Political Labels Are For Lovers/Suckers/Bastards/Bigots

The reason people don't understand me is because my politics are dark and not visible from the outside. I'm not the person you've projected, but someone far, far different. 

***

Liberal, Leftist, Progressive. Socialist, Communist, Tankie. Capitalist, Fascist, Nazi. Moderate, Centrist, Shitlib. Democrat, Independent, Republican. Alt-Left, Alt-Right, Fill-in-the-blank.

As a Jew, I've always been called whatever was convenient for other people to label me. Hate capitalism? I'm the uber-capitalist. Hate communism? I'm the super communist. Hate liberals? I'm a Democrat party shitlib. Hate conservatives? I'm a moderate Republican. Hate colonizers? Jews are the ultra-colonizers. Hate rootless cosmopolitans? Jews are the biggest globalists of all time.

I used to consider myself a leftist. But after October 7, 2023, leftists told me I couldn't be. Because Zionists aren't allowed, which is just another way of saying no Jews allowed. It was on December 4, 2024, at the San Leandro City Hall during a city council meeting where a debate over a ceasefire resolution turned ugly. It was when the very people in my town that I'd marched with, organized with, protested with, and fought for suddenly turned around and fixed their lips to spew every toxic and ghoulish antisemitic trope they could over the span of a few hours. Though I sat silent, observing the proceedings, they called me a genocidal murderer, hurled slurs and epithets, tried to physically attack me, promised to get me fired from my job, and even threatened my family. (Because nothing says social justice quite like attacking a Black woman and two Black-Jewish girls. Amiright?) But that was just a taste of the personal bigotry I experienced.

Then the larger left spiraled into nihilist extremism at the expense of real people's lives. It became about vibes over votes. It condemned Kamala Harris and Joe Biden for being the adults in the room calling for peace and the democratic rule of law. It alternated between excusing and cheering for the ascendancy of the Trump regime, reveling at "owning the libs" despite the actual pain about to be inflicted on the entire world. It made Murc's Law an ethical imperative rather than the embarrassment of people acting like pizza cutters. (All edge, no point.) Facts were invented, excuses were contrived, and CVS-length receipts were conveniently ignored.

It went from aspirational populism into accelerationist virtue-signaling over insane takes. It demonized organizations like USAID that saved millions of lives in the global south they allegedly cared so much about. It ruthlessly targeted Jews in Israel and the diaspora, and anyone who dared to express even tepid allyship with them. It scoffed at any political framework for peace as normalization and subsequently applied that to every single piece of the domestic agenda too, from housing to healthcare. It glorified "resistance by any means" (another way of saying hostage-taking, murdering civilians, and mass rape) while safe on their college campus encampments to prevent anyone else, particularly Jewish students, from something as small as going to class until even the most bleeding heart administrator was forced to allow the police a chance to reenact a new version of Kent State. It cheered on the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Russia, and every other terrorist or authoritarian regime -- so long as they opposed America -- and how dare you point any of this out to them. It got to the point where I would say, don't call me a liberal or progressive either. Those labels were poisoned by partisan hacks and bigoted purists as much as they were subverted by bad-faith bastards on social media. But what do I call myself then?

I've lived through so many political realignments. I've been a registered Democrat since I was old enough to vote and I've voted for a Democrat in every election since. I believed in Occupy Wall Street and protested the Iraq War in 2011. I traveled across 27 states trying to help get justice for disabled people between 2012 and 2016. I attended the Women's March in 2017 to stop Trump the first time. I was on the streets in the Summer of 2020 for BLM. I voted for Kerry, Obama, Clinton, Bernie, Biden, and Harris. I've been a community organizer in my city for years now, working on rent stabilization and tenant protections, healthcare access, police reform, improving public education, mutual aid efforts, political action committees, electoral reform, immigration justice, as well as offering pro bono services for low-income folks. I wrote letters, distributed petitions, submitted public comments, drafted legislative proposals, lobbied for policy changes, phone-banked, served as a poll worker, knocked on doors, canvassed neighborhoods, and pushed information out across social media.

I was an advocate, abolitionist, activist, reformer, reconstructionist, and an organizer. I would tell you to call me by the name of my struggles and what I've achieved through blood, sweat, and tears. I would tell you I'm not new to this, I'm true to this. I would shout that I'm not here for a good time but I've been here for a long time. I was happy to vote Democrat because none of the other third parties seem to care about using electoral power to enact legislation that improves people's material conditions. I was happy to work with leftists because grassroots social justice can literally save people's lives. I was happy to compromise with centrists because I've seen how even incremental policy changes can improve things for millions of people. I was happy to talk to Republicans because they occupy at least half of the elected federal and state governments.

I was a goddamn one-man campaign to build a better world for everyone.

Until recently, that is.

Now I'm just as happy to ignore everyone, anyone, any group, any label, any cause, any coalition, because I'm not interested in your identity, what label you subscribe to, or the purity of your politics. I'm interested in getting shit done, for building a better world. I wish more people felt the same.

Why the change? It wasn't just the antisemitism from the left. It definitely wasn't watching the fascist takeover by the right. It was watching the missing middle collapse into apathy and ignorance while reelecting a criminal racist rapist misogynistic antisemitic xenophobic fraudulent wannabe dictator. All because the price of eggs was too high and they were mildly inconvenienced by a deadly fucking pandemic. It was learning that most Americans are so stupid, they can't even read beyond a 6th-grade level. It was realizing that Gen Z fried their fucking brains on toxic social media nonsense from TikTok and Manosphere podcasts. It was seeing major news media organizations become so fundamentally unable to distinguish between news and entertainment that many of them became captured by tech-bro oligarchs wholly invested in the MAGA movement, while the rest of them turned inwardly impotent in the face of so much regime bullshit that they couldn't even be bothered to call a liar out for lying.

So here I am, sitting on my couch while the world turns into one massive dumpster fire, writing about my own political disillusionment and wondering if my life's work was a mistake or a joke.

***

I like to believe that to be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing. I lived my life thinking that if actually put yourself on the frontline, get your hands dirty, help out people in need, and build something good, that you actually can make this world a better place.

I like to believe that I still believe all that shit, but honestly, it feels like a hollow sentiment. It saves no souls but sells a lot of self-congratulation.

Certainly, it doesn't help the poor bastards being decimated by the onslaught of Trump, DOGE, ICE, Elon, Bezos, and all the rest of the MAGA movement. It damn sure isn't any good against the people who ushered us into this mess, from leftist pundits who cry more about Democrats than Republicans and ended up carrying water for a fascist takeover, to the voters themselves who had access to the collective knowledge of 3,000 years of human history in a box that fit inside their pocket but still claims righteous ignorance.

If you follow me, you should know that this post doesn't have a happy ending. There's no fortune cookie formula folded here beneath my cracked shell. I don't have an answer for you, let alone for myself. I'm just whistling in the dark, lying on my back in the gutter, unable to even see the stars anymore. But I'm still punchy and if you push me I will gladly show just how little I care about your petty grievances and partisan drama.

Take note and take care.