Even gas prices here are as if Trump is still in office. OK, I’m exaggerating but they are still a lot less punishing than what we have at home.

I had an order from a medical company to translate a text about a new treatment for a rare but extremely deadly disease. (I can’t be more specific because I signed a non-disclosure).

Of course, I Googled some terminology.

And now Google thinks I have this disease and has filled my screen with teary-eyed ads about the importance of getting psychological help and estate-planning advice with this diagnosis.

The last round of budget cuts at my school was explained to us as necessary to achieve equity. The administrators who imposed these cuts are left-wing. Thirty years ago, they’d vote Republican and tell us the budget cuts are necessary because of free markets.

The magic words that keep us weak and unable to resist have changed from “freedom” to “equity.” But the substance is the same. We have less so that some filthy rich Pritzker can have even more.

The reason why the country club crowd so rapidly and easily became Democrat is neoliberalism. In the English-speaking world, neoliberalism was initially championed by conservatives. Thatcher, Reagan, etc. (Not so in Spain, for example, where neoliberalism was brought in by the Socialists).

Wealthy people are by definition those who are doing well in the neoliberal economy. They feel comfortable in it. So they vote for whichever party is more neoliberal. The parents voted Republican when Republicans were more neoliberal. Their children now vote Democrat because the Democrats have become the standard-bearers of neoliberalism.