Thread by @JeffRybak

I argue far more with self-righteous lefties on twitter than anyone else. Some think I'm giving right-wingers a pass, but truthfully they just aren't worth my energy. Despite my centrism, I don't have enough common ground with the right to hope we'll ever find agreement. 1/10

I sometimes see commonalities between the extreme right and left. What I'm seeing now is a common tendency to give up and invite the great reset. Is there a difference between the religious right yearning for Rapture and the hard left for wholesale revolution? I'm not sure. 2/10

I know I don't want to stop trying to make what we have work somehow. Work better, hell yes. For everyone, but most of all for those who have the least. I know the ongoing unfairness in our society is hard to swallow. But look at how far we've come. It's worth saving. 3/10

It's a strange feeling to be middle-aged, well-educated (some would say "over-"), financially secure, and yes, white and male. Many people I empathize and identify with don't see me as an ally. I put away my eyeliner and my leather pants don't fit anymore. 4/10

It's all a cycle, and a necessary one. Someone's going to rage against the machine and end up arrested, and I'm going to put on a suit, do my job, and get them out of jail, only to be told I'm part of the machine by their friends on social media. I'm actually okay with that. 5/10

All I'd like to say - and I'll never get it quite right - is that the righteous high ground of the activist left isn't a peak the rest of us can't or won't climb. It's an extreme we don't feel is called for. Not right now, and hopefully not ever. Because the cost is so high. 6/10

I know few people say "revolution" outright, so this seems a strawman point. But massive change to society, quickly, calls for just that. Overthrowing all existing systems, somehow imposing your values on people who still don't share them, would be incredibly traumatic. 7/10

I believe in doing things more slowly. I know, that means tolerating some injustice today. But again, look how far that approach has got us. Revolutions, even with the best of intentions, have a way of setting things back instead of forward. So I've made peace with my goals. 8/10

I just want you punk-ass kids to know one thing. If it ever really comes, if it ever REALLY comes down to it, I'll be there at the barricades with you. With my gray hair and my bad knee. And so will a lot of other people you don't expect, and like to dismiss as sell-outs. 9/10

I do hope we solve our problems, if slowly, and continue to improve in increments. Because that is what's always worked best. But also so all you obnoxious lefty kids can get middle-aged, and be told by someone younger you don't really care about social justice after all. 10/10