Why I’m an Angry Democrat

What the party became, why I stayed, and why I refuse to shut up

First, Merry Christmas to everyone.

Today’s post is not about breaking news, philosophy, or reacting to the outrage of the week. This is about why The Angry Democrat exists, what I mean when I say that, and what I am trying to do here.

I owe you that clarity.

Why I’m a Democrat

I did not grow up in a Democratic household.

My family were/are Republicans. Not vague, country club Republicans. Rush Limbaugh Republicans. Glenn Beck Republicans. Conservative Christian Republican messaging was everywhere in my life. I listened to Rush Limbaugh in the car on the way to church every Saturday morning. Yes, Saturday morning. That is a story for another time.

Despite that environment, I gravitated toward what the Democratic Party used to represent. Working class politics. Blue collar dignity. Unions. Fiscal responsibility paired with social responsibility. What I believed were core American values.

Bill Clinton. Barack Obama. John F. Kennedy.

Then I left the country.

I lived abroad for a long time. When you do that, you consume American politics at a distance. Through news, headlines, and filtered narratives. You miss the slow shifts. The internal realignments. The cultural capture.

When I came back and decided to run for Congress, I thought I was stepping into the same Democratic Party I remembered.

Loyalty Tests Over Solutions

I came back roughly fifteen to twenty years removed from living in the United States and assumed I could slide back in without much friction. Instead, I walked straight into a party that felt unfamiliar, insular, and rigid.

What I learned very quickly was how party politics actually works.

It is not about ideas. It is not about outcomes. It is about structures, gatekeeping, loyalty tests, and staying inside the walled garden. Independent thinking is tolerated until it becomes inconvenient. Then you are sidelined.

This is not unique to Democrats. It is endemic to party politics.

If you step outside the approved talking points, if you try to pull ideas from across the ideological spectrum and ask what actually works, you are treated as a problem. Towing the line matters more than solving the problem.

I ran for Congress as a Democrat because I believed that still made the most sense for what I cared about. But it did not take long to realize that the Democratic agenda, as practiced, did not leave room for honest exploration of policy.

That realization did not make me apathetic. It made me angry.

Why the Anger Is Earned

I am angry that good policy does not get enacted even when it is popular.

I am angry that corruption, insider trading, nepotism, and money dominate the conversation while working people are told to wait their turn.

I am angry that universal, material policies have been displaced by performative politics that fracture coalitions instead of building them.

I am angry that Democrats lost focus, took their base for granted, and handed working class rhetoric to Republicans by default.

And now we are watching the same thing happen on the other side.

The Republican Party is fracturing over broken promises. Epstein files. Endless wars that were supposed to end. Confusion over what “America First” even means anymore.

MAGA voters are asking a fair question. What side are we on?

Showing Up Is the Baseline

There is another reason this project exists.

You have to face fears to say something publicly. To risk failure, embarrassment, ridicule, and criticism. I am not pretending that makes me special to try to face them. It is simply true.

But it is only the first step.

What matters is the follow through. Relentlessness. The willingness to absorb consequences and keep going anyway. The first 80% of effort is easier than the final 20%. That final twenty percent of effort is where change actually happens, and it is the hardest part.

Doing something halfway gets you halfway results. Pushing all the way is exhausting, uncomfortable, and rarely rewarded immediately.

That is the work.

Why This Newsletter Exists

This newsletter exists because I want to engage honestly.

Not as a partisan attack dog. Not as a grifter chasing rage clicks. Not as an armchair quarterback screaming from a distance.

I am deeply frustrated by social media justice warriors who sit comfortably, troll endlessly, and never show up. They do not vote. They do not donate. They do not run. They do not organize. They do not risk anything.

I do not want to be that guy.

I do not want to be the person who complains about the weather and shakes his fist at the clouds while doing nothing.

I want to be part of the conversation. I want to shape it where I can. I want to be able to look back and say I tried. That I did not stay silent because silence was easier.

So far in my life, I do not carry many regrets. I have not let fear, doubt, comfort, or insecurity stop me from doing the things I wanted to do.

Politics is one of the hardest conversations to engage in honestly. That is precisely why I refuse to look back someday and say I should have said something.

What I Actually Want This to Become

I am not pretending I have this fully mapped out.

Right now, my goal is conversation that leads somewhere. Not content optimized purely for the attention economy. Not rage bait that leaves me feeling dirty after I hit publish.

Yes, I understand how the algorithm works. Yes, I know what drives engagement. I literally write about it.

But if growth requires abandoning nuance, solutions, and intellectual honesty, then the growth is hollow.

Maybe this fails. Maybe it never gets big. Maybe people decide they do not care.

That is a risk I am willing to take.

What I want is a space that is safe for ideas. Republican ideas. Democratic ideas. Progressive ideas. Conservative ideas. Centrist ideas. Ideas that do not yet have labels.

I want a place that calls out bullshit regardless of who is saying it. A place that focuses on kitchen table issues. Housing. Healthcare. Wages. Education. Debt. National security. Civil liberties. Endless wars. Fiscal responsibility.

Policy that affects real lives.

About Support and Sustainability

Good work requires resources. The best research, the best reach, the best production all come from being properly funded. That is just reality.

If even a fraction of readers supported this with a small monthly contribution, I could bring in researchers and collaborators and make this something far more impactful.

I have built podcasts. I have built newsletters. I have run for office twice. I know how to do this responsibly.

Any support goes toward making this better, deeper, and more useful.

Stay Angry!

I am angry because I still care.

Anger, when directed properly, is not destructive. It is clarifying.

I still believe we the people can influence outcomes. I still believe conversations matter. I still believe better policy is possible.

That belief is why this exists.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for engaging. Thank you for staying angry.

Because underneath the anger, there is still hope.