Then why did he close the southern border against the wishes of Big Ag et al?
When Did Politics Become Our Entire Identity?
- Thread starter alaskanseminole
- Start date
Well, at least you don't look at him as the second coming of Christ, deny his corruption and just look at him as a tool to achieve goals. I can respect that more than the Evangelicals that don't even acknowledge it and hide under abortion laws and/or the "fake news" moniker.
TH, I wouldn't have ever thought you to become a lost cause, but alas....
I'm pretty sure I didn't characterize the democrats as a wide eyed socialist/communist party, though they have a few. The point you referenced is actually the key one: it's a (dangerous) team game now. It doesn't have to be a team game to achieve some wildly communist end. But it certainly is as to power. To wit, Mark Warner, a guy I've greatly admired over the years and who once even teased the development of a third way party, and for whom I've voted in every election he's ever run in, giving $100k to support VA redistricting messaging...for the team. And on the other side, of course, one need look no further than this past week's primaries.
Also, if there's one thing I've learned over 60 or so years, it's that when you get to the point you think that people are just stupid, they tend to surprise you. Personally, I don't think we're that stupid, though I do think we have a very short attention span.
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Cult will do cult things. Trump goes and no one in that party will take up the mantle. Not JD. Not Rubio. DeSantis tried to be TEMU Trump and couldn't get 4th place.
In my lifetime- I saw the “division” begin with bush/gore. I’ve been around rivals long enough to see it…devolve.
It’s only gotten more theatrical and hysterical since then.
The house/country is not burning down around us, no matter how loudly you say it.
It’s only gotten more theatrical and hysterical since then.
The house/country is not burning down around us, no matter how loudly you say it.
When the white supremacists that founded this country got here. Before democrats and Republicans were ever a terrible idea in someone's brain.As a Christian and former Republican who's now an Independent, I've really been thinking lately about how divided we've allowed ourselves to become over politics. ...especially, since migrating over to this board and it's really not different from HROT (outside the gawd-awful orange). Honestly I don't even think most Americans are nearly as far apart as SM, MSM and message boards make it seem.
It feels like somewhere along the way politics stopped being about disagreements over policy and started becoming team jersey identity...quite literally us vs them or the dumber "good vs evil". We've gotten to the point where people assume your entire worldview, intelligence and even character is based on who you voted for.
Doesn't the data point to most people actually living somewhere in the middle? Personally, I still lean fiscally conservative. I think national debt matters. I think government waste is real (Huey and I once had a great conversation about defense spending). I think endless spending from BOTH parties eventually catches up to us.
But I also think its reasonable discuss out of control healthcare costs and whether corporations have too much influence (look'n ast you, Big 3!).
As I said in the mosque shooting thread, I'm a strong 2A supporter. I grew up around guns, respect responsible ownership &absolutely believe Americans have a constitutional right to defend themselves. BUT I also don't think every single discussion about gun safety automatically equals "they’re coming for your guns." I think there's room for adults to talk about mental health, enforcement failures and realistic safeguards without instantly treating each other like we're frack'n enemies.
Same thing with abortion. I'm personally pro-life morally and spiritually but I also recognize that many Americans wrestle with incredibly difficult situations that don't fit into my belief system.
Sadly, being moderate or in the middle or whatever doesn't generate clicks. Outrage does and we've pretty much allowed ourselves to become emotionally manipulated into constant outrage. Anyone remember the Manatee Gray color "controversy" at Target a few years back? Geebus.
Ithink it's obvious how we got here, but how to we get away from it?
LOL... Nice try.
Love that your fellow cultists came to apply first aid. You need it.
So sad. I've been to CA a dozen times since we first mentioned it over a decade ago. I love how pathetic you are.
Just an FYI, you are trying to engage an unhinged "moran."
He doesn't care. He's a cultist and proud of it.
Since then 9/11 has happened. Which naturally lead to increasing the domestic spy state, increased presidential war powers, created ICE, and started two 20 year wars in the Middle East. At some point there was a financial collapse and we ended up giving banks money to cover their screw up. Then the supreme court was like "you know what, corporations are people and their money is speech." Corporate and foreign money explode and reach new heights in 2024 billions in dark money pouring in. In 2015 Trump is elected on a fake populist message, in 2020 he encourages an insurection on the capital.
Biden "steals" an election and takes power. Trump wins again in 2024.
Trump lets the richest man in the world rummage around government databases and shutter agencies investigating him for various crimes.
Trump does crypto rug pulls for billions of dollars with coins for himself and wife.
People are grifting millions of dollars with insider info on predictive markets managing to predict wars just before they start.
Kidnap a nations leader.
Block fuels going to Cuba.
Start a war a nation at the behest of Israel. Take 13 service member deaths and 228 hits on bases in the region. Blockade a Strait that was open before we attacked Iran.
The Voter Rights Act is essentially killed by SCOTUS, states gerrymander during ongoing primaries.
Trump admin refuse to say if they will use ICE at polling stations.
ICE executes multiple US citizens.
Trump tears down a portion of the White House for a ballroom funded by oligarchs.
And the president is in tens of thousands of files in a collection of pedophile and human trafficking files.
And I missed a lot. The country is burning down if you are anyone but the oligarchy.
Opening the border to millions of unvetted immigrants qualifies as wild-eyed political corruption of the first order.
That is simply not true. There is one “our team and our team only” party. Period. Whether you want to admit or not, the Dems will work with conservatives because they have to. They would work with reasonable Republicans if such a thing existed anymore. It takes two working together to meet in the middle and one “team” flatly refuses to consider that. There was a bipartisan plan for immigration. Which “team” torpedoed it?
It’s the “pox on both your houses” both sides BS that’s our problem. Blame the team that refuses to work toward solutions and vote them out when they refuse. Lose them some jobs and they’ll come to the table.
The American people reelected Donald Trump because they actually believed 1) that he cares about them, 2) that he was going to do what he claimed and 3) he was better than the black lady with the funny laugh. We are profoundly stupid.
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As a Christian and former Republican who's now an Independent, I've really been thinking lately about how divided we've allowed ourselves to become over politics. ...especially, since migrating over to this board and it's really not different from HROT (outside the gawd-awful orange). Honestly I don't even think most Americans are nearly as far apart as SM, MSM and message boards make it seem.
It feels like somewhere along the way politics stopped being about disagreements over policy and started becoming team jersey identity...quite literally us vs them or the dumber "good vs evil". We've gotten to the point where people assume your entire worldview, intelligence and even character is based on who you voted for.
Doesn't the data point to most people actually living somewhere in the middle? Personally, I still lean fiscally conservative. I think national debt matters. I think government waste is real (Huey and I once had a great conversation about defense spending). I think endless spending from BOTH parties eventually catches up to us.
But I also think its reasonable discuss out of control healthcare costs and whether corporations have too much influence (look'n ast you, Big 3!).
As I said in the mosque shooting thread, I'm a strong 2A supporter. I grew up around guns, respect responsible ownership &absolutely believe Americans have a constitutional right to defend themselves. BUT I also don't think every single discussion about gun safety automatically equals "they’re coming for your guns." I think there's room for adults to talk about mental health, enforcement failures and realistic safeguards without instantly treating each other like we're frack'n enemies.
Same thing with abortion. I'm personally pro-life morally and spiritually but I also recognize that many Americans wrestle with incredibly difficult situations that don't fit into my belief system.
Sadly, being moderate or in the middle or whatever doesn't generate clicks. Outrage does and we've pretty much allowed ourselves to become emotionally manipulated into constant outrage. Anyone remember the Manatee Gray color "controversy" at Target a few years back? Geebus.
Ithink it's obvious how we got here, but how to we get away from it?
First, you're not moderate. You're very much a traditional conservative (pretty far right). It's just that your former Party was entirely co-opted by MAGA trolls, who are a different kind of far right - a fascist version.
Second, our current state is wholly the fault of the MAGAt movement. What started as a rebellion against the status quo, with obvious racial undertones, quickly morphed into a bullying troll movement centered around a derelict cult of personality.
So, there's no way to engage that ... solely politically ... because the movement is not about that. It's about getting away with things ... proving that you can ignore reality and make it whatever you want in that moment, it's about standing up to your superiors, and showing them they're not the boss of you.
No one REALLY gave a poo about Trump's positions when he burst on the scene. They gave a poo that he was mocking Obama (whom they hated ... for obvious reasons) as being from Africa, and not being an American. They gave a poo that he went on stage with all these normal accomplished politicians, and called them names. And, so, they latched on. And they felt all empowered to be around others who felt left behind, who wanted to bully and mock those who made them feel that way.
And you see that now. They say they're for law and order, yet their leader is a felon who is grifting, pissing on the Constitution daily, and acting like the least lawful person in the country. They cheered for no new wars ... and now they stand by their man even though he's on a murder spree, unilaterally starting wars, and threatening others.
It doesn't matter his political positions, just as long as he sticks it to whoever they feel inferior to, or frightened of (anyone who is different, essentially).
So, how are you going to discuss things nicely and politically, with folks whose essence is now bullying, trolling, mocking and worshipping one man, regardless of what he says or does?
I likely disagree vehemently with your 2nd Amendment interpretation, and we could likely have a lively political debate about it ... but the trolls would step in, shout "scoreboard" and start shouting how Trump is your President.
That's who these people are, and you can't separate the political from the personal, because there's no political substance to them any longer.
Interesting. Pretty much every political quiz I take puts me just a titch right of center and one even had me a titch left of center. It may help to know how I vote doesn't always match how I cho0se to live.
We may disagree on it's interpretation, but I bet we'd find a lot of common ground on gun legislation reform.
I seem to be able to have discussions with Riveting and Scrudders without a bunch of name calling and such.