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Republicans Are Mean. Right.
Your typical, non-political, nice Democrat Photo by shutterstock.com
Imagine a 50 year old soccer Mom picking up her son in her Volvo to take him to an off-campus restaurant for a decent meal. He’s a sophomore at The University of Wisconsin, and she graduated from Kenyon back in the 80’s. Neither have read or thought a great deal about philosophy or politics, since they’re both interested in other things. But both vote Democrat, because they’ve both been told their whole lives by everyone they looked up to that Republicans are mean. They’re not mean, so they vote Democrat. They sit down at a hip bistro in Madison, and the Mother takes her mask off and makes some comment about the impact of Coronavirus.
Now, just imagine this. Imagine that her son looked a little uncomfortable, then responded with this: “Yeah, well, I’ve been thinking about that and stuff. But just talking totally hypothetically, what if the COVID lock-down thing is just an effort to win the next presidential election?” His mother attempts to hide her shock as he continues. “What if that Russian collusion investigation with Mueller and Strzok and all really was all a hoax? What if they knew from early on that there was no evidence, but they pushed it on for years, in an effort to win the next presidential election? What if local politicians across the country are encouraging Black Lives Matter and Antifa to break stuff and hurt people, just in an effort to win the next presidential election? What if we shut down the economy and destroyed all those lives and businesses just to make it look like the economy wasn’t as good as it seemed under Trump, all just in an effort to win the next presidential election? What if…”
His mother looks very concerned for him, and interrupts him with, “Um, honey, what are you saying?”
“Yeah, well, nothing, really. But just think of all those people who’ve lost their jobs, had their property destroyed, had their businesses burned, and lost everything. Think of all the high school and college kids who didn’t get to play their senior season in whatever sport they do, never getting the benefit of all the hard work they put in over the years. Think of all the widows whose husbands died alone, because the hospital allowed no visitors due to COVID. Think of all the family vacations and lifetime memories that just never happened. Think of all the people who can’t support their families right now. Just think of all the pain and suffering that’s been forced on so many untold millions of people…”
President Donald Trump Photo by shutterstock.com
She asks again, “Um, Trey, um, what are you trying to say?”
“Yeah, well, Trump is a really bad guy, obviously.”
She looks relieved and says, “Oh, obviously!”
“Yeah, but suppose we hurt all those millions of people so bad. Lost jobs. Didn’t get to be with their loved ones as they die. Losing lifelong memories, and so on. Suppose we did all that just to win the next presidential election. And after all that, suppose we manage to get Trump voted out.”
“Right honey! Trump is horrible!”
“Well, yeah. Obviously. But then what do we get?”
*pause*
“Yeah, Mom, what do we get? We get one of the most corrupt politicians in the last 50 years, who was a little slow before and now doesn’t know where he is. He’s lied his way to the top, made one racist comment after another, he’s fondled little girls on camera, he’s made his whole family rich with his corruption, he’s…”
“Um, Trey?”
Joe Biden Photo by shutterstock.com
“Mom, look. My point is, we didn’t get Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton. We hurt millions of people. Real, real bad. In millions of different ways. We didn’t destroy Donald Trump’s life. He’s rich. He’s fine. But we destroyed lots and lots and lots of other people’s lives. For what? For Joe freakin’ Biden.”
*pause*
“All those people we hurt. All those people. All that pain. Was it worth it? If this even works. Was it worth it? Man, I don’t know.”
*pause*
“I mean, whatever happened to debates and town hall meetings? Do we really have to hurt so many people to get the right guy elected? Is this the only way to do this? And if this is the only way, is this the right thing to do? And even if it’s right to hurt millions of people to get what we want, is Joe Biden really what we want?”
*pause*
“I … I just don’t know, Mom. I thought Republicans were mean … “
His mother looks very concerned as she gazes off in the distance. Then she orders a double appletini and remarks on how beautiful the weather is, other than the global warming.
I don’t know if everything I mentioned was purely political, although the longer all this goes on, the more suspicious I get. And I doubt that most Democrats really want to even consider this possibility.
But suppose just one Democrat, somewhere, stops and thinks. Just for a moment. And he thinks, “Holy crap. Was all this just politics? All those people, all that pain, just to get some guy elected? My guy? My side is going to win an election by hurting all those people? Geez, is this really my side?”
He’d think a bit more, and then perhaps he might realize, “Geez, the whole reason I vote Democrat is that I’m not mean. And this is how we do politics? By hurting millions of people? What the #@$&?!?”
Surely some Democrats out there are starting to realize that a lot of this is simply Democrat party politics. And surely that makes some Democrats just a little uncomfortable. Right?
Right?
Published in General
There is education and than there is being open to evidence. The two are different. Perhaps they always have been.
Remember that Jefferson wasn’t a great President. Hamilton probably would have been alright.
You ever notice how once you make a good point or present very strong evidence they change the subject.
I agree. But next to Joe Biden, they look pretty good…
That goes both ways, both right and left.
I guess the bigger point is what are the foundations of someone’s bias, and their willingness to be accountable for the consequences of the choices their bias informs.
Different people obtain their information from different sources. So, one person might base their views on what they saw/heard on Tucker Carlson’s show last night while another might base their views on what they saw/heard on Rachel Maddow’s show last night.
I live in the Bay Area and worked at a non-profit (i.e. Bay Area on steroids) for two years.
I’m convinced it’s mental illness. They’ve been hugging their knees, rocking back and forth in a closet since November 2016. A neighbor expressed her depression to me in the days following the election. Infants.
The credibility test = Trump Russia Collusion coverage.
Right. I don’t have data, but that confirm your bias aspersion is seems thrown about more by leftists who don’t think, but rather ingest and adopt the bias offered by their preferred sources.
Conservatives tend to be more familiar with leftish media sources than leftists are with conservative media sources. And conservatives are usually more willing to watch a news program that leans left than leftists are to watch a news program that leans right.
Not when you view politics as an existential fight between good and evil, and you’re the good guys.
Mere party politics like calling Republicans racist as a way to shut down debate is now actual thought that Republicans are and always have been racist.
Opinion, maybe. Thought? Not so much. Just sayin.
I get it but no, it’s considered part of the “intelligentsia” so it’s much deeper than mere opinion
You have a much higher regard for the “intelligentsia” than I do.
Not really, I think it’s a lie that’s been repeated to the point people believe it’s true
Just recently a (now leftist) friend expressed some puzzlement when I admitted to being on the conservative side of things. His response was basically “But . . . but I’m pretty sure you’re not a racist . . .”
Yeah, they really do think that racism is just a standard feature of being on the right.
The trick on the Left is to set up lines in the sand and keep moving them, to where, if you cross the line in the sand or you’re a racist, homophobe, xenophobe, islamophobe, etc.
Set up the “IF” , “THEN” designed to make you conform or you’re the other. (Flags, statues, illegal immigration, same sex marriage, etc.)
What is mind blowing today is how far the Left has been able move the line in the sand (ie: defund the police?, siding with the anarchists?)
The Left has finally brought this game to: IF you’re a conservative, (R), or support Trump, THEN you are a racist.
Pfft. Fred Cole was saying that four years ago. Here. As a Contributor. And he wasn’t the only one.
So according to Cato, 31% of Americans and 50% of “strong liberals” believe that a co-worker who donates money to Trump should be fired.
Matt Taibbi asked for someone who believed this and here was a response that stood out to me:
“Why would we want to work with bigots or people who support bigots? If you owned a company would you want bigots working for you?”
There you go. It goes from words, to being intimidated from participating to a witch hunt to find out your politics and if they’re “wrong” we have the right to ruin your life.
To them, they’re hurting a bigot, someone who should be punished.
Completely oblivious to the fact tat in the process they make themselves bigots.
It’s basically “First amendment rights for everyone except bigots and we get to decide who the bigots are.”
A “bigot” is anyone who opposes whatever the Leftists decide falls into the ever changing rules and dictums all contained in the nebulous world of “social justice”.
If everyone agrees Confederate Generals statues must come down, then it’s onto statues of anyone whoever once owned a slave, then statues of anyone who was ever a relative of a slave owner, etc.
Pretty safe bet the mob does not go after pols who once opposed school desegregation busing until after the election this fall.
As I’ve often said, this is what you get when you take away religion and replace it with politics. Someone who disagrees with you is no longer just wrong. They are an apostate. Off with their heads!
So much easier than actually having to justify your opinion.