Can the GOP weed out the crazies?
Is this man really good for the future of the Republican Party?
I know this will be heresy to many Republicans, but it’s time — long overdue, in fact — for the GOP to abandon Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment.
“Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican,” Reagan wrote. “It’s a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since.”
But that was in a different time, a different era.
These days, there are so many outright, full-bore crazies in the conservative movement that Republican leaders need to do some serious trash talking.
Even more, they need to do some gate-keeping.
How bad is it? After Tuesday’s election, long-time Republican front-man Ted Nugent dispatched a series of tweets calling American voters “soulless fools.”
“What subhuman varmint believes others must pay for their obesity booze cellphones birthcontrol abortions & lives?” Nugent asked.
Donald Trump, meanwhile — one of Mitt Romney’s most visible surrogates during the election — called for “revolution” as the results were coming in.
“We can’t let this happen,” Trump insisted. “We should march on Washington and stop this travesty.”
And then there was Bill O’Reilly, blaming the outcome of the election on brown-skinned people who “want stuff.”
“It’s a changing country,” O’Reilly said, his voice breaking. “It’s not a traditional country any more.” He went on to clarify that “the white establishment is now the minority.”
And then there was popular conservative talk radio host Neil Boortz, who responded angrily to the idea of congratulating President Obama on his victory.
“I would like to congratulate Ted Bundy on sneaking into yet another sorority house and killing another coed. I would like to congratulate Adolf Hitler on his invasion of Poland. I would like to congratulate the — Al Qaeda for their successful attack on New York City. I would like to congratulate the Ansar al-Sharia crowd over there in Benghazi for their successful assault on our consulate. Congratulate Barack Obama? I’m sorry.”
This stuff isn’t “conservative” and it’s not “principled” and it’s not the “real” America. It is, to bend a phrase, crazier than an outhouse rat. It’s bonkers.
When you have top-tier Republican candidates talking about “legitimate” rape and pregnancies resulting from rape being “God’s will,” it’s vicious and it’s unhinged.
When you have leading Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain calling for construction of a fence along the Mexican border that is “electrified, with a sign on the other side that says it can kill you” it’s ugly and nuts.
When you have top conservative voices calling the President of the United States “a retard” (Ann Coulter) or “Barack the Magic Negro” (Rush Limbaugh), it’s grotesque and lunatic.
When conservative allies blame hurricanes on gay people or earthquakes on abortion, they aren’t devout or fundamental or churched. They are creepy and weird.
So here’s the 12th commandment for the Republican Party. If you say crazy things — about “diseased” immigrants, say, or about women advocating for contraception being “sluts” — you are out.
O-U-T. Persona non grata. Done. Finished. If you babble on about the President’s birth certificate, or his secret Muslim faith, you are banished.
The GOP has a steep enough hill to climb, rebuilding its damaged brand, without being hoisted again and again on the petard of the lunatic fringe.
Taking this kind of hard-line on nuttery will be frightening for party leaders because they’ve let so many kooks into the big tent.
It’s also true, as David Frumm has pointed out, that a lot of carnival barkers are making kajillions of dollars by co-opting the Republican brand, joining what he calls the “conservative entertainment complex.”
It’s good business — damn good business — for Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Michael Savage to bounce off the walls and tell people to go out and buy gold and survival kits in advance of the coming apocalypse.
But it’s not good for the Republican Party. Not by a country mile.
So where does the GOP start? How about saying good-bye to Trump? Or Nugent? Surely, the GOP is capable of that kind of baby step toward sanity and self-policing.
If not, then we will certainly continue to see legitimate conservative causes — and smart, sane conservative voices — eclipsed and deligitimised by the kind of people you wouldn’t trust to baby-sit your dog, let alone run your country.
Tags: analysis, election12, politics
Brian, It would appear to this old codger that the problems with the current Republican/conservative true believers lies not only with the public lunatic fringe of their ostensible leaders but with the thought processing of their core constituency. If one accepts at face value the stated beliefs of the of the present day Republican party leadership, it must be apparent to virtually all thinking homo sapiens, of the set known as citizens of the USA, that the core beliefs of the GOP is to maintain/increase the economic strangle hold that the 1% wields over the 99%.
Logically one must recognize that there cannot be sufficient numbers of voters in this 1% set to maintain the voting bloc required to elect Republicans to, so called, public office. To accomplish this it appears that the 1% utilize psychological quirks, apparently inherent within the mental faculties of a large percentage of Americans, which enables said Americans to convince themselves that they are a member of the 1% set if any one of their self defined core beliefs intersect with the purported core beliefs of the 1% such as: American exceptional-ism, right to life, anti-abortion, self-made-person, ……. belief in a “christian god”. Utilizing the marketing skills which have pulled and pushed Americans into becoming the “consuming” nation of the world, the 1% market the GOP and convince the majority of the GOP voters that they truly are members of the 1% thus garnering nearly 50% of the American voters as Republicans.
All the crazies are driving away moderate Republicans who register Independent or simply start voting for Democrats. For too long conservatives have used the Republican Party, which in many parts of the country is a moderate party. It is time conservatives formed a national party of their own and tested their ideas in the political market place.
Brian, you forgot Fox News and the whole Rupert Murdoch media empire, and some others. Without the active support of the heads of these companies, who also made a ton of money from political advertising, much of the lunacy would disappear. Instead it is a rocketship race to be ever nuttier than the next guy to stand out from the nutty-talk crowd and find new nuttiness territory to mine, and even reasonable people get sucked into the nutty vortex behind them.
Let’s not forget the real source of the problem, the roughly 47% of the voting public who have abandonned moderate conservtives resembling Eisenhower, Bush I, Reagan, and even (when it did not onflict with his personal meglomania) Nixon. The present majority of Republican voters supported, or at least accepted, candidates who demonstrably had a very tenous relationship with reality (remember the clown car primaries?), and laughed out of the race decent, reasonable potential candidates like Huntsman and Pataki.
These residents of the fantasy, as opposed to fact-based, world, are fotunately mostly old, and becoming more and more elderly. Soon enough they will be in the hands of their Lord (that will be an interesting opinion when the subject of “do unto others… ” comes up), and beyond doing further damage in the reality-run world. Perhaps a responsibly conservative Republican party that can tolerate both facts and faith will then emerge. I hope so.
I agree. However, I think the Dems need to show the likes of Ed Schultz the door and tell Bill Mahr he really is not funny and does their brand no good.
Donald Trump wanted to disregard Building Code and Fema–never mind common sense– and build a casino on Jones’ Beach–WITH A BASEMENT KITCHEN ON THE OCEANFRONT.
Lets try to get a man like that in charge. (sarcasm)
To me he epitomizes the Republican arrogance prevalent in the Party, only to be outshone by Rove, who by all rights should be in jail.
It is said that we get the government that we deserve.
The American people were lucky this time.
Why weed out the crazies…lets just invite the moderates to become moderate Democrats and leave the crazies where they are……
They have to recognize the difference between entertainers and leaders.
Will the Democrats weed out their crazies? Chris Matthews, Bill Mahr, Bill Ayers, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ed Shultz, Rachael Maddow, Al Gore and all the rest? Will you call for an end to Democrats claiming the right wants old people to starve, that they want to take away Social Security, want to bring back slavery and force women to staya t home barefoot and pregnant? Will the Dems cease talk of outrageous and completely false tax benefits for moving a company overseas? Will they cease their attacks on religion?
No, they won’t. And the reason the right has drawn a line in the sand is because we’ve spent 70 plus years hearing “Oh, the Democrats won’t really try to do ______!” and then watching the Democrats do just what we were told they wouldn’t do. When the Speaker of the House says we have to pass Obamacare so we can see what’s in it, when she instructs Priests to preach Obamacare from the pulpit and no one says a word about the spereation of church and state, when Obama promises debate on Obamacare and then there is none- why wouldn’t the right buckle down?
There are “nuts” on both sides Mr. Mann. You seem to close your eyes entirely to “your” nuts. You fail to mention the hate speech from the left, from NPR executives and left wing journalists who say they hope Limbaugh or Bush or whomever dies. I believe that is called hypocrisy. You’re very quick to point the finger at someone else, but don;t look at your own dirty laundry. Sadly, that’s typical.
The problem is not just the people cited in this blog post. The Trumps and the Nugents. Unfortunately for everyone, they are no longer the fringe of the party. They just happen to have cameras pointed on them and microphones in their face. What they say makes the news.
But this crazy babble is embedded in that party right now. Go to any conservative leaning blog and start reading the comments. Pay close attention to the things your conservative friends post on Facebook. Heck, there is a bar/restaurant in the town I live where you can hear these types of things (and crazier) said on just about any given night.
The problem is not with these unhinged “spokesmen” – the problem is that there is a large base of people quietly (and often not so quietly) nodding their heads in agreement with them.
It’s fascinating to me to see Rachel Maddow and Al Gore being held up as equivalent to Rush Limbaugh and Donald Trump. I don’t believe that Maddow and Gore make their arguments in the same way as Limbaugh and Trump do, but to a person with deeply held beliefs that differ from mine, they may well seem irrational and false.
More than one person has pointed out that Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, etc., are in business, and that their business interests don’t coincide with those of a healthy, election-winning Republican Party. In the end, a base is only a starting point, and any successful political party has to gain support from outside of its base. If your sole purpose is to keep the base fired up, you are much less likely to have a message of interest to others.
The problem isn’t just the Trumps, Nugents, and Limbaughs. It’s how easily large numbers of Americans can buy into the fantasy. A PPP poll last spring in Alabama and Mississippi found that 45% and 52% respectively, believed President Obama is a Muslim. This is what is killing the GOP, many of their voters seem to live in this fantasy world. Climate change is a myth, all democrats are looking for a hand out, Obama isn’t a citizen, the media is biased, the polls are all wrong, Ohio isn’t going for Obama, it goes on and on and on. Even the Romney campaign refused to see the writing on the wall, until it couldn’t be denied anymore. Sadly when I talk to many of my conservative friends and co-workers I see that a majority hold these out there ideas. Until the conservative electorate comes out of the woods they aren’t going to be able to field candidates who repudiate these positions. Until the GOP returns to platforms based in reality they will continue to be marginalized. Which federal legislative body does the GOP still hold? The House obviously. More democratic votes were cast for house seats in 2012 than GOP. The GOP’s only saving grace was extreme gerrymandering. The tide is turning, and unless the GOP makes some bold steps, it will continue.
I think dave hit the nail on the head. I spent a six hour ride with a car load of successful, intelligent, conservative friends. I was shocked at some of the things they believed based on no evidence whatsoever. dave is also correct about conservative blogs. The remarks posted on some of those blogs are outright scary.
Hey Rancid (really good name, by the way),
You wrote:
“…the right wants old people to starve”
When Republicans propose giving old people a piece of paper instead of guaranteed treatment under Medicare, old people will starve.
“…they want to take away Social Security”
The GOP proposed privatizing Social Security. It would be a death knell. Ask any credible economist, analyst or rat not currently feasting in the outhouse.
“…want to bring back slavery”
A Republican candidate in Arkansas proposed exactly this — this year. He didn’t win.
“…force women to staya t home barefoot and pregnant”
This is a pretty reasonable conclusion when candidates
1) Say it’s OK to use public legislation to forbid surgical procedures they don’t like – for anyone, no matter the reason, and
2) Philosophize about which kinds of rape are “legitimate”
Please name one position that is embraced by the Democratic party and is significantly different than any position they’ve embraced over the past 20 to 30 years. I’ll give you same-sex marriage. That’s different.
But other than that, I can’t think of any. This is consistency. Republicans, on the other hand, have moved so far right, they’ve abandoned many of their previous positions. The GOP’s Presidential candidate abandoned all his positions — it seemed — on a daily basis. That’s extremism. And it’s scary and it made a majority of Americans not vote for GOP candidates.
Pointing the finger is immature and diverts the attention necessary in resolving problems. It is school yard antics as if the Republicans and/or Conservatives need the Democrats/Liberals saying in effect, “We won and here’s why you didn’t. You need to do this and you need to do that”. It’s right up there with telling someone who got in a car accident and got a concussion, “Welllll.. if you wore your seatbelt…” That’s arrogant.
It’s not wrong to point out the inconsistencies, faults, and failures – if it’s done with the right tone – for the right purpose: unifying a nation.
It’s easy to point out the failures of others. How about we own up to our own failures and our own party’s failures? This is humility. This makes the wall of defensiveness come down and allows discussion that gets us somewhere.
Look, this isn’t an appeal for a 60’s love chant. It is taking responsibility and not removing the speck from your brother’s eye so he can see more clearly. It’s taking a good look at yourself and removing the speck from your eye first. Personal humility goes a long way in mending fences.
And those survival kits? May seem crazy to some, but with the handwriting on the wall regarding the value of the dollar, etc., nothing is wrong with preparation. To nail those folks saying they are doing it for damn good business is pretty judgmental. The Democrats and/or Liberals don’t have the corner on knowing it all.
Kathy –
Sorry, but I don’t see Brian coming across as arrogant and not having the right tone. He is saying what a number of conservative pundits are also saying.
Will: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-republicans-must-start-over-again/2012/11/09/d7c81db0-29e8-11e2-bab2-eda299503684_story.html
Parker: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-republicans-undermined-their-own-candidate/2012/11/09/e858bb64-2a9f-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_story.html
Krauthammer: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/charles-krauthammer-the-way-forward/2012/11/08/6592e302-29d8-11e2-96b6-8e6a7524553f_story.html
Well, I’m not brown skinned and I do work for a living – and I want stuff!!
I want to keep my job, have a roof over my head, food in the frig and affordable health care.
Don’t need a lot but we all need stuff.
As I thought, you all cover your eyes and close your ears to any criticism of the left. People like Limbaugh do make a lot of money at what they do. So does Jesse Jackson, he makes his living off inflaming racial divides. So does Al Gore who makes his living off people fears. So does Maddow, Shutlz, Olberman, Mathews, etc, who make their living, a very, very good living, telling people what they want to hear.
I’ll be back later to address your points WJ.
I might take some of this nonsense seriously if it came from Republicans, but it is the height of presumpton to expect us to listen to it from Democrats. You can stop the misinformation, unwarranted criticism and downright disdain; the election is over and you won! You should be getting on with the business of advancing your agenda and putting into practice the philosophy you so ardently espouse. Leave us Republicans to sort out our own party. Telling the opposition what they should and should not believe smells a bit like fascism, doesn’t it? It is not enough to win but you must also have everyone marching in lock-step too.
It is interesting, what do all those people that Brian mentioned have in common? None of them are public servants, politicians, conservative academics, leaders of any real sort, or even ground level political hacks. They are all entertainers making a lot of money using this particular platform of right wing conservatism.
At some point the conservative movement blended or traded cheap modern entertainment and talk show screaming for actual political thought and ideas.
Look at Sarah Palin and her family, what did they really want and end up doing? Reality T.V., talk shows, dancing with the stars and so forth, I am not sure how many ghost written books the family will end up squeezing out of the deal.
So yeah I agree it’s time to throw out the entertainers and clowns and get back to actual conservative principles and conservative leaders.
At the same time people are listening to these guys, they are taking economic advice from dropouts like Rush Limbaugh and Hannity as if these types of entertainers had a clue about economic analysis or principles, so I have to say it is not just the entertainers, it is their audience, Ted Nugent? People would listen to Ted Nugent as if he spoke for conservatives???? But all of these guys are loving it they are taking it to the bank.
This is exactly why we need stronger smaller parties. “Crazies” are Americans too. Their voices – yes, even the Tea Party types whose ideology I find some loathsome – need to be represented in the political process. Not disproportionately but they are people too. People who don’t feel represented in the political process are more likely to take up armed rebellion and I’d rather avoid that.
Brian M: recently, in your lifetime, the consensus was that being gay was a psychiatric illness. Those saying that being gay was normal were the “crazies” of their time. The idea that women should have careers or that blacks and whites should live in the same communities… also once considered lunacy.
Smaller parties influence the political process in countless other democracies without hijacking them. They can do so here as well.
Today’s crazy may become tomorrow’s conventional wisdom.
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” -Frank Zappa
Just from an economic standpoint it is fascinating. The business model for Rush, for Donald, Ted Nugent, the Palin’s, Hannity, Colter etc, works just as well when Republicans lose, possibly even better. So you can make money, a lot of money serving this 15-20% of the electorate, if it drives away moderates and independents that is even better in some ways as you will create a more isolated, devoted consumer that feels intense fidelity to your product, now he or she is an elite, misunderstood, persecuted minority, and thus we have to stick together and above all stay tuned in!
This could be a really cool time though as Brian mofc points out, we could and maybe should see some new splintering, possibly a new more moderate party arise, possibly the Democrats divide into a more conservative wing and then we end up with a true three party system. It could happen.
A woman I know who lives near me, in her 50’s, well known and liked by everyone, very conservative Tea Party type of person – died of a heart attack on Wednesday morning after the election of a heart attack. I’m not a doctor and I dont know anything about her health previously, but I suspect she was so affected by the election results that she had a heart attack.
People shouldn’t be that wound up tight about their politics. Romney isnt a Nazi and Obama isnt Stalin. Get a grip.
Another take on a few simple lessons.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/low_concept/2012/11/what_did_the_2012_election_teach_americans_about_how_to_run_a_successful.html
KHL,
Seriously?
Democrats: The election is over and there’s nothing (at least as far as I can see) to be gained by continuing to trash Republicans. Now’s the time for action, so put up or shut up.
Larry, conservatives have been trashing us liberals for decades now. Deal with it.
I do think it is interesting though.
The real question is where does the money go now? Certainly you have the people Brian is talking about above who are making a living selling this particular style of thought through entertainment, everyone of those guys above are building a brand working toward increasing their own personal capital based on this.
However what do the really big money people do who want to influence conservative politics? Will they split from the entertainers and try to fund something that can actually win with our current electorate?
Also the big money is truly split for now. Wall Street only marginally supported Romney this time around and fully backed Obama the first time around. You certainly have some industrial interests mainly energy guys, coal, oil etc, who are very much against Obama, but that is about it. I think you may see them all act if Obama is actually more than just talk and follows through on raising taxes for those above 250K in yearly income and raises capital gains taxes.
a couple of other zappa quotes-
The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.
Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.
ronnie saves his nummies on a window in his room.
Larry, yeah. Seriously.
A variation upon the theme, “They only call it class warfare when we fight back.”
There is a certain sweet feeling of being a minority fighting against the establishment, thus it will be interesting to see how Democrats and Liberals understand and take responsibility for being in the majority and being in power, ergo, actually responsible for what is happening, they are in power now, fully and must now take responsibility for the results.
And as far as I am concerned that is OK! I have a conservative bent certainly, but I could be wrong maybe Obama’s plan will work? I hope it does but we would not have known if he would have lost.
Okay WJ, on to your post.
1- The quote was that republicans want old people to starve. You brought up giving them a piece of paper instead of Medicare. We were talking starvation, not medical care. No one on the right I’ve ever heard of has endorsed starving any American citizens.
2- The Republicans did no to the best of my knowledge ever want to privatize SS. Bush wanted to offer people a mechanism whereby those who chose to could invest up to 5% of their SS payments in their working years. It was entirely voluntary and not at all mandatory. That is nothing like privatizing all of SS.
3- Republicans want to bring back slavery- I’ve googled my little fingers off and I can’t find anything saying any Republican from Arkansas or anywhere else said that. Methinks thou art confused. Or more likely you are repeating something one the MSNBC “journalists” reported as fact.
4- Barefoot and pregnant. There is a far divide between that and responsible use of abortion rather than engaging in the wholesale slaughter of babies. Birth control is one thing, killing your baby is another. I’m sorry, but I see nothing wrong with the desire to stop people from murdering children. As I sad in another post recently, if Americas intelligent, sophisticated, educated modern women can’t exercise a tiny bit of forethought and use birth control then they are really pretty sorry creatures.
You’re correct, conservatives have moved further to the right over the past couple decades. The Republican party left us some time back and we tend to vote for them as the lesser of 2 evils. The Democrats have been consistent in their goals, they’ve just been pretty good at hiding them in comfortable terms over the years. It took some time for people to figure out that todays progressive is no different than the progressive of the 1930’s. Creeping Marxism doled out in tiny doses is still Marxism. Time after time after time we were told that what looked like a duck and quacked like a duck and swam like a duck was just an innocent social program that would benefit the poor downtrodden class, or make things more “fair” or would help people “realize the American Dream”. Instead it was just what it looked like, a duck and we were the Junebugs. So yes, we have dug our heels in to try and save ourselves, our jobs, our schools, our churches, our children, our way of life. “Tea Party type”. Is that what we are? Okay, so be it, I’ll wear that badge proudly.
The Democrats have moved further Left also, they for some reason have just figured out how to do that and win politically.
My grandparents were solid FDR democrats, but abortion as a plank in the party no way, the same goes for drugs etc.
Kathy is right. No more advice for the Republican party. They’re doing fine.
The democrats have moved alarmingly to the right. Even their signature piece of legislation has Republican fingerprints all over it.
where’s your empathy people? – poor ted nugent is obviously still suffering from an untreated case of cat scratch fever – do you know what that will do to your brain over the course of three decades? if you really cared you’d be sending a healthy dose of penicillin to ted – not berating him for having a disease
RC,
Here is the problem with your argument.
We have more social programs than we did in the 1930s… and lo and behold our economy is more robust than it was 80 years ago, our middle class is better off than it was 80 years ago, our military and world influence is stronger, our citizens are healthier, our children more educated, we enjoy more equality…
By any measure I can think of, we are better off now than we were in 1930… a time when we had fewer social programs.
So how exactly can you say that social programs are harming the American Dream, threatening jobs, children and schools?
I once was in a room of liberals and spoke the words, personal responsibility. The room went silent. Then there was loud sound in inhalation followed by breaking glass as the windows blew inward.
They were probably aghast that you reduced a complex set of factors to a sound bite.
Dave, I don’t believe I said social programs are harming all the things you listed. What I said was Democrats/socialists/Marxists/communists are affecting all the things I listed. I don’t know a single Tea Party type that wants to do away with Social Security for instance. What we want is to make it truly solvent and to keep politicians out of it. What? They don’t say that’s what those Tea Party types want on NPR or MSNBC? Gee, what a surprise. Jobs? Really? Are you actually going to attempt to claim that programs like Obamacare or an increase in the minimum wage or taxes have a positive impact on jobs? Better look into that a little more closely. Just since Wednesday morning there have been a great number of headlines regarding hiring freezes, mass firings, etc. I can get you a list if you like. Why do Democrats always seem to believe that companies move jobs off shore simply because of greed? Do any of you ever stop to consider that our tax policies, regulation and often union demands make it impossible to keep the business here? Mark my words- I predict that if the trend of these businesses laying off, firing, etc continues that the Obama administration will at least attempt to block these people from doing any of that.
I find it puzzling that you claim the middle class is better off now. It’s true the middle class may be better off than at the height of the Great Depression, but are you really trying to claim the middle class is better off now than in 1950 or 60 or 2000? Sorry, no one buys that. Our world influence is diminishing. Recently several nations stopped using the US dollar as their benchmark, I believe they went to the Chinese currency. Our influence is dropping like a rock just like the value of our dollar. Our children are not better educated today than in the 50’s or 60’s, etc. Time after time we read where our children are less and less educated. We’re failing in that. Why? Well, maybe part of it goes to the gov’ts meddling about in education int he first place. Should gov’t be dictating education or should teachers be making the decision? (Should gov be dictating medical treatment or should doctors?!) Home ownership, the American Dream, is falling too. Yes, blame that on greedy bankers, fine. But you’d better be sure to include the greedy politicians that made the laws that allowed the greedy banks to do as they did in the first place- Barney Frank, Chris Dodds, etc.
Look, I’d love it if our government functioned as we’d all like it to. I wish we had that benevolent, all wise gov that didn’t make a mess of things. We don’t. We have a government that is insolvent, unwise, fiscally irresponsible and that doesn’t have our best interests at heart for the most part. Adding more bureaucracy, inefficiency and cost to the problem isn’t going to fix things. It might create a few government jobs, but its not going to do anything for the North Country. Gutting government overnight ala Ron Paul won’t fix it either. Shut down all the US bases on foreign soil and bring all the boys home. What does that do for the unemployment market? I’ll tell you right now that this is a gargantuan problem with myriad issues and that it would likely take 10-30 years to fix. I’m under no illusions that will happen. But I read the posts here favoring more and more of the same and I just can’t keep still. Best of luck to you all.
I’ll tell you right now that this is a gargantuan problem with myriad issues and that it would likely take 10-30 years to fix.
Agreed. Now why were conservatives complaining that Obama wasn’t able to fix our problems in 4 years?
It is weird because on some issues the Democrats have moved further to the middle. Particularly on being hawkish and interventionist. But come on, on some of these social issues the Party has moved far far to the Left, which is fine that combination is kind of working for them. The thing that they have done however is allow people to exist in the party that do not agree on some of those social issues. Take gun issues, there is certainly a contingent of Democrats that do just fine with the NRA rankings.
I did not make that idiotic comment about Ted Nugent.