Radha, your writing moves me to my core. So glad I found you on Substack. Agree with a lot of the points you’re making (for the record I’m white, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union). The hypocrisy of the left has been weighing on me for a while. But when you start having real talk with people (women especially), they tune out, call you negative. There is ever-present censorship. I’m not so bold to renounce feminism, but there is definitely outsize power wielded by rich queen-bees, who are constantly monitoring “vibes”
I know you want change in our economy and moderate feminism but you are mistakenly looking to Trump as a better alternative than Kamala. I appreciate the need for more "traditional values" that give us people more structure when these values are not used to restrict woman's rights but the extreme positions that are not rational (such as men in woman's prisons based on their chosen gender)will moderate without electing Trump. I once would have agreed with your statement that the Republican's are the working class party after the Democrats have spent so much money if it was not forecasted that the Republicans will add even more to the national debt, if put into power, than the Democrats! Clearly both parties are now buying votes which is the real problem. Neither presidential candidate may be our first choice but it is certain that Trump will harm democracy. Even though I have everything to benefit by having Trump such as a stock portfolio that will benefit from lower corporate taxes, I can not stomach his damage to the world if elected.
None of us like entrenched politics however we have to look at what Trump stands for before we support him. One thing is to look at what Trump says he will do - here are a few questions one has to ask themself. Do you like his policy to deport millions of undocumented immigrants? Do you like the large tariffs on virtually all of America’s trading partners? Do you like the promise to America’s super rich that they can continue to pay no taxes? Do you like that he has no coherent plan to try to make home ownership possible for younger people that are not inheriting money? Do you like making America a crypto capital? Last time I checked crypto would have little appeal unless it was used by criminals and tax cheats, dark WEB payments, ransomware, arms, drugs and keeping money away from taxing authorities. Not saying it is all bad but some regulation on making Crypto Mutual Funds is warranted - the industry is donating a lot of money to make sure that does not happen. Or do you like Trump's constant disregard for facts in his narrative? Trump offers an unsubstantiated narrative about immigrants doing awful things like taking over apartment buildings; and causing a large amount of deaths per capita? . He is already highlighting election fraud by saying he will jail election officials if he finds fraud in 2024— clearly no evidence of widespread election fraud has been found in the last election. Do you like how he denigrates women or do you not support families of people that are not fortunate enough to have a high income? JD Vance and Republicans claim that one of our major political parties is "anti-family and anti-kid”. It’s true, but it’s members of the GOP who “should look in the mirror and hang their heads in shame." Congressional Republicans killed President Biden’s refundable child tax credit, which had cut child poverty by 50 percent. Republican -controlled states refused to expand Medicaid, and children in those states have higher death rates. Thanks to Republicans’ insistence on lax gun laws, gun violence is the leading cause of death for people 19 and under. The red states have higher high school dropout rates and divorce rates, and because of Republican opposition to sex education and freely available contraception, have much higher rates of teenage pregnancy. Like Vance, some Republicans want to eliminate no- fault divorce, which has cut domestic abuse rates by 25 percent. Democrats should do more to support children and families, but it should be no surprise that the party that fails them most egregiously is “the one led by the thrice-married tycoon” who abuses and denigrates women. Trump makes it "awkward" for Republicans to “preach family values," but the MAGA cult is without irony or shame. Often people will vote against the status quo to cause change — please try to use logic and look at the facts that Trump is doing everything to get elected but has his policies and unscrupulous behavior do not make him the best candidate.
It's a cult. It's split my family and along gender lines. It's doing this across thousands, millions, of families across our society.
This is probably the largest and most successful cult that's ever existed. It's global across western civ.
It's split my family. I despise it. For a while I did not see it for what it was. Accepted parts of it. Until it all came in to focus to me for what it truly was.
Would that I could have my daughters read this and understand it through your eyes and experience.
Maybe that time will come.
I pray that time will come.
I don't hate them. (they hate me right now but they don't know what they are doing nor thinking).
It is refreshing to hear such honestly from anyone, but especially a former DEI democrat. I have so much respect for your intellectual honesty and bravery. I fully agree that we have separated ourselves through tribalism of left and right, without listening to arguments and honestly analyzing each side of an issue. We can fall on either side. We have different life experiences, therefore we should believe in issues that fall on different sides of the “imaginary political line”. Thank you again for your beautiful writing and for digging so deep to express your thoughts on hard subjects. I have enormous respect for you. I am glad I found you on Substack.
I have sympathy for your travails but Paralysis by analysis is an easy trap to fall into. I sense your experience, intellect and honesty may be better directed at formulating concise, cogent arguments and propositions to counter leftist groupthink and lying. For example, I resist any attempt to lay all this at the door of non left liberal and conservatives. Today is a social construct designed by radical leftists. 100% represented and enabled by Democrats. Build the argument from there. No Apologies needed.
I agree Terry, free markets render the optimal outcomes based on merit - while the economic systems practiced often is crony capitalism, which has the opposite effects.
I enjoyed this article as well as your previous one. I am a new reader. Having moved from Portland, OR to East TN in 2020 with my husband and two children - I left behind an entire community of friends and family who were basically all Progressives. I was a Republican and Trump Supporter, so obviously the worst kind of person one could be. When Covid happened and the George Floyd riots took over our city, we had protests down our block and homeless people sleeping on our porch. My daughter was worried about the world ending from climate change and that I would be thought of as a racist for refusing to participate in the BLM protests (I was vehemently against them). Thus, we moved so I could give my children the best opportunity to grow up in an environment, where they would remain critical thinkers. I knew that despite my influence with them at home, that eventually my influence would wain as they become older and more independent - seeking approval and acceptance from others. Unfortunately everyone around us was so radically progressive I could see no way for my children to ever be allowed to think independently about a subject and feared they would simply just conform. Teaching them - and by extension anyone - how to think critically is probably the single most important thing we can do - as it affects every single technical issue in our lives and in society. Unfortunately, Public K-12 schools no longer do this. In fact, The science curriculum in K-12 schools - which is where the fundamentals of critical thinking are first taught, has been taken over by the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) in 49 states and what have they done? Completely removed both the Scientific Method and the term Critical Thinking from the curriculum. In its place, they have promoted the use of modeling and deference to authoritative experts. That’s right, they are teaching children to forgoe critical thought and instead default to what a computer or “expert” says. God help us. At any rate, I very much appreciate the story of your growth and evolution into the person you are today. It gives me hope that some of my long lost friends with whom I no longer speak may eventually come to realize that extreme liberalism is not healthy nor empowering. I am not perfect either, but I do my very best on a daily basis to remain grounded and open minded, and humble
Thank you this is a brilliant piece. I think about all the complex issues we are
faced with today how can they be addressed with either conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat policies. Baffling the limitations one places on their life by insisting that all thoughts and ideas must fit into an ideological box.
You can examine policy outcomes there are actual consequences resulting from poor policies. One not accepting the results or consequences does not mean that it is not happening.
Here is one that was my favorite while
my daughter lived in NYC. Allowing people to rob stores up to a certain value
before you arrest or prosecute.
I don’t even know the reasoning behind it because it is to baffling for me. Ky daughter was in a CVS at least 3 times while it was being robbed. I am not even going repeat what some of the employees said to her to reduce her fear and horror. It would just seam that we have lost our grip on reality.
Nearly all of my professors were wonderful, with deep subject knowledge, a desire to teach, and a willingness to meet with know-nothing twentysomethings after class.
I can only recall two poor professors.
They were both youngish, taught Canadian history, and reduced complex topics to simple stories about how bad white Europeans were.
Then they repeated this story, again and again, class after class, throughout the semester.
It was boring. I suppose that today, those two professors would be considered "woke."
At the time, I just thought there were lazy. They seemed sad, too, and disinterested in their work.
Here were all my other professors, sharing interesting anecdotes, getting visibly excited about what they were talking about, and coming at a single issue from 6 or 7 different angles in one period.
It was like attempting to hire a carpenter and having two options: one who's interested in the job and has a truckful of tools and the other who shows up with just a hammer and a frown.
Sometimes I think about being more vocally critical of bad thinking on the left, and it reminds me of the time at age 19 when I was realizing I didn’t believe in Mormonism and fearfully wondering what would happen to me socially if I started admitting that outloud (my social identity was highly tied into the faith and I had been personally exceptionally devout)
Luckily the small bubble of geography where Mormonism matters in this way was so easily escapable I now have a very chill relationship with the high demand religion of my youth and moved on from the type of anger you’re feeling after maybe 5 good years of processing it.
It seems the absence of thinking you’re talking about, the religion that kidnapped your critical thinking for a decade, is not geographically small at all. I never had to prove Mormonism wrong; I just had to leave Utah for a while. I wonder how we will all recover from this strange hiccup in the long arc of the moral universe.
This article reminds me if a quote by Raymond Fosdick...
"The only life worth living is the adventurous life. Of such a life the dominant characteristic is that it is unafraid. If is unafraid of what other people think... It does not adapt either its pace or its objectives to the pace and objectives of its neighbors. It thinks its own thoughts, it reads its own books, it developed its own hobbies, and it is governed by its own conscience. The herd may graze where it pleases or stampede where it pleases, but he who lives the adventurous life will remain unafraid when he finds himself alone."
Buddhism teaches that 'chasing desire' does not lead to happiness; you're constantly chasing something that doesn't make you happy. One book I read likened it to walking around a large circular dolmen trying to find happiness. You can't move any closer; it's a fool's errand. Fix what's inside you which is where the problem always lies. In our narcissistic culture it seems to be recommending poison for what ails you, but narcissism is about upholding one's delicate and often faulty self-image; inner analysis and awareness seeks to unearth all the negative stuff we avoid and deal with it, which is what leads to true happiness when we find better ways to live, think, and accept ourselves.
I think you're still a feminist, Radha; as Caitlin Moran asked, "Do you have a vagina? Do you think its owner should have equal rights? Great, you're a feminist!" What you *aren't* anymore is a *victim* feminist. I, too, disavowed feminism for 25 years as I didn't want to be associated with the whiners, the self-infantilizing, and the man-haters. Then I read Naomi Wolf's 1991 book Fighting Fire With Fire and I realized I'm a *power* feminist: One who believes in female power and using it for the greater good. If you haven't read that book I highly recommend it. Don't let its nearly 35-year-old age put you off; it's still highly relevant today.
You're dead to rights when you say that when you're pissing both sides off you're getting it right. You are. I'm happy that I have subscribers from both the right and the left; I'm connecting with the non-crazies on both sides of the partisan divide. Just as not all liberals are crazy Regressive Left wokies, not all conservatives are crazy-ass hyper-extremist MAGAs.
Congratulations Radha on reaching 1000 subscribers and for the many thousands to come! Your voice of reason and shunning the prized oppressed progressive BIPOC role will make you some enemies and a lot of supporters. This piece is a banger and as long as you keep challenging people's ideas, they'll provide you with all the inspiration to keep writing.
Thank you also for sharing my work. I'm so pleased it resonates!
Radha, I have just recently discovered your writing, and I find it thoughtful and engaging. You are an articulate critic, and while passionate, you remain measured. Keep up the good work. In terms of your apparent attraction to socialism, I can certainly appreciate the sincere sentiment and desire to help the working class. I also grew up in a working class family and few of my immediate or extended family members went to college. Like you, college was my ticket to expanded intellectual horizons and to a vastly different financial status. However, it is very difficult to dispute that historically, socialism has led to worse outcomes for the working class and capitalism has led to better outcomes. Of course, there has never been and there never will be pure examples of either. I think overall the issue comes down to power. Socialism concentrates power in the hands of the elite, while capitalism disperses power into the hands of the many, including many blue collar workers who become entrepreneurs (not the Silicon Valley kind, the mainstreet kind). That wokeism is fundamentally leftist is a reflection of it being merely a different form of Marxist thought, with Marxism's simplistic class distinction (bourgeoisie/proletariat) migrating to a simplistic race distinction (oppressor/oppressed = white/non-white, except if you are Asian or brown-Jewish, which is when the nonsense is exposed yet never acknowledged). Just as generations of academics and intellectuals were captivated by Marxism, so now academics and intellectuals are the force behind woke ideology. Concern for the working poor, and those without a college degree, does not naturally lead to alignment with socialism. Indeed, on the basis of both philosophy and history, I believe it leads in the opposite direction.
I don’t see socialism as inherently in opposition. I think capitalism’s excesses need to be tamed by socialist impulses, though I wouldn’t do away with capitalism writ large. I think that taken to its least constrained extreme, capitalist societies captured by elites allow the oppression of those without capital who have to sell their labor. I’m not sure how to resolve this tension.
I would also add that a focus on results is also a critical distinction between capitalism and socialism. In socialism decisions are made based on ideology, typically without caring about results. Transparent, free-floating prices forces elites within capitalism to focus on results.
If you do not care about results, you do not care about people. You only actually care about your own ideas. Results are what affect people, not ideas.
"I value my ability to make enough to live independently if I am alone tomorrow."
This is how I feel too. It's a lesson that unfortunately so many women, and men, learn the hard way, when they realize they've trapped themselves through dependency in a relationship that is unhealthy, extremely unhappy, or even dangerous for them. It's been oddly common for people I knew growing up to learn as adults that their dad was hiding a second family or mistress because he felt too guilty to leave their unemployed mom, though they were basically just roommates and co-parents, and I've known many women who stayed with men who mistreated them because they didn't think they could make it on their own in the world. I've also known a lot of women who did leave bad marriages but struggled to find work after because of how long they'd been out of the workforce and from a lack of education or developed job skills to put to use, since they hadn't thought they'd ever need them.
I don't condemn or oppose people choosing to be supported by a spouse if they have the means to, but there is a risk that comes with it, and it's one I've decided I'm not willing to assume. It's a reality that doesn't seem to ever be acknowledged when people advocate for women returning to traditional roles, and I think it needs to be. When we forget the things that caused societal shifts, the response tends to be to swing to the other extreme. For instance, trying to persuade people to swing back to the trad wife and a world where men are told to push any of their own needs or problems aside to provide and support everyone else as if they have no feelings in response to wokeness. I think this will inevitably embolden people to take up a new extremist, cultish crusade or just strengthen wokeness.
The dialectical swing will hopefully settle in the middle, but I struggle to assume because we’ve been swinging between extremes for so long. You’re very correct though, it’s a huge risk. I’ve seen some of my friends be thrust into this situation and I think it’s wise to still work. Men also shouldn’t be pressured like that. Many may even become resentful, and I wouldn’t blame them.
Radha, your writing moves me to my core. So glad I found you on Substack. Agree with a lot of the points you’re making (for the record I’m white, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union). The hypocrisy of the left has been weighing on me for a while. But when you start having real talk with people (women especially), they tune out, call you negative. There is ever-present censorship. I’m not so bold to renounce feminism, but there is definitely outsize power wielded by rich queen-bees, who are constantly monitoring “vibes”
I know you want change in our economy and moderate feminism but you are mistakenly looking to Trump as a better alternative than Kamala. I appreciate the need for more "traditional values" that give us people more structure when these values are not used to restrict woman's rights but the extreme positions that are not rational (such as men in woman's prisons based on their chosen gender)will moderate without electing Trump. I once would have agreed with your statement that the Republican's are the working class party after the Democrats have spent so much money if it was not forecasted that the Republicans will add even more to the national debt, if put into power, than the Democrats! Clearly both parties are now buying votes which is the real problem. Neither presidential candidate may be our first choice but it is certain that Trump will harm democracy. Even though I have everything to benefit by having Trump such as a stock portfolio that will benefit from lower corporate taxes, I can not stomach his damage to the world if elected.
None of us like entrenched politics however we have to look at what Trump stands for before we support him. One thing is to look at what Trump says he will do - here are a few questions one has to ask themself. Do you like his policy to deport millions of undocumented immigrants? Do you like the large tariffs on virtually all of America’s trading partners? Do you like the promise to America’s super rich that they can continue to pay no taxes? Do you like that he has no coherent plan to try to make home ownership possible for younger people that are not inheriting money? Do you like making America a crypto capital? Last time I checked crypto would have little appeal unless it was used by criminals and tax cheats, dark WEB payments, ransomware, arms, drugs and keeping money away from taxing authorities. Not saying it is all bad but some regulation on making Crypto Mutual Funds is warranted - the industry is donating a lot of money to make sure that does not happen. Or do you like Trump's constant disregard for facts in his narrative? Trump offers an unsubstantiated narrative about immigrants doing awful things like taking over apartment buildings; and causing a large amount of deaths per capita? . He is already highlighting election fraud by saying he will jail election officials if he finds fraud in 2024— clearly no evidence of widespread election fraud has been found in the last election. Do you like how he denigrates women or do you not support families of people that are not fortunate enough to have a high income? JD Vance and Republicans claim that one of our major political parties is "anti-family and anti-kid”. It’s true, but it’s members of the GOP who “should look in the mirror and hang their heads in shame." Congressional Republicans killed President Biden’s refundable child tax credit, which had cut child poverty by 50 percent. Republican -controlled states refused to expand Medicaid, and children in those states have higher death rates. Thanks to Republicans’ insistence on lax gun laws, gun violence is the leading cause of death for people 19 and under. The red states have higher high school dropout rates and divorce rates, and because of Republican opposition to sex education and freely available contraception, have much higher rates of teenage pregnancy. Like Vance, some Republicans want to eliminate no- fault divorce, which has cut domestic abuse rates by 25 percent. Democrats should do more to support children and families, but it should be no surprise that the party that fails them most egregiously is “the one led by the thrice-married tycoon” who abuses and denigrates women. Trump makes it "awkward" for Republicans to “preach family values," but the MAGA cult is without irony or shame. Often people will vote against the status quo to cause change — please try to use logic and look at the facts that Trump is doing everything to get elected but has his policies and unscrupulous behavior do not make him the best candidate.
It's a cult. It's split my family and along gender lines. It's doing this across thousands, millions, of families across our society.
This is probably the largest and most successful cult that's ever existed. It's global across western civ.
It's split my family. I despise it. For a while I did not see it for what it was. Accepted parts of it. Until it all came in to focus to me for what it truly was.
Would that I could have my daughters read this and understand it through your eyes and experience.
Maybe that time will come.
I pray that time will come.
I don't hate them. (they hate me right now but they don't know what they are doing nor thinking).
I despise the thing that has taken them from us.
It is refreshing to hear such honestly from anyone, but especially a former DEI democrat. I have so much respect for your intellectual honesty and bravery. I fully agree that we have separated ourselves through tribalism of left and right, without listening to arguments and honestly analyzing each side of an issue. We can fall on either side. We have different life experiences, therefore we should believe in issues that fall on different sides of the “imaginary political line”. Thank you again for your beautiful writing and for digging so deep to express your thoughts on hard subjects. I have enormous respect for you. I am glad I found you on Substack.
This is SO well written.
I have sympathy for your travails but Paralysis by analysis is an easy trap to fall into. I sense your experience, intellect and honesty may be better directed at formulating concise, cogent arguments and propositions to counter leftist groupthink and lying. For example, I resist any attempt to lay all this at the door of non left liberal and conservatives. Today is a social construct designed by radical leftists. 100% represented and enabled by Democrats. Build the argument from there. No Apologies needed.
I agree Terry, free markets render the optimal outcomes based on merit - while the economic systems practiced often is crony capitalism, which has the opposite effects.
I enjoyed this article as well as your previous one. I am a new reader. Having moved from Portland, OR to East TN in 2020 with my husband and two children - I left behind an entire community of friends and family who were basically all Progressives. I was a Republican and Trump Supporter, so obviously the worst kind of person one could be. When Covid happened and the George Floyd riots took over our city, we had protests down our block and homeless people sleeping on our porch. My daughter was worried about the world ending from climate change and that I would be thought of as a racist for refusing to participate in the BLM protests (I was vehemently against them). Thus, we moved so I could give my children the best opportunity to grow up in an environment, where they would remain critical thinkers. I knew that despite my influence with them at home, that eventually my influence would wain as they become older and more independent - seeking approval and acceptance from others. Unfortunately everyone around us was so radically progressive I could see no way for my children to ever be allowed to think independently about a subject and feared they would simply just conform. Teaching them - and by extension anyone - how to think critically is probably the single most important thing we can do - as it affects every single technical issue in our lives and in society. Unfortunately, Public K-12 schools no longer do this. In fact, The science curriculum in K-12 schools - which is where the fundamentals of critical thinking are first taught, has been taken over by the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) in 49 states and what have they done? Completely removed both the Scientific Method and the term Critical Thinking from the curriculum. In its place, they have promoted the use of modeling and deference to authoritative experts. That’s right, they are teaching children to forgoe critical thought and instead default to what a computer or “expert” says. God help us. At any rate, I very much appreciate the story of your growth and evolution into the person you are today. It gives me hope that some of my long lost friends with whom I no longer speak may eventually come to realize that extreme liberalism is not healthy nor empowering. I am not perfect either, but I do my very best on a daily basis to remain grounded and open minded, and humble
Thank you this is a brilliant piece. I think about all the complex issues we are
faced with today how can they be addressed with either conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat policies. Baffling the limitations one places on their life by insisting that all thoughts and ideas must fit into an ideological box.
You can examine policy outcomes there are actual consequences resulting from poor policies. One not accepting the results or consequences does not mean that it is not happening.
Here is one that was my favorite while
my daughter lived in NYC. Allowing people to rob stores up to a certain value
before you arrest or prosecute.
I don’t even know the reasoning behind it because it is to baffling for me. Ky daughter was in a CVS at least 3 times while it was being robbed. I am not even going repeat what some of the employees said to her to reduce her fear and horror. It would just seam that we have lost our grip on reality.
I think we have gone way passed absurd.
I did my undergraduate degree in the early 2000s.
Nearly all of my professors were wonderful, with deep subject knowledge, a desire to teach, and a willingness to meet with know-nothing twentysomethings after class.
I can only recall two poor professors.
They were both youngish, taught Canadian history, and reduced complex topics to simple stories about how bad white Europeans were.
Then they repeated this story, again and again, class after class, throughout the semester.
It was boring. I suppose that today, those two professors would be considered "woke."
At the time, I just thought there were lazy. They seemed sad, too, and disinterested in their work.
Here were all my other professors, sharing interesting anecdotes, getting visibly excited about what they were talking about, and coming at a single issue from 6 or 7 different angles in one period.
It was like attempting to hire a carpenter and having two options: one who's interested in the job and has a truckful of tools and the other who shows up with just a hammer and a frown.
Sometimes I think about being more vocally critical of bad thinking on the left, and it reminds me of the time at age 19 when I was realizing I didn’t believe in Mormonism and fearfully wondering what would happen to me socially if I started admitting that outloud (my social identity was highly tied into the faith and I had been personally exceptionally devout)
Luckily the small bubble of geography where Mormonism matters in this way was so easily escapable I now have a very chill relationship with the high demand religion of my youth and moved on from the type of anger you’re feeling after maybe 5 good years of processing it.
It seems the absence of thinking you’re talking about, the religion that kidnapped your critical thinking for a decade, is not geographically small at all. I never had to prove Mormonism wrong; I just had to leave Utah for a while. I wonder how we will all recover from this strange hiccup in the long arc of the moral universe.
For me the issue is that it’s just the default way women in my cohort think. You can’t escape it in any city. It’s constantly smothering me.
This article reminds me if a quote by Raymond Fosdick...
"The only life worth living is the adventurous life. Of such a life the dominant characteristic is that it is unafraid. If is unafraid of what other people think... It does not adapt either its pace or its objectives to the pace and objectives of its neighbors. It thinks its own thoughts, it reads its own books, it developed its own hobbies, and it is governed by its own conscience. The herd may graze where it pleases or stampede where it pleases, but he who lives the adventurous life will remain unafraid when he finds himself alone."
Stay unafraid!!
Well put, wasn’t familiar with him but I’m intrigued
Buddhism teaches that 'chasing desire' does not lead to happiness; you're constantly chasing something that doesn't make you happy. One book I read likened it to walking around a large circular dolmen trying to find happiness. You can't move any closer; it's a fool's errand. Fix what's inside you which is where the problem always lies. In our narcissistic culture it seems to be recommending poison for what ails you, but narcissism is about upholding one's delicate and often faulty self-image; inner analysis and awareness seeks to unearth all the negative stuff we avoid and deal with it, which is what leads to true happiness when we find better ways to live, think, and accept ourselves.
I think you're still a feminist, Radha; as Caitlin Moran asked, "Do you have a vagina? Do you think its owner should have equal rights? Great, you're a feminist!" What you *aren't* anymore is a *victim* feminist. I, too, disavowed feminism for 25 years as I didn't want to be associated with the whiners, the self-infantilizing, and the man-haters. Then I read Naomi Wolf's 1991 book Fighting Fire With Fire and I realized I'm a *power* feminist: One who believes in female power and using it for the greater good. If you haven't read that book I highly recommend it. Don't let its nearly 35-year-old age put you off; it's still highly relevant today.
You're dead to rights when you say that when you're pissing both sides off you're getting it right. You are. I'm happy that I have subscribers from both the right and the left; I'm connecting with the non-crazies on both sides of the partisan divide. Just as not all liberals are crazy Regressive Left wokies, not all conservatives are crazy-ass hyper-extremist MAGAs.
Thanks for the rec and the constant encouragement
Congratulations Radha on reaching 1000 subscribers and for the many thousands to come! Your voice of reason and shunning the prized oppressed progressive BIPOC role will make you some enemies and a lot of supporters. This piece is a banger and as long as you keep challenging people's ideas, they'll provide you with all the inspiration to keep writing.
Thank you also for sharing my work. I'm so pleased it resonates!
If you're pissing people off, you must be doing something right! 😉
Radha, I have just recently discovered your writing, and I find it thoughtful and engaging. You are an articulate critic, and while passionate, you remain measured. Keep up the good work. In terms of your apparent attraction to socialism, I can certainly appreciate the sincere sentiment and desire to help the working class. I also grew up in a working class family and few of my immediate or extended family members went to college. Like you, college was my ticket to expanded intellectual horizons and to a vastly different financial status. However, it is very difficult to dispute that historically, socialism has led to worse outcomes for the working class and capitalism has led to better outcomes. Of course, there has never been and there never will be pure examples of either. I think overall the issue comes down to power. Socialism concentrates power in the hands of the elite, while capitalism disperses power into the hands of the many, including many blue collar workers who become entrepreneurs (not the Silicon Valley kind, the mainstreet kind). That wokeism is fundamentally leftist is a reflection of it being merely a different form of Marxist thought, with Marxism's simplistic class distinction (bourgeoisie/proletariat) migrating to a simplistic race distinction (oppressor/oppressed = white/non-white, except if you are Asian or brown-Jewish, which is when the nonsense is exposed yet never acknowledged). Just as generations of academics and intellectuals were captivated by Marxism, so now academics and intellectuals are the force behind woke ideology. Concern for the working poor, and those without a college degree, does not naturally lead to alignment with socialism. Indeed, on the basis of both philosophy and history, I believe it leads in the opposite direction.
I don’t see socialism as inherently in opposition. I think capitalism’s excesses need to be tamed by socialist impulses, though I wouldn’t do away with capitalism writ large. I think that taken to its least constrained extreme, capitalist societies captured by elites allow the oppression of those without capital who have to sell their labor. I’m not sure how to resolve this tension.
Very well put.
Decentralization of power is critical to building progress.
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/why-we-need-decentralized-government
I would also add that a focus on results is also a critical distinction between capitalism and socialism. In socialism decisions are made based on ideology, typically without caring about results. Transparent, free-floating prices forces elites within capitalism to focus on results.
If you do not care about results, you do not care about people. You only actually care about your own ideas. Results are what affect people, not ideas.
"I value my ability to make enough to live independently if I am alone tomorrow."
This is how I feel too. It's a lesson that unfortunately so many women, and men, learn the hard way, when they realize they've trapped themselves through dependency in a relationship that is unhealthy, extremely unhappy, or even dangerous for them. It's been oddly common for people I knew growing up to learn as adults that their dad was hiding a second family or mistress because he felt too guilty to leave their unemployed mom, though they were basically just roommates and co-parents, and I've known many women who stayed with men who mistreated them because they didn't think they could make it on their own in the world. I've also known a lot of women who did leave bad marriages but struggled to find work after because of how long they'd been out of the workforce and from a lack of education or developed job skills to put to use, since they hadn't thought they'd ever need them.
I don't condemn or oppose people choosing to be supported by a spouse if they have the means to, but there is a risk that comes with it, and it's one I've decided I'm not willing to assume. It's a reality that doesn't seem to ever be acknowledged when people advocate for women returning to traditional roles, and I think it needs to be. When we forget the things that caused societal shifts, the response tends to be to swing to the other extreme. For instance, trying to persuade people to swing back to the trad wife and a world where men are told to push any of their own needs or problems aside to provide and support everyone else as if they have no feelings in response to wokeness. I think this will inevitably embolden people to take up a new extremist, cultish crusade or just strengthen wokeness.
The dialectical swing will hopefully settle in the middle, but I struggle to assume because we’ve been swinging between extremes for so long. You’re very correct though, it’s a huge risk. I’ve seen some of my friends be thrust into this situation and I think it’s wise to still work. Men also shouldn’t be pressured like that. Many may even become resentful, and I wouldn’t blame them.