What’s this? I’m trying to blog once a day for 50 days! Inspired by Forking Mad and Lou Plummer.

What are five issues that have affected your political life?

  1. I read The Da Vinci Code in sixth grade, and this book made me an atheist. It’s not a good book. I’ve never read it a second time. But it made me question the narrative… and being an atheist on the Internet in 2007+… well, there’s really only one political party that has any real respect for atheists (although the LeftTM still isn’t great about it).
  2. I also listened to Harry Potter podcasts and watched Vlogbrothers videos, and these were (and are) communities that are very in favor of LGBTQ+ issues. In my senior year of high school, our government teacher divided us into two groups based on our views on same-sex marriage and each group elected a person to do a mock debate on the floor of the Minnesota state house of representatives. I “debated” someone who is now a sheriff (ugh) and his views came down to “Well, it’s just what I believe,” and my arguments were more along the lines of - why do you care? If you like “small government,” doesn’t that mean there should be fewer rules? My teacher (who is not left-leaning by any stretch) actually complemented me afterwards since the other side did so poorly. Anyway, like I said, that person is a sheriff now.
  3. The 2004 US Presidential election was between John Kerry and George W. Bush. I came up - all on my own! - with the toilet-humor slogan “Use a John, not a Bush!” I was very proud of it.
  4. When Donald Trump lost in 2020, there was real, actual, cheering in the streets of Manhattan. It was insane. I will remember that forever.
  5. When Donald Trump won in 2016, the devastation and protests were real, in Manhattan. I remember these less, because it wasn’t clear how bad it would be at the time. One issue that was particularly salient during this time was immigration. My friends at work became very nervous about their situations and they had somewhat random, aggressive appointments scheduled when it came to renew their visas. I hate that. Immigration makes this country better.