It took us decades, but we finally found religion on the Left. The counterculture initially seemed great: a big bang of movies, civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, comedy, art, and investigative journalism, all in the pursuit of free expression and objective truth. My generation was raised on atheism, with the idea that if you pursue happiness, you will be fulfilled. But it doesn’t work like that. Making happiness the goal in life ultimately leads to dissatisfaction because nothing and no one will ever be enough. After the 2000 election that the Supreme Court ultimately decided, we started building our own private paradise on the Left, one that effectively shut out half the country. However, we didn’t come together as a movement until Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton faced off in 2008. What started out as a contentious battle for the first female president vs. the first Black president would result in a powerful coalition rooted in identity politics. We had in Barack Obama not just a political leader, the first US president to build his coalition via Twitter, but a spiritual leader too. Obama became not just sacred to us but Too Black to Fail. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe