Not For Her Sake

I’ve been voting against the Republican Party since 1996 because even then I regarded the GOP as a party of fundies, fascists, and white supremacists. They haven’t gotten any better since then. Unfortunately, the Democrats have only gotten worse, but I’d still rather vote for a neoliberal than a neo-Nazi.

Since it wasn’t until today that I had heard of Alyssa Rosenweig I can’t say that my opposition to the Republican Party is for her sake. Nor would I; I do it for my own sake.

• I hate censorship.
• I believe religion is personal and private and should not be legislated or embedded in civic life.
• I don’t think my soul needs to be saved.
• I don’t think sex workers need to be rescued.
• If I wanted cops in my bedroom I’d fucking well date some.
• I think my mind and body are my exclusive property to do with as I wish.
• I regard the conservative ideal of a “rule of law” that protects a minority without binding them while binding the majority without protecting them as nothing but arrant tyranny.
• I don’t want to see my taxes spent on corporate welfare, the military-industrial complex, and endless foreign wars (though I might be repeating myself given that war is a racket).
• I want to be left the hell alone to do my own thing, and for most of my life the people most likely to get in my way have been Republicans.
• My wife of almost 20 years is an immigrant.

Say what you want about left-wing “cancel culture”, but conservatives invented that shit. They have always been censorious, self-righteous wastes of ammo, and organized gangs of Karens¹ like “Moms for Liberty” and “Morality in Media” are just more of the same bullshit I’ve come to expect from the neo-Nazis of Middle America.

Impassioned pleas like “Growing Up Alyssa” don’t move me; they only serve as confirmation that I am doing the right thing by holding my nose and voting for candidates I find distasteful because their Republican opposition is worse.

Besides, conservatives hate people like me: people who aren’t 100% white, cisgender, heterosexual, neurotypical, rich, and the right kind of Christian. It seems only fair that I should hate them back. Nor will I bother with that “hate sin, not the sinner” nonsense by hating conservatism but not its adherents. My hatred for conservatives and their morally and intellectually bankrupt ideology predates Ms. Rosenweig, and it will outlive me and take on its own tenebrous life.

Since we can’t get away with assassinating fascists and neo-Nazis yet, I will continue to vote against them instead for as long as I can find strength to cast a ballot. If that helps trans women like Ms. Rosenweig, they’re welcome to it.