Alienation, autonomy, and ideology
As with Donald Trump’s surprise victory in 2016, his somewhat less surprising – though still jarring – win in 2024 has set off a flurry of failed explanations for how and why he pulled it off.
Let’s try to cut through the fog and get at why this happened (again).
I’m starting another round of election predictions with a bit of dread. Not because the election is a particularly uncertain one (though it is). And not because this election presents the possibility of another Trump administration (though it does).
Rather, my sense of dread comes from the fact that the left hardly has any skin in the game.
Democrats have long catered to moderate voters. But the Kamala Harris campaign really cranked this trend into overdrive. She campaigns to the right on issues like immigration. And she has wrapped her campaign around winning over so-called ‘Never Trump’ Republicans.
In other words, Harris campaigns with roughly the politics of a Bob Dole or Mitt Romney. Maybe she won’t govern that way if she wins – though she might. But the mere fact that she thinks she can get away with this shows the relative powerlessness of the political left in the U.S.
Many Americans talk about politics in confused ways. The confusion comes from a variety of missteps they make along the way. But one central political mistake stands out to me. It’s the one mistake most people make – even most leftists. And it holds together many of the others.
What’s that mistake, you ask?
When I started this blog, I listed baseball among the topics it would cover. I even included a tag for baseball on the side. But why baseball, on a politics blog?
Really, though, why not?
Sure, this is a blog about politics. But it’s also my blog. And baseball means a lot to me.
For one, baseball means childhood for me. It means the joys and struggles of childhood. I played competitive baseball in some form from about age 5 into my teenage years. It took up a key part of my summer from kindergarten until high school. And, of course, I spent much of that time watching a distant relative play on TV.
Baseball meant triumph and heartbreak. I put all my time into playing, and yet, at times, I shied away from it. Notoriously I would take myself out of games when the pressure became too great or I didn’t feel like I was playing at my best. But I always worked hard to be the best pitcher I could be.
I put in the work to win, but I always feared losing. Or embarrassing myself, or even getting struck by the ball when I stepped up to the plate as a hitter.
Finally, baseball means, to me, childhood in all its complexity and wonder. The facets of the game – the rules, the plays and possibilities, the stats, and the mental battle between pitcher and batter – all appealing to me.
Even today, baseball is the game for me. It’s the only sport that ever felt like mine. I watched many sports as a kid. But baseball was my sport.
I have to admit that, at times, I still imagine myself out there playing.
I’m proud to say I’ve got quite an eclectic mix of books for the reading list this month! But I’m less to proud to say that most of the books are from mainstream political and academic figures.
What can I say? With an election coming up, I’ve had the desire to do a bit of reading in mainstream politics and society. Maybe I can pick up some reasons why people do the things they do?
I’ll certainly take understanding over imitation.
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