A reader responds to the JD Vance piece

Many of you have criticized it, but this email struck me as particularly thoughtful and worth repeating, despite its pointed criticism of me. The class issues here are very real.

This is a very important conversation - it’s about Vance, but it’s also about the rightist/populist movement whose future he now represents. The left wants to call it MAGA or Trumpism, but it is obviously bigger than Trump, and bigger than the United States too.

I wrote the Vance piece knowing a lot of you wouldn’t like it. To me, the fact that my politics do not necessarily match all of yours is a feature, not a bug, of Unreported Truths. I am committed to factual and accurate reporting, but I’d like to think that this is a place where people can discuss and debate outside their own echo chambers, and hear voices they don’t necessarily agree with.

We need more places like that. I hope we can keep talking.

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(Not an echo chamber. Just truthful reporting and a place to debate. I hope that’s worth 20 cents a day.)

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The email is below. I take some somewhat pointed criticism in it, and that’s fine. I’ve reproduced it unedited, just a couple tiny copy-edits and one cut for length, and I won’t editorialize or try to respond in it. This is her space to talk, not mine:

Hi Alex,

I'm not sure as a free subscriber you want to hear from me (I'm retired on a fixed income, so can't afford subscription fees), but I felt the need to respond to your views of Mr. Vance.

Mr. Vance never said the ideals of our country don't matter, he said the people of our country matter too, And the politicians in Washington have not served our people well at all. He is speaking to people you might not understand or relate to, and his message might not resonate with you or even might even unsettle you.

Intellectually you may understand that the US has a working poor class, but you don't live among them, you don't know their struggles. The lower middle class is now in effectively the same position as the working poor due to inflation.

Ideals don't put food on the table or a roof over their children's heads. Ideals and freedom are important, to everyone, but without financial solvency and stability those ideals don't mean much. On top of that the ruling class is slowly eroding those freedoms and ideals, turning freedom to practice religion into freedom from religion.

Sure you can practice your religion, but keep it all private and hidden, or you will be in trouble. Never pray in public, or you violate the ears of those that don't want to hear it. So that right has effectively already been lost, inch by inch. Freedom of speech is also being eroded, as the government seeks to block opinions the don't agree with. And freedom of assembly is long gone, permits are needed for almost every form of protest. These ideals have been lost little by little, so no one really notices or stands up against it.

So you praise the ideals, and I agree they are great, but without meaning when the government itself has effectively taken all of the power back from the people to exercise those rights. And the "lesser" people are often derided and denigrated by their own government. The ones that can't fight back, the working class poor and the lower middle class.

That was Mr. Vance's point. He said it in a way that you might not grasp, having not come from or lived with that reality. But those of us who grew up in or currently live in those circumstances understood what Mr. Vance was saying and agreed with every word…

I hadn't seen Mr. Vance's speech, but after reading your post, I took the time to find it and watch. I was very impressed with him, and hope he will be our next VP. In my view he understands exactly what is wrong with our country, and will do his best to restore our country in every way, to restore our rights, to improve the lives of our people, and to defend our sovereignty.

I suggest you ask yourself one question: Who do you thing will defend the ideals you value so highly: Kamala Harris or JD Vance? Who would defend your right to speak freely and who would see you silenced if you disagree with them? Ideals are important, but protecting them is even more important. Biden/Harris silenced you, so now if VP Harris spouts ideals and says they are important and she will protect them, can you really believe it? I can't and don't.

Just some food for thought, if you care to hear from a free subscriber.

Regards,
K