Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz embodies everything liberal women see in their own fathers – except for their political views. For some, it makes them hopeful but also very sad.
He’s got jokes, enthusiasm and a smiley face that’s not even remotely trying to hide how he’s feeling. He’s Tim Walz- and he’s bringing major Midwestern dad energy to the Democratic ticket.
At least that’s how many white women feel when they see Walz in videos, riding the Slingshot at the state fair with his daughter, signing legislation to give kids in Minnesota free lunches or tweeting about his pet cat.
It’s in stark contrast to what some see in their own fathers - who often have more conservative political views.
“He is silly. My dad used to be very, very silly and goofy,” Pamela Wurst Vetrini, a woman who recently compared Walz to her father, said in a viral TikTok video.
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“A lot of us had moderate to conservative, educated, sensible fathers that we lost to Rush Limbaugh. That we lost to Fox News. That we lost to Donald Trump. And the cult of conservatism that has grown and grown and grown has driven a wedge between millennial woman and her father,” she said.
I think Tim Walz is very important, because he shows that “regular,” working class, middle aged men don’t HAVE to be conservative. We don’t have to believe in baseless conspiracy theories, we don’t have to reject scientific evidence, we don’t have to divorce ourselves from reality. We don’t have to believe that vaccines are evil, that climate change is a hoax, or that the 2020 election was stolen. Maybe we don’t agree with everything the liberals say and do, but that doesn’t mean we have to go full ding dong and start listening to Joe Rogan and Ben Shapiro. There are other options and Tim Walz is representative of at least one of those alternatives.
Not to mention that he shows that you can be both masculine AND change your mind about things. Even letting your children change your mind. Shocking!
And being masculine while openly giving support to the less fortunate. Contrasting with the might-makes-right view that these alt-right “masculine” types subscribe to.
That’s a really important point. For some reason, many men think it’s somehow a sign of weakness to be wrong about something, or to admit that someone knows more about something than you do. I think you look weak if you refuse to admit when you’re wrong and double down on some ignorant position out of stubbornness.
The fact that so many blue collar people are conservative when they could just as easily be liberals amazes me. Democrats are the ones who want unions, better environment, better labor rights, better working conditions, but somehow the conservatives are really good at lying and making propaganda.
“Some reason”
It’s called a lack of scruples, and no conscience.
One party is actually somewhat beholden to the values it espouses, so they can’t do the kind of shit the right does without losing support.
A large part of the issue is that the Democratic Party (and Labour in the UK, and the Liberals in Canada) really drank the third-way neoliberal koolaid in the 1990s and have done a poor job of speaking to the anxieties and concerns of the poor.
The political right has talked to those anxieties, albeit in a dishonest, manipulative and disingenuous way, but they do talk to it and–not only do they talk to it, they deliver results. Again, dishonest, manipulative and self-serving results, but if you don’t look to closely it looks like they’re taking action.
I’m hoping Harris and Walz mark a new era, but after witnessing Trudeau in Canada and Starmer in the UK continuing to make the mistakes of the 1990s, I’m not holding my breath.
I have such high hope for Walz. He’s so tight with the labor party. If harris and walz wins this election I’ll be so happy.