WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please donate to keep ReaderRant online to serve political discussion and its members. (Blue Ridge Photography pays the bills for RR).
Welcome back again, SenHat. I wish to provide a lengthy response to your tirade/posts, but I don't want to appear to be picking on you. I would suggest, however, two things: One, actually read the post before dismissing it. You are missing a lot of significant data, something that a true conservative wouldn't do. Second, we still have rules here at the Rant, and yes, they can result in sanctions. The kind of dismissive tone you have taken, and personal attack is unjustified. (See notes below) Even if you disagree, even vehemently, you should disagree with the substance (and provide citations for assertions), and not disparage and characterize the poster. That goes for everyone, BTW. We have been a bit lax about some rules recently, but that is not one that has varied.
Thanks for the arrogant lecture. It would be nice if you practiced what you preach. In this reply you missed or apparently didn't read my post. I have a dismissive tone? Damn near everyone of your replies to me has been written with a dismissive tone!
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
This is a caricature of Conservatism. The only place it is accurate is in the author's egotistical closed mind. The links he used to support his views are liberal ones that reinforce his egregiously erroneous opinion of Conservatives.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
Perhaps, my friend, you can provide examples that demonstrate your point?
Quite the dismissive tone there, my friend.
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
If Conservatism is a failed and dying ideology why do 27 of the 50 states have Republican governors? Why do Republicans control 22 state legislatures while the Democrats control only 14?
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
I can answer that! The majority of States in the United States have rural populations. The most populous States, and those with more urban areas, are resoundingly Democratic. In some cases, the makeup of the State chambers and offices is an accident of geography. Increasingly, however, the makeup is skewed by virtue of gerrymandering and vote suppression. Those are topics for other threads, so I won't lard this one with citations. I will also note that "conservative" and "Republican" are not coextensive, as you have used them here.
But that people vote for Republicans is something you and others have said has been caused by gerrymandering and vote suppression. That is not true. What it is, is an excuse for the fact that people do not vote for Democrats as you believe they should. Perhaps your belief that people should vote for Democrats is an indication that you might be a little arrogant?
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
The author of this comment lives in an ideological cocoon and doesn't even know it! He, like a lot of closed minded liberals, thinks Pres. Trump is the Republican Party.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
I commend you on your mindreading prowess! But, you make a huge mistake in asserting that "Liberals" are, generally-speaking, "close minded". I am not sure what you are basing that characterization on, but, in my view, it is pretty far from an accurate assessment - indeed, it would be hard to see reality from there.
I am basing my statement that liberals are close minded on the replies I've received to my posts here at the Rant.
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
Trump is not the Republican Party nor is Trump much of a Conservative!
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
On the first point, you are decidedly wrong. On the second, I have a hard time disagreeing.
Pres. Trump is not the Republican Party. As the highest elected Republican he is temporarily the leader of the GOP, he is not the party! When Obama was our President he was temporarily the leader of the Democrat Party, he was not the party.
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
His opening statement saying that the Electoral College is the last vestige of slavery demolishes the rest of what he has to say.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
Care to elaborate? There is substantial scholarly support for the assertion.
Without the Electoral College the city and county of Los Angeles would determine who wins our Presidential elections.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
Again, hyperbole does not do much to further your argument. Substantively, there is not much to work with here, as the statement has no empirical support whatever. The Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area has a population of 13,131,431, about half of whom are voting age. That represents a little less than 4% of the US population, and even less of the voting population.
Hyperbole? Only when you ignore the link I posted that showed how the Electoral College does give large urban areas the power to decide who our President will be. Here is the link you ignored. But then it appears you would rather lecture me than have a discussion with me. https://thehill.com/opinion/campaig...y-with-the-electoral-college-think-again
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
Does anyone here want Los Angeles to decide who are President is? I doubt that anyone does. Anyone except for closed minded egotistical arrogant liberals.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
This statement is based upon a fundamentally flawed logic. I think what you really mean (please correct me if I am wrong) is that because the greater part of the population is a) more liberal than you like, and b) concentrated in urban areas, you don't wish that majority population to make policy decisions on behalf of the United States. The problem is, that is inherently illogical. The central premise of "democracy" is that majority rules, yet you prefer that the minority dictate the rules for the majority of the population (generally and historically speaking 3-4% more than conservatives) simply because your minority views clash with their sensibilities. How is this in any way logical or in keeping with the spirit of democratic rule?
The flawed logic is yours, NW and you are wrong. It is the urban areas that are predominately liberal. The rest of the country is conservative. (If I knew how to post a meme here I would post one that shows how the large liberal urban areas voted for Clinton, the liberal candidate. But the rest of country, the conservative areas voted for Trump, who compared to Clinton was the conservative candidate.) The Electoral College was created to prevent the tyranny of the majority from controlling our Presidential elections. To prevent the tyranny of the majority is why 49 out of the 50 states have bicameral legislatures. That makes our governments, state and federal, republics not democracies.
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
I don't mind a vigorous political debate.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
There is significant evidence to the contrary.
Lectures are not debates.
Originally Posted by Senator Hatrack
However, that is impossible with someone who is assmug and obnoxious as the author of this comment. Nor is he alone in that attitude. I have temporarily returned to the Rant because this comment is so obnoxious, condescending and wrong! If my comment gets me banned from the Rant I don't care.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
I believe you do care, my friend, which is why I welcome your return. All I ask now is two things: Be polite (it's a rule), and put up (provide support for your assertions).
I returned because a post so egregiously wrong that I had correct it. To be polite is show respect for the opinions of others, not to lecture them. I usually do provide support for my assertions but when you ignore them, NW, it might be a waste of time to do so. Do you ignore them so you can spend more time writing your lectures?
The state can never straighten the crooked timber of humanity. I'm a conservative because I question authority. Conservative Revolutionary
