Other people could ascribe to me a political centrist label, and for ease of discussion, I call myself that too. At beaches (if I'm not building a sandcastle) I am one of those towel junkies that likes to sit back under an umbrella and mummer with whomever I am next to about unchecked children or chuckle over ridiculous bathing suits and drama.

More than a centrist, I am a people-watcher and an observer of things. Often will I sit with like-minded people and the general consensus of independents is that the Democrats died on not just one hill – but every hill this last election cycle.

To die on a hill is to believe in something so strongly that no matter the end, it is worthwhile to die on that hill. However, the idiom is asinine and deserves an autopsy before the liberals:

To give one’s life for an idea or a stretch of land is noble, but beyond that? It is the end of that belief or nation if there is no one to carry it on. And, if there are a million hills worth dying on it will be much harder to survive.

I’ve previously discussed how, in a recent Gallup study, sixty-eight percent of Democrats and sixty-one percent of Republicans said they were much less likely to purchase from a business that supports an opposing ideology, while the independents were shown to be three times less likely to visit businesses that supported either ideology at all. That means that anyone who played mum would earn the patronage of all three groups and those that were loud suffered financially, (see Marvel movies bombing regularly at the box office these past few years).

It's no secret that Hollywood is very pro-left-leaning, and so the independents had that in their faces as they grew more and more dissatisfied with the current state of things. They were so tired of the left’s politics in their face that they voted conservative.

The left didn’t just stand on one hilltop and shout how important that particular issue was, but it was every hill for as far as the eye could see – for years. At some point, it wouldn’t even matter if they were right: no one likes being annoyed, even with the truth, and especially not with lies.

Being annoyed is being annoyed, regardless of content or righteousness.

So these hills that the left has been standing on? (For most of these, I make no claim to right or wrong, merely observations)

Anti-Gun: This platform is almost sad with how mismanaged it is by the left. Being someone who has played many video games with adults and youth over the years, almost every single teenager will cringe and make fun of leftist politicians when they open their mouths about what some guns can or can't do, seeing as these children play Call of Duty and other war simulators all the time, and know more than the person that is supposed to be representing them. How can Liberal politicians be taken seriously if a seven-year-old knows the real verbiage, and real weapon specifications and can intimately compare that to what the old man or woman on the TV says?

 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: to start, a good story, a real good story lets you forget what troubles you have and takes you to someplace else, far, far away. Some stories are so good that the audience comes back to them over and over again with the hope that they can lose themselves as deeply in it as the first time… It is jarring when, in your medieval video game, like “Dragon Age, the Veilguard,” an adult character is trans and has a sit-down argument with their parents over a dinner table on what their pronouns are. I make no claim to right or wrong, just that that sort of thing is a modern scene that you would see in a sitcom, rather than a muddy Germanic house.

Hollywood has only forced DEI onto TV and big screens in awkward, ham-fisted ways that pull the audience out of it as if it was the filmmaker's job to lecture and re-lecture the audience. Is being inclusive a good thing? Sure! Was it shoved in people’s faces over and over again in films and TV? Clearly, the movie-going audience felt it so. Was it also a lie to say that conservatives didn’t want people of color or women center-stage? Of course. As a child, Wesley Snipes as Blade and Michael Jai White as Spawn were my brother and I’s favorite characters. We often pretended to be them when we were young and running through the trees, even though we were pale pollocks.

Ukraine: a worthwhile endeavor, to support a country that wishes to be free of its yolk. It however is another hilltop, but the annoyance with other Americans was already so saturated.

Abortion: a hill, but not something I am going to comment on beyond that it is added to the growing pile.

University Debt Forgiveness: As many people went to school, there were plenty that didn’t after seeing how ridiculous the prices were. To forgive the monetary debts of one with the taxes of the other who spent that time working would be a cause of anger.

Immigration: Here is the crazy thing: Dems will complain about low wages but then be pro mass-immigration, which then saturates the job markets with people who will work for far less. Exceptionally cheap labor only makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. That’s not to say Immigration isn’t good, but allowing massive waves of people to transplant themselves into the US dilutes the labor market with each new wave of more, and more desperate people.

I bet you’d expect me to comment on third-wave feminism, “equal-work-for-equal-pay”, gay marriage, legalization of weed and other drugs (looking at you, Oregon), BLM rioters, TERFs, Trans-men in women’s sports, trans-people in gendered bathrooms, COVID, “believe all women,” the calls for the abolition of police and law-enforcement agencies over the past few years… I would surely lose more readers as I start to hit one, and then the next. People might start to think I’m conservative when really I am just a people-watcher. 

You could claim that some good has been done by dying on those hills, but in the end, the left lost the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court. Liberals died on every single hill they stood on – just as they planned. After all, it is seen to be noble to die on an ideological hill. Instead of sacrificing a few of the particularly illogical ones and then getting loud not about DEI, but instead things like low wages, cheaper insurance, clean water and inexpensive eggs, and a clean environment.

“But we did care about those things!"

What visible changes to our world happened over the past dozen years to prove that it is true? From eight years under Obama, four under Trump, four under Biden:

Healthcare, inexpensive housing, food and education, clean water, and better wages – all of these things were cared about in the same way the proverbial middle child in a family is cared about: the parents will say they love them like the rest, but they hold up the oldest named “Eat the Rich," while showering the youngest named "DEI,” with love.

It doesn't even have to be true, that the Left paid more attention to every single one of their social issues: it just has to be that it is perceived that way. Has Hollywood helped in that way then, or harmed more than it helped? After all, a “girl-boss” with a cape is cooler than a movie about a clean river, or a cheap basket of eggs.

Republicans didn’t even need to run on any platform other than: “Who else is annoyed by those things that have been shoved in our faces?” The conservatives and the independents all raised their hands. Sure, the independents might be paying for it now, but the left was crucified on all their hills and has also paid for their short-sightedness and inability to truly focus on the things that are more important than social issues that affect everyone regardless of race or gender.  

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 him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.