Sesame Street Liberalism

Introduction

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the state we are in now is the result of a chain of effects.

Trumpism was the Republican Party’s reaction to Obama-era progressivism. Before, it was a country club of stuffy, old men who sent our country’s sons kill and die in foreign countries most citizens couldn’t (and still can’t) place on a map, the Wall Street one-percenters, and Reagan-era Evangelicals. Today, it’s comedians on podcasts and young men in suits debating and “owning” the lib college students. Those were the days Democrats were the cool kids and Republicans were your grumpy, finger wagging grandparents. I’ll get back to this point.

More recently in the news is how Texas redistricting efforts could trigger California to respond and a gerrymander-power-keg to blow as other states pile on. As CGP Grey once said, “shenanigans beget shenanigans”—we end up with districts fucked up enough on both sides to just balance out.

We can think about the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” an omnibus which passed with zero Democratic support and a small enough Republican opposition to do nothing despite several claiming to dislike the bill. Comedian Jon Stewart compared this to a WWE wrestling match where the fights are scripted for entertainment. In this case, plausible deniability for certain Republican politicians. We can also look back to other growing issues in the legislative branch—increasingly long government shutdowns, the inability to pass bills normally, blocked votes to release the Epstein files, or we can go all the way back to Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell summoning imaginary rules to block then President Obama’s supreme court pick Merrick Garland.

To me, there is a growing feeling that tension is building without resolve. No side can back down. No politician can revert to bipartisanship without losing the greater struggle for power. Caught in the middle are average Americans who aren’t having their needs addressed by the people they elected.

Returning back to my point about how the Republican Party has evolved, it seems that conservatism in America didn’t change in the way most would have expected. In many ways, the party has devolved to 1900s nativism and hatred, still attacking minorities, feminism, LGBTQ rights, books in schools, and intellectualism. In other ways it seems to have precisely kept with the times in adapting to online spaces, embracing populism, and building a more libertarian tech wing.

What does this all mean?

While some have suggested that Democrats have gone “too woke” and ought to move more center, that is a complete misreading of where American sentiment is heading. The pendulum will swing back not just left but forward. However, to meaningfully keep change, we need to find a way to relieve the tension in politics and end the shenanigans.

Reviving the American Spirit

There is a pervading sense of despair and nihilism with regard to the state of the country.

Economically,

• Our generation is worse off now and has worsened prospects than before
• There is a growing gap between the elite and average people, where our systems seem to serve those at the top
• Long term investments seem to lose out to short term stock pump schemes that will cause irreparable damage

Politically,

• We feel that half the country at all times is in direct opposition to any positive change
• People are incredibly isolated in media echo-chambers that leave us angry and ill-informed
• When we do make changes, we are slow to bring about positive effects

Socially,

• Social media has made us feel increasingly isolated and alone
• AI and automation is threatening the status quo in regard to human creativity and labor — our sense of being human
• People are struggling to form relationships and find love (which I will defend unironically as a real issue)

Globally,

• America has built a poor reputation of being the globe’s bully and terror
• People are becoming less and less proud to be American

We feel that our country is in decay. So what do we do?

In many ways, we already have much of the answer. We need to implement policies to decrease inequality, provide for the poor, reduce the burden on families, and raise the overall standard of living for Americans. There are a billion different ideas which have been thought through — the only way you know for sure they work is trying it out and experimenting.

However, I think there is a bigger problem that needs to be addressed by the Democratic Party.

All change exists in a positive feedback loop between tangible effects and your belief in affecting change—the locus of control. Our beliefs about action are a self-fulfilling prophecy where those who believe they can make positive change will take the steps towards achieving positive change and indeed proving their beliefs correct.

I believe this feedback loop exists not only on the personal scale but for all of American society. Beyond having tangible improvement, Democrats need to revive the American spirit.

• That anyone and everyone can make it no matter the circumstances of our birth with hard work and determination
• That we are all firmly bound together by adherence to the Constitution and the belief in the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

I am a firm believer, almost to the point of faith, that the root of all change is in empowering others.

Sesame Street Liberalism

Sesame Street Liberalism is not a specific set of policies or goals but rather a message that glues progressive policies and ideals and packages them into something all Americans can understand and get behind. It’s a response to despair and dangerous centrist proposals to “end wokeness” which is often a thinly veiled attempt to abandon our core beliefs and the people our party has sworn to protect. Sesame Street Liberalism is plain in that it is rooted in values taught to children, but its necessity in today’s politics highlights how we’ve been poisoned with greed and hatred.

Empathy

On Sesame Street, it doesn’t matter what you look like or the money in your parent’s bank account. We treat everyone equally and with respect. Differences are met with genuine curiosity and an eagerness to learn.

I have seen a disgusting level of hatred from the right directed towards people on the mere basis of being “different”. Transgender people being called pedophiles and receiving threats not for any action they took but for the mere fact that they are different. (And it’s not really important to the central point I’m making, but the right did elect a sexual abuser to the presidency and a statutory rapist to the House with no repercussions.)

The hatred spread is below childish because children who Sesame Street know that spreading hate for merely being other is ridiculous and disgusting.

I want to be very clear: protecting minorities — particularly in this day, transgender people’s rights — is a bare-minimum standard, not a purity test. The suggestion by establishment Democrats to abandon the issue violates core values of the Democratic party and frankly of America — that all are created equal and are endowed with the rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Welfare

“Why should I spend my hard-earned dollars on social welfare?”

On Sesame Street, neighbors help neighbors out of good will. Welfare isn’t about having one person take advantage of others, it’s about mutual support and that those who are helped will pay their blessings forward. We share because it is the right thing to do.

Welfare should be a slam dunk issue for Democrats because it directly supports Americans. We can have plenty of debate about what situations welfare is effective in versus the free market. But having that argument wasn’t enough for conservatives. They have perverted the issue into one that somehow redirects the anger of middle class America towards the working and lower classes.

Opposition to delivering welfare out of the belief that some are not deserving is rooted in corrupt morals.

Community

There is something to be said about how the loneliness and isolation of today contrasts with the community formed on Sesame Street.

Today, it feels like all our systems force people into

Family

On Sesame Street, Elmo has a loving family that doesn’t shield Elmo from reality but supports him through his challenges.

On Sesame Street, Elmo’s father is emotional and playful. He serves his duty not out of zeal or hatred but to provide for his family.