The lesser of two?
Borrowing some ideas from my favorite Substackers and talking about pets.
I don’t know why I can’t get the recommend button to let me recommend Annie Gottlieb’s blog “Neither Nor,” but here it is and you should check it out. I love her idea of politically non-binary. In a world where both the Left and the Right alternate between disappointing and scaring me, this seems to be a good way to describe many of our political views.
Yesterday in an informal discussion over lunch with some friends, the topic of the election came up, as it is likely to do. I mentioned that I thought we should start a political party entirely devoted to the welfare of cats. Someone seemed to take me literally (almost always a mistake) and started to argue that we should not neglect dogs.
I completely agree. I love cats, and I love dogs. I have a friend who identifies as bipetual: he loves both dogs and cats. I have almost always had cats, but I lived with a remarkable golden retriever for several years, and I absolutely adored her noble soul and soft snuggly fur.
People have trouble entertaining more than one idea at once, more than one loyalty at once, and sometimes the thought that you can love both cats and dogs. While no one denies that it may be raining cats and dogs, the two are often seen as opposed in almost any other context.
I do think it is true that they attract different personality types (issues of allergies aside.) But it is a myth that cats are independent. Cats can be just as loving, clingy and needy as any dog, they just express it differently.
Policy-wise, what is good for cats is good for dogs. A livable wage so people can care for pets. Bereavement and family medical leave for pets. Some recognition that is is just as hard for some of us to be away from our pets as it is for some people to be away from their children. In fact, I’ve noticed that my friends who have children over about the age of 8 or 10 often find it a relief to travel and take a break from being Mommy for a few days. I don’t blame them - kids can talk, run around, leave the house, and be difficult. Cats, on the other hand, are purrfect. I miss Loviefluffy terribly when I have to be away from her overnight.
It is possible to love cats and love dogs, even to love birds and fish, though keeping all of them in the same home might be complicated. It is also possible to have conservative friends and liberal friends, to strongly agree with one party on some things and strongly disagree on others, and to work with others across party and ideological lines. My friend Jill over at The Liberal Jew, which I highly recommend, writes about how Jews disagree on which candidate to support for President this year. She will not be voting for Trump, other Jews say they will. I love the way she articulates her position.
For various reasons I can not take a public position on the election. Fortunately, no one much cares! I can say that I have deep concerns about how both parties have pandered to extremists instead of listening to normal people. The Free Press just had a great article called “Just Be Normal.” I don’t agree with everything that is said, but I do think that it would benefit both parties to think about the center.
One of my close friends argues that there is no center. She may be right. But how else do you describe those of us who want:
a strong labor movement and strong legal protections for workers
a health care/health insurance system that makes it possible for people to get healthcare before they are extremely sick. I am employed full time, and I have health insurance. If I go to my in-network PCP, it costs me $80. I have delayed medical care that I needed because I did not have the $80 to spare. And I have a good job! But our organization is small so we can’t afford the kinds of plans that larger organizations can. That means that I’m more likely to get sicker and need more expensive care. I am honestly scared to get my mammogram because if something is wrong, the co-pays to cover treatment would be impossible for me to pay.
support for families and support for choice. I read a lot of blogs asking why women don’t have more children. Those who want more babies to come into the world need to make it possible for families to take care of children without living on the brink of economic disaster. Childcare is insanely expensive and not necessarily safe. I feel terrible for moms and dads putting their little babies in daycare and going to work unsure of the safety of their child.
Many, many parents would love to stay home with their children when they are young. One of my good friends stayed home with her three children when they were small, and faced a lot of difficulty getting back into the workforce. Employers should be encouraged to hire workers who have been out of the paid workforce, whether it’s due to caring for children, aging parents, their own health issues, or other reasons. Years on end of paid work are not the only experience that brings value. If you want kids raised well, there’s a good chance that their own parents, with sufficient economic resources, will do the best job. Maybe we could help find ways for them to do that?
The cities are terrifying. I live in a scary place, where two weeks ago I heard three gun shots in rapid succession across the street from my house, followed by ambulances and police helicopters. Defunding the police is idiotic. Anarchy doesn’t work. Pay police more, train them better, enact sensible safety legislation. I have had occasion to talk with people all over the country, especially in Southern California, and have heard about the nightmares of homeless encampments and runaway immigration. Maybe if the people who made the decisions had to live in the neighborhoods where the consequences were felt, things would be different. Note: I did not suggest rounding up and imprisoning the homeless. It would be much cheaper to do what Vancouver did and create communities like the Portland Hotel where people can live out their days in safety, including with safe injection sites, mental and physical healthcare, off the streets.
Blanking blank deal with antisemitism. Zero tolerance for threats against Jewish students. Really easy test: if the behavior would not be accepted against black students, it should not be accepted (or encouraged!) when Jewish students are the target.
Stop looking the other way when people commit crimes in the name of either Left or Right causes. Defend free, peaceful expression. Crack the blank down on violence and disrupting the peace. I’ve moved on this over the years. If you block a highway, you should be arrested.
Start enforcing traffic laws. Okay, this is a pet issue of mine, but that’s because I put my life in danger by simply walking around my neighborhood. People routinely run stop signs without even looking. I suspect that in my neighborhood half the drivers are drunk or high at any given moment. Are the lives of our citizens so insignificant? Fund traffic cops!
What do you call that set of priorities? Pro-America, anti-Intifada, pro-law and order and pro-labor. We used to call that the Democratic Party, if I recall correctly.
I am strongly in agreement with Vice President Harris on many issues that are very important to me. I am strongly in disagreement with the former President on many issues. (Am I trying to be too clever by leaving out a name? I actually strongly disagree with every former president I can think of on many issues, though I still have a very soft spot in my heart for President Carter!) Politically non-binary, as my friend at Neither Nor says. And I would argue that being less entrenched in parties and more non-binary politically is the only way to get things actually done. I have seen legislation that is very important to me lost by one vote, due to pure partisanship. Moving away from the extremes, toward the center, and occasionally pretending that we of Gen X are the grown ups now (topic for another entry) might lead to common sense change for safer, more prosperous communities… you know, the kind where you can send your kids to school without fear. Where you could even teach in the public school without fearing for your life!
I love cats, I love dogs, I love fish, I love birds. I love snakes and spiders too. If you have a pet, I can be pretty sure I’d love it. I would respectfully ask before petting it too, and probably not pet it at all if it were a fish.
To prove my love of dogs, here is a picture of Sunny, the golden retriever that my mom and I were basically the parents of on a Christmas tree farm in a rural area of Pennsylvania. In the middle of a swing state, deep in the snow, sat this sweet giant loving dog. Sunny was 94 pounds and roamed her 44 acres of Christmas tree farm freely. She lived to be 17, ancient for a golden. She was a good dog who loved Democrats and Republicans alike. She even loved cats! Though Loviefluffy did look upon her with a certain amount of disdain…
