It’s election season, and I recently went through the 2026 California primary election ballot using an AI tool and described my overall politics and the things that are important to me. I asked the AI to summarize what I told it, and this is what it came up with.
I’d describe myself as politically pragmatic and pretty California-moderate: socially liberal, generally pro-community, pro-environment, and supportive of public goods, but increasingly frustrated by how expensive and inefficient California feels. I’m not anti-tax in a blanket sense — I’m willing to pay for things that are concrete, visible, and genuinely improve quality of life, like bike paths, transportation infrastructure, parks, schools, or services that actually work. But I’m very skeptical of open-ended taxes, bloated bureaucracy, and public spending that doesn’t seem to produce real-world results.
I want government to be compassionate, but I also want it to be competent. I’m wary of culture-war politics from either direction, and I’m not interested in performative ideology as much as practical accountability. I want California to remain open, inclusive, creative, and environmentally responsible — but I also want it to be easier to live here, easier to build things, easier to do business, and more honest about whether our huge public spending is actually delivering value.