As Trump romps to wins, anti-Trump Republicans wonder: Do I still have a political home?

I feel as sorry for anti-Trump Republicans as I do for non-progressive Democrats. Neither of these groups really have a party anymore. Instead we have two increasingly extreme factions seeing who can out retard each other.

 

No the extremist factions are the "moderate" Democrats and the "moderate" Republicans who demand that they we engage in wars of no American interest in the Ukraine and Israel.

A minority of both Democrats and Republicans view the Russian invasion as major threat to American interests. Despite the bipartisan consensus of the people about this issue, our elected officials have reached "bipartisan consensus" in the exact opposite direction.


As Noam Chomsky noted decades ago, we are ruled by elites who do what they will without regard to the will of the people. It is not extreme to resent this given the consequences to ordinary Americans.

A functional elite that cared about the American people would do four things:
1. Not engage in war profiteering.
2. Secure the border.
3. Maintain a balanced budget.
4. Not export our tech and manufacturing to other countries.

The regimes failure to take care of items 2-4 are all existential threats to America.

 

Many of us have known for years that our 2 party system is a scam, intellectually and morally bankrupt. Voting LP allows me to keep a clean conscience.

 

People have various opinions about foreign policy, international trade, immigration, domestic economic policy, crime and justice, immigration, abortion, other social issues, etc.

The problem with policy oriented politics is that in a two party system it is unlikely that an individuals opinions will line up with either party platform. Consequently, party identification is very weak, and people vote for person even though they disagree with some of the person's positions. And we will probably see more spit ticket voting in 2024.

 

Using a MAGA dictionary, moderates are extremists.

 

Yes, I'm sure these same mental giants would have had us stay out of WWII as well. Isolationism doesn't work my friend. We don't live in a vacuum.

 

We should be helping Ukraine if for no reason than what it is doing to Russia without a single American troops life. In addition we told them we would if they surrendered their nuclear weapons.

Plus we are sending them used weapons that we need to clear out of inventory anyway.

 

Agreed. It concerns me that this brand of American seems to have no empathy. Their great trial was a shortage of toilet paper in 2020. And yes, there were problems coming out of covid - people lost their jobs, companies closed. Financial savings were eaten into and some folks seemed to lose everything. But that can hardly compare with the threat of ethnic cleansing or bombings that leave entire towns/cities decimated. We are far too comfortable in our 'can't happen to us' bubble that we can't see the pain of others and want to do what we can to help.

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty. ~Lawrence Ferlinghetti

 

You prove the point anything can be justified.

 

Nice little poem, too bad it doesn't resonate whatsoever. As someone who's lived/born in this country for 3 decades now, my sentiment is simple: I really don't give a ****(it's slightly more nuanced than that, but that's the reader's digest version)

If you want to be cannon fooder in the European War, that's your choice. Don't go dragging others into that choice. If by contrast, you want to fight in the Israeli-Gaza war, cool beans. But again, don't drag others who don't want to.

It's easy to say "do something", when you're not the person doing anything. It's easy to nod along at Biden saying 'it'll cost you at the pump', if you're okay with the decision(the early impact of the sanctions)

It's not about 'helping', it's about helping at the expense of others but not at his/her own personal expense. So take this post for example:

So speaking of WWII, what's the first thing I'd do if I had Hitlerian authority right now? I'd forcefully conscript ONLY the pro-war Americans and the pro-war NATO politicians and enlist them to fight in the war. It'd be the most blatantly selective, petty draft you'd ever see.

You wanna fight? Fine, but only you. Not anyone else. Oh wait, what's that a doctor's notice? Denied. If these pro-war activists actually had to fight the wars, they would change their tune quickly which would also allow us to govern our country.

Because, yes we do live in a vacuum and Lincoln himself pointed it out and how fortuitous that we are that this is the case:

“At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”-Abraham Lincoln.

He's a controversial man, I disagree with many of his actions but this is the greatest statement ever given by an American statesmen.

Why is Europe the way it is? It's a landlocked hell hole. The Middle East is the same way.

We don't have the same security concerns as Israel, Russia, Ukraine, etc al.

Canada is a peacetime ally. Latin America would have to invade through Mexico, and that'd give us the justification to finish off the complete annexation of the Mexican territory as quite literally the ONLY avenue for a foreign attack.

We are invulnerable. But because of our invulnerability, some of you want to 'invite the danger' in the name of helping. You're NOT helping, STOP trying to help.

If you want to help, try helping your fellow countrymen/women. That kind of help goes a long way. As for the wars and travesty therein? It will end, sooner or later and things will return to normal but we need not be involved for that to happen.

 

I don't get the impression that Lincoln meant we could just pretend what happens in the world around us won't affect us. And if he did, well, the guy was wrong. He didn't really have to deal with external threats during his presidency. And the world we live in now is also a different place than it was then. We are all far more tied together. We're not going to be able to sit in our country while we allow dictators to invade countries and think it won't come back to hurt us. It's not even about morality or being the good guy, it's about self-interest and national security.

 

Non-progressive Democrats feel “at home” in Democratic party. Democratic party is still a centrist party.

I know you want to brand democratic party as “extreme left/ progressive” and AOC/Talib/Sanders taking over. But that is 100% lie.

But nice try.

 

Ethiopia
Sudan
Central Afrrican Republic
Myanmar (Burma)


How much do you hear about that in the MSM? Not at all because it does not benefit the hacks in DC. But, we must support with our money and worse, our children, the wars that the DC hacks say we must. Spare me your support of our corrupt DC hacks

 

‘Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…’ Churchill

Two party system is not the issue. Multi-party system is not the issue. Israel has multi-party system, but they ended up with BIBI. UK is multi party system and they had Boris Johnson or Liz Truss.

 

Churchill's 1947 quote above is actually a quote of someone else - "Indeed it has been said that democracy...". Likely Churchill agreed, or he would not have quoted the saying. However, Churchill, who started as a peer in the House of Lords, almost certainly was not thinking about 21st Century American democracy, with its issue driven populism.

"How is that word “democracy” to be interpreted? My idea of it is that the plain, humble, common man, just the ordinary man who keeps a wife and family, who goes off to fight for his country when it is in trouble, goes to the poll at the appropriate time, and puts his cross on the ballot paper showing the candidate he wishes to be elected to Parliament—that he is the foundation of democracy.

And it is also essential to this foundation that this man or woman should do this without fear, and without any form of intimidation or victimization. He marks his ballot paper in strict secrecy, and then elected representatives and together decide what government, or even in times of stress, what form of government they wish to have in their country. If that is democracy, I salute it. I espouse it. I would work for it.” —House of Commons, 8 December 1944

https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government

 

We have no self-interest and national security in either. Let's assume the worst case scenario: That the Russians, in the end take Kiev. In the end, how does this threaten the American mainland? How does it threaten our self-interest?

It doesn't. It's bad for the Ukrainians and it might be bad for Europe. But we shouldn't lose sleep one way or the other. You're letting the happy coincidence of winning one war(WWII) overshadow a pragmatic, and realistic foreign policy.

If our policy is containment and weakening a rival power, that should be Bejing, not Moscow. We should be arming our Asian allies to the teeth and building a coalition that can not only protect those allies, but bring the Chinese government to the table.

 

I am disappointed but not surprised at the number of Republicans that believe we should just left Russia kill as many as they want in their quest to bring back the USSR.

I guess that tracks looking at their witnesses and planted propaganda.

 

and many folks liked those who you do not

what of it

 

Thank you for illustrating my point!

 

Both major parties have been shrinking over the last few decades. There was a time, 1950’s, 1960’s when 75-80% of all Americans identified with both major parties. But that was when both major parties weren’t filled with ideologues. That was when both major parties had their conservative and liberal wings. Remember the solid democratic conservative south, the old Rockefeller republican northeast. A time when the south was solid democratic, a time when the northeast was mostly solid republican. Then both major parties discarded their unwanted ideological wings. By the 1980’s only around 60-65% of all Americans now affiliated, identified themselves with the two major parties. The movement left and right continued with both major parties. This status quo continued into the 2000’s when both major parties filled with ideologues began shedding themselves of their moderates. Litmus tests were required to belong to either major party. Today according to Gallup, Democrats make up 27% of the electorate, Republicans 25%. The rest are your expelled moderates better known today as independents, swing voters. The two major parties have made it harder and harder for the average American to have a political party to call home. Both major political parties have rid themselves of middle America. They’re left with far left and far right ideologues whose only goal is to shape both major parties in the extreme. To get rid of anyone who doesn’t pass their litmus tests, denying middle American’s a political party to call home. Left and Right Extremism now has become the hallmark of both major parties.


This led us to presidential candidates like Clinton, seen unfavorably, negatively by 56% of all Americans along with Trump, seen unfavorable, negatively by 60% of all Americans back in 2016. It has led us to the unwanted rematch between Trump, now viewed unfavorable, negatively by 56% of all Americans vs. Biden who is seen unfavorable, negatively by 57% of all Americans. Soon both major parties will have shrunk to below 50% of all Americans who identify themselves as Republicans and Democrats. But they’ll still have all the power due to our monopolistic two-party electoral system. They still and will continue to tell most Americans to stick it where the sun don’t shine. They’re doing exactly that with this upcoming rematch of Biden vs. Trump. Neither major party give an owl’s hoot about most Americans, only their base. Their ever-shrinking base.

 

That literally makes no sense. By prolonging the war, you are leaving Russia to kill Ukrainians. I am not sure you understand how war works. I do understand your posts though. They never deviate from the MSM consensus. The MSM consensus on Ukraine seems a bit shaky as of late. Some of them appear to be coming to the position I have advocated since the beginning of this bloodbath. Here is Time magazine urging Biden to go the bargaining table. I wish these dimwits would have taken that position from the beginning.

https://time.com/6695261/ukraine-forever-war-danger/

 

So which is it? Do I never deviate from the “libruls media” or am I deviating? Because you post said both.

I support Ukraine defending itself and since we bargained with them to surrender their nuclear arsenal then I support us honoring our word to stand with them.

So people don’t put much emphasis or care when it comes to their word though so it’s not surprising so many people that support Putin are pushing the narrative you are.

 

They know it's not braindead biden for sure. I can't stand trump but braindead that's allowing the radical left to run his presidency will not get my vote.

 

After The Stain’s ‘victory’ speech in Sth Carolina, I’m wondering if Eric “still has a home”…! His doting, but braindead, father overlooked him….again…when thanking the family members…

 

Not a bad list, actually.