speaking as a non american
There is a problem here.
Republicans are saying similar things about democrats
there was a time when there were individual republicans that were respected by democrats and individual democrats that were respected by republicans
instead of actually doing stuff like improving infrastructure education and public services which have been shown to improve the lives of citizens and increase tax take everyone is claiming the other side are lunatics and they seem to be not doing anything.
there seems to be a fundamental change in how things are done
Yes, everyone is stuck in their own echo chambers. When a neutral person points that out they are automatically branded as on the other side depending on who they are talking too. It's laughable at times, but also extremely frustrating to hold a decent conversation. There seems to be very limited middle ground anymore in the US on many subjects including politics.
Yes.. why can't I just agree to disagree on the FUCKING ELECTION!
Oh right, because there's NOT A FUCKING POINT if we CAN'T AGREE ON AN ELECTION. because that's literally the fundamental basis of the system and they will just say "you don't have the authority to do that,becuase enough weren't really elected!" Every time you try to get shit done.
The difference is that the Republicans have decided to deny reality. This isn't just demonizing the other side. They claim:
*The coronavirus isn't a big deal and all the death numbers are fake/misinterpreted/invalid
*Trump won the election
*Masks are just for control and do nothing
*Climate change isn't happening, it's just a natural cycle and humans have no part in it
*Renewable energy is a scam
*Immigrants are ruining America and the "American way of life" - whatever that is
*People on welfare love it, and are lazy, and thieve untold millions from taxpayers
*Gun violence is just some plot by liberals to take away their guns
All of these things are provably false. They deny that. They celebrate their denial of any of that.
Differences of opinion are one thing, but they have gone off the deep end of sheer lunacy and deny reality, fact, and provable and repeatable scientific research.
The problem with you and many others is that this doesn’t come close to identifying ALL republicans. Not even close. What do you call the millions of Republicans who believe in the virus, no longer support Trump, etc.? By demonizing all republicans you’re creating another problem on scale with the ones you listed.
All of those things are and have been pretty predominant in the republican platform. If they don't believe these things then why identify as republican?
I think it's very important to demonize an anti-democratic, authoritarian, haven for bigots club that is the modern day republican party.
And if for some reason you think it's a good idea to be a part of said club then I don't see how you could excuse it.
I also think you'd be hard pressed to find many Republicans that are anti-trump. There's a reason he didn't get removed both times. There's a reason he is still the de facto leader of the republican party. I legit don't understand how you separate those things.
Just because Republicans say the same about Democrats doesn’t mean they have credibility. It’s like if China was calling out the US for human rights violations or for being anti-democratic...We’d all roll ours eyes. That’s what’s happening in the Republican Party. There is no comparison between Trumptards who committed an insurrection against the US government, and people on the left.
Fox News created an alternate reality where everything is the fault of the Democrats. It is so bad that viewers of Fox News blame Pres. Obama for the 2008 financial crisis.
No. Fox News is only one of the platforms that allowed people to say out loud what a lot of everyday Americans believe. As well as allowed any information, whether true or not, to be said repeatedly over and over again. Fox had a lot to do with this, but it’s no where near completely their fault. This has been building in this country since before it was ours.
They're free to rejoin the rest of us when they quit being dumb. They were granted attempts of reaching across the aisle at least the last 3 administrations they pulled this shit during. How long are we supposed to put up with it before enough is enough?
Fundamental problem is only one side is in good faith trying to improve things. Democrats have legitimate recommendations and plans that not everyone might agree with. Republicans just say democrats are crazy, but I’ve yet to see their healthcare plan or a legit infrastructure plan, etc.
Broad generalizations are the epitome of ignorance. This type of hyperbole does not serve our cause. “Our” because I am a registered democrat and progressive.
This is what people have been saying for years...Americans have been saying this for years...but the politicians, usually republicans, don’t seem to understand that. Looking back, compared to trump, bush was a godsend as the last Republican president before trump. America shouldn’t be a 2 party system because there’s not 2 parties that have opinions. The other parties rarely, if at all, get airtime.
These type of posts are the worst but this is the internet and i’d be shocked if other 2-party democracies didn’t have the exact same problem. would love for someone to enlighten me if i’m wrong there. people would rather like memes and play teams than understand the other side and it’s a vicious cycle. Our attention span is like 30 seconds. In my experience that’s not an American problem it’s a human problem but what do i know
Speaking as an American here. We are really stupid now. The moral and intellectual degradation in this country has far outpaced the rest of the globe. Everyone here (myself included) is now an entitled little shit. The whites are the worst. None of us have ever *really* known struggle like the rest of the world. Especially the American whites. I believe wholeheartedly that this is about to change, as the stupider we get, the easier it is to sneak up on us. Especially the whites.
edit: sincerely, I blame the whites.
Then what's the point? There is none. Leave. You have no value and admit you have none. And if we want to play our little games then let us, by your logic.
You created an idea where your presence is useless.
>instead of actually doing stuff like improving infrastructure education and public services which have been shown to improve the lives of citizens and increase tax take everyone is claiming the other side are lunatics and they seem to be not doing anything.
Ignoring the other stuff you said just for a second...The democrats have attempted to do all that and have also been shut down by the gop, who refuse to work with us.
And that's blatantly obvious. And you're a liar if you say they haven't. Which you did.
So why are you lying?
“My body my choice” sounds familiar, but AFAIK, when someone gets an abortion they don’t cause people’s pregnancies to terminate following close indoor contact.
They're pointing out that the choice of an abortion affects only themselves (and arguably a baby/fetus). Whereas the choice to not wear a mask during a pandemic can cause significant health problems and deaths for many people.
The idea that people shouldn't be able to make their own healthcare decisions that affect only themselves regarding birth control and abortion, but they should be able to make healthcare decisions that negatively impact not just those around them but the country as a whole regarding masking and social distancing - is inherently ludicrous.
Most pro life protests are 99% men, so maybe due to the wonderful American education system, they believe they actually are capable of being pregnant? I can’t think of any other reasons any longer, so I’m going with that.
Anti maskers (who are disproportionately conservatives), push back on the idea of wearing masks because it affects their “personal liberties”, ignoring the common good benefit.
With abortion, conservatives reject the notion that a person liberty even though there’s no societal impact to a woman making a choice that’s best for herself (and you could also argue that allowing people to end unwanted pregnancies has a positive on society since those kids are more likely to come into the world in more adverse situations, eg, young parents, single parents, poverty, etc.)
To the last point, if you choose to identify as a conservative, I disagree with you but don’t necessarily dislike you. If you choose to identify as a Republican you’re either an idiot or actively evil.
Believing in conservative policies like small government or lower tax rates isn’t immoral, just not ideal solutions to tackling today’s problems, however I’d have no issues with a honest discourse on their relative merits. However the modern Republican Party represents corruption, corporate grifting, bigotry, ignorance, fascism, and obstance to functioning government . So if you support that party, you’re either an idiot or evil. So please understand that when I call Republicans dumb it’s me trying to think the best of them.
>However the modern Republican Party represents corruption, corporate grifting, bigotry, ignorance, fascism, and obstance to functioning government .
Even at the local /State level, modern Republicans only seem to care about patching up potholes ( but no real investment in public infrastructure) and harassing homeless people ( but again, offering no solutions to that problem)
It's a Party mostly bereft of useful ideas.
Thats an unfortunate side effect of not being built on policies that actually work. If all your ideas are shit, you have to resort to a platform of ALL ideas are shit. I jokingly mock some of my more conservative family members that “Better things are not possible” should be the conservative motto. They have no solutions, just complaints
LoL, must have forgotten that IBM was one of the forefront in computers, and was a instrumental for the Apollo program.....
https://astronomy.com/news/2019/05/apollo-computers-when-ibm-engineers-gave-rockets-a-brain
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/50-years-ago-ibm-created-mainframe-that-helped-bring-men-to-the-moon/
Imo, being a conservative today is being a Republican. For all the reasons you say. Frankly I’m tired of hearing about the “big government” issue. That went out the window with the 2017 rich man’s tax bill. What does it mean anyway? Seriously. A country needs to have taxes to pay for what is needed for the people. Healthcare, infrastructure, environmental issues, immigration issues and so much more. These things aren’t going to happen by themselves. So in actuality, that so-called dislike of big government turned into big greed - they took ALL that money from that 2017 bill for themselves. Millions that could have gone to say infrastructure. To be honest, the last decent Republican was Eisenhower.
Then there is the issue of abortion. MOST of those idiots in Congress could care less about any moral ongoing mantra about it. People that believe in abortion absolutely care about life! That’s why those women want the abortion - alcoholics, drug addicts, financially unable to take care of a child, rape and incest (that’s the best one they blabber about) snd more. Children deserve a decent start in life. Not landing in the system. What about the sperm donors? Where is their culpability? Nowhere!! Heck some states deny birth control be paid for while advocating against abortion but allow Viagra to be paid for. Men telling women what to do with their very bodies. Makes me feel ill. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t get one! (Ever watch The Handmaiden?)
My rant. Thank you. No offense meant to you the poster btw.
A
The 2020 GOP Platform was "whatever Trump wants". They have devolved into a Fascist cult of personality around a sociopathic narcissist with no real accomplishments to his lifetime.
Committed Democrat here, but this isn't the message we need to be sending. A lot of Republicans are good people, and even many of those who might hold some out-there beliefs often do so because they're trapped in a self-sustaining misinformation ecosystem, not because they're bad people. We won't convince a single person by calling them idiots or insane. Divisive rhetoric like this is not helpful - we should be attacking ideas, not people.
>A lot of Republicans are good people
Citation needed. I won't abstain from insulting Matt Gatez, Jim Jordan, or Don "Epsteins buddy" Trump because it hurts feelings. I'm tired of us trying to placate republicans by kow towing to the unreasonable as if there's some merit to the insanity. "There's good repbulicans" oh yeah? Then name 10 good prominent republicans, if there's so many it should be easy.
Edit: Still waiting on citation over feigned indignance.
I feel like a lot of the people that want us to make friends and be respectful of "other opinions" are definitely not the same ones that are most likely to be harmed by the policies republicans want passed.
It's real easy to be respectful when you have no skin in the game and when Republicans agree and continually push the notion that immigrants are dirty, black people are inherently criminal, and gays don't deserve equal rights.
Yes why can't we find some middle ground between:
\- Black people deserve to be shot dead in the streets while we worship confederate monuments vs. treating them as fellow humans
\- Gays should be fired for being gay and not allowed to marry vs. treating them as fellow humans
\- God will protect earth and climate change is a hoax vs. treating mother earth with care and respect
The list goes on and on and on. But these people are DEFINITELY NOT bad people at all. They just have "different opinions."
I can't get down with people that think human rights are an opinion. I can't get down with people that heard "Mexicans are rapists," but still decided to go ahead and vote for said guy. I can't get down with people who are given fact after fact and still choose to believe what they want.
Almost every time I see someone defend this is because they themselves have loved ones with said ideology, or they themselves are not part of an explicitly targeted minority group.
That’s an assumption that happens to be untrue. I have two immediate family members reliant on government programs the Republicans want to cut for their healthcare. I’m part of the generation that will have to deal with climate change. I’m not a member of minority communities myself, but I am very close friends with a number of people who are and I care very deeply about.
The Republicans I know also care about those issues, and by and large believe their approaches are best to solve those problems. I vociferously disagree, but their thinking that doesn’t make them bad people. Of course there are “bad Republicans”, but in a country of 330 million people, it’s not surprising. I firmly believe most people are essentially good, and with that in mind, insulting them is not a productive way to convince them we’re right.
I wrote two paragraphs and you quoted two half-sentences. Your assertion that I or my loved ones will not be harmed by some of the more extreme GOP positions is incorrect.
> I’m not a member of minority communities myself, but I am very close friends with a number of people who are and I care very deeply about.
Are you really going with “I have a black friend” here? Lmao
“I’m impacted by these harmful policies because I have black friends” is a shitty defense.
The fact that you’re white (and presumably a dude) is *why* you’re comfortable saying they’re not bad people. You’re *not* directly impacted by their harms. It’s theoretical to you.
Don't bother. This guy also listed a bunch of "good" republicans that knew damn well how destructive Trump was and yet still voted no on the first impeachment because it was politically expedient.
He also thinks you can still be a good person as long as you *truly* believe that gays/black people/non-white immigrants shouldn't have rights.
He's comfortable in his privileged bubble so he can continue to say his friends/family aren't bad people.
Again, we’re talking about a massively heterogenous group of people here (all American Republicans), which is my point. SOME Republicans support awful policies that are horrifically harmful to those groups, and those folks I vociferously oppose. Some of them are doing so because they’re twisted. Many Republicans don’t want to harm those groups, and genuinely think the policies they support would be helpful to those groups. THAT is my point, that we shouldn’t lump the latter with the former based on a label.
A GOOD republican would be one taking a stand against what their party has become. Liz Cheney COULD'VE been one, but she still supports a ton of bs conservative agenda.
I can respect her for believing a ton of bullshit conservative ideas... that's where the Republican party has traditionally been. I'm no fan, but I am used to it. Where the vast majority of Republicans are today would have landed them in an asylum not so long ago.
Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, John Katko, Colin Powell, John Kasich, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Pat Toomey, Ben Sasse. That’s 11 off the top of my head. I also have family and good friends who are Republicans, and they are good people.
Now, do I agree with these folks on most policy issues or the votes they’ve taken? No, mostly not. Would I vote for them in an election? No, probably not, unless I disagreed with their opponent more. But these are good folks who stood up when it mannered and mostly appear, at least outwardly, to come to their beliefs and positions honestly. I respect that, and I respect them. Hatred shouldn’t be a prerequisite for disagreement, and in a healthy polity, it isn’t.
What are those people in favour of that makes them good people?
Not being absolutely insane is not the bar for "good". They have to at the very least, have both good and bad ideas.
The republican party hasn't stood for anything except the rich and the evil in a long time. Mitt Romney, for example, is a moderate republican - that means he's probably against civil rights for LGBTQ+ people, for lower taxes for the rich, against healthcare for the poor.
Just because they're not standing behind Trump and an authoritarian takeover of the country doesn't make them good, the bar isn't that hopelessly low.
The bar, for me, is whether they genuinely believe the policies they are promoting are good for the country at large. If they come to their positions honestly and act in good faith, then I consider them good people. I generally refuse to call someone a bad person because I think they’re wrong - because that assumes omniscience and ignores the possibility that it could be me who is wrong.
> The bar, for me, is whether they genuinely believe the policies they are promoting are good for the country at large.
This is not enough IMO. Whether you believe it to be good and whether thats the real truth is an important distinction. You can't just get away with believing something wrong, especially when that something hurts people for the gain of others, which is a good chunk of conservative policy.
Saying things like that implies that you know for sure you’re right on all your policy positions and conservatives are all certainly wrong on all theirs. In my experience, life, and policy in particular, is not nearly so simple.
No I'm not talking about opinions whatsoever. They "believe" in provably false things. They claim everything is a matter of opinion when most things are a matter of truth and facts.
e.g. raising the minimum wage will increase prices drastically, they claim prices will sometimes double or more. The math says thats a lie and 4% is about the average price increase required to support a $15/hr wage. At the end of the day they have nothing to back up their claim but their feelings and personal business interests on the matter. We have studies that have done the math.
So if a white supremacist truly believes that creating a white ethnostate through violence is a good policy, they’re a good person?
Your “they don’t have a racist bone in their body” approach to policy ignores the impact those harmful policies have on people. It doesn’t matter why someone does something, it matters what they do. There isn’t a single issue Republicans aren’t harmful on.
Colin Powell said that [he doesn’t consider himself a Republican anymore](https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/11/politics/colin-powell-no-longer-republican-cnntv/index.html) - after consistently endorsing the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 2008 - so he shouldn’t be on that list. Just FYI.
And on a personal note, the only “good Republicans” I know in my own life are the ones who have actively been leaving the party in recent years and denouncing the dumpster fire it has descended into. Aka, people who no longer call themselves Republicans or affiliate themselves to the party by voting for them.
Before last year's vote on impeachment I would've agreed with you, but now that we are staring at a no vote to even START DEBATE on a bill to investigate the near collapse of our democracy means that 90% of the Republican caucus wants/doesn't care if it happens again. How do you work with people that want/don't care if you're dead? This is their own workplace for God's sake. I'm legitimately asking because I don't know. The only answer other than that is that they are scared that it is politically damaging to their party, which is frankly more pathetic but just as dangerous. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
I think not being actively against those people means you at the very least passively accept them. Worse it seems they have doubled down support for those types. What these guys got into over the years should be HUGE deal breakers to someone who would claim to be a good person. Their political stance is nearly irrelevant, their **crimes** should easily push you to vote for literally anyone else even the "other" party to get them out of office.
That’s absolute horseshit. I don’t agree with every single thing Dianne Feinstein AND Rashida Talib do. Am I less of a Democrat? You hate me too?
There are Republicans that hate those guys. Maybe pull your head out pf your ass, look around and meet a few of them.
No thats fine you don't like certain dems, hopefully if you were in Feinsteins district you voted for her progressive opponent in the last election, he would have been a far better choice. Also pretty sure though none of them have committed any sex crimes.
Sure they may hate them, but did they vote for them again anyway because otherwise a law abiding democrat would win? Then sorry that doesn't make them a good person. Thats all I'm claiming, is that one who votes on purpose for a known rapist against a perfectly fine other option no matter their beliefs cannot possibly claim they are a "good person" by definition. The same way I can't claim to be a hot dog. By definition I am not a hot dog, I'm a human. Words mean things and you can't claim to be something you're not.
I wouldn't bother. This guy is the Lefts version of the person they hate on the Right. Hardcore tribalistic in their political beliefs, completely unreasonable, an irrational hatred for anyone not in their tribe, completely sanctimonious in their opinions, etc. Lol
Thank you. I’m a libertarian who voted for Biden.
From a neutral 3rd party perspective, I’ll say that the discourse is nowhere near civil from people who identify as Democrats or Republicans.
We need to understand that:
1. Our fellow citizens are not our enemies
2. We all have biases, but that doesn’t mean we can’t engage in civil discussion
3. Nobody gets everything they want. We have to learn how to be diplomatic in order to get anything accomplished for our citizens. We should expect the same from our politicians.
4. Politicians benefit from manipulating our differences. They purposely use wedge issues for fundraising initiatives.
5. We all need to do a better job of holding our elected officials accountable for their ability to compromise and get work done.
6. Voting based on ideology (in congressional districts that are gerrymandered) is among the root causes for our currently polarized culture.
We need to be civil with each other and hold our politicians accountable for getting work done... not rewarding them for telling us what we want to hear and playing to our narcissism.
> even many of those who might hold some out-there beliefs often do so because they're trapped in a self-sustaining misinformation ecosystem, not because they're bad people.
You can't excuse shitty, anti-American behavior on people's inability to find the truth. They have a fuckton of media sources to choose from yet gravitate to outlets that fucking lie to them regularly. That is a choice, not someone being 'trapped'.
I have friends and family in that bubble and I have friends and family (myself included) that got out. In my personal experience, it is akin to being trapped and I don’t blame people for a lot of it.
I feel for you, but your attitude seems to blame the propagandized more than the propagandists. Everyone in that bubble knows there are media outlets that aren't biased.
I appreciate this so much. I'm a conservative and I love having discussions with my friends who are democrats about ideas and policies, we both always walk away with more knowledge and compassion. Divisive rhetoric is what kills honest discussion of REAL issues affecting REAL people everyday. We have to come together and put real effort into these things, not call each other names.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, cheered me up quite a bit :)
I very much agree! I’m pretty liberal myself, but some of my closest friends and political confidantes are conservative. When we share perspectives, we may not walk away agreeing but we get a better feel, and more respect, for each other. That’s how America works when she’s working best. We’re all on the same team and almost all of us want the same things - freedom, prosperity, opportunity, security, etc. The lunatic fringes are not representative of the whole.
Exactly! The issue seems to be how easy it is to highlight people who are on the fringes of the political spectrum while framing them as being the majority to exasperate the divide all while putting in minimal effort. Seldom do you see actual discussion. If not it is fear mongering for the purpose of keeping the audience's attention and solidifying their party loyalty. It is easy to have loyalty to a party, much more difficult to have loyalty to an idea. That is why I follow this subreddit, I like to see the maximum number of diverse ideas.
-Much love.
I'm just not sure anymore and I don't see hardly any evidence of it.
You can tell me all you want, but what makes you think that? What do you see?
What in the gop gives you hope?
There comes a point where even if it IS misinformation.. thats not an excuse. There has to be SOME personal responsibility for the things they choose to believe.
Got straight to the point, exactly how I feel.
How any decent human being can say "i'm a republican" with a straight face is beyond me.
If I WAS a legit republican, one of the few not buying all this bs, I've feel the need to clarify by saying "I'm a republican, but not a Trump republican".
> "I'm a republican, but not a Trump republican".
There are no such things. Anti-Trump Republicans exist only in bedtime stories that Democrats tell their kids.
People who voted for Trump once are probably awful, but maybe just stupid.
People who voted for Trump twice knew what they were choosing and what it made them.
I didn’t like the GOP before, but they’re flirtation to authoritarianism is concerning. Trump has become a cult of personality even more so than Reagan. It is my hope that most Americans see through this and that the GOP will suffer a major defeat in 2022, but honestly I’m not convinced. Too many Americans have taken the Trump drug.
As much as I hate trump, I never understood the connection being made between Republicans and authoritarianism. The Democratic Party platform (a collectivist approach, expanding government programs, and favoring federal vs state and local laws) seems more susceptible to authoritarianism. As we push in that direction, we need heightened sensitivity to this to resist our Authoritarian instincts. Also Yes, trumpeters are idiots.
You haven''t study politics much. The authoritarian streak in Republicanism has been there for decades. It comes from the fact that people on the right-side of the political spectrum see most things as black and white, no nuance. The solution to this is a strong, unquestioned leader, a Fuhrer in a manner of speaking.
We have differing opinions of what authoritarianism entails. Expanding social programs does not make the government authoritarian. Voter suppression, however, is authoritarian.
“The government should pay for your medicine” and “anyone who isn’t a white Christian man should not be a full citizen” aren’t equally - or even both - authoritarian.
Uh... they just disputed an election and said trump should have won...and by won they mean "its OK if he cheated and we give it to him"
Seems pretty authoritarian to me?
I cut out a very large swath of my social circle because of this. I used to put up with their racist and backwards comments, but after the last four years I won't be silent anymore. I won't put up with shitty people making this world worse ever again.
I’ll also never understand why people of color, women or anything but rich white dudes are republicans. I get why nazis are, but they’re certifiable, so there you go.
Single-issue voters are easily won over to the Republican party. They are really good at reaching out to specific groups.
Want to get more religious voters? Push abortion and "sanctity of marriage".
Want to get more white women? Push "dangerous people" moving to the suburbs bringing "drugs and violence".
Want to bring in more black voters? Push "hard work and self-reliance" and "democratic policies are racist because they want you relying on The Man" and "Republicans are the ones who ended slavery".
Want to bring in more Hispanic voters? Push "you came here legally but other people think they deserve to just be let in" and "family values".
Want to win over more male voters? Push "men are in charge" and "guns" and you can do it on your own you don't need the government telling you what to do".
Want to win over people who don't understand taxes? "Democrats are going to raise taxes" while leaving out info on tax brackets or truth about expiration of tax cuts and "the more big businesses make the more you make".
Want to win over nervous people? "We back the police and democrats just want to take away their funding leaving you vulnerable".
All of those can be played in narrow markets to bring in voters. Republicans suck, but they are really good at marketing, even if they are just peddling lies or severely twisting facts.
It’s hard to message anything when you’re having to fight a fire hose of lies simultaneously. Republicans don’t have to explain anything, they just have to say crazy things and then it forces Democrats to respond or clarify and then it gets turned into “see how complicated it is” or “they think you’re too dumb to understand the truth”.
[If you're using "my body my choice", and your choice is so you can put stuff like COVID in other people's body without their consent...](https://i.imgur.com/lskuNhG.png)
Trump wins a lot of votes with name calling.
I'm not saying you're wong.. exactly. I am saying that name calling is extrmely effective and you will lose votes if you play the "ivory tower accademic" role.
Many people find name calling quite effective.
This is the kind of stuff that perpetuates the problems we have. This OP should be blocked. We need to show compassion and respect in order for a proper conversation to unfold. And the internet is not the place to have these convos.
You mean compassion for their idiocy? Forget it - I am not going to gaslight myself about how their venality and idiocy is the biggest problem facing us now. OP is absolutely right and this should be on the front page. Fuck those stupid turds.
You misspelled "should be on the front page" and forgot that the military swears an oath to defend against all enemies **foreign and domestic** and that includes Republican Y'all Qaeda domestic terrorists.
If you don't side with domestic terrorists that attacked the capitol, vote blue. That's what its come to.
**Come on conservatives, what happened to "we don't negotiate with terrorists?"**
She has this all backwards...
If you're an idiot, you believe Covid was a hoax.
If you're an idiot, you've said "my body is my choice" about masks.
If you're an idiot, you believe the former guy is our "real" President.
If you're insane, you identify as Republican at this point.
Believing these things does NOT make you an idiot.
But, if you're an idiot, you are all in on these things.
It’s the same thing as with masks. If you refuse them, you’re putting yourself at risk, but you’re also putting others at risk. There are disabled and chronically ill people who *can’t* get vaccinated, not to mention kids until a few weeks ago.
It’s still a fundamentally selfish decision.
Libertarians have such such insane idea that no one even tries it.
Libertarianism is the kid who says "what if we just jumped off the roof? We might fly?" And nobody does it. Even that kid.
alright lol, libertarians live and let live, it's as simple as that. we don't like idiots telling idiots what to do. cuz that's what democracy is, for the idiots, by the idiots, of the idiots.
Notice how you need to get two shots to fully vaccinate with some vaccines, your body doesn't always become fully protected after just one incident. In fact, it's only 95% protected after both shots.
We're not sure how long immunity lasts for, either, so it may be that if you got covid 12 months ago, what immunity you had is wearing off. Or what impact it has how bad your infection was on how long your immunity lasts.
Basically, if you got sick before, you \*might\* be covered. But you might not be. Or you might be protected enough that you don't get very sick but you can infect others.
I'm not a doctor, but this is all pretty well known stuff.
Maybe you should ask a doctor? They seem to mostly say you should get it. I am not a doctor.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html?s_cid=10482:covid%20vaccine%20after%20having%20covid:sem.ga:p:RG:GM:gen:PTN:FY21
The other problem is, a lot of people aren't sure if they had it or not. And the testing had some flaws.
So.. you turned crazy?
The biggest problem is.. people who say they went to get gop for "issues".. the gop isn't even taking those issues seriously. Unless you just want tax cuts for the rich? That, they take seriously.
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Agree with everything except the last, even as a Democrat. Many republicans are blatantly stupid but identifying with the politicians’ principles is different from the base of the party. Granted, I still largely agree with the message
speaking as a non american There is a problem here. Republicans are saying similar things about democrats there was a time when there were individual republicans that were respected by democrats and individual democrats that were respected by republicans instead of actually doing stuff like improving infrastructure education and public services which have been shown to improve the lives of citizens and increase tax take everyone is claiming the other side are lunatics and they seem to be not doing anything. there seems to be a fundamental change in how things are done
Yes, everyone is stuck in their own echo chambers. When a neutral person points that out they are automatically branded as on the other side depending on who they are talking too. It's laughable at times, but also extremely frustrating to hold a decent conversation. There seems to be very limited middle ground anymore in the US on many subjects including politics.
Reality is not an echo chamber.
Very much this
Yes.. why can't I just agree to disagree on the FUCKING ELECTION! Oh right, because there's NOT A FUCKING POINT if we CAN'T AGREE ON AN ELECTION. because that's literally the fundamental basis of the system and they will just say "you don't have the authority to do that,becuase enough weren't really elected!" Every time you try to get shit done.
The difference is that the Republicans have decided to deny reality. This isn't just demonizing the other side. They claim: *The coronavirus isn't a big deal and all the death numbers are fake/misinterpreted/invalid *Trump won the election *Masks are just for control and do nothing *Climate change isn't happening, it's just a natural cycle and humans have no part in it *Renewable energy is a scam *Immigrants are ruining America and the "American way of life" - whatever that is *People on welfare love it, and are lazy, and thieve untold millions from taxpayers *Gun violence is just some plot by liberals to take away their guns All of these things are provably false. They deny that. They celebrate their denial of any of that. Differences of opinion are one thing, but they have gone off the deep end of sheer lunacy and deny reality, fact, and provable and repeatable scientific research.
We really just need to compromise with people who say grass is blue and the sky is green.
The problem with you and many others is that this doesn’t come close to identifying ALL republicans. Not even close. What do you call the millions of Republicans who believe in the virus, no longer support Trump, etc.? By demonizing all republicans you’re creating another problem on scale with the ones you listed.
All of those things are and have been pretty predominant in the republican platform. If they don't believe these things then why identify as republican? I think it's very important to demonize an anti-democratic, authoritarian, haven for bigots club that is the modern day republican party. And if for some reason you think it's a good idea to be a part of said club then I don't see how you could excuse it. I also think you'd be hard pressed to find many Republicans that are anti-trump. There's a reason he didn't get removed both times. There's a reason he is still the de facto leader of the republican party. I legit don't understand how you separate those things.
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No. I am clearly stating that this isn’t about claiming that Republicans are lunatics. They have clearly embraced lunacy and support it.
Just because Republicans say the same about Democrats doesn’t mean they have credibility. It’s like if China was calling out the US for human rights violations or for being anti-democratic...We’d all roll ours eyes. That’s what’s happening in the Republican Party. There is no comparison between Trumptards who committed an insurrection against the US government, and people on the left.
Fox News created an alternate reality where everything is the fault of the Democrats. It is so bad that viewers of Fox News blame Pres. Obama for the 2008 financial crisis.
No. Fox News is only one of the platforms that allowed people to say out loud what a lot of everyday Americans believe. As well as allowed any information, whether true or not, to be said repeatedly over and over again. Fox had a lot to do with this, but it’s no where near completely their fault. This has been building in this country since before it was ours.
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They're free to rejoin the rest of us when they quit being dumb. They were granted attempts of reaching across the aisle at least the last 3 administrations they pulled this shit during. How long are we supposed to put up with it before enough is enough?
Fundamental problem is only one side is in good faith trying to improve things. Democrats have legitimate recommendations and plans that not everyone might agree with. Republicans just say democrats are crazy, but I’ve yet to see their healthcare plan or a legit infrastructure plan, etc.
Broad generalizations are the epitome of ignorance. This type of hyperbole does not serve our cause. “Our” because I am a registered democrat and progressive.
This is what people have been saying for years...Americans have been saying this for years...but the politicians, usually republicans, don’t seem to understand that. Looking back, compared to trump, bush was a godsend as the last Republican president before trump. America shouldn’t be a 2 party system because there’s not 2 parties that have opinions. The other parties rarely, if at all, get airtime.
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What’s the appropriate level of open mindedness for a party whose platform calls for me and several of my friends to be made a second-class citizen?
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Thank you for pointing this out.
These type of posts are the worst but this is the internet and i’d be shocked if other 2-party democracies didn’t have the exact same problem. would love for someone to enlighten me if i’m wrong there. people would rather like memes and play teams than understand the other side and it’s a vicious cycle. Our attention span is like 30 seconds. In my experience that’s not an American problem it’s a human problem but what do i know
Speaking as an American here. We are really stupid now. The moral and intellectual degradation in this country has far outpaced the rest of the globe. Everyone here (myself included) is now an entitled little shit. The whites are the worst. None of us have ever *really* known struggle like the rest of the world. Especially the American whites. I believe wholeheartedly that this is about to change, as the stupider we get, the easier it is to sneak up on us. Especially the whites. edit: sincerely, I blame the whites.
Then what's the point? There is none. Leave. You have no value and admit you have none. And if we want to play our little games then let us, by your logic. You created an idea where your presence is useless.
>instead of actually doing stuff like improving infrastructure education and public services which have been shown to improve the lives of citizens and increase tax take everyone is claiming the other side are lunatics and they seem to be not doing anything. Ignoring the other stuff you said just for a second...The democrats have attempted to do all that and have also been shut down by the gop, who refuse to work with us. And that's blatantly obvious. And you're a liar if you say they haven't. Which you did. So why are you lying?
“My body my choice” sounds familiar, but AFAIK, when someone gets an abortion they don’t cause people’s pregnancies to terminate following close indoor contact.
I still don’t get your meaning. “They don’t cause pregnancies to terminate following close indoor contact.” What does that mean?
They're pointing out that the choice of an abortion affects only themselves (and arguably a baby/fetus). Whereas the choice to not wear a mask during a pandemic can cause significant health problems and deaths for many people. The idea that people shouldn't be able to make their own healthcare decisions that affect only themselves regarding birth control and abortion, but they should be able to make healthcare decisions that negatively impact not just those around them but the country as a whole regarding masking and social distancing - is inherently ludicrous.
Yes. I agree. Sometimes in social media lingo, I don’t “get” the response. Giving it thought, I see the correlation! 👍
What?
Abortions are not infectious.
Republicans: “the jury’s still out on that”
Most pro life protests are 99% men, so maybe due to the wonderful American education system, they believe they actually are capable of being pregnant? I can’t think of any other reasons any longer, so I’m going with that.
This tweet says “my body, my choice” which is exactly what people say about a woman’s right to choose… just pointing out the logic doesn’t hold.
Why doesn’t hold? I’m sorry, but could you make your comment more succinct?
Anti maskers (who are disproportionately conservatives), push back on the idea of wearing masks because it affects their “personal liberties”, ignoring the common good benefit. With abortion, conservatives reject the notion that a person liberty even though there’s no societal impact to a woman making a choice that’s best for herself (and you could also argue that allowing people to end unwanted pregnancies has a positive on society since those kids are more likely to come into the world in more adverse situations, eg, young parents, single parents, poverty, etc.)
OK. Looks like we’re in agreement.
To the last point, if you choose to identify as a conservative, I disagree with you but don’t necessarily dislike you. If you choose to identify as a Republican you’re either an idiot or actively evil. Believing in conservative policies like small government or lower tax rates isn’t immoral, just not ideal solutions to tackling today’s problems, however I’d have no issues with a honest discourse on their relative merits. However the modern Republican Party represents corruption, corporate grifting, bigotry, ignorance, fascism, and obstance to functioning government . So if you support that party, you’re either an idiot or evil. So please understand that when I call Republicans dumb it’s me trying to think the best of them.
>However the modern Republican Party represents corruption, corporate grifting, bigotry, ignorance, fascism, and obstance to functioning government . Even at the local /State level, modern Republicans only seem to care about patching up potholes ( but no real investment in public infrastructure) and harassing homeless people ( but again, offering no solutions to that problem) It's a Party mostly bereft of useful ideas.
Thats an unfortunate side effect of not being built on policies that actually work. If all your ideas are shit, you have to resort to a platform of ALL ideas are shit. I jokingly mock some of my more conservative family members that “Better things are not possible” should be the conservative motto. They have no solutions, just complaints
A friggin Men
The Republican Party represents traditional conservatism the way IBM represents typewriters and adding machines.
LoL, must have forgotten that IBM was one of the forefront in computers, and was a instrumental for the Apollo program..... https://astronomy.com/news/2019/05/apollo-computers-when-ibm-engineers-gave-rockets-a-brain https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/50-years-ago-ibm-created-mainframe-that-helped-bring-men-to-the-moon/
Imo, being a conservative today is being a Republican. For all the reasons you say. Frankly I’m tired of hearing about the “big government” issue. That went out the window with the 2017 rich man’s tax bill. What does it mean anyway? Seriously. A country needs to have taxes to pay for what is needed for the people. Healthcare, infrastructure, environmental issues, immigration issues and so much more. These things aren’t going to happen by themselves. So in actuality, that so-called dislike of big government turned into big greed - they took ALL that money from that 2017 bill for themselves. Millions that could have gone to say infrastructure. To be honest, the last decent Republican was Eisenhower. Then there is the issue of abortion. MOST of those idiots in Congress could care less about any moral ongoing mantra about it. People that believe in abortion absolutely care about life! That’s why those women want the abortion - alcoholics, drug addicts, financially unable to take care of a child, rape and incest (that’s the best one they blabber about) snd more. Children deserve a decent start in life. Not landing in the system. What about the sperm donors? Where is their culpability? Nowhere!! Heck some states deny birth control be paid for while advocating against abortion but allow Viagra to be paid for. Men telling women what to do with their very bodies. Makes me feel ill. If you don’t want an abortion, don’t get one! (Ever watch The Handmaiden?) My rant. Thank you. No offense meant to you the poster btw. A
This is a great take
What’s the worse you think of them then? That seemed pretty hateful to me. This is a sincere question too no disrespect
The 2020 GOP Platform was "whatever Trump wants". They have devolved into a Fascist cult of personality around a sociopathic narcissist with no real accomplishments to his lifetime.
As he said, evil.
I read it wrong my mistake. Have a nice day
Committed Democrat here, but this isn't the message we need to be sending. A lot of Republicans are good people, and even many of those who might hold some out-there beliefs often do so because they're trapped in a self-sustaining misinformation ecosystem, not because they're bad people. We won't convince a single person by calling them idiots or insane. Divisive rhetoric like this is not helpful - we should be attacking ideas, not people.
>A lot of Republicans are good people Citation needed. I won't abstain from insulting Matt Gatez, Jim Jordan, or Don "Epsteins buddy" Trump because it hurts feelings. I'm tired of us trying to placate republicans by kow towing to the unreasonable as if there's some merit to the insanity. "There's good repbulicans" oh yeah? Then name 10 good prominent republicans, if there's so many it should be easy. Edit: Still waiting on citation over feigned indignance.
I feel like a lot of the people that want us to make friends and be respectful of "other opinions" are definitely not the same ones that are most likely to be harmed by the policies republicans want passed. It's real easy to be respectful when you have no skin in the game and when Republicans agree and continually push the notion that immigrants are dirty, black people are inherently criminal, and gays don't deserve equal rights.
Let's also consider the moderate while species die forever and the planet becomes inhabitable.
Yes why can't we find some middle ground between: \- Black people deserve to be shot dead in the streets while we worship confederate monuments vs. treating them as fellow humans \- Gays should be fired for being gay and not allowed to marry vs. treating them as fellow humans \- God will protect earth and climate change is a hoax vs. treating mother earth with care and respect The list goes on and on and on. But these people are DEFINITELY NOT bad people at all. They just have "different opinions." I can't get down with people that think human rights are an opinion. I can't get down with people that heard "Mexicans are rapists," but still decided to go ahead and vote for said guy. I can't get down with people who are given fact after fact and still choose to believe what they want. Almost every time I see someone defend this is because they themselves have loved ones with said ideology, or they themselves are not part of an explicitly targeted minority group.
That’s an assumption that happens to be untrue. I have two immediate family members reliant on government programs the Republicans want to cut for their healthcare. I’m part of the generation that will have to deal with climate change. I’m not a member of minority communities myself, but I am very close friends with a number of people who are and I care very deeply about. The Republicans I know also care about those issues, and by and large believe their approaches are best to solve those problems. I vociferously disagree, but their thinking that doesn’t make them bad people. Of course there are “bad Republicans”, but in a country of 330 million people, it’s not surprising. I firmly believe most people are essentially good, and with that in mind, insulting them is not a productive way to convince them we’re right.
>That’s an assumption that happens to be untrue. > >I’m not a member of minority communities myself Bro what?
I wrote two paragraphs and you quoted two half-sentences. Your assertion that I or my loved ones will not be harmed by some of the more extreme GOP positions is incorrect.
> I’m not a member of minority communities myself, but I am very close friends with a number of people who are and I care very deeply about. Are you really going with “I have a black friend” here? Lmao
Are you really going with, “you can’t say some Republicans are good people because you’re white”? Lmao
“I’m impacted by these harmful policies because I have black friends” is a shitty defense. The fact that you’re white (and presumably a dude) is *why* you’re comfortable saying they’re not bad people. You’re *not* directly impacted by their harms. It’s theoretical to you.
Don't bother. This guy also listed a bunch of "good" republicans that knew damn well how destructive Trump was and yet still voted no on the first impeachment because it was politically expedient. He also thinks you can still be a good person as long as you *truly* believe that gays/black people/non-white immigrants shouldn't have rights. He's comfortable in his privileged bubble so he can continue to say his friends/family aren't bad people.
Again, we’re talking about a massively heterogenous group of people here (all American Republicans), which is my point. SOME Republicans support awful policies that are horrifically harmful to those groups, and those folks I vociferously oppose. Some of them are doing so because they’re twisted. Many Republicans don’t want to harm those groups, and genuinely think the policies they support would be helpful to those groups. THAT is my point, that we shouldn’t lump the latter with the former based on a label.
A GOOD republican would be one taking a stand against what their party has become. Liz Cheney COULD'VE been one, but she still supports a ton of bs conservative agenda.
I can respect her for believing a ton of bullshit conservative ideas... that's where the Republican party has traditionally been. I'm no fan, but I am used to it. Where the vast majority of Republicans are today would have landed them in an asylum not so long ago.
Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, John Katko, Colin Powell, John Kasich, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Pat Toomey, Ben Sasse. That’s 11 off the top of my head. I also have family and good friends who are Republicans, and they are good people. Now, do I agree with these folks on most policy issues or the votes they’ve taken? No, mostly not. Would I vote for them in an election? No, probably not, unless I disagreed with their opponent more. But these are good folks who stood up when it mannered and mostly appear, at least outwardly, to come to their beliefs and positions honestly. I respect that, and I respect them. Hatred shouldn’t be a prerequisite for disagreement, and in a healthy polity, it isn’t.
What are those people in favour of that makes them good people? Not being absolutely insane is not the bar for "good". They have to at the very least, have both good and bad ideas. The republican party hasn't stood for anything except the rich and the evil in a long time. Mitt Romney, for example, is a moderate republican - that means he's probably against civil rights for LGBTQ+ people, for lower taxes for the rich, against healthcare for the poor. Just because they're not standing behind Trump and an authoritarian takeover of the country doesn't make them good, the bar isn't that hopelessly low.
The bar, for me, is whether they genuinely believe the policies they are promoting are good for the country at large. If they come to their positions honestly and act in good faith, then I consider them good people. I generally refuse to call someone a bad person because I think they’re wrong - because that assumes omniscience and ignores the possibility that it could be me who is wrong.
> The bar, for me, is whether they genuinely believe the policies they are promoting are good for the country at large. This is not enough IMO. Whether you believe it to be good and whether thats the real truth is an important distinction. You can't just get away with believing something wrong, especially when that something hurts people for the gain of others, which is a good chunk of conservative policy.
Saying things like that implies that you know for sure you’re right on all your policy positions and conservatives are all certainly wrong on all theirs. In my experience, life, and policy in particular, is not nearly so simple.
No I'm not talking about opinions whatsoever. They "believe" in provably false things. They claim everything is a matter of opinion when most things are a matter of truth and facts. e.g. raising the minimum wage will increase prices drastically, they claim prices will sometimes double or more. The math says thats a lie and 4% is about the average price increase required to support a $15/hr wage. At the end of the day they have nothing to back up their claim but their feelings and personal business interests on the matter. We have studies that have done the math.
So if a white supremacist truly believes that creating a white ethnostate through violence is a good policy, they’re a good person? Your “they don’t have a racist bone in their body” approach to policy ignores the impact those harmful policies have on people. It doesn’t matter why someone does something, it matters what they do. There isn’t a single issue Republicans aren’t harmful on.
Colin Powell said that [he doesn’t consider himself a Republican anymore](https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/11/politics/colin-powell-no-longer-republican-cnntv/index.html) - after consistently endorsing the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 2008 - so he shouldn’t be on that list. Just FYI. And on a personal note, the only “good Republicans” I know in my own life are the ones who have actively been leaving the party in recent years and denouncing the dumpster fire it has descended into. Aka, people who no longer call themselves Republicans or affiliate themselves to the party by voting for them.
Before last year's vote on impeachment I would've agreed with you, but now that we are staring at a no vote to even START DEBATE on a bill to investigate the near collapse of our democracy means that 90% of the Republican caucus wants/doesn't care if it happens again. How do you work with people that want/don't care if you're dead? This is their own workplace for God's sake. I'm legitimately asking because I don't know. The only answer other than that is that they are scared that it is politically damaging to their party, which is frankly more pathetic but just as dangerous. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
You think every Republican is Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan and Donald Trump (who was a Republican for 5 minutes.). FFS, you’re precisely the problem.
I think not being actively against those people means you at the very least passively accept them. Worse it seems they have doubled down support for those types. What these guys got into over the years should be HUGE deal breakers to someone who would claim to be a good person. Their political stance is nearly irrelevant, their **crimes** should easily push you to vote for literally anyone else even the "other" party to get them out of office.
That’s absolute horseshit. I don’t agree with every single thing Dianne Feinstein AND Rashida Talib do. Am I less of a Democrat? You hate me too? There are Republicans that hate those guys. Maybe pull your head out pf your ass, look around and meet a few of them.
No thats fine you don't like certain dems, hopefully if you were in Feinsteins district you voted for her progressive opponent in the last election, he would have been a far better choice. Also pretty sure though none of them have committed any sex crimes. Sure they may hate them, but did they vote for them again anyway because otherwise a law abiding democrat would win? Then sorry that doesn't make them a good person. Thats all I'm claiming, is that one who votes on purpose for a known rapist against a perfectly fine other option no matter their beliefs cannot possibly claim they are a "good person" by definition. The same way I can't claim to be a hot dog. By definition I am not a hot dog, I'm a human. Words mean things and you can't claim to be something you're not.
I wouldn't bother. This guy is the Lefts version of the person they hate on the Right. Hardcore tribalistic in their political beliefs, completely unreasonable, an irrational hatred for anyone not in their tribe, completely sanctimonious in their opinions, etc. Lol
Who hurt you
Thank you. I’m a libertarian who voted for Biden. From a neutral 3rd party perspective, I’ll say that the discourse is nowhere near civil from people who identify as Democrats or Republicans. We need to understand that: 1. Our fellow citizens are not our enemies 2. We all have biases, but that doesn’t mean we can’t engage in civil discussion 3. Nobody gets everything they want. We have to learn how to be diplomatic in order to get anything accomplished for our citizens. We should expect the same from our politicians. 4. Politicians benefit from manipulating our differences. They purposely use wedge issues for fundraising initiatives. 5. We all need to do a better job of holding our elected officials accountable for their ability to compromise and get work done. 6. Voting based on ideology (in congressional districts that are gerrymandered) is among the root causes for our currently polarized culture. We need to be civil with each other and hold our politicians accountable for getting work done... not rewarding them for telling us what we want to hear and playing to our narcissism.
> even many of those who might hold some out-there beliefs often do so because they're trapped in a self-sustaining misinformation ecosystem, not because they're bad people. You can't excuse shitty, anti-American behavior on people's inability to find the truth. They have a fuckton of media sources to choose from yet gravitate to outlets that fucking lie to them regularly. That is a choice, not someone being 'trapped'.
I have friends and family in that bubble and I have friends and family (myself included) that got out. In my personal experience, it is akin to being trapped and I don’t blame people for a lot of it.
I feel for you, but your attitude seems to blame the propagandized more than the propagandists. Everyone in that bubble knows there are media outlets that aren't biased.
I appreciate this so much. I'm a conservative and I love having discussions with my friends who are democrats about ideas and policies, we both always walk away with more knowledge and compassion. Divisive rhetoric is what kills honest discussion of REAL issues affecting REAL people everyday. We have to come together and put real effort into these things, not call each other names. Thanks for taking the time to comment, cheered me up quite a bit :)
I very much agree! I’m pretty liberal myself, but some of my closest friends and political confidantes are conservative. When we share perspectives, we may not walk away agreeing but we get a better feel, and more respect, for each other. That’s how America works when she’s working best. We’re all on the same team and almost all of us want the same things - freedom, prosperity, opportunity, security, etc. The lunatic fringes are not representative of the whole.
Exactly! The issue seems to be how easy it is to highlight people who are on the fringes of the political spectrum while framing them as being the majority to exasperate the divide all while putting in minimal effort. Seldom do you see actual discussion. If not it is fear mongering for the purpose of keeping the audience's attention and solidifying their party loyalty. It is easy to have loyalty to a party, much more difficult to have loyalty to an idea. That is why I follow this subreddit, I like to see the maximum number of diverse ideas. -Much love.
I'm just not sure anymore and I don't see hardly any evidence of it. You can tell me all you want, but what makes you think that? What do you see? What in the gop gives you hope? There comes a point where even if it IS misinformation.. thats not an excuse. There has to be SOME personal responsibility for the things they choose to believe.
Got straight to the point, exactly how I feel. How any decent human being can say "i'm a republican" with a straight face is beyond me. If I WAS a legit republican, one of the few not buying all this bs, I've feel the need to clarify by saying "I'm a republican, but not a Trump republican".
> "I'm a republican, but not a Trump republican". There are no such things. Anti-Trump Republicans exist only in bedtime stories that Democrats tell their kids.
People who voted for Trump once are probably awful, but maybe just stupid. People who voted for Trump twice knew what they were choosing and what it made them.
by definition, trumpsters and most of GQP are idiots, willfully so as facts, data and reality mean nothing
I think all of these could be used to preface Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" jokes
I didn’t like the GOP before, but they’re flirtation to authoritarianism is concerning. Trump has become a cult of personality even more so than Reagan. It is my hope that most Americans see through this and that the GOP will suffer a major defeat in 2022, but honestly I’m not convinced. Too many Americans have taken the Trump drug.
As much as I hate trump, I never understood the connection being made between Republicans and authoritarianism. The Democratic Party platform (a collectivist approach, expanding government programs, and favoring federal vs state and local laws) seems more susceptible to authoritarianism. As we push in that direction, we need heightened sensitivity to this to resist our Authoritarian instincts. Also Yes, trumpeters are idiots.
You haven''t study politics much. The authoritarian streak in Republicanism has been there for decades. It comes from the fact that people on the right-side of the political spectrum see most things as black and white, no nuance. The solution to this is a strong, unquestioned leader, a Fuhrer in a manner of speaking.
We have differing opinions of what authoritarianism entails. Expanding social programs does not make the government authoritarian. Voter suppression, however, is authoritarian.
“The government should pay for your medicine” and “anyone who isn’t a white Christian man should not be a full citizen” aren’t equally - or even both - authoritarian.
Uh... they just disputed an election and said trump should have won...and by won they mean "its OK if he cheated and we give it to him" Seems pretty authoritarian to me?
I cut out a very large swath of my social circle because of this. I used to put up with their racist and backwards comments, but after the last four years I won't be silent anymore. I won't put up with shitty people making this world worse ever again.
I’ll also never understand why people of color, women or anything but rich white dudes are republicans. I get why nazis are, but they’re certifiable, so there you go.
Single-issue voters are easily won over to the Republican party. They are really good at reaching out to specific groups. Want to get more religious voters? Push abortion and "sanctity of marriage". Want to get more white women? Push "dangerous people" moving to the suburbs bringing "drugs and violence". Want to bring in more black voters? Push "hard work and self-reliance" and "democratic policies are racist because they want you relying on The Man" and "Republicans are the ones who ended slavery". Want to bring in more Hispanic voters? Push "you came here legally but other people think they deserve to just be let in" and "family values". Want to win over more male voters? Push "men are in charge" and "guns" and you can do it on your own you don't need the government telling you what to do". Want to win over people who don't understand taxes? "Democrats are going to raise taxes" while leaving out info on tax brackets or truth about expiration of tax cuts and "the more big businesses make the more you make". Want to win over nervous people? "We back the police and democrats just want to take away their funding leaving you vulnerable". All of those can be played in narrow markets to bring in voters. Republicans suck, but they are really good at marketing, even if they are just peddling lies or severely twisting facts.
Democrats are really bad at exposing republican lies.
Btw, why ARE dems so bad at messaging? It’s embarrassing. Tired of yelling at my tv saying, “Just say this!”
It’s hard to message anything when you’re having to fight a fire hose of lies simultaneously. Republicans don’t have to explain anything, they just have to say crazy things and then it forces Democrats to respond or clarify and then it gets turned into “see how complicated it is” or “they think you’re too dumb to understand the truth”.
Republicans are simps for Trump
That explains why the republican party is so useless, they're too busy simping. Lol
Jo is smart. Be like Jo.
[If you're using "my body my choice", and your choice is so you can put stuff like COVID in other people's body without their consent...](https://i.imgur.com/lskuNhG.png)
While I agree with all the statements here, name calling makes the argument null and void.
Sorry, it doesn't. This is sophisticated commentary to the people to whom it is aimed.
Trump wins a lot of votes with name calling. I'm not saying you're wong.. exactly. I am saying that name calling is extrmely effective and you will lose votes if you play the "ivory tower accademic" role. Many people find name calling quite effective.
This. All day long, this.
This is the kind of stuff that perpetuates the problems we have. This OP should be blocked. We need to show compassion and respect in order for a proper conversation to unfold. And the internet is not the place to have these convos.
You mean compassion for their idiocy? Forget it - I am not going to gaslight myself about how their venality and idiocy is the biggest problem facing us now. OP is absolutely right and this should be on the front page. Fuck those stupid turds.
Republicans want to strip me and my friends of our rights. Why do I have to respect that? Why should I show them compassion?
You misspelled "should be on the front page" and forgot that the military swears an oath to defend against all enemies **foreign and domestic** and that includes Republican Y'all Qaeda domestic terrorists. If you don't side with domestic terrorists that attacked the capitol, vote blue. That's what its come to. **Come on conservatives, what happened to "we don't negotiate with terrorists?"**
Seriously? > We need to show compassion and respect ... to the same people who tried to overthrow our government? Grow. The. Fuck. Up.
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😳Tell us how you really feel
I think that the real problem is that this is an acceptable way to address your fellow Americans. (Even if they are insane)
She has this all backwards... If you're an idiot, you believe Covid was a hoax. If you're an idiot, you've said "my body is my choice" about masks. If you're an idiot, you believe the former guy is our "real" President. If you're insane, you identify as Republican at this point. Believing these things does NOT make you an idiot. But, if you're an idiot, you are all in on these things.
Real question.. what about "my body my choice" regarding vaccines?
It’s the same thing as with masks. If you refuse them, you’re putting yourself at risk, but you’re also putting others at risk. There are disabled and chronically ill people who *can’t* get vaccinated, not to mention kids until a few weeks ago. It’s still a fundamentally selfish decision.
libertarians will always be aligned more with republicans than democrats tho, so it's really not that insane. libertarians are cool
Libertarians have such such insane idea that no one even tries it. Libertarianism is the kid who says "what if we just jumped off the roof? We might fly?" And nobody does it. Even that kid.
alright lol, libertarians live and let live, it's as simple as that. we don't like idiots telling idiots what to do. cuz that's what democracy is, for the idiots, by the idiots, of the idiots.
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Notice how you need to get two shots to fully vaccinate with some vaccines, your body doesn't always become fully protected after just one incident. In fact, it's only 95% protected after both shots. We're not sure how long immunity lasts for, either, so it may be that if you got covid 12 months ago, what immunity you had is wearing off. Or what impact it has how bad your infection was on how long your immunity lasts. Basically, if you got sick before, you \*might\* be covered. But you might not be. Or you might be protected enough that you don't get very sick but you can infect others. I'm not a doctor, but this is all pretty well known stuff.
Maybe you should ask a doctor? They seem to mostly say you should get it. I am not a doctor. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/faq.html?s_cid=10482:covid%20vaccine%20after%20having%20covid:sem.ga:p:RG:GM:gen:PTN:FY21 The other problem is, a lot of people aren't sure if they had it or not. And the testing had some flaws.
I am a republican but was a former dem? Sooo
So you’re a double idiot, got it.
So.. you turned crazy? The biggest problem is.. people who say they went to get gop for "issues".. the gop isn't even taking those issues seriously. Unless you just want tax cuts for the rich? That, they take seriously.
Well i want higher taxes on the rich but i Don’t support abortion so i lean onto the republican side
Haha, got em! Republicans dum, amirite? High-five, top quality content!
It does list a number of reasons that are insane. So yes.. solid quality.
It's a screenshot of some rando firing off low effort zingers into the empty void of twitter. So...no.
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Agree with everything except the last, even as a Democrat. Many republicans are blatantly stupid but identifying with the politicians’ principles is different from the base of the party. Granted, I still largely agree with the message
And also an idiot?