the art of political rebellion: finding your true north
because sometimes the bravest thing is asking "what if everything i believe is wrong?"
tl;dr: your political values shouldn't be inherited like old furniture - they should be chosen, tested, and evolved through lived experience and deep reflection.
hola mis amores,
towards the end of last year, i had the wonderful privilege of going back home to michigan to spend time with my parents and friends. it was so good to be around people that have known me forever, people that really understand me.
during my time in michigan, i went knee-deep in my old storage unit, which contained the contents of my entire life in washington, dc. during the sifting of boxes and things, when i found my pete buttigieg campaign buttons from 2019. and i just... froze. because holy shit, right? this little piece of metal marked the first time i worked for a democrat after spending years - 14 years - organizing and volunteering and working for republicans. from knocking on doors for mccain in 2008 to working in local campaigns in michigan where the word "democrat" was basically a curse word.
finding this sparked a question in me - how do we end up believing what we believe? i think many of us inherit our politics like we inherit our abuela's recipes. that is, sometimes without questioning if maybe, just maybe, that sofrito could use a little less garlic (spoiler: it couldn't, there is no such thing).
but politics? that's a different story.
so we build our worldviews based on what? vibes? what our parents believe? what made us feel safe when we were young? whatever we told ourselves at night to get some sleep? whatever we tell ourselves so we can fit in this world?
the empty houses we leave behind
when i was younger, i really used to think that my values were aligned more with the republican party than anything else.
i grew up with the myth of reagan. i really thought that the best government is that which governs least. i devoured bastiat, william f buckley, and barry goldwater like it was candy. and i never stopped to really think about what i actually thought… what was actually important to me and my community. qué pendejo era, right?
i kept on devouring the writing of conservative publications and authors, and i became a republican. i never, ever stopped to think if these values were for me - i just was surrounded by it and i gave in.
but here's the thing about values - they're not static. they grow as we grow, evolve as we evolve. and sometimes, that means leaving old ideological homes behind.
i was a puerto rican kid in western michigan in the early 2000’s. it was the start of the bush administration and i was desperate to prove i could be "american" enough. assimilation is a hell of a drug, my friend. it’ll make you want to fit in places that never were going to accept you anyway.1 that’s how i shaped my entire political identity and i didn’t let it go for years.
but here's what nobody tells you about finding your political values: it's not about picking the right team. it's not even about being right (though let's be real, it feels pretty good when you are). it's about figuring out what you're willing to fight for when everything's on the line.
finding your true values
finding your true values isn't like picking out an outfit at target. you can't just grab whatever looks good on the mannequin and call it a day. you can’t keep falling for the propaganda, the narratives, the *gesticulates wildly* everything that comes at you.
it's more like trying to map an underwater cave system while the tide is changing - disorienting, sometimes scary, and you might bump into some uncomfortable truths in your path.
the discomfort is the point. if reexamining your values isn't making you a little queasy, it’s possible that you are not digging deep enough. and just like many things in life, the breakthrough usually comes right after the moment you want to quit the most.
so let me break down the process that helped me find my way - not to certainty (that's a trap, run away), but to something more honest, true, and alive:
question everything (yes, everything)
what do you actually believe vs. what you've been told to believe?
why do you react so strongly to certain issues?
what scares you about changing your mind?
get uncomfortable (like, really uncomfortable)
if your political values have never made you squirm, you're not doing it right
talk to people who disagree with you (not on twitter, por favor - i mean in real life)
read things that challenge you (and not just the sparknotes/abridged version)
look for the contradictions
where do your stated values clash with your actual behavior?
what privileges are you protecting without realizing it?
whose voices are you ignoring because they make you uncomfortable?
this isn't a checklist you can complete in an afternoon. this is more like starting a garden. you have tend it, pull weeds (those sneaky inherited biases), and sometimes replant everything when nothing is growing right.
and yes, sometimes you'll find that beliefs you thought were deeply rooted were actually just sitting on the surface, waiting to be blown away by the first strong wind of reality. that's okay. that's part of the process.
this is a process, not a race to be “right”
the moment i realized i couldn't be a republican anymore wasn't some big dramatic event. it was watching my party deny healthcare to people, hearing them talk about immigrants, seeing them dismiss queer people like me as if we were theoretical concepts rather than human beings. it was watching donald trump come down the golden escalator at trump tower in 2015 and knowing in my gut that very moment that he would win. it took a build up of years and years of incongruence and misalignment to finally get me to break out.
it was death by a thousand cuts, each one a moment where my proclaimed values crashed head-first into my lived reality.
but here's what really keeps me up at night: what beliefs am i holding onto right now that future me will look back on with horror? what am i getting wrong today?
because let's be real - if you think you've got it all figured out, you're probably missing something crucial.
these days, i'm somewhere between market socialism and zapatismo, with a healthy dose of "what the fuck is wrong with our two-party system?" thrown in for good measure. is that messy? hell yes. contradictory? probably. but it's authentic to who i am and what i believe right now.
and maybe that's the point. maybe our political values shouldn't be these fixed, unchanging things. maybe they should evolve as we evolve, grow as we grow, change as we change our minds about what's possible in this world.
so here's my challenge to you: take a hard look at your political values. not the party you vote for, not the slogans you repost on instagram. think of the deep-down, gut-level beliefs that drive your views about how society should work.
ask yourself:
what am i afraid to question?
who am i trying to impress?
what would i believe if nobody was watching?
because here's the truth: your political values aren't just about you. they're about the world you want to help create. they're about who gets to eat and who goes hungry, who gets healthcare and who suffers, who gets to live with dignity and who has to beg for basic human rights.
let me know in the comments: what political beliefs have you outgrown? what values are you questioning right now? what scares you about changing your mind?
hasta la próxima, mis amores! 💖
edgard✊🏽🌈
p.s. if you're in the middle of your own political identity crisis, welcome to the club. it’s normal, it’s part of growing and evolving.
p.p.s. and if you're still holding onto political beliefs that don't serve you, remember: it's okay to leave that house. it's okay to build something new. it's okay to admit you were wrong. trust me, i would know. 😉
side note: the irony of me trying to prove my americanness by joining the party that would later elect trump and throw paper towels at my people is... well, let's just say therapy is expensive but worth it! 😅