Politics
Out of context: Reply #30780
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I think we would do well to stop categorizing people on the right as "heartless bastards who don't give a shit about others". Nearly all people are good people at heart, and want the best for themselves and their families, and also they would be happy to see all Americans prosper. Republicans really do believe that Republican policies will help. You might argue that Republican voters are voting against their interest (and sometimes they are, as do Democrats sometimes) but we must stop thinking of the other side as "the other side."
We're all on the same side, really. We all want the best for ourselves and others and we disagree on how to get there. I've heard Republicans who hold office accuse Democrats of hating America. This is truly toxic, and has to stop. But that's an uphill battle at the moment and so let's start with the easier goal of changing ourselves.
The first thing we must do: stop thinking of other people as our enemies. Republicans aren't trying to kill you. Democrats don't hate rural Americans. Or, if you truly feel hate in your heart for the entire "other side" I would ask you to first look at yourself. If you're screaming (or tweeting) at poor rural Americans "I'm trying to help you why won't you accept my help" maybe it's time for some self-reflection.
We start by trying to re-frame the way we think about the opposing view. The only way out of this beautiful mess is to start working together. To stop seeing every issue as black and white, and to stop demanding that every issue should go our way.
If you're still not convinced, try thinking about it this way: If Democrats' ideas and policies are so right and true, why do things mostly stay the same throughout a Democratic president and congress? If we're so smart, why haven't we solved every problem? The answer is that we're not as smart as we think, and sometimes people with the best interests at heart still make decisions that hurt people. And, if you can accept that you should be able to accept our Republican compatriots as well.
- Second last sentence, I meant "intentions" not "interests". Anyway, you get it.********
- Hmm, it's not that black and white about just "accepting" another's view. It depends on what those views are. I recently had a colleague post on my FB pageformed
- that poverty was necessary to provide an incentive to work hard. I am sorry, I can't sympathize with that for a second.formed
- When talk economic policies, and even immigration and others, then I agree. But at many issues are deal breakers when thrust to the front (like abortion).formed
- I wish we could talk about things we can negotiate (taxes, economy, etc.), but those are harder to provoke responses to.formed
- Lastly, the reason things don't change much is because the govt is bought by the same people, more or less. Get campaign finance reform, term limits andformed
- lobbying transparency/reform and we could see a change, but neither side wants that. Ironically, the one thing both sides could agree on outside of DC.formed
- "We're all on the same side, really"
No, we are clearly not. I'm a firm believer in agonism.
https://en.wikipedia…deadsperm - yeah, so let's give tax breaks to the billionaires, gut the school system for the poor, make healthcare harder to get, and fuck over young women ... SO GOODmonospaced
- regarding your last paragraph, it's because republicans fought every single policy tooth and nail, and played dirty, and that is a factmonospaced
- not saying anyone had a solution, but even good ideas were met with ultimate resistancemonospaced
- I'm struggling to think of even a single uniquely republican policy that can be argued to help the people, that isn't based on fear mongering and gullibilitymonospaced
- hard to think of any rule from dem or rep helping much lately. and dems play up the fear card i believe much more than reps********
- more people scared about healthcare, parents with education costs, job security, and wages more so than "terrorists"********
- hell the democrats are swinging the popular product that has shown great success in electability throughout history. probably the best********
- to go one step farther on Nb posts realizing parties are just dumb people hoping and trying to create good maybe the realization is we shouldnt look towards********
- either party. Goes back to religions. We have replaced god with the state. we have to understand and accept the human desire to follow for security. A tribal********
- leader or scripture. majority is wired to follow. following when i was in highschool was considered an insult, today its common in social media.********
- its getting harder to be independent of thought. and even acknowledging freedom, let alone as a solution. we are only seeing the dimensions of the cages********
- when healthcare is broke does any new rule fix it? education is too costly and has any new rule fixed it? have the rules just not been strong enough?********
- can look back historically at college prices and you will see a large jump after regulation securing debt, or in healthcare post wwII rules and with medicare********
- medicaid. see how the markets shift naturally towards maximizing profits by the rules set by the game masters********
- both reps/dems, suck as game masters. but it is in their nature to provide solutions to problems that dont exist or create problems in order to get elected********
- politicians are not heros. hell they probably are worth less than a walmart cashier. theyre mostly all conmen (and women PC) that couldnt hack a day job********
- they largely don't believe in any party or goals. IE that booker cunt who use to work with devos and actually improved newark schools, but just trying to ladder********
- climb now. we need to ask less of the shitty politicians and realize their sales are a red flag. A snake oil.********
- 14 sidenotes in a row ffs. You need to work on this.monospaced
- real communication isnt defined by the length of a single side note. this medium takes more. duh********
- if you think about it 14 side notes probably no longer than a couple minutes and in the past a speaker could have an hour to explain case before back and forth********
- our current attention spans do little to broaden our views and more to defend existing beliefs. SImply because defense is easier********
- Second last sentence, I meant "intentions" not "interests". Anyway, you get it.