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Sarah B's avatar

This issue is where the left lost me.

Summer of 2020, the following happened in quick succession: Trump blustered schools should open, the teachers unions immediately took the anti-Trump position, my friends in Europe all started sending their kids back to school without any masks at all, Covid cases were similar there and here in Massachusetts, I pointed this out to my local friend group and one response is that if I wanted similar in Massachusetts that means I don’t care if teachers die, I got a new job in pharma with a huge raise, the local teachers union declared they wouldn’t teach in person unless they “felt safe,” …..and this former public school booster transformed her raise into private school tuition so her kids could go to school in person for all of 2020-2021.

The progressive conversation about this issue was profoundly alienating. I’m still voting blue bc the alternative is even worse, but my political participation went off a cliff.

School is a key institutional support for my family. If I can pay my way out, I won’t rely on the state to supply that support ever again.

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Binya's avatar

Democrats are really bad at governing. They're struggling to keep schools open. They're failing to build enough homes in the states they govern. They struggle to enact incredibly popular measures when they have a federal trifecta.

Republicans are worse. But it seems very likely Democrats' incompetence is part of the reason Republican craziness doesn't lead to electoral defeats large enough to get them to clean up their act.

I'm not sure what the solution is. I guess more sane people need to primary Democratic incumbents. The party desperately needs a refresh.

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