a bowl of petunias

@ohnonotagain.bsky.social

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Like that guy in the Farmers Insurance ad, I’ve seen a few things. Occasional writer, professional nerd, perpetual overthinker. she/her 🏳️‍⚧️✡️

Cover of Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel “The Dispossessed”
“That fear makes us small. We shrink from the world and put up yard signs that tell our neighbors not to knock unless they agree with us on everything. We flee to “safe spaces.” We cut people off over their politics and raise our kids to do the same.”
Fast-forward to 2014. Attempting to undercut criticism of Democrats’ supposed leniency on immigration, Obama instituted harsh border policies, including the family separation policy that evolved into the infamous “kids in cages” under Trump. How many Republican votes were won over by this infliction of cruelty? Well, according to one veteran of the Obama White House: “There was a feeling that [Obama] needed to show the American public that you believed in enforcement, and [that we weren’t pushing for] open borders. But in hindsight I was like, what did we get for that? We deported more people than ever before. All these families separated, and Republicans didn’t give him one ounce of credit. There may as well have been open borders for five years.” OK, so zero. It won zero votes. Republicans accused Democrats of being open-border lovers anyway, and Democratic voters who cared about immigration felt betrayed, like they were sold out in an attempt to satisfy the right. Great.
Venn diagram Conservatives: can’t tell leftists and liberals apart Liberals: think leftists and conservatives are equally bad Leftists: don’t bother telling conservatives and liberals apart Conservatives U Liberals: likes capitalism Liberals U Leftists: hates Trump Leftists U Conservatives: like guns Conservatives U Liberals U Leftists: hates leftists