointment was not a revolving door into a highly-paid lobbyist job. They never had to pander to the base to win their next election. Most importantly, even on opinions that I strongly disagreed with, unlike Congress, the Justices have to show their work in written opinions that will be scrutinized for decades. Sadly, however, the court has been tarnished by acceptance of improper gifts, political speech, and other scandals. More practically, a system where we incentivize or demand the elderly literally work until they die (based on the vagaries of presidential elections) is a grotesque one. Thus far, the best proposal I’ve seen is to term-limit Justices to 18 years.

The American Electorate: The vote of an ignorant racist counts just as much as the thoughtful patriot, and “All the terrible people vote.” I’m as angry about politically apathetic non-voters as I am about the suckers who voted for Trump.

It’s true that elections have consequences, and while it’s easy to lament who disastrous the consequences of the 2024 elections will be, it’s important that they do. Without consequences, elections don’t matter. And if elections don’t matter, you’re no longer living in a democracy.

Looking Forward

America is about to enter the “Finding out” phase of “Fuck around and find out.” The super-rich (Bezos and the like) will be fine. The merely-rich who supported Trump are going to find themselves like the UK rich post-Brexit — when the entire economy gets kicked in the nuts, your personal tax rate is not the important one. The middle-class and poor who supported Trump are going to get hurt, and hurt bad.

For now, though, I can’t let myself get too lost in despair for our world. Ultimately, we each only have so much control over our reality, and the main thing under our control is how we react to it.

Hope fights in the dark.

-Eric