One of the things leftists don’t really talk enough about is their actual journey to the left. I say this because even when I look at social media, I see a lot of people presenting themselves like they’ve always been there, like they were born with those ideals.
And don’t get me wrong. Sure, there are people who were raised by leftists and were introduced to their beliefs very early on. But the reality is that the majority of Americans, even those on the far left, didn’t start there.
Like, take myself for example.
Despite being raised by a lifelong, loyal, card-carrying Democrat, a mom who tried her best to teach me empathy and morals and to care about everyone in the community, I’m not too proud to admit that a lot of the beliefs I’ve come to now have come from an evolution.
It’s also an evolution that I’ve had to become aware of.
Which is another reason I don’t think many people talk about the process.
Oh wait…
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For me, this progression became really obvious when I was having coffee with a friend of mine from France. During our talk, she was angry about a TikTok she had seen. It was a mom complaining about baby formula being locked up behind a grocery counter in Atlanta, and she was struggling to find an employee to open the case. Now, the video didn’t get into the politics of baby formula being locked up. It just covered her pain point of trying to find an employee.
But my French friend definitely saw the politics of the situation in that clip. So it was obvious when talking to her that she didn’t just have a problem with the missing employee, but with the fact that it was locked up in the first place. She was also struggling to understand why Americans tolerated the entire situation at all.
In our conversation, of course, I pointed out that I thought it was wrong, but I also had to be honest when talking to her. And although it pained me to admit it, I also answered the question of why it’s tolerated and accepted. I told her that as an American, too many of us don’t see anything wrong with it. Although I said it with some embarrassment, I also explained that I wasn't making some kind of judgment call about why they had no issue with the situation. For me, it was actually a reminder that I, too, once saw it the same way.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I thought that it should be locked up. When I think back on it, I didn’t really have a lot of thoughts about it being a problem. Back then, it was more of a matter-of-fact kind of idea, like, okay, people steal baby formula, so they lock it up. And yes, I admit, it was simple thinking. But it was rooted in the basic idea that the situation was just how it was.
Truthfully, I probably thought that way well into college, hell, maybe even after.
For me, my thinking changed dramatically after Barack Obama’s housing collapse. After a childhood dealing with housing insecurity and homelessness, seeing him bail out banks while people struggled to house and feed themselves was a turning point. As a young person who believed in his hope and change message, that was when I really started questioning things.
But even then, admittedly, it didn’t change by a lot. Even though I saw the pain and suffering that the housing collapse caused and how people blamed the victims of it, my thinking only slightly shifted. I went from “people steal baby food, so they lock it up” to “it sucks that people have to steal baby food.” Not much of a progression in thinking, in retrospect.
Which is exactly what I explained to my French friend: how I believe that this is the stage I think a lot of Americans are at right now. That it’s this same slight progression that I believe most Americans have had in the last twenty years.
Yes, people are starting to understand that there’s something fundamentally wrong with how things are, but they’re still not quite sure about the reasons behind it. They know they’re not being treated fairly. They’ve concluded that at least parts of the system are corrupt. They’re sure that America isn’t functioning. But that’s where it ends.
And look, I’m not putting down this progression. As I explained to her, I’m also fully aware that there are Americans who still see nothing wrong with locked-up baby food. Or even worse, there are people complaining that we need to lock up more of the moms who steal it. And then there are those who pile onto the problem by complaining about “lazy moms” who won’t work to buy the baby food. That’s a whole other issue.
But in our conversation, I also explained to my friend that the only way that America is actually going to change is when enough Americans get to the next stage. Which leads me to the place where I’ve landed personally, a position that has become solidified with me leaving America and being around people from all over the world.
When it comes to baby formula being locked up, I’ve finally reached the conclusion that there’s no excuse for babies to go hungry in America and that no one should have to steal baby food in the States. Mainly, I’ve reached this place because, as a community, as Americans, we should let go of what we’ve been told and make sure that, no matter what, the youngest among us have what they need. We should reject the ideas and excuses we’ve been given, like the talking point that whether a baby gets what they need should depend on if their parents are clean and sober. It shouldn’t even depend on a government that keeps failing to give it to them.
Saying this position to her, the place where I’ve finally landed, isn’t even the far-left position, it’s demonized as. I have friends who will adamantly argue that baby formula and baby food should be free and not commodified, so that it’s actually easily accessible.
And while I have no real issue with that, the pragmatist in my brain knows that there are so many people who aren’t even close to saying, “let’s just give baby food to babies,” that I can’t really be adamant about that idea. But considering this is a journey, maybe I have more growth to do.
Which is why baby formula is just one example of political progression. The same stagnation applies to so many problems in America. And it doesn’t help that the media constantly reinforces the idea that people should provide for themselves despite the layoffs, low wages, and corrupt healthcare. They tell Americans that we should be doing it alone, and we’ve accepted it.
Which brings me back to more leftists talking about their progression. While it might feel good to come to the right ideas and then look down on those who haven’t arrived there yet, I don’t think it does much to win hearts and minds to our side. This is another thing I understand without a lot of judgment, because I, too, am guilty of rolling my eyes at someone arguing for benefit cuts while they’re on them. But I’m working on trying to keep that to a minimum.
It also gives me hope that we don’t need everyone to move their position, or even upgrade their ideals. There’s something called the twenty-five percent social tipping point. It comes from a study where researchers found that when about twenty-five percent of a group is firmly committed to a new social norm, that’s all that’s needed to shift a group’s behavior. Heavy emphasis on the firm part.
But considering so many Americans agree on issues like living wages, universal health care, and getting corruption out of politics, I can imagine a day when I can brag to my friend that locked-up baby formula is no longer an American thing.
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