Introduction
IStaying in the Center and Defying Cancel Culture
I launched this blog five years ago, which means during COVID. In that post, I introduced myself. My name is Joel Silver. The subtitle of my masthead highlights my desire to be a political centrist. I equally disdain the far right and the far left. I have equal disdain for Trump and many of his policies and for those who have been driven to Trump Derangement Syndrome. It does not take extraordinary insight to point out the obvious fact that extremists feed off each other and much like Frankenstein, Trump is the creation of his loudest and most strident detractors. Highlighting my unconventional outlook is paradoxical because I have the undocumented belief that I mirror the massive center of political discourse. When 85% of the country state that they do not believe that biological males who have undergone gender re-assignment should not compete in female sports, I am with them. When 85% of the country believe that employment should be based on merit and not based on a person’s race or their family’s wealth and status, I am with them. When 85% of the country believes that abortion should be safe, legal and rare and unfettered during the first 15 weeks of pregnancy, (the mainline position throughout the world), I am with them. When 85% of the country believes that tax cuts for the top 1% are unjust, I am with them.
In short, most of the time my views mirror Bill Maher’s. Other, influences are: Rafael Manguel and the Manhattan institute with respect to criminal justice; Bari Weiss and the Free Press; and the PBS documentary that documented a longitudinal study of a working class black family and working-class white family who struggled for generations despite periods of plenty and periods of despair. In this, I am also influenced by Batya Unger Sargon and her book, Second Class. She has self-identified as a MAGA champion of the Working Class.
Finally, reflected in my life’s work in affordable housing and my social circle of elite leftism is Ezra Klein’s recent book Abundance which documents the affliction of a country who can devise breathtaking scientific breakthroughs and then fail in implementation. The book’s main theme is; that notwithstanding ample funding, the United States and blue states have demonstrated again and again that they can build nothing. Reference the CA high speed rail debacle and the costs of affordable housing rising to $1 million dollars per unit in Washington DC. Throughout my professional life I had to accommodate universal opposition to affordable housing. This was prevalent in urban neighborhoods as well as suburban neighborhoods. In my personal life, my friends and acquaintances would voice support for affordable housing while opposing every new development proposal that was introduced. In general, their elitism was illustrated by their advocacy of luxury beliefs. According to AI, (a resource I will use with abandon) “A luxury belief is an idea or opinion held by affluent individuals that primarily serves to enhance their social status and is often disconnected from the practical realities faced by those less privileged. These beliefs may appear progressive or altruistic, but their impact can be detrimental to the less fortunate, while benefiting the privileged by allowing them to appear virtuous without sacrificing their own comfort or interests.”
I also will post very unconventional policy proposals regarding: Israel and the Middle East, education and school choice; criminal justice, victims’ rights and the death penalty and the conventional family.
I will also apply the expertise I garnered as an attorney and affordable housing professional with more than 40 years of experience in the private and public sectors. Using this background, I will offer proposals to ease the housing availability crisis.
Finally, I will review books that are meaningful to me and court decisions and law review articles that resonate. In all of this, I enthusiastically invite debate. Like most centrists, I expect to get it from both sides. I welcome it.
Retirement has been a struggle, but I have come to the realization that there may be no more valuable way to spend my time than by reading, writing and communicating with the world. What a blessing to be unfettered by the daily grind of making a living. How fortunate I am to have reached a point in my life where social conformity takes a back seat to speaking in my genuine voice. Let the chips fall as they may and let’s go forth boldly. Welcome and buckle up.