Karlyn Borysenko is that rare type of individual who can take an objective look at her surroundings and decide it’s time to make a change. Borysenko wrote a very perceptive essay posted on medium.com where she made an observation that won’t win her many friends among the resistance. "I think those of us on the left need to take a long look in the mirror and have an honest conversation about what’s going on," she wrote.
Her look in the mirror began after her knitting hobby became a battleground. Borysenko started out as "one of those Democrats who considered anyone who voted for Trump a racist."
Knitters have a very active online community and the hobby attracts many in the activist left. Politics was part of the community, but it didn’t dominate the community.
Then Borysenko noticed a change about a year ago, "roving gangs of online social justice warriors started going after anyone in the knitting community who was not lockstep in their ideology. Knitting stars on Instagram were bullied and mobbed by hundreds of people for seemingly innocuous offenses."
That’s because the "tolerant and inclusive" hard left has a very narrow range of accepted viewpoints. Instead of acquiescing, Borysenko began thinking for herself. "I started making a proactive effort to break my echo chamber by listening to voices I thought I would disagree with."
What she learned came as a complete surprise.
"The more voices outside the left that I listened to, the more I realized that these were not bad people. They were not racists, nazis, or white supremacists. We had differences of opinions on social and economic issues, but a difference of opinion does not make your opponent inherently evil. And they could justify their opinions using arguments, rather than the shouting and ranting I saw coming from my side of the aisle," she explained.
That’s when Borysenko discovered the #WalkAway movement was real.
She met people "who had been Democrats and made the decision to leave because they could not stand the way the left was behaving."
And she didn’t stop there. Borysenko began to ask a lot of questions.
Including, "How many stories had I been sold that weren’t true? What if my perception of the other side is wrong? How is it possible that half the country is overtly racist? Is it possible that Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing, and had I been suffering from it for the past three years?"
Then she took a momentous step.
Borysenko decided to attend a Trump rally in New Hampshire.
It was not a decision she made lightly and in fact as she approached the line to enter the rally there was more than a little anxiety. Then she met some of the reality the left denies and she had been seeking.
" . . . contrary to all the fears expressed, [Trump supporters] were so nice. I was not harassed or intimidated, and I was never in fear of my safety even for a moment. . . . They were veterans, schoolteachers, and small business owners who had come from all over the place for the thrill of attending this rally. They were upbeat and excited. In chatting, I even let it slip that I was a Democrat.
The reaction? "Good for you! Welcome!"
That revelation was just the beginning.
She had recently attended a major Democrat presidential candidate rally and the difference for her was palpable. "With Trump, there was a genuinely optimistic view of the future. With the Democrats, it was doom and gloom. With Trump, there was a genuine feeling of pride of being an American. With the Democrats, they emphasized that the country was a racist place from top to bottom."
Borysenko came to another realization that ran counter to what is said on "MSDNC." Trump voters and rally attendees aren’t members of a cult. They did not put their brains and character into a blind trust. She saw the Trump supporters "love him despite his flaws, because they believe he has their back."
She then voted in her last Democrat primary and made an important decision, "tomorrow, I’ll be changing my voter registration from Democrat to Independent and walking away from the party I’ve spent the past 20 years in to sit in the middle for a while."
Borysenko’s essay is important not because she left the Democrat party and decided Trump voters aren’t a "Basket of Deplorables." It’s important because she started asking questions and used the answers to evaluate what she’s being told.
Then she took her observations and research made her own decision.
That’s a course of action we can wholeheartedly recommend to everyone.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.