There are 567 comments.

1. Coolidge
   Flicker

   @Flicker

   9:47 AM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   David C. Broussard (View Comment):

   Flicker (View Comment):
   and others who think that Christianity is nothing supernatural or miraculous, but rather a beneficial or “evolutionarily adaptive” cultural invention

   I use this a lot when I am talking to anti-religious people. Religion is the beat way to establish morals across a culture. Many who think that every person should develop their own code of ethics as they grow up to which I counter…do you really want the 50% of people who are below average intelligence developing their own code of what is right and wrong? They thunk its fine for THEM, college educated and over-inflated sense of intelligence, but those other people…they need to be told what is right and wrong…by the very person who thinks they should develop their own ethics.

   I tend to think that a religion’s morality can’t be established within a culture without a core of true believers.  And otherwise religion as a cultural invention is not really a religion but a moral code.

   And remember human intelligence is definitively pretty smart.  Half of all humans may fall into the lower half of human intelligence, but still a dog or a chimpanzee can’t drive a car in heavy traffic, especially with a lot of big trucks on the road, but pretty much every human can, even in the lower half.

2. Inactive
   HeavyWater

   @HeavyWater

   10:49 AM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   David C. Broussard (View Comment):

   Flicker (View Comment):
   and others who think that Christianity is nothing supernatural or miraculous, but rather a beneficial or “evolutionarily adaptive” cultural invention

   I use this a lot when I am talking to anti-religious people.

   Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

   When a Muslim hangs a woman to death for engaging in pre-marital sex, this Muslim believes that he is carrying out God’s law on Earth.

   But what if this Muslim is wrong and rather than committing an act of justice by putting the woman to death for having sex before marriage, this Muslim is actually committing an act of injustice?

   That’s what people like me, who don’t subscribe to any particular religious belief, have to grapple with.  We have to try to distinguish between correct and incorrect moral claims made by people, whether these moral claims are presented as religious truths or non-religious truths.

3. Coolidge
   Flicker

   @Flicker

   10:52 AM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   HeavyWater (View Comment):
   Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality. 

   This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity.  It appears to be a proven good for societies.

4. Inactive
   HeavyWater

   @HeavyWater

   11:37 AM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   Flicker (View Comment):

   HeavyWater (View Comment):
   Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

   This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity. It appears to be a proven good for societies.

   When I was a few months away from turning 18 years old and in the process of converting from Leftism and towards conservatism, I found it interesting how often I, as someone who was raised in a non-religious household and was not religious, found myself agreeing with the Reverend Jerry Falwell as he denounced the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the pulpit.  

   Over the years, I dabbled into Christianity and never found it compelling enough to become a “real” Christian.  But I did notice that while I toiled away as a conservative political activist, my allies were often Christians.  

   However, one time when I was handing out literature for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom at a college, I started talking to the Catholic priest at the table next to mine, who I think was handing out literature sponsored by his church.  This Catholic priest said to me something like, “Only the liberals care about the poor.”  I realized that not all religious people were politically conservative.  I probably knew this already though.  

5. Coolidge
   Fake John/Jane Galt

   @FakeJohnJaneGalt

   12:13 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   Manny (View Comment):

   Gary Robbins (View Comment):

   Manny (View Comment):

   Painter Jean (View Comment):

   DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

   I have long felt that Breitbart’s famous comment that “politics is downstream from culture” is no longer true and perhaps never was.

   I think it depends on the issue, Drew. Certainly, when it came to same-sex marriage, the battle was lost because the culture – the public – didn’t see the value of traditional marriage. In contrast, I’d say that the transgender idiocy is being imposed from the top down.

   I continue to be shocked at how few people (except cultural conservatives) are outraged by the transgender idiocy. This should have been stopped by both parties because the American people would not stand for it. Or so one would think. But that is not what is happening. I think you under estimate how much of this is supported by Americans.

   I think that transgender idiocy will be the wedge issue of 2024, and will lead us to victory in the Presidency and Senate, while increasing our margin in the House.

   I c an only wish Gary. I speak to Libertarian leaning conservatives, my friend George for instance. I had an argument over this with him. He believes people should do what they want. If someone wants to cut off their sex organs and reconstruct it whatever way they want, he’s fine with it. Its their business.

   I can see that point.  It’s the laws making me accept their delusions that bother me.  Also not happy with their protected status.  Everybody should have same status. 

6. Coolidge
   Fake John/Jane Galt

   @FakeJohnJaneGalt

   12:31 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

   Gary Robbins (View Comment):

   I disagree if the patient is an adult.

   I am deeply troubled if the patient is a minor. A growing area of law will be a mom in California who want “gender affirming”/irreparable injury for a child and a Father in Arizona who doesn’t want it.

   These people are mentally ill. Wanting to cut off otherwise healthy body parts is a pretty stark sign of mental illness. That any medical professional is willing to engage in mutilating mentally ill people is beyond repulsive, at any age of the mental patient. It should be illegal and carry a long prison sentence. That’s the only outcome that will restore a modicum of sanity to our deeply degraded society.

   And I have been called mentally ill for being a 2nd supporter and conservative.  What will the government be allowed to stop me from doing based on this diagnosis?

7. Member
   Western Chauvinist

   @WesternChauvinist

   

   Post author

   12:37 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

   Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

   Gary Robbins (View Comment):

   I disagree if the patient is an adult.

   I am deeply troubled if the patient is a minor. A growing area of law will be a mom in California who want “gender affirming”/irreparable injury for a child and a Father in Arizona who doesn’t want it.

   These people are mentally ill. Wanting to cut off otherwise healthy body parts is a pretty stark sign of mental illness. That any medical professional is willing to engage in mutilating mentally ill people is beyond repulsive, at any age of the mental patient. It should be illegal and carry a long prison sentence. That’s the only outcome that will restore a modicum of sanity to our deeply degraded society.

   And I have been called mentally ill for being a 2nd supporter and conservative. What will the government be allowed to stop me from doing based on this diagnosis?

   Once we give up on objective truth — men cannot have periods or become pregnant, for example — anything is possible. You are not mentally ill, objectively. But, someone who wants a doctor to cut off his penis is. Objectively. 

8. Coolidge
   Fake John/Jane Galt

   @FakeJohnJaneGalt

   12:40 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

   MDHahn (View Comment):

   Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

   Gary Robbins (View Comment):

   I disagree if the patient is an adult.

   I am deeply troubled if the patient is a minor. A growing area of law will be a mom in California who want “gender affirming”/irreparable injury for a child and a Father in Arizona who doesn’t want it.

   These people are mentally ill. Wanting to cut off otherwise healthy body parts is a pretty stark sign of mental illness. That any medical professional is willing to engage in mutilating mentally ill people is beyond repulsive, at any age of the mental patient. It should be illegal and carry a long prison sentence. That’s the only outcome that will restore a modicum of sanity to our deeply degraded society.

   Then extend that logic to elective plastic surgery. Are we going to ban that as well? Where does it cross the line?

   Children cannot consent to such operations and that fundamentally alters the situation. But adults have much more latitude. That doesn’t these kinds of operations are good, but I think that is a distinction that matters.

   I think when we’re talking about what are clearly mental health issues, and the permanent removal of healthy body parts, the distinction is pretty easy. If a man goes to his doctor and says “Doctor, I identify as a double-amputee. Please cut off both my legs. It’s the only way I’ll feel mentally well again!” and the Doctor says “Sure thing!” and gets to work with a hacksaw, I think we’d all recognize that the Doctor is taking advantage of the man’s severe mental health issues for profit. Or is otherwise a quack who needs his medical license revoked.

   But . . . if it’s “Cut off my penis so that I can feel like the woman I know I am inside!” then we’re supposed to applaud it and call it a Good Thing™. Only because we’re dealing with LGBTQIA!++ stuff, which is some kind of third rail in mental health. One must always affirm gender delusion, but is free to address any other delusions.

   And these kinds of surgeries are a big money makers, because you have a patient who is going to have physiological problems for the rest of his/her life. Hormone blockers, hormone cocktails, . . . lifelong drugs, multiple surgeries . . . and oh hey, Big Pharma loves this stuff because $$$$ ka-CHING! $$$$

   I hope the people who were mutilated when they were younger and now have deep regrets will find a way to sue everyone involved. It might be one good way to bring the whole industry to a screeching halt.

   I suspect everybody will double down in the name of inclusiveness 

9. Coolidge
   Fake John/Jane Galt

   @FakeJohnJaneGalt

   12:42 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

   HeavyWater (View Comment):

   Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

   Here’s a question for you. Is there a hill you’re willing to die on in the culture war, or is surrender always and everywhere the best option, so long as you get more votes that way and have ever more agreement from a deeply degraded people?

   As a citizen, I can articulate what I would like the laws of the land to be. But when I participate in the electoral process, I take a “politics is the art of the possible” perspective. I often put aside some of my political priorities in order to advance my other, more viable, political priorities.

   For example, if some Republican candidate in a GOP primary for the US Senate in a swing state says, “Social Security and Medicare are socialist programs and should never have been enacted. I wish we could completely get rid of them,” I would find myself nodding my head in agreement. However, I would question whether I should vote for this candidate in the GOP primary for fear that this candidate would be easy kill for the Democrats.

   These are the kinds of political calculations I consider.

   Smarter move is to vote in Democrat primaries and vote for more conservative candidates 

10. Coolidge
    Flicker

    @Flicker

    12:44 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I disagree if the patient is an adult.

    I am deeply troubled if the patient is a minor. A growing area of law will be a mom in California who want “gender affirming”/irreparable injury for a child and a Father in Arizona who doesn’t want it.

    These people are mentally ill. Wanting to cut off otherwise healthy body parts is a pretty stark sign of mental illness. That any medical professional is willing to engage in mutilating mentally ill people is beyond repulsive, at any age of the mental patient. It should be illegal and carry a long prison sentence. That’s the only outcome that will restore a modicum of sanity to our deeply degraded society.

    And I have been called mentally ill for being a 2nd supporter and conservative. What will the government be allowed to stop me from doing based on this diagnosis?

    They will probably block any of requests for getting your parts amputated.

11. Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt

    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    12:47 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

    This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity. It appears to be a proven good for societies.

    When I was a few months away from turning 18 years old and in the process of converting from Leftism and towards conservatism, I found it interesting how often I, as someone who was raised in a non-religious household and was not religious, found myself agreeing with the Reverend Jerry Falwell as he denounced the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the pulpit.

    Over the years, I dabbled into Christianity and never found it compelling enough to become a “real” Christian. But I did notice that while I toiled away as a conservative political activist, my allies were often Christians.

    However, one time when I was handing out literature for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom at a college, I started talking to the Catholic priest at the table next to mine, who I think was handing out literature sponsored by his church. This Catholic priest said to me something like, “Only the liberals care about the poor.” I realized that not all religious people were politically conservative. I probably knew this already though.

    Save me from liberal Catholic clergy.  They have destroyed my Church.

12. Coolidge
    Fake John/Jane Galt

    @FakeJohnJaneGalt

    12:51 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Fake John/Jane Galt (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I disagree if the patient is an adult.

    I am deeply troubled if the patient is a minor. A growing area of law will be a mom in California who want “gender affirming”/irreparable injury for a child and a Father in Arizona who doesn’t want it.

    These people are mentally ill. Wanting to cut off otherwise healthy body parts is a pretty stark sign of mental illness. That any medical professional is willing to engage in mutilating mentally ill people is beyond repulsive, at any age of the mental patient. It should be illegal and carry a long prison sentence. That’s the only outcome that will restore a modicum of sanity to our deeply degraded society.

    And I have been called mentally ill for being a 2nd supporter and conservative. What will the government be allowed to stop me from doing based on this diagnosis?

    Once we give up on objective truth — men cannot have periods or become pregnant, for example — anything is possible. You are not mentally ill, objectively. But, someone who wants a doctor to cut off his penis is. Objectively.

    you might find this interesting
    

    have no doubt somebody some where is figuring out how to address this need.

13. Coolidge
    kedavis

    @kedavis

    2:06 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

    This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity. It appears to be a proven good for societies.

    When I was a few months away from turning 18 years old and in the process of converting from Leftism and towards conservatism, I found it interesting how often I, as someone who was raised in a non-religious household and was not religious, found myself agreeing with the Reverend Jerry Falwell as he denounced the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the pulpit.

    Over the years, I dabbled into Christianity and never found it compelling enough to become a “real” Christian. But I did notice that while I toiled away as a conservative political activist, my allies were often Christians.

    However, one time when I was handing out literature for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom at a college, I started talking to the Catholic priest at the table next to mine, who I think was handing out literature sponsored by his church. This Catholic priest said to me something like, “Only the liberals care about the poor.” I realized that not all religious people were politically conservative. I probably knew this already though.

    And I hope you informed the priest that he was wrong.  Although conservative “caring for the poor” might be more about helping them to provide for themselves, rather than just giving them whatever they want.

14. Coolidge
    Flicker

    @Flicker

    2:14 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    kedavis (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

    This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity. It appears to be a proven good for societies.

    When I was a few months away from turning 18 years old and in the process of converting from Leftism and towards conservatism, I found it interesting how often I, as someone who was raised in a non-religious household and was not religious, found myself agreeing with the Reverend Jerry Falwell as he denounced the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the pulpit.

    Over the years, I dabbled into Christianity and never found it compelling enough to become a “real” Christian. But I did notice that while I toiled away as a conservative political activist, my allies were often Christians.

    However, one time when I was handing out literature for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom at a college, I started talking to the Catholic priest at the table next to mine, who I think was handing out literature sponsored by his church. This Catholic priest said to me something like, “Only the liberals care about the poor.” I realized that not all religious people were politically conservative. I probably knew this already though.

    And I hope you informed the priest that he was wrong. Although conservative “caring for the poor” might be more about helping them to provide for themselves, rather than just giving them whatever they want.

    Well, what you say, and also that conservatives give far more to the poor and needy than progressives.  Progressives take from others and give to the poor, and conservatives (pretty much all the one’s I’ve known) actually give… to the poor.

15. Coolidge
    Manny

    @Manny

    4:00 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Haha, yes I have heard that from some Protestants. I guess everyone else’s religion is brainwashing but their own.

    Edit: I just recalled that one of my nephews converted to Mormonism and everyone in the family referred to him as being brainwashed. He’s my wife’s brother’s kid. He was a teenager at the time. Father is Jewish but he married a Baptist, and raised their children Baptist. The Baptist side of his family were convinced he was brainwashed. Frankly I thought so too.

    I didn’t say it was brainwashing. I said it was indoctrination, and sectarian indoctrination at that. If fact I first heard of Jesus in CCD when I was six. But with the argument that the man you quoted heard, there’s a difference between early childhood indoctrination and adults deliberate choosing and following of a spiritual course. I’ve never heard of adults being brainwashed into Christianity. I don’t think I ever have heard it once.

    I don’t believe in brainwashing period. People make free minded decisions on the facts they have available. I was just giving what some people use as arguments. I have heard the argument that people are brainwashed into religion. People do make adult conversions. Is that brainwashing?  Is that indoctrination?  Is that coming to a conclusion from personal experience and thought?  Frankly I think it’s the latter. But people who don’t understand the conversion and are taken aback from it often attribute it to brainwashing. 

    Now you may have a more detailed definition of brainwashing. I don’t know. I’m just using it as common idiom. 

16. Coolidge
    Flicker

    @Flicker

    4:55 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Manny (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Haha, yes I have heard that from some Protestants. I guess everyone else’s religion is brainwashing but their own.

    Edit: I just recalled that one of my nephews converted to Mormonism and everyone in the family referred to him as being brainwashed. He’s my wife’s brother’s kid. He was a teenager at the time. Father is Jewish but he married a Baptist, and raised their children Baptist. The Baptist side of his family were convinced he was brainwashed. Frankly I thought so too.

    I didn’t say it was brainwashing. I said it was indoctrination, and sectarian indoctrination at that. If fact I first heard of Jesus in CCD when I was six. But with the argument that the man you quoted heard, there’s a difference between early childhood indoctrination and adults deliberate choosing and following of a spiritual course. I’ve never heard of adults being brainwashed into Christianity. I don’t think I ever have heard it once.

    I don’t believe in brainwashing period. People make free minded decisions on the facts they have available. I was just giving what some people use as arguments. I have heard the argument that people are brainwashed into religion. People do make adult conversions. Is that brainwashing? Is that indoctrination? Is that coming to a conclusion from personal experience and thought? Frankly I think it’s the latter. But people who don’t understand the conversion and are taken aback from it often attribute it to brainwashing.

    Now you may have a more detailed definition of brainwashing. I don’t know. I’m just using it as common idiom.

    Same here.  I never said anyone was brainwashed.  And childhood indoctrination is like childhood discipline, it’s necessary and even today still legally permitted!  It’s your child, and usually from own your flesh, and you have the right to inculcate within him/her your beliefs.  And there is an age of accountability, though I don’t know what that is for any given child, but deliberately choosing a spiritual path and willingly following it is, I think, qualitatively different (but not completely different) from accepting a path or a belief before one has reached the age of reason and responsibility.

    Then again, God knows the faith within the heart of a child, and I don’t.

17. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    5:47 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oik (View Comment):

    Manny (View Comment):

    Do politicians control social media or does social media control politicians? Who pays who?

    Have you been following Elon Musk’s “Twitter Files”? I’m not surprised the media has been largely silent on the revelations.

    How free is your mind?

    Well, if you don’t believe in a free mind, then the whole American experiment is a waste. You might as well pack up the country and move on. Democracy is predicated on free decisions.

    You’re talking about what is ideal. I’m talking about what is.

    The ideal is for me to make decisions for everyone. But that’s not practical, so we let people make a lot of decisions on their own.

    Funny, but not true. The ideal is to have a widely agreed upon, high functioning (Judeo-Christian) value system predicated at least as much on obligations as rights — a social compact as they say. That will never happen with the Left wearing the skins of our institutions, since the whole point of cultural Marxism is to atomize the population — divide and conquer. Radical individualism is where libertarianism fails upward with some on the Right.

    But in a society where a Judeo-Christian value system isn’t widely agreed upon, allowing adults autonomy might be the least worst option available.

    The GOP could say, “We don’t want to micromanage the lives of adults. So, adults can have surgeries if they want. But for people under the age of 18, we need to protect them from bad decisions they might regret later.”

    That’s a set of policy positions that might be acceptable to people as far Left as Martina Navratilova.

    It’s all a question of whether one wants to try to something that seems unattainable, a consensus in support of Judeo-Christian values in a nation where religion has a weaker hold on people than in the 1950s and 1960s, or if one wants to try to meet the people where they are.

    We need to return to those values, not figure out how to accept this godless,immoral madness. Our republic was designed for no other.

18. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:42 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    But in a society where a Judeo-Christian value system isn’t widely agreed upon, allowing adults autonomy might be the least worth option available.

    The GOP could say, “We don’t want to micromanage the lives of adults. So, adults can have surgeries if they want. But for people under the age of 18, we need to protect them from bad decisions they might regret later.”

    That’s a set of policy positions that might be acceptable to people as far Left as Martina Navratilova.

    It’s all a question of whether one wants to try to something that seems unattainable, a consensus in support of Judeo-Christian values in a nation where religion has a weaker hold on people than in the 1950s and 1960s, or if one wants to try to meet the people where they are.

    You cannot compromise with evil. Well you can — it falls under the ideology of utilitarianism — but it never works out well. Especially for people who’ve been dis-membered.

    Most Christians believe that human beings are fallen. Given this premise, it makes sense that many human beings would not subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system.

    If a large majority of Americans do not subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system, what are the options? One option is to try to convince people to subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system. But given the fallen nature of human beings, we can expect that many, perhaps most, people will not accept this.

    So, this leads to the option of allowing adults to have a greater amount of autonomy, while protecting children from making decisions they might regret later. Then we can tackle the issue of allowing only biological women in women’s prisons, sports, locker rooms and bathrooms.

    Compromise is something that we do all the time.

    We don’t compromise with evil.

19. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:43 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    But in a society where a Judeo-Christian value system isn’t widely agreed upon, allowing adults autonomy might be the least worth option available.

    The GOP could say, “We don’t want to micromanage the lives of adults. So, adults can have surgeries if they want. But for people under the age of 18, we need to protect them from bad decisions they might regret later.”

    That’s a set of policy positions that might be acceptable to people as far Left as Martina Navratilova.

    It’s all a question of whether one wants to try to something that seems unattainable, a consensus in support of Judeo-Christian values in a nation where religion has a weaker hold on people than in the 1950s and 1960s, or if one wants to try to meet the people where they are.

    And pretending it’s acceptable for innocents to be killed (abortion) and the mentally ill to be mutilated and that “love is love” and marriage has nothing to do with obligation within the naturally occurring family is surrendering in the culture war. Republicans will lose every time with that message, and deservedly so.

    Judge Bork wrote a great book about where the country is heading.

20. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:47 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    But in a society where a Judeo-Christian value system isn’t widely agreed upon, allowing adults autonomy might be the least worth option available.

    The GOP could say, “We don’t want to micromanage the lives of adults. So, adults can have surgeries if they want. But for people under the age of 18, we need to protect them from bad decisions they might regret later.”

    That’s a set of policy positions that might be acceptable to people as far Left as Martina Navratilova.

    It’s all a question of whether one wants to try to something that seems unattainable, a consensus in support of Judeo-Christian values in a nation where religion has a weaker hold on people than in the 1950s and 1960s, or if one wants to try to meet the people where they are.

    And pretending it’s acceptable for innocents to be killed (abortion) and the mentally ill to be mutilated and that “love is love” and marriage has nothing to do with obligation within the naturally occurring family is surrendering in the culture war. Republicans will lose every time with that message, and deservedly so.

    I was directing my comments to the issue of transgenderism only.

    My point is that if you have a society where people have largely rejected the Judeo-Christian value system, you might have to meet the people (or a large number of them) where they are, rather than where you would like them to be.

    If you can win elections on a platform of a complete total ban on transgender surgeries and drugs, well, then there’s no reason not to put that in your platform and run on it. But I think that the GOP is viewed by many people who don’t subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system that you subscribe to as too far to the right on some issues.

    So, do you try to meet the voters where they are? Or do you simply wage one losing election battle after another?

    Time for us to reclaim the high road, the Judeo-Christian values. The west coast won’t embrace them but who cares.

21. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:48 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    But in a society where a Judeo-Christian value system isn’t widely agreed upon, allowing adults autonomy might be the least worth option available.

    The GOP could say, “We don’t want to micromanage the lives of adults. So, adults can have surgeries if they want. But for people under the age of 18, we need to protect them from bad decisions they might regret later.”

    That’s a set of policy positions that might be acceptable to people as far Left as Martina Navratilova.

    It’s all a question of whether one wants to try to something that seems unattainable, a consensus in support of Judeo-Christian values in a nation where religion has a weaker hold on people than in the 1950s and 1960s, or if one wants to try to meet the people where they are.

    And pretending it’s acceptable for innocents to be killed (abortion) and the mentally ill to be mutilated and that “love is love” and marriage has nothing to do with obligation within the naturally occurring family is surrendering in the culture war. Republicans will lose every time with that message, and deservedly so.

    I was directing my comments to the issue of transgenderism only.

    My point is that if you have a society where people have largely rejected the Judeo-Christian value system, you might have to meet the people (or a large number of them) where they are, rather than where you would like them to be.

    If you can win elections on a platform of a complete total ban on transgender surgeries and drugs, well, then there’s no reason not to put that in your platform and run on it. But I think that the GOP is viewed by many people who don’t subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system that you subscribe to as too far to the right on some issues.

    So, do you try to meet the voters where they are? Or do you simply wage one losing election battle after another?

    How many mentally ill people are you willing to allow to be disfigured for political purposes? That’s my question for you.

    My number is zero. I’m MGRI — Make Gender Reassignment Illegal. Prosecute the professionals willing to harm the mentally ill for money and status.

    In the battle between good and evil, it is time for good to push back against evil.

22. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:50 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    But in a society where a Judeo-Christian value system isn’t widely agreed upon, allowing adults autonomy might be the least worth option available.

    The GOP could say, “We don’t want to micromanage the lives of adults. So, adults can have surgeries if they want. But for people under the age of 18, we need to protect them from bad decisions they might regret later.”

    That’s a set of policy positions that might be acceptable to people as far Left as Martina Navratilova.

    It’s all a question of whether one wants to try to something that seems unattainable, a consensus in support of Judeo-Christian values in a nation where religion has a weaker hold on people than in the 1950s and 1960s, or if one wants to try to meet the people where they are.

    And pretending it’s acceptable for innocents to be killed (abortion) and the mentally ill to be mutilated and that “love is love” and marriage has nothing to do with obligation within the naturally occurring family is surrendering in the culture war. Republicans will lose every time with that message, and deservedly so.

    I was directing my comments to the issue of transgenderism only.

    My point is that if you have a society where people have largely rejected the Judeo-Christian value system, you might have to meet the people (or a large number of them) where they are, rather than where you would like them to be.

    If you can win elections on a platform of a complete total ban on transgender surgeries and drugs, well, then there’s no reason not to put that in your platform and run on it. But I think that the GOP is viewed by many people who don’t subscribe to the Judeo-Christian value system that you subscribe to as too far to the right on some issues.

    So, do you try to meet the voters where they are? Or do you simply wage one losing election battle after another?

    How many mentally ill people are you willing to allow to be disfigured for political purposes? That’s my question for you.

    My number is zero. I’m MGRI — Make Gender Reassignment Illegal. Prosecute the professionals willing to harm the mentally ill for money and status.

    Do you think that you can get people to vote for such a political platform? Are you willing to wage one losing electoral battle after another because you want to stick to your principles?

    Yes, we will stick to our principles. If people follow the path to destruction, then we save the states we can save.

23. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:51 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    How many mentally ill people are you willing to allow to be disfigured for political purposes? That’s my question for you.

    My number is zero. I’m MGRI — Make Gender Reassignment Illegal. Prosecute the professionals willing to harm the mentally ill for money and status.

    Do you think that you can get people to vote for such a political platform? Are you willing to wage one losing electoral battle after another because you want to stick to your principles?

    It isn’t winning to consent to evil, it is merely willful disobedience to God. The consequences of that are way worse than suffering an awkward political season. This Hegelian march into Hell has been under way for centuries, we’re in sulfur up to our armpits already.

    And it is a problem all over the western world. Time to fight back.

24. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:52 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    MDHahn (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I disagree if the patient is an adult.

    I am deeply troubled if the patient is a minor. A growing area of law will be a mom in California who want “gender affirming”/irreparable injury for a child and a Father in Arizona who doesn’t want it.

    These people are mentally ill. Wanting to cut off otherwise healthy body parts is a pretty stark sign of mental illness. That any medical professional is willing to engage in mutilating mentally ill people is beyond repulsive, at any age of the mental patient. It should be illegal and carry a long prison sentence. That’s the only outcome that will restore a modicum of sanity to our deeply degraded society.

    Then extend that logic to elective plastic surgery. Are we going to ban that as well? Where does it cross the line?

    Children cannot consent to such operations and that fundamentally alters the situation. But adults have much more latitude. That doesn’t these kinds of operations are good, but I think that is a distinction that matters.

    They crossed the line. No more compromises. Retake lost ground.

25. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:54 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Here’s a question for you. Is there a hill you’re willing to die on in the culture war, or is surrender always and everywhere the best option, so long as you get more votes that way and have ever more agreement from a deeply degraded people?

    As a citizen, I can articulate what I would like the laws of the land to be. But when I participate in the electoral process, I take a “politics is the art of the possible” perspective. I often put aside some of my political priorities in order to advance my other, more viable, political priorities.

    For example, if some Republican candidate in a GOP primary for the US Senate in a swing state says, “Social Security and Medicare are socialist programs and should never have been enacted. I wish we could completely get rid of them,” I would find myself nodding my head in agreement. However, I would question whether I should vote for this candidate in the GOP primary for fear that this candidate would be easy kill for the Democrats.

    These are the kinds of political calculations I consider.

    You fight for you short time on earth. We will fight the long battle. It isn’t compromise that is honorable but defeating evil. 

26. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:55 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):
    and others who think that Christianity is nothing supernatural or miraculous, but rather a beneficial or “evolutionarily adaptive” cultural invention

    I use this a lot when I am talking to anti-religious people. Religion is the beat way to establish morals across a culture. Many who think that every person should develop their own code of ethics as they grow up to which I counter…do you really want the 50% of people who are below average intelligence developing their own code of what is right and wrong? They thunk its fine for THEM, college educated and over-inflated sense of intelligence, but those other people…they need to be told what is right and wrong…by the very person who thinks they should develop their own ethics.

    We see it in the big cities. Dystopia.

27. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    6:59 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    David C. Broussard (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):
    and others who think that Christianity is nothing supernatural or miraculous, but rather a beneficial or “evolutionarily adaptive” cultural invention

    I use this a lot when I am talking to anti-religious people.

    Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

    When a Muslim hangs a woman to death for engaging in pre-marital sex, this Muslim believes that he is carrying out God’s law on Earth.

    But what if this Muslim is wrong and rather than committing an act of justice by putting the woman to death for having sex before marriage, this Muslim is actually committing an act of injustice?

    That’s what people like me, who don’t subscribe to any particular religious belief, have to grapple with. We have to try to distinguish between correct and incorrect moral claims made by people, whether these moral claims are presented as religious truths or non-religious truths.

    We aren’t Muslims. We are descendent from several thousand years of a cultural heritage that passed through Greece, Rome, Europe, and then laid the foundation for the US. We must replace the left and restore our values. This is a must, not an option.

28. Coolidge
    Red Herring

    @EHerring

    7:02 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

    This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity. It appears to be a proven good for societies.

    When I was a few months away from turning 18 years old and in the process of converting from Leftism and towards conservatism, I found it interesting how often I, as someone who was raised in a non-religious household and was not religious, found myself agreeing with the Reverend Jerry Falwell as he denounced the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the pulpit.

    Over the years, I dabbled into Christianity and never found it compelling enough to become a “real” Christian. But I did notice that while I toiled away as a conservative political activist, my allies were often Christians.

    However, one time when I was handing out literature for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom at a college, I started talking to the Catholic priest at the table next to mine, who I think was handing out literature sponsored by his church. This Catholic priest said to me something like, “Only the liberals care about the poor.” I realized that not all religious people were politically conservative. I probably knew this already though.

    That is a knock on them, not the Judio-Christian tradition. I also know atheists will not save us.

29. Member
    Sisyphus

    @Sisyphus

    

    7:15 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Red Herring (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    HeavyWater (View Comment):
    Morals rooted in ancient religious texts and religious theology can result in good or bad morality.

    This is why even some pagans praise and promote Christianity. It appears to be a proven good for societies.

    When I was a few months away from turning 18 years old and in the process of converting from Leftism and towards conservatism, I found it interesting how often I, as someone who was raised in a non-religious household and was not religious, found myself agreeing with the Reverend Jerry Falwell as he denounced the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the pulpit.

    Over the years, I dabbled into Christianity and never found it compelling enough to become a “real” Christian. But I did notice that while I toiled away as a conservative political activist, my allies were often Christians.

    However, one time when I was handing out literature for the conservative group Young Americans for Freedom at a college, I started talking to the Catholic priest at the table next to mine, who I think was handing out literature sponsored by his church. This Catholic priest said to me something like, “Only the liberals care about the poor.” I realized that not all religious people were politically conservative. I probably knew this already though.

    That is a knock on them, not the Judio-Christian tradition. I also know atheists will not save us.

    They can’t even save themselves.

30. Coolidge
    lowtech redneck

    @lowtech redneck

    7:44 PM EST ⋅ Dec 31, 2022

    Manny (View Comment):

    I don’t believe in brainwashing period.

    You really think advertisers pay premiums for product placement just so people know they exist, and not to subtly influence their unconscious perceptions and impulses?  That repeated exposure to monolithic viewpoints and shibboleths do not lead to unconsidered assumptions, or social coercion does not lead to rationalizations to deal with the cognitive dissonance of speaking and behaving contrary to what you believe?