Writing from New York City as a HUGE admirer of yours. You offer an interesting perspective that I think may well be true for some, particularly those who are not all that troubled by Trump to begin with. What I’d offer is that there is another contingent of voters who are left of center who felt—and were —so betrayed by the Democratic Party that it became impossible to vote for Harris, and in some cases moved them to vote for Trump.
I am a Democrat, and I voted for Harris, but did so in a state of unalloyed fury with my party. Had I a child or family member who got ensnared in the gender trap, though, I can well understand how it would have been impossible to do so. A good example of this is Erin Friday, a lifelong Democrat whose child was in danger of harming her body, and no Democrat in the state of California came to her aid. You can learn more about her, in her own words, here: https://twitter.com/ErinFriday75490/status/1814315159009272018
This is what I think: I am a lifelong Democrat, and I am furious with my party for its failure to recognize what a mess they have made with their wholesale embrace of gender identity ideology and wilful blindness to all the damage it is doing. Gender identity ideology is completely regressive, antithetical to the rights of and needed single-sex spaces for women, girls, and lesbians. The ability of males to self-ID as women has to stop, and it is essential to retrieve ALL the language that until five minutes ago we knew defined only biological women and girls. Transwomen are men. Biological women are not a subset of women (so let’s please ditch the “cis” and “trans” labels). The Ds have really and truly lost their way, and we are now all going to pay a huge price, as will the world. Such a debacle.
Now, if rather than taking potshots, you want to do something constructive, how about this:
Please call Seth Moulton and Tom Suozzi, both of whom are taking a lot of heat for standing up for protecting women's sports. Here are their phone numbers (only those who are in their districts will be able to email):
Counterpoint: Republicans hate children, and happily back the routinized slaughter of children in schools, churches, malls, etc., by refusing to regulate guns. Also by cutting their health care, and supporting a nut job anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist at HHS.
Lots of people are not single-issue voters and (a) take the long view when considering how to vote, and (b) vote in line with their partisan identity.
It’s not difficult - unless you are so invested in identity issues, “inclusion” (which means inclusion for males and exclusion for females), and “equity.” And if you tell a lie on a simple subject it’s a red flag for all the other stuff we don’t know anything about. My WDI acquaintance Kara Dansky wrote an open letter to Harris this summer, warning what was going to befall the Dems if they carried on their rickety, misogynistic policies. But would they listen? Of course not! And shortly the case of USA vs Skrmetti opens in the Supreme Court, concerning the prescribing of puberty blockers and opposite sex hormones for minors: the man and woman in the street are properly vexed about this.
I had not heard of Parkinsons' law of triviality - makes a lot of sense. Political science research shows that what voters say is important to them on opinion polls doesn't necessarily affect their vote. Voters say they care about complex issues like climate change, gun control, immigration reform, health care, and so on, but when they go into the voting booth, their choices may be more affected by issue "salience" (as well as partisan identity). Smart politicians and party activists craft ads and rhetoric to make particular topics "salient" in voters minds right before elections. Your post fits in with this -- the simpler (or more "trivialized") the issue, the easier it is for people to grasp it and for political actors to make it stick in their minds. Trans is a complex issue, but "Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you!" is super easy to grasp.
Trump is a malevolent moron but he is a genius at political marketing, in many respects.
[Apologies - reading your post and writing this comment almost a year after you posted the original]
Writing from New York City as a HUGE admirer of yours. You offer an interesting perspective that I think may well be true for some, particularly those who are not all that troubled by Trump to begin with. What I’d offer is that there is another contingent of voters who are left of center who felt—and were —so betrayed by the Democratic Party that it became impossible to vote for Harris, and in some cases moved them to vote for Trump.
I am a Democrat, and I voted for Harris, but did so in a state of unalloyed fury with my party. Had I a child or family member who got ensnared in the gender trap, though, I can well understand how it would have been impossible to do so. A good example of this is Erin Friday, a lifelong Democrat whose child was in danger of harming her body, and no Democrat in the state of California came to her aid. You can learn more about her, in her own words, here: https://twitter.com/ErinFriday75490/status/1814315159009272018
Another person, in the area of sports, is Kim Shasby Jones, cofounder of ICONS, whose daughter had to compete against Will/Lia Thomas. She was aghast. Among other things, as I recall it, she reached out the the ACLU, who rebuffed her. She writes about the experience here: https://www.iwf.org/2022/07/25/a-mothers-journey-through-the-upside-down-world-of-college-swimming/ I believe Jones voted for Trump. Here is a window in to why: https://twitter.com/KimJonesICONS/status/1853561798261166490
None of this is unthinking, or grasping at the easy explanation. Rather, it arises out of severe anguish and betrayal.
This is what I think: I am a lifelong Democrat, and I am furious with my party for its failure to recognize what a mess they have made with their wholesale embrace of gender identity ideology and wilful blindness to all the damage it is doing. Gender identity ideology is completely regressive, antithetical to the rights of and needed single-sex spaces for women, girls, and lesbians. The ability of males to self-ID as women has to stop, and it is essential to retrieve ALL the language that until five minutes ago we knew defined only biological women and girls. Transwomen are men. Biological women are not a subset of women (so let’s please ditch the “cis” and “trans” labels). The Ds have really and truly lost their way, and we are now all going to pay a huge price, as will the world. Such a debacle.
Now, if rather than taking potshots, you want to do something constructive, how about this:
Please call Seth Moulton and Tom Suozzi, both of whom are taking a lot of heat for standing up for protecting women's sports. Here are their phone numbers (only those who are in their districts will be able to email):
Seth Moulton: Phone: (202) 225-8020
Tom Suozzi: Phone: (202) 225-3335
Counterpoint: Republicans hate children, and happily back the routinized slaughter of children in schools, churches, malls, etc., by refusing to regulate guns. Also by cutting their health care, and supporting a nut job anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist at HHS.
Lots of people are not single-issue voters and (a) take the long view when considering how to vote, and (b) vote in line with their partisan identity.
It’s not difficult - unless you are so invested in identity issues, “inclusion” (which means inclusion for males and exclusion for females), and “equity.” And if you tell a lie on a simple subject it’s a red flag for all the other stuff we don’t know anything about. My WDI acquaintance Kara Dansky wrote an open letter to Harris this summer, warning what was going to befall the Dems if they carried on their rickety, misogynistic policies. But would they listen? Of course not! And shortly the case of USA vs Skrmetti opens in the Supreme Court, concerning the prescribing of puberty blockers and opposite sex hormones for minors: the man and woman in the street are properly vexed about this.
I had not heard of Parkinsons' law of triviality - makes a lot of sense. Political science research shows that what voters say is important to them on opinion polls doesn't necessarily affect their vote. Voters say they care about complex issues like climate change, gun control, immigration reform, health care, and so on, but when they go into the voting booth, their choices may be more affected by issue "salience" (as well as partisan identity). Smart politicians and party activists craft ads and rhetoric to make particular topics "salient" in voters minds right before elections. Your post fits in with this -- the simpler (or more "trivialized") the issue, the easier it is for people to grasp it and for political actors to make it stick in their minds. Trans is a complex issue, but "Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you!" is super easy to grasp.
Trump is a malevolent moron but he is a genius at political marketing, in many respects.
[Apologies - reading your post and writing this comment almost a year after you posted the original]