I love this. Hope requires creativity and a willingness to go out on a limb. I am wondering if the GOP has lost hope. They subsist on barricading and hoarding, afraid of change and creativity.
I love this. Hope requires creativity and a willingness to go out on a limb. I am wondering if the GOP has lost hope. They subsist on barricading and hoarding, afraid of change and creativity.
They have nothing to offer voters except fear, hatred and violence. It got them the White House in 2016, but that may be their last hurrah. ( with fists in the air)
I pray you are right. The fact that тАЬfear, hatred and violenceтАЭ worked for them spectacularly once was eye opening. However, then they gave nothing else (oh, yeahтАж3 SCOTUS conservatives) but nothing else to the majority of their constituents that is of substance or popular. LetтАЩs hope the GOP obstructing positive legislation and fist pumping the overturning of Roe will keep the Dems in the majority this November. Yesterday was a very good day for the DemsтАж we need to safeguard voting. That should have been number ONE on the list. Damn Joe Manchin.
I only speculate, but it seems to me that demagogues seek to manipulate our evolutionarily older "reptile brain", that nature has given a "trump card" over reason and compassion to fight for our survival. That has created a kind of "security flaw" in our "mindware" that can be worked by predatory people. Nurses have described patients denying until pretty literally their last breath the existence of the COVID virus they were dying from, and that fixed idea was planted there primarily by politicians who saw it in their own selfish interests to do so.
The machine needs some elbow grease but that takes workтАжwhich they havenтАЩt been wanting to do. ItтАЩs easier to lie and create chaos. LetтАЩs hope the machine breaks!
I think it is complicated amongst the rank and file. I am aware that some people are more uncomfortable than others with ambiguity. I suspect a large portion of R. rank and file may have grown up in authoritarian households where questioning ostensible authority was punished.
I also think the profession of politics draws people with many motivations, not the least of which is money and power, and these are the natural allies of plutocrats. I think much of the actually crafting of the modern "GOP" mission is shaped in one way or another by large concentrations of wealth. The record of the so-called Reagan Revolution, which is Republicans continue to this day, is abysmal for most Americans, in ways too numerous to enumerate here. It has, on the other hand, visibly contributed to making the very, very rich a great deal richer and a great deal more influential in America in determining what happens to us all. It seems to be that, seen as a whole, that that was and is the underling mission all along, and the faithful are being had.
Thank you for responding. This is a thoughtful, message and I think you're absolutely right based partly on my own experience. Keeping what we've amassed, maintaining the status quo, I think is what you're saying. That fear of losing, a kind of insecurity, is what connects those who have a lot and those who have less. Having a lot can imprison you similarly to how having not much can imprison you. But not everyone in these circumstances is imprisonedтАФso the imprisonment is mental, psychological, a lack of faith, of trust, of one's own resilience, of one's own ability. Always having little but not the wherewithall to be content or change things, or always having a lot but not the wherewithall to see beyond your own borders. Seeing the bigger picture takes courage and selflessness, it takes heart, and love for this world, this planet, and every creature that lives. And it's necessary, because every creature is necessary. At some point, all the money in the world, and all the anger and hatred, will get you living barricaded behind walls with no one having your back. That's the big picture the GOP doesn't want to acknowledge even as it tries to herd us down that path. Live for today is a problematic slogan.
My daughter had a college roommate who lived in a war zone. The family slept fully dressed in case the needed to run. I suppose there are those who like to live on the edge of danger, but it seems like an experientially impoverished way to be forced to live; and that an environment that supports trust with abiding vigilance is far richer.
DR spoke of freedom from as well as freedom to. That surely requires watching out for one another. Democracy and rule of law is a tragic travesty without preponderant good faith. Two or more national parties at total war is a failed state.
Freedom requires a diverse array of responsible choices, and that can't scale without controversy and tension, with reasonable peaceable means of resolving or tolerating discord. Such as, who gets to drive across an intersection first? We need to agree on such things. A free society provides a foundational basis for trust.
тАЬTo believe all men honest is folly. To believe none is something worse.тАЭ - John Adams
I love this. Hope requires creativity and a willingness to go out on a limb. I am wondering if the GOP has lost hope. They subsist on barricading and hoarding, afraid of change and creativity.
They have nothing to offer voters except fear, hatred and violence. It got them the White House in 2016, but that may be their last hurrah. ( with fists in the air)
I pray you are right. The fact that тАЬfear, hatred and violenceтАЭ worked for them spectacularly once was eye opening. However, then they gave nothing else (oh, yeahтАж3 SCOTUS conservatives) but nothing else to the majority of their constituents that is of substance or popular. LetтАЩs hope the GOP obstructing positive legislation and fist pumping the overturning of Roe will keep the Dems in the majority this November. Yesterday was a very good day for the DemsтАж we need to safeguard voting. That should have been number ONE on the list. Damn Joe Manchin.
I only speculate, but it seems to me that demagogues seek to manipulate our evolutionarily older "reptile brain", that nature has given a "trump card" over reason and compassion to fight for our survival. That has created a kind of "security flaw" in our "mindware" that can be worked by predatory people. Nurses have described patients denying until pretty literally their last breath the existence of the COVID virus they were dying from, and that fixed idea was planted there primarily by politicians who saw it in their own selfish interests to do so.
Nope. They hope their lies will continue to run the machine of authoritarianism. Sounds like that machine is sputtering.
The machine needs some elbow grease but that takes workтАжwhich they havenтАЩt been wanting to do. ItтАЩs easier to lie and create chaos. LetтАЩs hope the machine breaks!
One day the machine got busted, the darned thing wouldn't go...
The limb they DID go out on appears to have a serious case of rot!!
I think it is complicated amongst the rank and file. I am aware that some people are more uncomfortable than others with ambiguity. I suspect a large portion of R. rank and file may have grown up in authoritarian households where questioning ostensible authority was punished.
I also think the profession of politics draws people with many motivations, not the least of which is money and power, and these are the natural allies of plutocrats. I think much of the actually crafting of the modern "GOP" mission is shaped in one way or another by large concentrations of wealth. The record of the so-called Reagan Revolution, which is Republicans continue to this day, is abysmal for most Americans, in ways too numerous to enumerate here. It has, on the other hand, visibly contributed to making the very, very rich a great deal richer and a great deal more influential in America in determining what happens to us all. It seems to be that, seen as a whole, that that was and is the underling mission all along, and the faithful are being had.
Thank you for responding. This is a thoughtful, message and I think you're absolutely right based partly on my own experience. Keeping what we've amassed, maintaining the status quo, I think is what you're saying. That fear of losing, a kind of insecurity, is what connects those who have a lot and those who have less. Having a lot can imprison you similarly to how having not much can imprison you. But not everyone in these circumstances is imprisonedтАФso the imprisonment is mental, psychological, a lack of faith, of trust, of one's own resilience, of one's own ability. Always having little but not the wherewithall to be content or change things, or always having a lot but not the wherewithall to see beyond your own borders. Seeing the bigger picture takes courage and selflessness, it takes heart, and love for this world, this planet, and every creature that lives. And it's necessary, because every creature is necessary. At some point, all the money in the world, and all the anger and hatred, will get you living barricaded behind walls with no one having your back. That's the big picture the GOP doesn't want to acknowledge even as it tries to herd us down that path. Live for today is a problematic slogan.
My daughter had a college roommate who lived in a war zone. The family slept fully dressed in case the needed to run. I suppose there are those who like to live on the edge of danger, but it seems like an experientially impoverished way to be forced to live; and that an environment that supports trust with abiding vigilance is far richer.
DR spoke of freedom from as well as freedom to. That surely requires watching out for one another. Democracy and rule of law is a tragic travesty without preponderant good faith. Two or more national parties at total war is a failed state.
Freedom requires a diverse array of responsible choices, and that can't scale without controversy and tension, with reasonable peaceable means of resolving or tolerating discord. Such as, who gets to drive across an intersection first? We need to agree on such things. A free society provides a foundational basis for trust.
тАЬTo believe all men honest is folly. To believe none is something worse.тАЭ - John Adams
Yes, they (Rs) are desperate.
Withering and shrinking