PITTSBURGH, PA -

Perhaps I should open with the fact that I am politically independent. While I have Libertarian inclinations, I have a tendency to rock back on my heels, wait patiently, and hum a little tune while parties throw around emotionally-freighted abstractions like ‘hope’ and ‘freedom’ and ‘change’. To me, this is fog-generating rhetoric that offers nothing substantial. Who doesn’t want change—that is, positive change—specifically, improvement? And I can confidently say that, yes, we all want freedom and are grateful to have hope in times of distress. However, I am often skeptical that the current political landscape can support hope for a genuinely positive, progressive political path that will lead us towards a more solid infrastructure and away from so much international watch-dogging.

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