If there’s a theme in recent political news, it’s that Republicans and Democrats seem to be living in different worlds.
I live in the Democratic world, so the issues Democrats talk about — Covid; the economic effect of Covid on ordinary people; protecting the right to vote; repairing crumbling 20th-century infrastructure and building for the current century; climate change; racism, sexism, and various other forms of bigotry; mass shootings; and letting DREAMers stay in the country — look real to me. Meanwhile Republican priorities — making it harder to vote; keeping transgirls out of school sports; changing discrimination laws to increase conservative Christians’ opportunities to express their disapproval of other people’s lifestyles; encouraging more people to carry guns in more situations; more tightly regulating which bathrooms people use; not letting cities require masks; and protecting Mr. Potato Head from cancel culture — are all weirdly divorced from any problems I can see.
Not too many cycles ago — say, when Bush ran against Gore or Kerry — both parties were trying to appeal to swing voters, so at times their messages could seem fairly similar. Ralph Nader’s claim that there was no real difference between Republicans and Democrats was never quite true, but was at least a defensible position. If you actually were a conscientious moderate voter, you needed to do a certain amount of research to determine which party best represented your views in any particular year.
Now I’m having a hard time picturing that moderate voter. If you listen to any politician for more than a few sentences, either they’re talking about a world that seems real to you or they aren’t. That’s the subject of this week’s featured post “Two Parties, Two Worlds”. It should be out around 10 EDT.
This week’s summary talks about the news from my Democratic world: the Boulder shooting and how little will probably be done to prevent future mass shootings, the upturn in Covid cases, voting rights, the filibuster, the border, Biden’s first presidential press conference, the stuck ship, and a few other things. It should be out around noon.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
Hi there. I’ve commented before. I’m hoping desperately that you, and many of the other thoughtful and compassionate lefty bloggers and independent news organizations that I have supported for so long, will take the time to look at the facts around transgender activism before we lose any more elections. I know it seems like cancel culture is a joke and transgirls in sports is a made up wedge issue on the right. But there are big issues here that are going to cost Democrats big elections if someone doesn’t start paying attention. Transgender activism is causing progressive parents to give off-label, untested hormones to their adolescent children, causing sterility – and causing other parents who do not make this choice to worry their kids may be taken from them. Transgender activism is allowing male people to play on female sports teams, taking titles from females, sometimes injuring females in play. Transgender activism is putting pre-op transwomen in female prisons and shelters which has led to sexual assault and decreases safety for the most vulnerable women. And cancel culture on the left ensures that these issues are literally never covered by any outlet to the left of the Federalist. As a result, I know a large and growing contingent of previously Democratic voting people, parents and feminists, who are coming to the decision not to vote Democratic anymore. Even though I find this issue to be personally alarming, given that my beautiful lesbian daughter suffered years of self-loathing thinking she was a boy because of this climate, I will never vote for a Republican. The fate of the planet is more important to me even than my own child’s safety. But many parents and feminists feel differently. Regardless of my views on the state of transgender activism and regardless of your opinion of my views, it is a fact that this issue is of growing concern to previously progressive voters and if the Left does not start to honestly address it, WE ARE GOING TO LOSE ELECTIONS OVER IT. Please, I am begging you to look at this issue. There is no shortage of information if you are willing to see it. Start with fairplayforwomen dot com, if you are interested in sports. The science is clear.
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