I am exhausted by the myopic “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” line of thinking that conveniently ignores family privilege. I’m also exhausted by the selfish attitude of recent generations that have focused on NIMBYism and the —
— preservation of individual wealth at the cost of society. ... [It has shifted] my political economic views from conservative to more progressive.
I’ve moved somewhere to the political center. ... Trump did bring my taxes down, but it’s not enough. Bernie speaks to workers' rights, but no progress is made.
It's caused me to go from far-left liberal to more on the conservative side. ... I don't qualify for state aid for food, housing, health insurance, but I don't make enough to afford these things either. It's made me resent the people —
— accessing these services and our government for forgetting about the middle class.
I consider myself a democratic socialist. I don't think I would have felt any need to look beyond the "big two" parties if I hadn't watched the system chew through the lives of so many of my friends.
I don't live anywhere near New York City, but Zohran Mamdani has given me a lot of hope, especially since his platform is based on the concerns of actual people. I know somebody with [his] policies would never win in my city, but I hope —
— maybe more people like him can begin to win in other major cities in the U.S.
Having lost a brother to opiates and living among severe poverty for many years, JD Vance is the closest politician who resembles my view. I believe that he understands the situation of the working class in America. ... [Other politicians] —
— are irrelevant and insensitive to the damage of their policies.
[I] have come to distrust both political sides. I truly feel like there aren't any politicians that have the future of young people in mind. Everyone is out to help themselves and their agendas, and that's it. I've become politically burned out.