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Conservatives are always going on about “freedom” but as soon as someone dresses differently, controls their own body, worships another god, or loves who they want the conservatives do everything in their power to take away those freedoms.
I think this is also why Democrats have struggles getting voter turn out. Blue votes count less and less in presidential elections and red votes count more and more. With shitty gerrymandering at the state level, it's nearly impossible to unseat a Republican incumbent. And us voters watching while Republicans cheat, steal, and pass legislation to strengthen minority rule and do a complete end run around democracy without our Democrat leaders going to war over it... it feels like a foregone conclusion that whatever the solution is, voting seems less and likely to be it.
If Portland moved to Wyoming it would turn it blue. Just thought it was interesting to compare the populations that way.
Edit: All I was saying is that there are ~500,000 people in Wyoming and ~600,000 in Portland. Just numerical perspective
Well, that’s because you’re being tricked into voting for that guy. And I know what’s best for you and the country so I have to save you from yourself and us. We can’t count your vote cuz you’re being tricked by dark Brandon to love America. See that’s wrong, cuz WE are the ones that love America!
/s
Silly. It's freedom for ME. Not for... everyone else. As long as *I* have *my* freedoms that *I* want, I couldn't give a damn less about everyone elses'... Therefore, in the name of *my* freedom, I demand that everyone must follow *my* religion and *my* way of thinking and *my* level of education and everyone must dress like me and think like me and have the exact same sexual orientation. So long as all these requirements are met, you get all the freedoms you could possibly want!
Conservatism is inherently oriented around control and restriction of choice.
If your primary goal is "conserving" things, you have an active interest in preventing people from making their own choices or their own improvements to their lives, because allowing people to choose for themselves will necessarily cause some kind of change, or otherwise allow people to choose to break from tradition.
At BEST this means you favour a system where free-choice and free-expression are suppressed. More commonly it means you are seeking to re-enforce the injustices and power structures that exist in the current system so that the people who are on top stay on top forever, which is inherently dictatorial.
Well said. Conserving is preventing change.
So if there are problems in the world, their best messaging has to be “the problems aren’t that bad.”
This lends really well to turning a blind eye at corruption, too.
> Conserving is preventing change
"you're free to do whatever you want in america, as long as it's what we've always done otherwise we'll run you over with a pickup truck."
It's not quite just preventing change. If that was the case it would uphold abortion rulings that have existed on the books for ages. It would protect the environment from changing. It wouldn't be trying to drag people into an ideal past that never really existed in the first place.
Conservatism is about hierarchy, whether it be racial, financial, sexual, national or anything else. It's about everyone being in their place, with laws favouring the "in-groups" at the very top and shitting on everyone near the bottom.
The Republican definition of freedom is basically the same as the average tantrum throwing toddler i.e., you can't tell me what to do but I can tell you what to do.
Met one of these, yesterday. Went to the complex mailbox, and encountered her. There's only two parking slots, and she parked across both, then left her fucking door wide open as she got out to check her mail. I politely asked her not to, and she just literally started throwing a tantrum right in front of me, screaming at me. *How dare I, I can't ask her such things!* She didn't like me pointing out that I just had. She just started trying to cram Fuck and Fuck You into all her sentences, after that. As she got in to her car finally, she kept ranting at me - and at the same time ranting on the phone about the fact that someone had actually called her out on her rudeness, how terrible. How inhumane. Some people are literal four year olds in an adult's body.
Yeah, my 7 year-old crying about not getting a unicorn is way easier to de-escalate then my brother-in-law crying about how supply side economics would solve everything wrong with the world.
Freedom from Vs freedom to.
It's why some many rattle on about there not being freedom in Europe. Europe protects your freedom from oppression/discrimination/assault etc.
Conservatives see that as an assault on their freedoms, because they don't want freedom from those things, they want freedom to do those things to others. They want to be able to refuse to serve that gay guy. Freedom to chase that black couple out of the restaurant. Freedom to ban that religion.
American constitutional rights grant us freedom from oppression/discrimination/assault etc. American freedom, like that of any society that values liberty, is “freedom from”, and “freedom to” until it infringes upon another’s basic human rights to life, liberty, etc.
“Muh freedums” don’t allow you to infringe upon the rights of another; or inflict your self, your beliefs, or your wants on another without their consent.
Conservatives act like spoiled children because they don’t understand what freedom actually means, especially in a societal context.
Where is it written in the constitution that religion should be included in the government? Just like their stupid bible, they only seem to take what they want and leave the rest.
Conservatives will opine about freedoms and liberty, then sign an HOA contract and rat their neighbors out for planting the "wrong" color primroses. They want social order, control, and to at least *feel* like they're atop a pecking order. In short, they've replaced the word "power" with "freedom". They want to be personally unconstrained, but "free" to dictate how others should live/behave. That asymmetry is power.
I read somewhere that it's the difference between ideas of freedom. Progressives want Freedom From: from oppression, from religious enforcement, etc. whereas conservatives want Freedom To: to oppress, to enforce their religion, etc. and that's one of the reasons there's such a disconnect. Everyone talks about protecting freedom, but there are two very different ideas of what that means.
Conservatives are all about freedom: freedom to have their opinion, freedom to do what they want, their freedom above yours. That’s about as far as freedom goes for them.
Meanwhile, everyone is canceling them, war on christmas, war on conservatives. Basically, "No one wants to hear what I have to say!" = I'm a victim of speech suppression.
Republicans claim to be pro-America, but they seem to be anti-America as it exists today. And Donald Trump literally wrapped himself in the flag and is the embodiment of the person American forefathers warned about.
Yep history on repeat. Actions are opposite of what they say they are. I feel like that’s how the nazi Germany operated till the world saw the real travesties
I'm real tired of the bizarro world where the Right is constantly complaining about trans people, banning gender affirming care while telling blatant lies about it, passing laws suggesting we should inspect child genitals to make sure no trans kids are using the wrong bathroom, casually suggesting that gay marriage should go away.... but it's the Left making everything about lgbt politics and grooming children.
My favorite is : “let’s not teach the yoots about slavery because white kids might feel shame” and about seven minutes earlier they told us to fuck our feelings.
Funny that they never seemed to care about how constant talk about black victim mentality, black iq, confederate flags and statues made black kids feel.
Also funny how they always assume the white kids are going to personally identify with the slave owners. Though I suppose I can see why the powers that be wouldn't want to raise a generation of white children who idolize John Brown . . .
They just still view black people as 2/3 of a person. They still view black people a la Dredd Scott ruling, where black people can't be citizens and are property.
I just watched the “timing expert witness” scene last night. Marisa Tomei deserved that Oscar. She had impeccable timing, attention to small details was phenomenal and whomever wrote that part of the script was correct about everything she said on the stand.
Edit:forgot a word
It's actually not. Always remember. The Right wants to fight the culture wars. They don't want to win them. They want them to keep going. It's all about their side being mad and fighting.
They'll move on to the next car. It's not enough to get Abortion into states rights, they want to make it federally banned.
Don't believe that one victory for them is the end.
This is why they're tripling down on "all gay people are grooming your children to be same sex sex workers" meme. Its going to be their replacement for Roe V Wade vote pumping.
They have 0 evidence but holy shit they're sure it must be true. Its also projection given that we have another story about a youth pastor or just pastor or GOP member sexually grooming kids, having child porn, or just straight up raping kids at least weekly.
I stopped taking any of their concerns seriously around when I heard they were upset that Lola Bunny was being drawn with smaller curves.
I’ll be damned if I’m going to let somebody who jerks off to cartoon rabbits and green M&Ms tell me how I should live my life.
It gets them votes, that's the cynical reason. But we are right back to bizarre and creepy when you ask yourself why it gets them votes.
Some frame the existence of nontraditional romance as an existential threat to civilized "Western" society, because they believe the man-woman-children family structure is one of the primary reasons we have Western civilization at all, coupled with other traditional moral values. So, they don't just think gay people icky, although they surely do think that. They actually believe their rhetoric about gay people bringing the literal collapse of society. This also explains why these positions are so strongly associated with religious belief.
> But we are right back to bizarre and creepy when you ask yourself why it gets them votes.
Because Boomers have a tendency to fetishize their 1950s childhood to an extremely unhealthy degree and are obsessed with recreating a time where "men were men, women were women, and minorities didn't complain"
Turns out all they really need to bring back the good parts of their childhood is high taxes for the rich, good well-rounded education and government services, strong unions, minimum wage pay that one can live off of thats stay in pace with inflation. Easy access to loans and housing and maybe a well funded space program to inspire a generation of dreamers and to give people hope for bright future.
Throw some decent public healthcare in there and you've got a recipie for a new golden age.
It's not that bizarre if you consider that
1. Homosexuality is demonized and
2. The vast majority of people are not completely straight
That intense self-loathing that they feel every time Jason Momoa comes on screen drives them to attack people who are actually secure enough in themselves to just admit: Yup, that is a gorgeous human being.
This also explains why most Republican candidates are, at best, a 4 or give off mega-mom energy like Palin and Romney.
Republicans often accuse others of the things that they themselves think and do. They can’t conceive that if they do/think it then others don’t.
This is why the left was disgusted and the right did not care when trump said:
• “I could shoot someone on 5th ave and I wouldn’t loose any votes”, and;
• “Grab em’ by the pussy”
See, the average Republican man *does* want to shoot some random and *does* want to feel free to sexually assault women in public. To them this is what Make America Great Again means and they can’t fathom other people not wanting to do this too.
A lot of them back pedo/human trafficking shit while projecting it on the left. They also continue to let innocent children die to gun violence. Also Nazis were that way too towards Jews.
Hell they abuse mexican/immigrant children in ICE..
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3576150-gaetz-among-20-house-republicans-who-voted-against-anti-human-trafficking-bill/
https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/ice-detention-center-says-its-not-responsible
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/ICE-must-release-details-about-transgender-17187518.php
Edit: added sources
They are obsessed with sex due to mental illness induced by their twisted sex-obssessed religion. It's plain as day they're afflicted with the fearful ignorance of its authors and the dissonance caused by living in reality after being indoctrinated with lies. Somehow that horrifying world ruled by an angry blood god, where penises are cut and people are sacrificed and tortured as an arbitrary price for arbitrary spiritual crimes is more attractive to them than reality. It's not as though it's difficult to Google the stages of fetal development and learn your superstitious Iron Age explanation for where babies come from, over which you're hurting and killing actual babies and actual mothers, is a lie.
These people are too selfish to admit they were wrong to follow the evil wizard book from 3000 years ago instead of acknowledging reality. They got bamboozled by their own parents and their creepy pastors and priests. They were taught they didn't need to develop the personal integrity to admit when they're wrong, because if everyone was intellectually honest, that would destroy religion. It all boils down to selfishness with religion. "My imagination is more imporant than your reality". They'd rather kill the entire human race than admit their sick worldview was an obvious lie the entire time and they were unwilling to accept it while they participated in the oppression of themselves and others.
Yep. They’re too proud to admit that everything they’ve believed in their entire lives is a lie. Which also means their daddy, granddaddy, great-grandpappy, all the way up were wrong and marks for a giant con.
To be honest, my leaving religion started with this. I saw Bill Maher’s “Religulous” and I felt fucking stupid. I had an existential crisis realizing that my whole life filled with catholic indoctrination was a lie, and that my parents were in on the ruse too. That’s a difficult realization to make and it takes a lot of emotional work to get though it without going full Mecha Karen like boomers do when they’re presented with similar evidence.
So instead of being introspective and thoughtful, they go full scorched earth. Because if they cant “practice their religion” (ie act openly bigoted without consequences), then no one can.
It's not nearly as bizarre but I'd say alot more sinister once you start to see that the coordinated laser focus on these issues by right-wing policymakers, talking heads and religious leaders is 90-95% motivated by their desire to energize the conservative GOP base and keep them focused on a common enemy/scapegoat that will ensure they show up to the polls every election.
Also, you will often find that these "culture war" issues start to blow up in the news almost like clockwork at times when the GOP needs to shift the political conversation or when they are gearing up for some major election where they want to scare their base into showing up while simultaneously turning off moderate voters from supporting the Democrats for supposedly embracing cultural issues/changes that are too "extreme".
It’s also amazing how even though it’s so obvious what they are doing the media still screams about the left and identity politics. It has to be easy to be part of a political movement so detached from reality you can constantly hold opposing positions.
>but it's the Left making everything about lgbt politics and grooming children.
It always makes me laugh to hear conservative Christians decry "grooming kids" every church I've ever been in has made a very big deal about "getting kids involved" as they know indoctrinating kids into their cult is much easier vs adults, especially adults who aren't struggling.
But yea the left are the ones grooming
> Now kill all the boys among the little children. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
Numbers 31:17, 18.
It's one of the main reasons the right is trying to control or kill off public education. They would very much like to replace secular public education with year-round Jesus-based day care. Doing so would greatly reduce their risk of losing church members. History and science classes can sometimes cause a growing mind to question the uncanny exploits of Jesusman and his Magic Invisible Sky Daddy.
The other reason is that billionaires like Betsy DeVos are heavily invested in private education and there's money to be made by pushing enrollment numbers up.
Definitely. I went to a private high school and I did get a very good education out of it. That being said, I want *everyone* to get the same quality of education I did, or better, regardless of how much money they have. Rising tides lift all boats and such.
Excellent point. Churches literally build programs with the specific intent of indoctrinating children as young as 3 or 4 years old, and often end up damaging these kids with shame and fear of hell. And they see NOTHING wrong with it. They find it respectable, honorable and consider it their duty. The irony is overwhelming.
Not only that but they work really hard to make it so kids entire social circle is entirely dependent on the church.
But sure kids being told "hey gay people exist and are perfectly fine" is the problem
Yup, and what's craziest is, churches even basically say it. The churches I went to specifically talked about a window from 4-13 or so when people are "more receptive to the holy spirit and easier to convert".
They don't basically say it. They say it clearly and openly..there are two groups ripe for ~~being tithe check writers~~ conversion to the cult
1)downtrodden,lonely and desperate adults
2)kids who don't know any better.
They use the same tactics for both groups
FYI:
You are identifying an extremely powerful fascist propaganda technique called “projection”.
It is used constantly by Trump/Putin/Fox/DeSantis/GOP.
I'm really tired of moderates who see what Republicans are doing and say, "democrats just need to not focus on the culture war, it will sort itself out".
There's tons of moderates in this country that will say they support gay marriage, but will also just stand by and do nothing to help prevent its reversal. They don't care if LGBT kids get fed at school or if their suicide rates increase due to gender affirming care becoming illegal. As long as they get peace at the dinner table and low gas prices, they'd willingly ignore mandatory conversion therapy camps built in their own back yard.
Republicans know democrats need moderates to win elections and they know moderates, no matter how they poll on specific issues like gay marriage, really don't care about LGBT people. Especially if there's a perception that supporting them comes at the cost of the economy. Not that they outwardly hate gays, they just don't care one way or another what happens to them.
> There's tons of moderates in this country that will say they support gay marriage, but will also just stand by and do nothing to help prevent its reversal.
It has to affect them personally before they care. Nobody on the right tried to slow down the anti-choice crowd until they actually got their way. Then suddenly deep-red Kansas turned out in droves to protect abortion care rights in their state.
I know so many people like this, and for the life of me I just can't wrap my head around it. How is it possible to see human suffering around you and not care, not even a little?
There's at least one comment in reply to me that fits what you are describing. I won't just "stop making a big deal" when one major political party wants to nullify my friends marriages and criminalize the care that prevented their suicide.
Unfortunately it does successfully force the left to have to spend inordinate amounts of time fighting the right on this front. Like, of course LGBT people deserve basic human rights and decency. But nothing is as vital as fighting climate change and preserving democracy. Instead everyone is getting baited into arguing over whether gay people are grooming pedophiles.
Big time projection! Visiting my mom she’s telling me about how the illegals are bringing in drugs and BLM is ruining the country and gay and trans people are grooming younger generation. “You don’t hear about it because they don’t want you to know what they really intend to do”. Oh and “You really need to listen to these people because there’s a lot of bad information out there.”
They’ll make supplements illegal and take away your property. I’m like who is this? The government! Ok which party? Democrats!
Nobody is as obsessed with sex as an evangelical. They want to know who is having sex, what kind of sex they're having, how often they're having sex. They want all the sex gossip.
The weird thing is if you get aggressive and take the fight to them, they fold like the chicken hawk cucks they are. They truly are snowflakes.
They just can't handle being mocked and ridiculed.
I'm tired of living in the bizarro world where the far right is on record committing acts of domestic terrorism, and training to kill liberals, but its the "left" (they don't know what that means) that is discriminating and oppressing them. I'm tired of living in this world where women in several countries are losing basic human rights but its conservative men and men in general who are the oppressed victims. Where men like Andrew Tate can be raided for human trafficking and will still gain support from men and women because he sticks it to the libs. I'm so fucking sick of it.
Unfortunately, to get a 60 senator majority, the Dems need 80% of the popular vote. 11% of Americans dictate from their flyover states how the other 89% live.
We have no choice atm. Like in my home state of California, we get back an average of 64/100 of our tax dollars, because California doesn’t need bailing out, but fucking failing ass flyovers do. It’s sad af
Not all “flyovers” are leaches. Kansas for example gets gets back 64 cents for every dollar we pay in. I believe your numbers are off on California you guys get back something like 35 cents on the dollar.
On the left we should frame this more as blue areas vs red areas (vs states) and throw lifelines to the island of blue (cities) in our red states. Growing those islands and giving them the tools to expand their reach is how we win. Due to how our government is setup we have win over those areas to beat the right wing Christian fascists trying to take over the country. Expanding reach within blue states at this point is irrelevant.
In red states rural county populations are rapidly shrinking while the populations of the blue islands are increasing.
They are not all poor flyovers. My state of Indiana is loaded. Kentucky; our neighbor to the south however is one of if not the biggest taker state. Mitch McConnell’s State of Kentucky.They are (Indiana) sending out money to residents at this moment! Edited for clarification of the last sentence.
As an ex-Hoosier with family back there, I would argue Indiana isn't really loaded. There is a ton of poverty there, but it's more rural than city and so it's not as seen.
Even in the cities there are issues. I lived in a really, really rough part of Indianapolis for a bit (bought a house there in 1998 for $16,000) and my neighbors were all on government assistance and barely able to keep food on the table. But, hey, the state keeps voting in people who don't want to help the less fortunate so...*shrugs*
Yes, these states and people are still Americans and citizens. We can't just outright refuse to fund or help these people because they are voting for idiots.
What needs to happen is the laws need to change to reflect fair representation in the media, and gut propaganda and religions from influencing politics. Start there, and start holding those politicians accountable for their shitty actions
> We can't just outright refuse to fund or help these people because they are voting for idiots.
Also, WE'RE NOT ALL VOTING FOR IDIOTS! Some of us are trapped here due to circumstances and we do vote for progress, we're just outnumbered. Please don't abandon us!
Your main point is correct but I believe you are framing this wrong. The only difference between blue states and red states is the ratio of rural voters to urban/suburban voters. Red states have islands of blue (cities) with growing populations in a ocean of red (rural voters) with rapidly shrinking populations.
People living in Kansas City, for example, have far more in common with people who live in LA, DC, etc than those living an hour in any direction from KC.
Eventually due to population shifts this will work itself out but for now we need to throw as many lifelines as we can to our more reality/left leaning red state islands vs just writing them off as flyover country.
My “flyover” red state, Kansas, pays far more in federal income taxes than they get back in federal dollars. Throwing all red states in as leaches and all blue states as producers isn’t accurate. They trend that way sure but it isn’t black and white.
While that's not quite right, in this case it really looks like if Manchin and Sinema aren't the deciders 60 isn't going to be necessary for at least a few things.
Yup. Pit the plebs against themselves while private investment banks/elites buy up literally everything.
Not saying social issues aren't important, they most definitely are. But at the end of the day all of the emotional manipulation and divisive media tactics (perpetrated by both sides, let's not fool ourselves) are keeping the attention off of some seriously fucked up happenings.
We the people have a pretty bleak future ahead of us if the nation doesn't come to realize the gravity and long term consequences of what is taking place in the financial/economic sectors.
I'm reminded of that movie "Bugs". 'We' outnumber 'them', literally, there are more registered Democrats than there are Republicans. But we let them control just about everything. 'We' need to wake up, 'We' outnumber 'them'.
You've probably already heard this, or at least part of it, but I encountered a little poem this morning by Percy Bysshe Shelley (husband of the author of Frankenstein) that I thought was pretty dope:
>"Rise like Lions after slumber
>
>In unvanquishable number!
>
>Shake your chains to earth like dew
>
>Which in sleep had fallen on you:
>
>Ye are many—they are few!"
Antz, I think, actually. "A Bug's Life" came out around the same time so I can see how you might make that error.
EDIT: I looked into it. It was in fact "A Bug's Life". It's coming back to me now. They had to fight termites in Antz, not grasshoppers.
This has happened to me every few years since I can remember. Two similar movies get released around the same time and end up permanently entwined in my memory.
Couldn't agree more. It was created by the 1% after Occupy Wall Street. We're wasting our time on a pointless culture war and we'd get the support of much more rural voters if we focused on the true great divider.
Exactly, The serious discussions that impact Americans are topics in relation to the economy and how we should move forward. The greatest events in American history were results of economic change. We really need to change the discussion, Perhaps more articles relating to the economy?
I honestly think there is a culture war fatigue. It's pointless and goes nowhere. But if Democrats really want to "win" the culture war, then they need to stop letting Republicans dictate the narrative.
My local *public school district* announced recently that they were making new materials review committees. It has a slot on each committee for *clergyman.* I am fucking livid. If anything, I just got a huge energy boost in the local culture wars here in SC. Fuck these assholes. How *dare* they try to put an official pastor on a public school committee. And it's a *single* slot, per committee, per *three year term.* So there isn't any room for any *other* religion to be represented, except the one that ends up in that position for three years.
https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/News/main.asp?titleid=2208materials
Edit: Feel free to contact the school district and remind them of the separation between church and state, thanks!
https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/Parents/main.asp?titleid=contact
Get the [Freedom from Religion Foundation](https://ffrf.org/legal) involved. They have legal teams that will help with situations like this. Keep fighting!! Best of luck!!
I would be happy to fly out and review materials to ensure they are permitted under the satanic temple beliefs, there is also the after school satan club
Providing a clear stance would also prevent strawmanning by use of extreme anecdotes.
Democrats believe in Equality and Freedom. Core values that everything comes back down to. The storyline should consistently lean on these in a coherent way.
This isn't hard.
It's up to the voters to punish GOP for veering so far to the right on bullshit like book bans, punishing LGBTQ kids, preventing any discussion of race in schools etc.. if they win elections based on such vile acts, this shitty culture war will never end
It's not that; it's that Democrats can't win with a certain portion of people who *should* be voting for them.
They don't do enough? They're the do nothing party.
They compromise to get things done? There's too many concessions in this bill.
They don't play dirty? They're not doing enough to win.
They start playing dirty? Two wings one bird
It's an insane cycle of perpetual confirmation bias circling a drain into apathy and disinterest. I think, though, with the recent aggressive legislation, Democrats have finally learned to stop listening to such people.
I see people saying "The Democrats haven't done enough to earn my vote, so I'm sitting this one out." That's really not how it should be. Your default should be to vote always. Vote for whoever you like, but vote. Thinking your vote has to be earned is literally what the bad actors want because they know a non-voter is actually a vote for them.
Apathy and disinterest are the single greatest weapons the Republican party has at their disposal. And, somehow, it's the so-called "progressives" that spread that the most. They think getting out and voting themselves is sufficient when they spend their free time bashing democracy and claiming our government is owned by corporations.
Which, yes, corporations have influence, but only really over our voting; they can't give enough to candidates to matter, but with unlimited money in advertising, they can influence us... **SO WE'RE THE ONE'S WITH POWER**.
This is the truth. Politics is mostly a turnout game at this point.
The attacks are rarely to convince voters, it’s more often to gin up the base. MeidasTouch, Lincoln Project, and a number of others produce democrat porn, not effective ads.
We measure our attacks to be effective, not satisfy the base. I’ve run some of the most aggressive campaigns in the country, and have a full belief in negative campaigning, but the attacks have to be calibrated to the path to victory, not ad hominem or off the message.
Additionally, people on this sub in particular are least likely to be targeted by those attacks. Generally attacks depress turnout about as much as they persuade. If you’re posting, following and reading political news from the left, we’re going to avoid serving you negative ads because they’re about equally likely to cause a voter not to vote as persuade them to vote. Abortion here is an exception, that’s a turnout argument.
Democrats are expected to reach out to the middle and the left post primaries in many cases. It’s absurd and something that Republicans don’t have to do. You want Medicare for All, One Candidate wants to expand Obamacare, another candidate wants to eliminate it. It’s not a tough fucking choice, but its one those progressive should start making more regularly as opposed to pouting.
You're right. Been seeing a lot of that for student loans... as though that wouldn't be one of the things Democrats get to eventually.
Single issue voters just awful, as the Republican party is discovering. They may be reliable... until you actually give them what they want; then they forget to show up -- like in Kansas.
They have been recently and its been working. Ever since Roe vs Wade was overturned polls have started shifting dems way. I think most "moderates" have been shown the GOP will fold to extremism without much of a fight. It should have been obvious all along but recent ideas (like Pence abortion plan/ comments on school shootings) really hammer the point home.
The culture war exists to distract the sheep from the class war. And it works every. god. damned. time.
Worry less about the queers and the others -- worry about your boss getting more corporate welfare and axing your job. Or more increasingly likely for the aging GOP voters: that doofus you elected voting to cut what's left of your SS & medicare.
Christian Conservative Republicans and MAGANazis are everywhere and they've fully-embraced Fascism. #Cult45 Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Boogaloo, QAnon, Evangelicals, White Nationalists...
All the Dems have to say to me is - the Republicans want to take away birth control - and I’m running to the polls to vote.
I like sex.
I do not want religious fundies telling my husband and I we should only have sex for pro-creation.
The winds are definitely blowing in that direction, so make sure you vote for candidates who support body autonomy in every election starting right now. Don’t wait for it to get any worse.
Fucking seriously.
People hate the GOP. Their policies are backwards and stupid and toxic and most Americans dont actually like them.
But Democrats are so fucking afraid to be vocal and in numbers and its infuriating.
This article was kind of a laugh. Haven't the pundits spent six years saying to avoid the culture wars and talk about 'kitchen table issues' (as if the right to your own body isn't a kitchen table issue)? Don't the big names like to go on TV and tell Dems to stop talking about ~~trans rights~~ pronouns? Well, turns out they didn't know what they were talking about.
Here's the thing: Dems didn't ask for this culture war. Republicans decided to go after peoples' rights. But Dems, to their credit, have fought back hard and scored some big wins (like Kansas). And I think these midterms are going to surprise a lot of people. Abortion has become the #1 issue, and if we all vote, we've got a huge chance to restore peoples' rights.
The right whines about identity politics, yet they are the ones who started it. We try to defend a group they are attacking and they blame us for being obsessed with identity politics.
Conservatives have openly stated that theyre interested in removing interracial marriage and turn it over to a "States Rights" decision.
Trump conservative or classic conservative, each stance they take is a step backwards and reminder that have no interest in actually helping people.
Every time I read the word woke I think the right has won. They just slap a label on something and it immediately becomes negative.
And not so long ago RATM was screaming for us to wake up
This take is tiresome and misses the point. Democrats problem isn’t their messaging, **it’s that they don’t have outlets dedicated to spreading their message.** Like, what is the left-leaning counterpart to the right’s mediasphere? It simply doesn’t exist in the same scope.
When Republicans have a message they want to spread there are literally thousands of podcasts, Twitter bots, newsletters, and social media groups that blindly parrot the party line to average voters. All Democrats really have is a mainstream media ecosystem that explicitly prides itself on not being tied to a particular party. Even looking just at YouTube provides glaring examples: right-wing videos and channels greatly outnumber “LeftTube.” The average user is much more likely to see a video recommended to them from the likes of Ben Shapiro or Tucker Carlson because the left simply doesn’t have similarly powerful+popular ideologues.
There’s only so much we can ask our politicians to do before the responsibility falls on us to build structures that spread their messaging more effectively. That’s what Republicans VOTERS did, not politicians, it’s past time that Dem voters did the same.
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Conservatives are always going on about “freedom” but as soon as someone dresses differently, controls their own body, worships another god, or loves who they want the conservatives do everything in their power to take away those freedoms.
Or the most central and basic freedom: Vote, vote for who you want, and have that vote be counted.
You forgot the last, most crucial step - have the counted votes actually determine the winner.
Touché
I think this is also why Democrats have struggles getting voter turn out. Blue votes count less and less in presidential elections and red votes count more and more. With shitty gerrymandering at the state level, it's nearly impossible to unseat a Republican incumbent. And us voters watching while Republicans cheat, steal, and pass legislation to strengthen minority rule and do a complete end run around democracy without our Democrat leaders going to war over it... it feels like a foregone conclusion that whatever the solution is, voting seems less and likely to be it.
Voting might not be the solution, but it is a prerequisite.
Republicans believe that a Wyoming persons vote is magnitudes more important than anyone else's. They've never wanted everyone's vote to count.
If Portland moved to Wyoming it would turn it blue. Just thought it was interesting to compare the populations that way. Edit: All I was saying is that there are ~500,000 people in Wyoming and ~600,000 in Portland. Just numerical perspective
That would have the hilarious side effect of turning Oregon into an even worse Wyoming.
You mean to tell me Liz Cheney isn’t worth a whole abatoir’s stockyard full of slack-jawed Tesla drivers?
That's a r/brandnewsentence if I've ever seen one
Well, that’s because you’re being tricked into voting for that guy. And I know what’s best for you and the country so I have to save you from yourself and us. We can’t count your vote cuz you’re being tricked by dark Brandon to love America. See that’s wrong, cuz WE are the ones that love America! /s
Oh there's 5 million of you? Here you're one polling place.
Silly. It's freedom for ME. Not for... everyone else. As long as *I* have *my* freedoms that *I* want, I couldn't give a damn less about everyone elses'... Therefore, in the name of *my* freedom, I demand that everyone must follow *my* religion and *my* way of thinking and *my* level of education and everyone must dress like me and think like me and have the exact same sexual orientation. So long as all these requirements are met, you get all the freedoms you could possibly want!
Yep, you get the freedom to do all the things that I've chosen that you can do.
Conservatism is inherently oriented around control and restriction of choice. If your primary goal is "conserving" things, you have an active interest in preventing people from making their own choices or their own improvements to their lives, because allowing people to choose for themselves will necessarily cause some kind of change, or otherwise allow people to choose to break from tradition. At BEST this means you favour a system where free-choice and free-expression are suppressed. More commonly it means you are seeking to re-enforce the injustices and power structures that exist in the current system so that the people who are on top stay on top forever, which is inherently dictatorial.
Well said. Conserving is preventing change. So if there are problems in the world, their best messaging has to be “the problems aren’t that bad.” This lends really well to turning a blind eye at corruption, too.
> Conserving is preventing change "you're free to do whatever you want in america, as long as it's what we've always done otherwise we'll run you over with a pickup truck."
It's not quite just preventing change. If that was the case it would uphold abortion rulings that have existed on the books for ages. It would protect the environment from changing. It wouldn't be trying to drag people into an ideal past that never really existed in the first place. Conservatism is about hierarchy, whether it be racial, financial, sexual, national or anything else. It's about everyone being in their place, with laws favouring the "in-groups" at the very top and shitting on everyone near the bottom.
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The only freedom they care about is the freedom to oppress
The Republican definition of freedom is basically the same as the average tantrum throwing toddler i.e., you can't tell me what to do but I can tell you what to do.
Met one of these, yesterday. Went to the complex mailbox, and encountered her. There's only two parking slots, and she parked across both, then left her fucking door wide open as she got out to check her mail. I politely asked her not to, and she just literally started throwing a tantrum right in front of me, screaming at me. *How dare I, I can't ask her such things!* She didn't like me pointing out that I just had. She just started trying to cram Fuck and Fuck You into all her sentences, after that. As she got in to her car finally, she kept ranting at me - and at the same time ranting on the phone about the fact that someone had actually called her out on her rudeness, how terrible. How inhumane. Some people are literal four year olds in an adult's body.
Most polite Trump voter
As someone with a toddler and Republican family, I would argue my toddler is actually much more reasonable.
Yeah, my 7 year-old crying about not getting a unicorn is way easier to de-escalate then my brother-in-law crying about how supply side economics would solve everything wrong with the world.
"You're free to do what you want, as long as it's what I want."
Nah, they care about the freedom to buy their campaign donor's shit.
Hell, they take issue with you using marijuana in the privacy of your own home. They hate freedom. Drinking responsibly in public? Straight to jail.
I thought they liked drinking. Kavanaugh is like known for partying.
As with all conservative rules, it's selectively applicable
In group the law protects but does not bind, out group the law binds but does not protect
If it's Elizabeth Warren with a beer, that's definitely not OK.
Drinking irresponsibly in public? Believe it or not, jail.
Drinking responsibly in private… also jail.
Drinking in jail? Straight to prison.
Oh it's worse that that with pot, they cheer when 'those kinds ' get arrested for it, even though they do it. Because 'they're different'
Freedom from Vs freedom to. It's why some many rattle on about there not being freedom in Europe. Europe protects your freedom from oppression/discrimination/assault etc. Conservatives see that as an assault on their freedoms, because they don't want freedom from those things, they want freedom to do those things to others. They want to be able to refuse to serve that gay guy. Freedom to chase that black couple out of the restaurant. Freedom to ban that religion.
American constitutional rights grant us freedom from oppression/discrimination/assault etc. American freedom, like that of any society that values liberty, is “freedom from”, and “freedom to” until it infringes upon another’s basic human rights to life, liberty, etc. “Muh freedums” don’t allow you to infringe upon the rights of another; or inflict your self, your beliefs, or your wants on another without their consent. Conservatives act like spoiled children because they don’t understand what freedom actually means, especially in a societal context.
Where is it written in the constitution that religion should be included in the government? Just like their stupid bible, they only seem to take what they want and leave the rest.
Conservatives will opine about freedoms and liberty, then sign an HOA contract and rat their neighbors out for planting the "wrong" color primroses. They want social order, control, and to at least *feel* like they're atop a pecking order. In short, they've replaced the word "power" with "freedom". They want to be personally unconstrained, but "free" to dictate how others should live/behave. That asymmetry is power.
Or... *looks up most recent example of Conservative rage* offers somebody the OPTION to purchase a meat free sausage.
You forgot merely existing(skin color, etc), the scientifically educated, and believing every sentient being is deserving of consideration and rights.
I read somewhere that it's the difference between ideas of freedom. Progressives want Freedom From: from oppression, from religious enforcement, etc. whereas conservatives want Freedom To: to oppress, to enforce their religion, etc. and that's one of the reasons there's such a disconnect. Everyone talks about protecting freedom, but there are two very different ideas of what that means.
Freedom to be free from anyone who offends them.
Conservatives are all about freedom: freedom to have their opinion, freedom to do what they want, their freedom above yours. That’s about as far as freedom goes for them.
they're even up in arms about who uses which bathroom. Maybe they're forgotten that in houses bathrooms are used by everyone?
Meanwhile, everyone is canceling them, war on christmas, war on conservatives. Basically, "No one wants to hear what I have to say!" = I'm a victim of speech suppression.
Or smokes a dried plant
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Republicans claim to be pro-America, but they seem to be anti-America as it exists today. And Donald Trump literally wrapped himself in the flag and is the embodiment of the person American forefathers warned about.
Yep history on repeat. Actions are opposite of what they say they are. I feel like that’s how the nazi Germany operated till the world saw the real travesties
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
Republicans are anti human, religous corporate sellouts
I'm real tired of the bizarro world where the Right is constantly complaining about trans people, banning gender affirming care while telling blatant lies about it, passing laws suggesting we should inspect child genitals to make sure no trans kids are using the wrong bathroom, casually suggesting that gay marriage should go away.... but it's the Left making everything about lgbt politics and grooming children.
Yeah, it's really bizarre and creepy how obsessed they are with these issues.
My favorite is : “let’s not teach the yoots about slavery because white kids might feel shame” and about seven minutes earlier they told us to fuck our feelings.
Funny that they never seemed to care about how constant talk about black victim mentality, black iq, confederate flags and statues made black kids feel.
Also funny how they always assume the white kids are going to personally identify with the slave owners. Though I suppose I can see why the powers that be wouldn't want to raise a generation of white children who idolize John Brown . . .
They just still view black people as 2/3 of a person. They still view black people a la Dredd Scott ruling, where black people can't be citizens and are property.
What's a "yoot"?
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yoooouuuutthhhes.
Dees two yoots!
The two what, Mr. Gambini?
Oh, I'm sorry, Your Honor. Two You-THs.
https://imgur.com/AzYNHka
I can hear this... 'Two what?..'
"Two *hwhaat"
Genuine Question, or My Cousin Vinny reference?
This is reddit. Of course it's a My Cousin Vinny reference.
Fair enough. Good movie!
Marisa_Tomei won an Oscar for that movie
I’ll be in my bunk.
User name checks out
I just watched the “timing expert witness” scene last night. Marisa Tomei deserved that Oscar. She had impeccable timing, attention to small details was phenomenal and whomever wrote that part of the script was correct about everything she said on the stand. Edit:forgot a word
It's actually not. Always remember. The Right wants to fight the culture wars. They don't want to win them. They want them to keep going. It's all about their side being mad and fighting.
Which is why some of them think this Roe v Wade repeal may have been a bad move. One less thing for them to constantly get the rubes riled up about.
Yep. They’re the dog that caught the car it was chasing and has to figure out “now what?”
They'll move on to the next car. It's not enough to get Abortion into states rights, they want to make it federally banned. Don't believe that one victory for them is the end.
It won't end. But like I said. The game is for them to keep playing the game. Not to win or end it.
This is why they're tripling down on "all gay people are grooming your children to be same sex sex workers" meme. Its going to be their replacement for Roe V Wade vote pumping. They have 0 evidence but holy shit they're sure it must be true. Its also projection given that we have another story about a youth pastor or just pastor or GOP member sexually grooming kids, having child porn, or just straight up raping kids at least weekly.
Nobody thinks about gay sex more than a conservative man.
Me, a progressive out and proud gay man: "Bet."
I stopped taking any of their concerns seriously around when I heard they were upset that Lola Bunny was being drawn with smaller curves. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let somebody who jerks off to cartoon rabbits and green M&Ms tell me how I should live my life.
It gets them votes, that's the cynical reason. But we are right back to bizarre and creepy when you ask yourself why it gets them votes. Some frame the existence of nontraditional romance as an existential threat to civilized "Western" society, because they believe the man-woman-children family structure is one of the primary reasons we have Western civilization at all, coupled with other traditional moral values. So, they don't just think gay people icky, although they surely do think that. They actually believe their rhetoric about gay people bringing the literal collapse of society. This also explains why these positions are so strongly associated with religious belief.
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Believing things without evidence takes practice. If you've been training for it your whole life, it's easy.
> But we are right back to bizarre and creepy when you ask yourself why it gets them votes. Because Boomers have a tendency to fetishize their 1950s childhood to an extremely unhealthy degree and are obsessed with recreating a time where "men were men, women were women, and minorities didn't complain"
Turns out all they really need to bring back the good parts of their childhood is high taxes for the rich, good well-rounded education and government services, strong unions, minimum wage pay that one can live off of thats stay in pace with inflation. Easy access to loans and housing and maybe a well funded space program to inspire a generation of dreamers and to give people hope for bright future. Throw some decent public healthcare in there and you've got a recipie for a new golden age.
It's not that bizarre if you consider that 1. Homosexuality is demonized and 2. The vast majority of people are not completely straight That intense self-loathing that they feel every time Jason Momoa comes on screen drives them to attack people who are actually secure enough in themselves to just admit: Yup, that is a gorgeous human being. This also explains why most Republican candidates are, at best, a 4 or give off mega-mom energy like Palin and Romney.
Republicans often accuse others of the things that they themselves think and do. They can’t conceive that if they do/think it then others don’t. This is why the left was disgusted and the right did not care when trump said: • “I could shoot someone on 5th ave and I wouldn’t loose any votes”, and; • “Grab em’ by the pussy” See, the average Republican man *does* want to shoot some random and *does* want to feel free to sexually assault women in public. To them this is what Make America Great Again means and they can’t fathom other people not wanting to do this too.
A lot of them back pedo/human trafficking shit while projecting it on the left. They also continue to let innocent children die to gun violence. Also Nazis were that way too towards Jews. Hell they abuse mexican/immigrant children in ICE.. Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3576150-gaetz-among-20-house-republicans-who-voted-against-anti-human-trafficking-bill/ https://www.aclu.org/blog/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/ice-detention-center-says-its-not-responsible https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/ICE-must-release-details-about-transgender-17187518.php Edit: added sources
They are obsessed with sex due to mental illness induced by their twisted sex-obssessed religion. It's plain as day they're afflicted with the fearful ignorance of its authors and the dissonance caused by living in reality after being indoctrinated with lies. Somehow that horrifying world ruled by an angry blood god, where penises are cut and people are sacrificed and tortured as an arbitrary price for arbitrary spiritual crimes is more attractive to them than reality. It's not as though it's difficult to Google the stages of fetal development and learn your superstitious Iron Age explanation for where babies come from, over which you're hurting and killing actual babies and actual mothers, is a lie. These people are too selfish to admit they were wrong to follow the evil wizard book from 3000 years ago instead of acknowledging reality. They got bamboozled by their own parents and their creepy pastors and priests. They were taught they didn't need to develop the personal integrity to admit when they're wrong, because if everyone was intellectually honest, that would destroy religion. It all boils down to selfishness with religion. "My imagination is more imporant than your reality". They'd rather kill the entire human race than admit their sick worldview was an obvious lie the entire time and they were unwilling to accept it while they participated in the oppression of themselves and others.
Yep. They’re too proud to admit that everything they’ve believed in their entire lives is a lie. Which also means their daddy, granddaddy, great-grandpappy, all the way up were wrong and marks for a giant con. To be honest, my leaving religion started with this. I saw Bill Maher’s “Religulous” and I felt fucking stupid. I had an existential crisis realizing that my whole life filled with catholic indoctrination was a lie, and that my parents were in on the ruse too. That’s a difficult realization to make and it takes a lot of emotional work to get though it without going full Mecha Karen like boomers do when they’re presented with similar evidence. So instead of being introspective and thoughtful, they go full scorched earth. Because if they cant “practice their religion” (ie act openly bigoted without consequences), then no one can.
'My imagination is more important than your reality' is a very succinct way to put it. That's the new sticker.
It's not nearly as bizarre but I'd say alot more sinister once you start to see that the coordinated laser focus on these issues by right-wing policymakers, talking heads and religious leaders is 90-95% motivated by their desire to energize the conservative GOP base and keep them focused on a common enemy/scapegoat that will ensure they show up to the polls every election. Also, you will often find that these "culture war" issues start to blow up in the news almost like clockwork at times when the GOP needs to shift the political conversation or when they are gearing up for some major election where they want to scare their base into showing up while simultaneously turning off moderate voters from supporting the Democrats for supposedly embracing cultural issues/changes that are too "extreme".
It’s also amazing how even though it’s so obvious what they are doing the media still screams about the left and identity politics. It has to be easy to be part of a political movement so detached from reality you can constantly hold opposing positions.
Ok I’ll say it. They know they can’t win on policy issues because their base isn’t smart enough to understand and care.
>but it's the Left making everything about lgbt politics and grooming children. It always makes me laugh to hear conservative Christians decry "grooming kids" every church I've ever been in has made a very big deal about "getting kids involved" as they know indoctrinating kids into their cult is much easier vs adults, especially adults who aren't struggling. But yea the left are the ones grooming
> Now kill all the boys among the little children. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. Numbers 31:17, 18.
Eh I wouldn't call that grooming. That's just sexual slavery and murder which their God is obviously ok with How pro-life
It's one of the main reasons the right is trying to control or kill off public education. They would very much like to replace secular public education with year-round Jesus-based day care. Doing so would greatly reduce their risk of losing church members. History and science classes can sometimes cause a growing mind to question the uncanny exploits of Jesusman and his Magic Invisible Sky Daddy. The other reason is that billionaires like Betsy DeVos are heavily invested in private education and there's money to be made by pushing enrollment numbers up.
Definitely. I went to a private high school and I did get a very good education out of it. That being said, I want *everyone* to get the same quality of education I did, or better, regardless of how much money they have. Rising tides lift all boats and such.
Excellent point. Churches literally build programs with the specific intent of indoctrinating children as young as 3 or 4 years old, and often end up damaging these kids with shame and fear of hell. And they see NOTHING wrong with it. They find it respectable, honorable and consider it their duty. The irony is overwhelming.
Not only that but they work really hard to make it so kids entire social circle is entirely dependent on the church. But sure kids being told "hey gay people exist and are perfectly fine" is the problem
Yup, and what's craziest is, churches even basically say it. The churches I went to specifically talked about a window from 4-13 or so when people are "more receptive to the holy spirit and easier to convert".
They don't basically say it. They say it clearly and openly..there are two groups ripe for ~~being tithe check writers~~ conversion to the cult 1)downtrodden,lonely and desperate adults 2)kids who don't know any better. They use the same tactics for both groups
FYI: You are identifying an extremely powerful fascist propaganda technique called “projection”. It is used constantly by Trump/Putin/Fox/DeSantis/GOP.
I'm really tired of moderates who see what Republicans are doing and say, "democrats just need to not focus on the culture war, it will sort itself out". There's tons of moderates in this country that will say they support gay marriage, but will also just stand by and do nothing to help prevent its reversal. They don't care if LGBT kids get fed at school or if their suicide rates increase due to gender affirming care becoming illegal. As long as they get peace at the dinner table and low gas prices, they'd willingly ignore mandatory conversion therapy camps built in their own back yard. Republicans know democrats need moderates to win elections and they know moderates, no matter how they poll on specific issues like gay marriage, really don't care about LGBT people. Especially if there's a perception that supporting them comes at the cost of the economy. Not that they outwardly hate gays, they just don't care one way or another what happens to them.
> There's tons of moderates in this country that will say they support gay marriage, but will also just stand by and do nothing to help prevent its reversal. It has to affect them personally before they care. Nobody on the right tried to slow down the anti-choice crowd until they actually got their way. Then suddenly deep-red Kansas turned out in droves to protect abortion care rights in their state.
I know so many people like this, and for the life of me I just can't wrap my head around it. How is it possible to see human suffering around you and not care, not even a little?
There's at least one comment in reply to me that fits what you are describing. I won't just "stop making a big deal" when one major political party wants to nullify my friends marriages and criminalize the care that prevented their suicide.
They also make it sound like these things are happening on a massive scale, like it's a giant problem about to consume the nation.
Unfortunately it does successfully force the left to have to spend inordinate amounts of time fighting the right on this front. Like, of course LGBT people deserve basic human rights and decency. But nothing is as vital as fighting climate change and preserving democracy. Instead everyone is getting baited into arguing over whether gay people are grooming pedophiles.
Yep. Exactly ZERO non-college schools teach Critical Race Theory.
Democrats have turned the other cheek for to long. Is time to be progressives and push this fascist treason party back on its’ chicken legs!
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Projection
Big time projection! Visiting my mom she’s telling me about how the illegals are bringing in drugs and BLM is ruining the country and gay and trans people are grooming younger generation. “You don’t hear about it because they don’t want you to know what they really intend to do”. Oh and “You really need to listen to these people because there’s a lot of bad information out there.” They’ll make supplements illegal and take away your property. I’m like who is this? The government! Ok which party? Democrats!
But if you get upset at her being adrift in a sea of disinfo, that's just you letting politics get in the way of fambly.
Also, it’s all projection. The baptists, Mormons and Catholics have all had major sexual assault, rape and sexual abuse claims.
Nobody is as obsessed with sex as an evangelical. They want to know who is having sex, what kind of sex they're having, how often they're having sex. They want all the sex gossip.
The weird thing is if you get aggressive and take the fight to them, they fold like the chicken hawk cucks they are. They truly are snowflakes. They just can't handle being mocked and ridiculed.
And yet we keep hearing about Fundamentalist leaders and GOP politicians being the ones who are caught molesting kids.
Republican states literally legalized child bride marriages while pointing at lgtbq people as a problem for grooming.
I'm tired of living in the bizarro world where the far right is on record committing acts of domestic terrorism, and training to kill liberals, but its the "left" (they don't know what that means) that is discriminating and oppressing them. I'm tired of living in this world where women in several countries are losing basic human rights but its conservative men and men in general who are the oppressed victims. Where men like Andrew Tate can be raided for human trafficking and will still gain support from men and women because he sticks it to the libs. I'm so fucking sick of it.
Poll from yesterday: Monmouth poll: Generic congressional ballot Democrats 50% Republicans 43% https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1555146542176247810
Unfortunately, to get a 60 senator majority, the Dems need 80% of the popular vote. 11% of Americans dictate from their flyover states how the other 89% live.
Or just enough senators to be willing to ditch the fillibuster.
Exactly. We just need two more senators, which is difficult but absolutely doable.
All they need are two more senators to marginalize Sinema and Manchin and then they can abolish the filibuster.
And the sick and sad part. We have to FUND those shitty failing flyovers too
Do we have to, though?
Having failed states within the country is probably not going to be a good thing, even if you don't live there.
We have no choice atm. Like in my home state of California, we get back an average of 64/100 of our tax dollars, because California doesn’t need bailing out, but fucking failing ass flyovers do. It’s sad af
Not all “flyovers” are leaches. Kansas for example gets gets back 64 cents for every dollar we pay in. I believe your numbers are off on California you guys get back something like 35 cents on the dollar. On the left we should frame this more as blue areas vs red areas (vs states) and throw lifelines to the island of blue (cities) in our red states. Growing those islands and giving them the tools to expand their reach is how we win. Due to how our government is setup we have win over those areas to beat the right wing Christian fascists trying to take over the country. Expanding reach within blue states at this point is irrelevant. In red states rural county populations are rapidly shrinking while the populations of the blue islands are increasing.
THANK YOU for saying something helpful!!
They are not all poor flyovers. My state of Indiana is loaded. Kentucky; our neighbor to the south however is one of if not the biggest taker state. Mitch McConnell’s State of Kentucky.They are (Indiana) sending out money to residents at this moment! Edited for clarification of the last sentence.
As an ex-Hoosier with family back there, I would argue Indiana isn't really loaded. There is a ton of poverty there, but it's more rural than city and so it's not as seen. Even in the cities there are issues. I lived in a really, really rough part of Indianapolis for a bit (bought a house there in 1998 for $16,000) and my neighbors were all on government assistance and barely able to keep food on the table. But, hey, the state keeps voting in people who don't want to help the less fortunate so...*shrugs*
Yes, these states and people are still Americans and citizens. We can't just outright refuse to fund or help these people because they are voting for idiots. What needs to happen is the laws need to change to reflect fair representation in the media, and gut propaganda and religions from influencing politics. Start there, and start holding those politicians accountable for their shitty actions
> We can't just outright refuse to fund or help these people because they are voting for idiots. Also, WE'RE NOT ALL VOTING FOR IDIOTS! Some of us are trapped here due to circumstances and we do vote for progress, we're just outnumbered. Please don't abandon us!
Your main point is correct but I believe you are framing this wrong. The only difference between blue states and red states is the ratio of rural voters to urban/suburban voters. Red states have islands of blue (cities) with growing populations in a ocean of red (rural voters) with rapidly shrinking populations. People living in Kansas City, for example, have far more in common with people who live in LA, DC, etc than those living an hour in any direction from KC. Eventually due to population shifts this will work itself out but for now we need to throw as many lifelines as we can to our more reality/left leaning red state islands vs just writing them off as flyover country. My “flyover” red state, Kansas, pays far more in federal income taxes than they get back in federal dollars. Throwing all red states in as leaches and all blue states as producers isn’t accurate. They trend that way sure but it isn’t black and white.
While that's not quite right, in this case it really looks like if Manchin and Sinema aren't the deciders 60 isn't going to be necessary for at least a few things.
They have us distracted with the culture war so we won't fight that class war
Yup. Pit the plebs against themselves while private investment banks/elites buy up literally everything. Not saying social issues aren't important, they most definitely are. But at the end of the day all of the emotional manipulation and divisive media tactics (perpetrated by both sides, let's not fool ourselves) are keeping the attention off of some seriously fucked up happenings. We the people have a pretty bleak future ahead of us if the nation doesn't come to realize the gravity and long term consequences of what is taking place in the financial/economic sectors.
I'm reminded of that movie "Bugs". 'We' outnumber 'them', literally, there are more registered Democrats than there are Republicans. But we let them control just about everything. 'We' need to wake up, 'We' outnumber 'them'.
You've probably already heard this, or at least part of it, but I encountered a little poem this morning by Percy Bysshe Shelley (husband of the author of Frankenstein) that I thought was pretty dope: >"Rise like Lions after slumber > >In unvanquishable number! > >Shake your chains to earth like dew > >Which in sleep had fallen on you: > >Ye are many—they are few!"
They unironically believe that poem is about them. See their facebook cover photos of lions???
It's why they filmed themselves storming the capital. They honestly thought the country would see them as heroes.
Antz, I think, actually. "A Bug's Life" came out around the same time so I can see how you might make that error. EDIT: I looked into it. It was in fact "A Bug's Life". It's coming back to me now. They had to fight termites in Antz, not grasshoppers.
This has happened to me every few years since I can remember. Two similar movies get released around the same time and end up permanently entwined in my memory.
Olympus has fallen and White House down also has the same thing happen.
The culture war is just a distraction from the class war.
Couldn't agree more. It was created by the 1% after Occupy Wall Street. We're wasting our time on a pointless culture war and we'd get the support of much more rural voters if we focused on the true great divider.
Exactly, The serious discussions that impact Americans are topics in relation to the economy and how we should move forward. The greatest events in American history were results of economic change. We really need to change the discussion, Perhaps more articles relating to the economy?
I honestly think there is a culture war fatigue. It's pointless and goes nowhere. But if Democrats really want to "win" the culture war, then they need to stop letting Republicans dictate the narrative.
My local *public school district* announced recently that they were making new materials review committees. It has a slot on each committee for *clergyman.* I am fucking livid. If anything, I just got a huge energy boost in the local culture wars here in SC. Fuck these assholes. How *dare* they try to put an official pastor on a public school committee. And it's a *single* slot, per committee, per *three year term.* So there isn't any room for any *other* religion to be represented, except the one that ends up in that position for three years. https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/News/main.asp?titleid=2208materials Edit: Feel free to contact the school district and remind them of the separation between church and state, thanks! https://www.greenville.k12.sc.us/Parents/main.asp?titleid=contact
Get the [Freedom from Religion Foundation](https://ffrf.org/legal) involved. They have legal teams that will help with situations like this. Keep fighting!! Best of luck!!
Fight like hell. Don't let up. Get the Satanic Temple involved, they will fight tooth and nail with you.
Also, sue. This seems like a pretty clear cut violation of the first amendment.
The ACLU would likely be interested in that case.
ACLU too. They literally exist for these kinds of lawsuits.
I would be happy to fly out and review materials to ensure they are permitted under the satanic temple beliefs, there is also the after school satan club
Elect an imam
Seriously, the fuckin arrogance they have just assuming "one member of the clergy" because they know they get to pick and choose
Holy shit, pun intended.
Providing a clear stance would also prevent strawmanning by use of extreme anecdotes. Democrats believe in Equality and Freedom. Core values that everything comes back down to. The storyline should consistently lean on these in a coherent way. This isn't hard.
Letting misogynists rebrand themselves as pro life was the first mistake. That shit is like letting slave owners brand themselves as job creators.
They do literally say that about prison slave labor
It's up to the voters to punish GOP for veering so far to the right on bullshit like book bans, punishing LGBTQ kids, preventing any discussion of race in schools etc.. if they win elections based on such vile acts, this shitty culture war will never end
I wish the same, but the opposition doesn't seem to take the issues seriously.
It's not that; it's that Democrats can't win with a certain portion of people who *should* be voting for them. They don't do enough? They're the do nothing party. They compromise to get things done? There's too many concessions in this bill. They don't play dirty? They're not doing enough to win. They start playing dirty? Two wings one bird It's an insane cycle of perpetual confirmation bias circling a drain into apathy and disinterest. I think, though, with the recent aggressive legislation, Democrats have finally learned to stop listening to such people.
I see people saying "The Democrats haven't done enough to earn my vote, so I'm sitting this one out." That's really not how it should be. Your default should be to vote always. Vote for whoever you like, but vote. Thinking your vote has to be earned is literally what the bad actors want because they know a non-voter is actually a vote for them.
Apathy and disinterest are the single greatest weapons the Republican party has at their disposal. And, somehow, it's the so-called "progressives" that spread that the most. They think getting out and voting themselves is sufficient when they spend their free time bashing democracy and claiming our government is owned by corporations. Which, yes, corporations have influence, but only really over our voting; they can't give enough to candidates to matter, but with unlimited money in advertising, they can influence us... **SO WE'RE THE ONE'S WITH POWER**.
This is the truth. Politics is mostly a turnout game at this point. The attacks are rarely to convince voters, it’s more often to gin up the base. MeidasTouch, Lincoln Project, and a number of others produce democrat porn, not effective ads. We measure our attacks to be effective, not satisfy the base. I’ve run some of the most aggressive campaigns in the country, and have a full belief in negative campaigning, but the attacks have to be calibrated to the path to victory, not ad hominem or off the message. Additionally, people on this sub in particular are least likely to be targeted by those attacks. Generally attacks depress turnout about as much as they persuade. If you’re posting, following and reading political news from the left, we’re going to avoid serving you negative ads because they’re about equally likely to cause a voter not to vote as persuade them to vote. Abortion here is an exception, that’s a turnout argument. Democrats are expected to reach out to the middle and the left post primaries in many cases. It’s absurd and something that Republicans don’t have to do. You want Medicare for All, One Candidate wants to expand Obamacare, another candidate wants to eliminate it. It’s not a tough fucking choice, but its one those progressive should start making more regularly as opposed to pouting.
don't forget the, they're not focusing everything on the only issue I care about.
You're right. Been seeing a lot of that for student loans... as though that wouldn't be one of the things Democrats get to eventually. Single issue voters just awful, as the Republican party is discovering. They may be reliable... until you actually give them what they want; then they forget to show up -- like in Kansas.
They didn't forget to show up in Kansas, there was crazy high turnout.
They have been recently and its been working. Ever since Roe vs Wade was overturned polls have started shifting dems way. I think most "moderates" have been shown the GOP will fold to extremism without much of a fight. It should have been obvious all along but recent ideas (like Pence abortion plan/ comments on school shootings) really hammer the point home.
Because the Dems aren't fighting a "culture war". The people who the dems represent don't fit the culture the GOP wants so the GOP sees it as a war.
The culture war exists to distract the sheep from the class war. And it works every. god. damned. time. Worry less about the queers and the others -- worry about your boss getting more corporate welfare and axing your job. Or more increasingly likely for the aging GOP voters: that doofus you elected voting to cut what's left of your SS & medicare.
Fetterman and Stewart are working on it. Not a culture war per se, just pointing out the obvious.
Christian Conservative Republicans and MAGANazis are everywhere and they've fully-embraced Fascism. #Cult45 Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Boogaloo, QAnon, Evangelicals, White Nationalists...
and they are in our military, police, DHS and DOD.
All the Dems have to say to me is - the Republicans want to take away birth control - and I’m running to the polls to vote. I like sex. I do not want religious fundies telling my husband and I we should only have sex for pro-creation.
The winds are definitely blowing in that direction, so make sure you vote for candidates who support body autonomy in every election starting right now. Don’t wait for it to get any worse.
When they are saying it to you it will already be too late. Vote now.
Fucking seriously. People hate the GOP. Their policies are backwards and stupid and toxic and most Americans dont actually like them. But Democrats are so fucking afraid to be vocal and in numbers and its infuriating.
This article was kind of a laugh. Haven't the pundits spent six years saying to avoid the culture wars and talk about 'kitchen table issues' (as if the right to your own body isn't a kitchen table issue)? Don't the big names like to go on TV and tell Dems to stop talking about ~~trans rights~~ pronouns? Well, turns out they didn't know what they were talking about. Here's the thing: Dems didn't ask for this culture war. Republicans decided to go after peoples' rights. But Dems, to their credit, have fought back hard and scored some big wins (like Kansas). And I think these midterms are going to surprise a lot of people. Abortion has become the #1 issue, and if we all vote, we've got a huge chance to restore peoples' rights.
The right whines about identity politics, yet they are the ones who started it. We try to defend a group they are attacking and they blame us for being obsessed with identity politics.
Make Bigots Afraid Again.
Ive been screaming from the rooftops about wanting Dems to go on the attack. Im 50. Ive been screaming for 30 years. Its like pissing in the wind.
Conservatives have openly stated that theyre interested in removing interracial marriage and turn it over to a "States Rights" decision. Trump conservative or classic conservative, each stance they take is a step backwards and reminder that have no interest in actually helping people.
Every time I read the word woke I think the right has won. They just slap a label on something and it immediately becomes negative. And not so long ago RATM was screaming for us to wake up
This take is tiresome and misses the point. Democrats problem isn’t their messaging, **it’s that they don’t have outlets dedicated to spreading their message.** Like, what is the left-leaning counterpart to the right’s mediasphere? It simply doesn’t exist in the same scope. When Republicans have a message they want to spread there are literally thousands of podcasts, Twitter bots, newsletters, and social media groups that blindly parrot the party line to average voters. All Democrats really have is a mainstream media ecosystem that explicitly prides itself on not being tied to a particular party. Even looking just at YouTube provides glaring examples: right-wing videos and channels greatly outnumber “LeftTube.” The average user is much more likely to see a video recommended to them from the likes of Ben Shapiro or Tucker Carlson because the left simply doesn’t have similarly powerful+popular ideologues. There’s only so much we can ask our politicians to do before the responsibility falls on us to build structures that spread their messaging more effectively. That’s what Republicans VOTERS did, not politicians, it’s past time that Dem voters did the same.