Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Denialism

Greger, why are you dancing around this question?

• Please list three positives that Conservatives bring to the table.

Show your work, my friend. I challenge your assertions - i.e., "didn't happen".

You know this great experiment in democracy called the United States went south the moment the children of the Age of Enlightenment compromised with the South to give their free labor 3/5 of a vote.

That compromise has given us nearly 400 years of not dealing with America's original sin: racism

Frankly, I don't find value in compromise - nobody gets what they want. The only way forward is to separate us, peacefully, as two countries with a five year intermediate transition period.

On another site that shall remain nameless, I started a thread: Neo-fascism, Trumpism, and the Republican Party. The point is, there is a fundamental difference between the major parties, at present, and one DOES represent a serious threat to the nation. I'll import a bit of that discussion, because there are references there that are relevant here.

"First, a definition: "Neo-fascism" is a generalized movement that includes 'https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultranationalism', 'https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_supremacy', populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia and anti-immigration sentiment as well as opposition to liberal democracy, parliamentarianism, liberalism, Marxism, communism and socialism. There are formal neo-fascist parties, such as the MSI in Italy, National Front in the UK, and the Union Movement for pan-European fascism. More recently, however, it has been seen as a subset, or descriptor for extreme far-right nationalistic parties that pursue the policies described above.

I have supported both Republican and Democratic candidates in the past, and had been fairly conservative in my politics for decades. But I have watched the Republican party, as a whole, drift ever rightward during my lifetime, especially following the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, so that's my focus here.

The election of Donald Trump and the advent of Trumpism since 2016 has engendered a marked acceleration of adoption of what I believe are neofascist policies. Some already existed within the GOP, but were deemed "fringe", previously: Anti-immigration policies, anti-social policies, and white nationalism (although coded and disguised - like Nixon's "southern strategy", Reagan's "welfare queen" and Bush's "Willie Horton" ad). But Trump brought in, wholesale, elements of strongman politics, authoritarian instincts (and purveyors), populism, undisguised racism and xenophobia, and anti-democratic policies (Dick Cheney's and Bill Barr's versions of "unitary executive action"). The Republican party has now broadly adopted them.

Which leads to the legitimate question, is the Republican party now functionally, or officially, a neo-fascist party? Given the definitional elements described above, why, or why not?"

And it hasn't abated since his ouster.

GQP darling Margie Taylor Greene wants to GOP to abolish OSHA because it is communism.

The poor dear doesn't quite get that a Republican President, Nixon, signed the bill into Law. Secondly, the poor dear doesn't understand how the government that she was elected work in, works.

And some want us to compromise and work with such individuals. HA!

My friend, let's dismantle the strawman. Here's a question relevant to your assertions: Are these signs of intelligence?

Why do some still deny Biden’s 2020 victory? Here’s what the data says (Opinion, WaPo, Subscription) "According to a November poll from the Public Religion Research Institute, 68 percent of Republicans believe the election was “stolen” from Donald Trump. Only 6 percent of Democrats and 26 percent of independents say the same.";

The Red/Blue Divide in COVID-19 Vaccination Rates (Kaiser) "As of September 13, 2021, 52.8% of people in counties that voted for Biden were fully vaccinated compared to 39.9% of Trump counties, a 12.9 percentage point difference (Figure 1).";

Politicizing the Mask: Political, E...fecting Mask Wearing Behavior in the USA (NIH) "Empirical results provide evidence that the tendency to wear a mask while in public is significantly lower in counties where then-candidate Donald Trump found strong support during the 2016 presidential election. In addition, states with mask-wearing mandates tend to witness greater mask-wearing behavior."

I would think that stupidity is defined by deliberately doing/believing things that are contrary to reality or your own personal interests. It's not a minority - it is THE MAJORITY of party members.

My undergraduate degree was in political science, so I know a bit about political philosophy and the machinations of political activities and social adaptation. So, I'm genuinely interested in analyzing what is going on in our country.

Fascism is an actual political movement and method. It is anti-democratic, but often gains initial acceptance through democratic means.


Now, do any of those concepts sound familiar in our current context? In 1932 Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat and fervent capitalist coopted whole cloth several planks of the American Socialist party. He adapted them and put them into practice, and the Socialist party never recovered. Similarly, the Trumpists of the Republican party have commandeered much of the rhetoric and positions of neofascist parties, and (like Hitler in post-WWI Germany), took over an existing political party and its apparatus. There are clear historical parallels. Feel free to discuss them or dispute them.

Is that how the law works? I have to prove a negative..
Here I thought it was the other way around. But it’s been fun. Corporate media personalities winding up everyone with shoes dropping soon snd big breaks in the case developing.
What ya git? Coupla procedural prosecutions and a whole lotta nothing. Coupla procedural convictions? That bout it?
I’m impressed after all that sound and fury.
Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capones vault during prime time was better. At least the hype leading up to it only lasted a coupla weeks. Dem Corp turned themselves into hysterical victorian housewives, as a wag observed.

Since 1965, up to 2018:

Republicans (28 years in power)
120 indictments
89 convictions
34 prison sentences

Democrats (25 years in power)
3 indictments
1 conviction
1 prison sentence

From this we draw the conclusion that both Parties are the same? Are Republicans inherently criminal or just stupid? Are Democrats smarter, so they get away with crimes? I'm not sure what is going on here, but Occam's Razor suggests Republicans think rules don't apply to them, and they can do anything they want even if it harms other people or American institutions.