This essay is not to rub salt in the very fresh wound, nor hopefully, should it come across as a lecture but instead as an inspection of the things that led up to the loss. I would further add that I am not a Republican or a conservative, nor am I a Democrat, (though honestly, I cannot recall what I put down when I registered to vote more than a decade ago).

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." Thus, if I were indeed your enemy, I would stay mum and write an article about something else, so here goes:

It would be the height of naivety to say that when a president takes office, they can change anything about the economy or social issues at the drop of a hat or by diktat, but voters should see positive change, especially if the issues started -before- taking office. In 2019, under Trump, food prices started to climb after a few years of deflation (as per the USDA’s website), and then when Biden took office, the cost of food in the US continued to climb all the way to the end of 2023 and into 2024 by more than a staggering 24.6 percent.

Some may decry that Kamala Harris spoke briefly about fixing food prices if she became president, but criticism would be rightly applied to her by asking, “What about the previous four years of the administration you were a part of? Why was there no change then, and only now that you are running for office?” If it were a one-off, perhaps it could be dismissed, but both the New York Post and themortgagereports.com report over a fifty percent rise in the median price per square footing of housing since 2019 and it grows unabated and unchallenged.

For someone who is in poverty in the United States (to which the Census Bureau says 11.1 percent of the population belongs; though converted to personable numbers is a staggering 36.8 million citizens) buying a home is a dream. The statistics-collection website statista.com reports that a new home in 2023 costs $427,400, while the median single-family home goes for $389,000.

At that price, it would take at least twenty-five years for someone in poverty to afford a home – if they didn't need to buy groceries or utilities or have any medical bills or school or vehicle expenses. The situation improves some as you go up economic strata to what’s left of the middle class, but by the time you get to the top?

Where wealthy Ivy League liberals are pictured drinking ridiculously expensive coffees and writing in blogs about what they consider to be damming social issues and injustices?

Why, the housing issue, food, cost of education, and rate of poverty are hardly afterthoughts to them, or so it seems by the things they choose to make immediate issues that are of a social nature, rather than focusing on things that are actually of immediate need. By statista.com’s count, in 2023 we had the highest number of homeless in the last sixteen years at an immense count of 647,258 people.

Would it not be wiser to make allies of the homeless by providing them homes, and then garnering more votes to enact your social change after? To bring down the price of homes and education so that more people can live comfortably sipping delicious coffee and studying in your elite universities so they can come to know the world in the same way you know it?

But like a hammer, a deciding thought was born after an interaction with a coworker on an autumn day, nearly eight or so years ago. Back then I was a camp counselor who had the eternal joy of hiking through the woods all day with younger minds who saw the world through a lens that wasn’t yet jaded. I happened to be walking back from an event alongside my boss on a wide trail under light dappled by the trees when the starving intellectual that I was engaged in a light-hearted debate with tried convincing me to become an ally for progressives.

I thoroughly enjoyed her company and saw her as something akin to a mentor, even if I could not agree with all of her claims and views. As we approached the end of the trail, she told me she wanted to email me an article to read. Later, when I was home and had access to the internet, I opened her email, and my heart fell in my chest.

It talked about how white males need to not play in debate, and how they should just sit back and be silent.

I sent her an email back that was likely long-winded, but I recall my initial thought after reading the article was, “Jeeze, boss. That’s no way to get an ally."

The US Census data shows that 75% of the population is white, and the Pew Research Center said that 49% percent of White People viewed things under Trump as “getting better” which is half of 195 million people.

Now, I didn’t go out and vote, as I am not a fan of Trump, and this election I was closer than ever to voting for a Democrat, but I have spent most of my life hearing that I need to give way, and give preference to people who are a different skin color: that I am worth less and must cede my value because I was born to a father who is a mix of Polish and Croatian, and a Californian mother with genes from all parts of Europe.

12 million less people voted for Kamala than they did Biden. I posit that horrid housing costs, food costs, and general cost of living drove people away from voting for Kamala since she was attached to Biden’s presidency, and the casual disregard for white people has been driving them the other way, especially young men. The Harvard Kennedy Institute of Politics: Youth Poll shows that 18-24 are now more likely to be conservative than the generation older than them. 

The loss wasn’t instant and perhaps it was unavoidable, but it happened and should be reflected upon to avoid future losses.

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to me to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

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