The challenge of starting a somewhat light-hearted political blog about the foibles of a left-learning liberaly guy in a time of right-wing upheaval are daunting to say the least. Perhaps this blog would have been better started during the Obama presidency, when my gripes about an oppressive conservative state government would have seemed quaint. When we were certain that some measures of the conservative government overreach would be struck down by the Supreme Court. When the most hard-leaning Republicans were at the very least tempered by a sensibility that we are entering an era of progressivism (looking at you, Spencer Cox). But instead, we are in an era of policies determined by Twitter likes. A politics of antagonism. Of a certain cruelty and bombast.
I don’t have any words for the events, or government-sanctioned murders, that have transpired in Minneapolis that have not already by said. I can’t say that I’m surprised that there has not yet been a response from Republican leadership in Utah. The Republican party of this state (and, I imagine, most states) have a tendency to roll over and submit to whomever the leader of the party is, despite any initial semblance of being seemingly above national politics in favor of a “disagree better” brand of politics.
The message is noble – an urging to have hearty disagreements in the spirit of community. But at the end of the day, the only person saying it is Spencer Cox. The more I hear him say it, the less I believe he is speaking to the extremities of his own party, and more to anyone who is anywhere near moderate. And the more he says “disagree better,” the more it simply sounds like “shut the fuck up and be happy with what you got because it could be a lot worse for you.” Should Keith Porter Jr. have just disagreed better when he was gunned down while celebrating New Years? How should Rene Good have disagreed better while an officer attempted to pull her from her car towards the uncertain detainment where many of been met with gulag-like conditions? Should Alex Pretti have just “disagreed better” when he attempted to protect a bystander from a cosplay paramilitary foot soldier? Tell me, Spencer, how do you disagree better with a knee in your back? How do you disagree better with a boot on your neck? How do you disagree better with a bullet? How do the dead disagree better?
On Sunday, I joined a protest downtown. It didn’t feel like much. Perhaps I was only marching to feel a sense of catharsis, or to do my part to add my body to the crowd. It did feel good, though, to leave my house and perhaps experience some reprieve from the minor anxiety attacks of the events on Saturday. It was also relieving to be a part of a group that understands that this shit isn’t normal. Nevertheless, while this march was peaceful, I know several folks who chose to stay away – some because of the credible fear of violence (this past summer, a protest attendee was killed by a stray bullet during a No Kings event in SLC), while others were concerned that their skin tone is now probable cause. For now, this is the only way I know how to disagree better.
BLUE TAKE. RED STATE. 
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