An Afternoon with a Former Progressive
by Lou Segal
Longtime Liberal Pulls a Political 180
The Reagan Ranch Center in downtown Santa Barbara recently hosted best-selling author Michael Shellenberger (“San Fransicko, “Apocalypse Never”), and founder of Substack newsletter “Public.” After having worked with far-left social justice advocates and toeing the progressive line for most of his life, Shellenberger’s political turnaround has transformed him, in many ways, into the darling of the right, though he isn’t particularly conservative: just honest.
He spoke at the luncheon to yet another sold-out crowd of over 300 souls as part of the Reagan Ranch Center’s ongoing lecture series.
His talk was far-ranging and covered a series of environmental and political issues, and he pulled no punches as to his evident dismay that the practice of gender affirming care is still legal in the U.S. After studying the issue, he concludes there is no scientific basis to continue this barbaric medical practice, which he likened to lobotomy, considered a legitimate treatment for schizophrenia at one time.
He references a scientific association – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) – that publishes guidelines for the care of transsexual, transgender, and “non-conforming” people. They have files of its members, who are scientists and doctors, and are in regular communication with each other, admitting that gender affirming surgery and the use of drugs to prevent puberty in minors has failed to yield any improvement in mental health and in many cases is associated with harmful outcomes. Mr. Shellenberger pointed out that Great Britain’s National Health Service has stopped prescribing puberty blocking drugs for young people, saying there is not enough evidence to support the safety or effectiveness of the hormones.
He believes it is inevitable that the procedures will eventually be banned as more studies are published refuting the efficacy of radically altering the bodies of the confused. He blamed progressivism and liberals who blindly adhere to its tenets for the current situation in the U.S., where it still has a foothold in the medical community. He feels progressives conveniently use false compassion and care as a rationale for condoning “gender-affirming” treatment, which he thinks is just a cover for their narcissistic, sociopathic behavior of the “thugs” dispensing drugs and performing surgeries.
Support for Natural Gas and Nuclear Power
After lunch, Michael and I explored other areas not covered in his speech. We discussed the transformation he has undergone from a doctrinaire liberal to the [unaligned] person he is today. He says it was an evolutionary process, facilitated by his curiosity and willingness to research ideas commonly accepted by progressives but that didn’t make sense to him.
He doesn’t understand the kneejerk negative reaction to nuclear energy and natural gas, both clean energy sources. He feels the emphasis on producing housing for the homeless in California without treatment for mental illness and drug addiction is the main reason why there hasn’t been any progress in alleviating the problem. He made clear this change in his thinking was not without its share of pain. In a moment of candor, he said he lost many friends because of his journey away from progressivism, which he indicates was one of the more traumatic events in his life.
Finally, he recounted his work with Elon Musk, exposing the collaboration between the U.S. government and X, (formerly Twitter) to censor speech, particularly political speech with which the current government didn’t agree.
Mr. Shellenberger admitted during our discussion that his politics do not necessarily conform to the platform of either party. For example, he is in favor of universal healthcare, minimum wage laws, collective bargaining rights and pro-choice abortion laws, although he does think a ban is appropriate after 15 weeks or maybe longer. He also doesn’t believe there was sufficient cheating to alter the outcome of the 2020 election.
He ran for governor of California twice, once as a Democrat and the second time as an independent, doing much better as an independent where he placed third in a field of 26 with 4.1% of the vote. When asked if he thought an independent could be elected as governor in California, he said it would be possible, but only if the candidate had sufficient funds to run a statewide campaign.
His speech was well-received by the audience at the Reagan Ranch Center, demonstrating, perhaps, that there is an appetite for thoughtful policy discourse that is not necessarily partisan or divisive. It remains to be seen, however, if a liberal audience at one of our universities could listen to a Michael Shellenberger without attempting to silence him.
He is now hard at work on another book.
Thanks Lou, for an interesting article. Michael sounds like an interesting guy. Seems like evidence as to why labels are dangerous things. I think, like most people, he has various opinions about numerous issues that don't fit cleanly within a label. I'd be considered a democrat. On some issues, people might call me progressive. Yet I believe in a secure border and would be fine with a wall if it could be constructed in an environmentally sound manner. But I also want a sane immigration policy to go with it. (Like Reagan, funnily enough). I'm a long-time big fan of nuclear power but I am also a fan of EV's and moving away from natural gas. (Gas ain't clean Lou, it's not the worst, but it is not clean). I'm Christian, but it seems to me that a lot of people have forgotten the first 5 letters of that spell Christ. (In fact I challenge myself to be Christ-ian)
Anyway, my point is that the application of labels is too-easily the first step toward making enemies and dehumanizing people. If someone labels me a democrat or libtard or progressive, then a bunch of people consider me an enemy. Same works the other way. Which is sad because most everyone wants the best for America and are probably closer on most issues than they might imagine. Unfortunately, divisiveness has been monetized by politicians and social media companies and too many people are in the thrall of both. One of the things that made America great was adults finding ways to compromise. I'm a big fan of that too.
Eventually every True Believer will leave the plantation ...
... those who know don't need an explanation ...
The problem is ... we can't wait that long.
We are on the verge of the whole planet learning what Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Libya, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, and China, etc., etc., etc., already know ...