I had milkshakes with proggie friends, and mostly I politely listened and attentively absorbed their views, ideals, and goals. I came away with overarching observations and considerations based on our conversation.

1.) In a most parental sense, proggies believe they know what’s best for everyone, especially for those who disagree with them.

2.) Proggies without variance think censorship is best for democracy.

3.) Like me, proggies value freedom. The difference is proggies value only specific kinds of freedom for specific checklists of people.

4.) The evils of capitalism, patriarchy, and colonization are at fault for our wonderful standard of living (I took liberty with phrasing).

5.) Experts have credentials and that’s how you can recognize an expert.

6.) Experts let us know what, when, where, why, and how to think. It’s a timesaver.

7.) Getting Trump on something is more important than the economy; the end game is making sure he can’t be president again. I offered that is the privilege of American voters. I learned my lesson and shut up again.

8.) The universe is relativistic. Not Einstein relativity. A contemporary example: Biden is for certain corrupt. But Trump is more corrupt. Thus, under relative comparison, Biden isn’t so bad and therefore must not be held accountable.

9.) Nuance is by arbitrary convenience.

10.) Proggies truly believe they know what’s best for everyone and reinforce this by telling each other they know what’s best for everyone.