Excerpt:

>Before I close the loop on this point, it’s important to note it is completely understandable so many Americans doubt the future has anything good waiting for us. Some generations are living through what must feel like an extended “Twilight Zone” episode. The prosperity and security of the 1980s and 1990s seemingly evaporated in the dust of the World Trade Center towers. Since then, we discovered our global economy was essentially fake, since it was easily susceptible to an elaborate Ponzi scheme that tanked the livelihood of millions of Americans in 2008. We never really resolved the pain that came from that global financial crisis and things haven’t been getting better. Pensions lost, ever-rising property taxes, health care inaccessibility, a developing stratified society, political corruption, racial tensions, social propaganda, and all of that made worse by a global pandemic — which we can’t even agree how bad it was or continues to be. The trajectory of the past few decades is simply insane.
>
>So, I get it. Much of the world has suffered a credibility collapse and many have chosen to cling to what they know — their local community as it was before all this happened. It’s not surprising this group is deeply resistant to any chic political movement claiming to fix anything — even if it offers free ponies. Especially when these ideas are championed by political leaders who somehow have completely skipped all the misery the rest of us have experienced. It’s traumatizing.
>
>But my empathy for these people ends when they decide their pain and frustration is their new source of meaning and purpose. In the handful of conversations I’ve had with defenders of CAVE people, I’ve challenged them to put forth an alternate vision for Stamford. If they don’t like my ideas, give me another option. They simply cannot do it. Much like a depressed person explaining why they’ll never be happy, these people effortlessly tie every issue — from government spending to bike lanes — to a nihilistic belief the world is irredeemably corrupted, and nothing can or will get better. This is a viewpoint that has been adopted by the younger generations — who now have the highest records of drug overdoses, suicides, mass shootings, and other disturbing acts of self-annihilation. If you suggest to these people their defeatism is part of the problem, they reliably transition to a nativist argument: “Who are you to question anything? You’re not even from here. Why don’t you go back to ‘where you’re from?’” This is the “no belief but in themselves” manifested in local politics. The only valid view is their own.
>
>These people are acting out a religion of nihilism. They gain meaning by believing the world is corrupt. Their purpose is to oppose everything because nothing has any value. They commit to the ritual of attending every town hall and airing out their grievances over and over and over again (this is why they always shout down solutions, because they’re not there to make things better). Through all this they develop a community of fellow travelers charging our community off a cliff. I imagine they do all this because it’s better than feeling completely powerless to the changing world, but you can’t do these things every day and not expect to end up as a miserable person. Indeed, nihilism is the song of a bird that has come to love its cage (that’s a rephrasing of a David Foster Wallace quote on irony, which is a similar concept).
>
>I wrote my original article because this problem is present in every conversation about the future of our community. Some significant portion of our residents don’t believe we have a future. That’s why they can’t propose one. They can only talk about their pain from the past. This is what depressed people do.
>
>So, that’s my challenge to anyone who sees themselves in my description of CAVE people. I challenge you to talk about the things you want, rather than what you don’t want. I challenge you to assemble coalitions for progress rather than reactionary mobs whenever you’re bored. I challenge you to think of the future, rather than the past. This is not a difference in politics. Nihilism exists in every generation, demographic, and political camp. This is a difference of morality. Either you see the value of building a future, or you don’t.
>
>If you do, great. We can figure out the details.
>
>If you don’t, no one is under an obligation to placate your extended depressive episode. If you’re so happy about being a CAVE person, then stay in a cave.
>
>The choice is yours.