Doing sociology and philosophy in real time by looking at developments in contemporary Western politics and culture, from a Moral Libertarian perspective. My mission is to stop the authoritarian 'populist' right and the cultural-systemist left from destroying the West.
Community Minded: The Thing I Like About Pete Buttigieg | TaraElla News
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Today, I want to continue my series on the three things I like about every major 2020 candidate. My aim is to spread the positivity around, to counter the negativity spiral that seems to accelerate with every election. It's something I'll be doing much more of this year. This episode, I'll be talking about Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a candidate that I have already discussed several times in the past. The three things I like most about Mayor Pete are his care to avoid unnecessary conflict, his keenness on bringing people together, and his honesty about his values and his faith, even when not everyone would like him for it. In turn, I think these aspects of him all link back to one theme, that is, being communitarian minded. It's an idea that I've been increasingly warming to in the past few years.
I guess one of the things I like most about Mayor Pete is his care to avoid unnecessary conflict. For example, he has refused to support the boycott of Chick-Fil-A over their position against gay marriage. He has refused to hate on people who say homophobic things about him. He has also refused to hate on people who say weird things about him, like how he is a 'boomer in Millennial skin', something that I had thoroughly debunked in a previous video. Pete is the kind of person who has social justice ideals, but won't use them to virtue signal or to try to create unnecessary conflict, and I like that. Anyway, Pete won't hate you if you disagree with him. He won't even hate the people who hate him. He won't start an unnecessary fight, and he won't participate in one. I like that because, frankly, we have too many petty fights going on at the moment, and this needs to change.
I think the reason why Mayor Pete doesn't want conflict is because he truly wants to bring people together, to heal the social fabric, to end the culture wars that have been plaguing the West for decades, and to create a new era of communitarian cooperation. I think this is actually very Millennial of him; you also see that attitude in other Millennial politicians like fellow 2020 candidate Tulsi Gabbard, and also Abby Finkenauer, the second youngest member of the US Congress, for example. In a previous video I did say that Pete wasn't as successful as my top two candidates in building a big tent, but that was only meant as constructive criticism. To be fair, Pete is still much more committed to being inclusive than most other politicians out there. Besides, I believe he could be even better in time, if he learned to listen to the voices and concerns of a broader sample of people out there. I have hope that he will do just that, as his career develops further.
Finally, Mayor Pete is honest about his values, and where he comes from, even if some people may not like that. He is open about the fact that he is gay, the fact that he is in a same-sex marriage, and he is also open about his religious faith, for example. Indeed, he often uses examples from his life to illustrate his values, which makes him more relateable. More importantly, if we want a society with strong social trust, people need to be open about oneself, and be sincere and truthful in dealing with the rest of the world. Right now, there are too many grifters on both the Left and the Right, who pretend to be what they think their audience wants. While the conventional wisdom may be that people who support religious candidates may not like gay candidates, and vice versa, Pete is having none of that. He has instead chosen to present his real self, and that approach has apparently worked. By leading by example, I think this could have the effect of encouraging people to stop being beholden by factional stereotypes, and start being their real selves to the rest of the world.
