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Michael is surprised progressive attacks on Trump contradict each other? That’s par for the course. For them, the only consideration is whether the attack will be effective on the particular day, and before the particular audience. They don’t care if it’s true or false; they’re utilitarians in ethics.
That’s why they could attack Mitt Romney for being an out-of-touch rich guy before one audience, and then turn around and attack him for going on a family vacation with seven people stuffed into a station wagon, and the dog in a carrier on the roof. As if that’s how the super-rich go on vacation!
I’m an atheist. I try not to be annoying about it. I was when I was a teen, and I regret it. Why? Obviously, every individual is different, but as a group, I’ve found devout people are more likely to be nice than atheists.
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I’ve encountered fire & brimstone jerkwads but they’re less common than the media suggests. Atheists, on the other hand, have a tendency to turn on people who aren’t across the board social liberals, and that’s very common.
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I’m pro-gay-marriage. I would prefer there was no second amendment. I don’t care about birth control mandates. I’m against the death penalty. However, I’m also pro-life and I think contemporary feminism & identity politics damage the culture.
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That’s enough for self-styled free thinkers to think it’s acceptable to have calumny heaped upon you and be called epithets I can’t repeat. Religious people, in my experience, are happy to make common cause where you agree. I’ve rarely been given a hard time over the disagreements, although ‘I’ll pray for you,’ has been a common response to the atheism.
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Having said that, I’m going to risk sounding like Joy Behar. .Just refuse to vote and have faith god will take care of things? Michael, you sound like a crazy person!
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It’s not just the pill & wedding cakes. If it were, your concerns about character might be of equal weight with the potential downside of losing in 2016. For pro-lifers it’s legitimate to say the election would have life or death consequences. There’d have been a strongly pro-choice majority on the supreme court for a generation if evangelicals had refused to vote for Trump.
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How’s the principle of not voting for someone of poor character as important as such a consequence? No one was thinking about democracy 2000 years ago, so there’s not even any biblical backing for this idea about the sinfulness of voting for a bad person to do good things.
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You shouldn’t follow the example of a wicked person. You shouldn’t make him the leader of your faith community. Who says you can’t hire him for a job – even the job of president – if the only other candidate will do great harm?
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Don’t give me flim-flam about trusting god not to permit unnecessary harm. How’d you get Roe if he takes care of such things? People must act to minimze harm. That’s an ethical action even when it’s accepting the lesser of two evils.
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You sound like the guy in the story who asked god why he let him drown. Voting for a guy who’s a louse with women was the boat. Evangelicals not voting for him would have been waiting for a miracle as the water grew deeper.
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I don’t want to be disrespectful, but I think your ideas are just completely cuckoo.
P.S. Two items from yesterday’s show:
1) You mused about whether anything could change the mind of someone like David Hogg. I was never so strident about it, but through all of high school and college, I thought that the NRA was totally villainous. I’m still not a fan, but I do have respect their point of view now. I’m also willing to accept them as political allies even though I have strong disagreements with them about matters of principle (just like all those mean spirited libertarians).
2) I think you’re misinformed about porn stars and condoms. You’d have been right 15-20 years ago. Today the adult film industry has a rigorous testing regime. They’re pretty scrupulous about policing their own community for STDs and protecting the performers’ health.
If one is not going to vote because God will make it right, why vote any time?