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I find myself withdrawing my empathy.

I didn't want this for anyone. I still don't. Millions are going to die early, needlessly. Millions more are going to see their standards of living erode further. Yet they are the ones who want it the most.

I went to an auction once. There were some four-year-old projectors there I was interested in. Things were going for crazy prices; I was basically along for the ride at some point. I got to talking to the guy next to me; he said he wanted one of those projectors for his trailer. I told him that the bulbs alone were more than a new projector and even showed him the replacement bulb on Amazon on my new-fangled smartphone.

The dude bid the projectors up past their bulb cost, past their working cost, past their new cost, staring at me the entire time. He sure showed me. Wasn't going to let some ponytailed asshole talk him out of a deal!

The left has long been too patronizing of the poor right and the poor right has long been too hatefully scornful of the left. I've blown through "patronizing", am breezing through "sympathetic" and have to fight to stay out of "scornful."

The Republican Party hasn't given a fuck about the working class since they nominated Taft over Roosevelt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville