Rambling Lemurian

Lately I’ve been thinking of our two-party system like Ben and Chris from Parks and Recreation when they first made their appearance as the auditing bros. Chris was the Democratic Party. Very upbeat and progressive and kind of boujee in everything they do, and empathetic to the issues of other people. Ben was the Republican Party. Cold, number-crunching, not too concerned with making friends and being diplomatic, and always looking to cut the budget. Someone needed help with something, Chris would show empathy and ask Ben if they could help somehow. Ben would say “No”. Chris would say “damn!” and move along to the next agenda item. There was no actual attempt made to help, no fighting back against Ben/GOP to find an angle to get something done. That’s what I fully expect the next 4+ years to look like as the MAGA party targets immigrants, LGBT, women, the poor, etc.

The re-election of Donald Trump and impending inauguration was a wake up call for me. Not that I need to be more politically active, or that *gasp* America is a sexist and racist nation, or that Democratic Party leadership is inept at best and in cahoots with Republicans at worst. But it signalled in a very clear message that empathy no longer has any place in American politics. And it’s not just the Republican Party. We’ve all known that forever. The only people the Republican Party shows empathy for are straight white male Christians with money. You know, the truly oppressed people in this country. This past year I’ve had more political discussions with my parents and other relatives than I’ve ever had and what I realized is that they have lost their empathy too. They mostly Republicans now, so that makes sense. But watching the mental gymnastics they go through to argue why illegal immigrants needs to be punished so much and how those are the real enemies right now (when they themselves are all immigrants, some of them and extended family illegally too) makes my own head hurt. It just seems like they’ve been beaten into submission. They’ve had to work so hard to make a better life for their children, which is admirable. Yet when they see the next generation of immigrants (allegedly) have an easier time and more empathy and benefits from society and governments, they reject it. The better life should only apply to their own children, not anyone else’s apparently. At least not the ones with darker skin than ours.

Maybe the fact that they’ve been working their whole lives have made them so defensive. It’s like if you put people in a tough, violent, and lawless prison. The prisoners can be getting beaten by guards after having been put in there by corrupt judges and a rigged justice system. Yet eventually the prisoners will turn on each other rather than the authorities that are actually making their lives hell. So many people came to this country (either by migration or birth) with the promise of progress and a better life. Instead we get endless wars, rising taxes, rising prices, bankruptcy by illness and injury, rampant corruption, pandemics, pollution, layoffs and stagnant wages, impending death, and the same cycle of politicians and broken promises. So of course they become disillusioned with the system and the promise. But they feel powerless to change it since their efforts (if any) and trust didn’t work before. So they turn to what they do have power against, and that’s the vulnerable people. It’s well known that people tend to get more conservative with age. “Lifelong” Democrats eventually turn to the conservative party. Some say it’s because they become wiser. But that’s not it. Some say it’s because they fear change, and that’s part of it. But I think it’s mosttly because they become so jaded and protective of what little they have left (money, benefits, freedoms, and time) that they turn towards the easier targets. And the GOP are masters at exploiting that for votes.

Am I going to turn out the same way? I hope not. I’m determined not to, at least politically and my own beliefs and actions and what I try to instill into my kid as she grows up. But I need to also look out for myself financially in the near future. I have the luxury of being able to invest in the stock market. I have always preferred to invest in companies and funds that at least seem to be more ethical (politically, socially, and environmentally). And I’ve had some mild success with that. But once the election results were clear, it was clear to me I couldn’t count on that anymore. So I decided to end my idealistic investment hopes and just try to get a crumb from the uber wealthy as they line their pockets during the collapse of the American Empire.

Since I really don’t know what to expect from the stock market in the face of growing tensions with China and somehow Canada now, instability and insecurity in Europe and SE Asia, and whatever havoc Elon Musk is going to wreak on the global economy with his newfound power, I moved out of most of my individual stocks and converted mostly into ETFs.

To truly mark the end of ethical investing, I bought a symbolic share of Blackrock (BLK). I invested more heavily in a Gold ETF (GLD) as a hedge for financial market instability. I also bought into an Aerospace and Defense ETF (PPA) since war is always profitable. And since the space race, and potentially space war, is heating up, I also bought into ARKX, a space exploration and innovation fund. The first Trump administration was very friendly to domestic precious metals, lithium, and rare earth mining companies so I reinvested in REMX.

My lone individual mining stock remains in my portfolio, Perpetua Resources Corp (PPTA). When reading The War Below by Ernest Scheyder, I was intrigued by their more ethical approach to lithium and gold mining when it came to trying to balance mining with protecting the environment and indigenous lands. So that’s the one “ethical” stock I have left, mainly for it’s profitability so far, and hopefully expanded profitability under a mining-friendly Trump administration.

I’m also running an experiment of sorts. I put equal amounts into two other ETFs: NANC and KRUZ. These are funds by Unusual Whales that mimic the investment patterns of the Democratic and Republican Parties, respectively. Which one will be more profitable for me after 4 years? We shall see! Politicians should be barred from trading stocks but for the short term I kind of hope that initiative fails so I can try to get some of the crumbs from their legalized insider trading.

And lastly, I have finally succumbed to the financial allure of crypto. I purchase my first bit of cryptocurrency (Ethereum) and plan on getting into Bitcoin once the price drops again after the post-election surge. It’s possible I missed the boat though, so we shall see. I still hate crypto. It makes no sense and shouldn’t even really exist. It’s horrible for energy consumption and the environment. Crypto bros are some of the worst, exploitative people. But if they’re going to get rich from a crypto-friendly world, I still want my piece of it, even if it means compromising my moral stand a bit.

I can start to feel my empathy wane. I don’t think it’s dead though. I’ll be putting up my Pride flag in front of my house soon. I like to think that it will be a silent form of rebellion against what’s coming from this administration. But really it will be a reminder to myself to at least stick to my principles, regardless of what the New Order says.