To a Republican, bipartisanship means doing exactly what the Republicans demand.
To a centrist, they see two sides fighting, and assume both are equally at fault.
But they didn’t give them everything they demanded. Therefore, the Democrats are being partisan.
No, but that’s because Republicans represent “real Americans”, and so don’t need input from the anti-American Democrats in order to pass legislation that will affect the future of our country and its citizens.
I’ve said previously that from my outside POV, the US lost it when Gingrich discovered that he could lead the R’s in being obstructive, destructive assholes, and that the US electorate would not punish the R’s for being so, but would instead punish the D’s for being ineffectual. At that point, the R’s learned that the US electorate preferred pigs, and US democracy has been heading towards the abyss since.
I think there were a lot of potential points where it all got lost. Somebody (here? another thread) mentioned McCarthy. I think Reagan-era had a lot to do with it because it was somewhat the start of passing racist laws that had the fig leaf of not being racist (i.e., they just so happened to exclude PoC). I think 2016-2020, of course, plays a huge role. The only thing keeping Republicans from subverting democracy is the fear that their people wouldn’t stand for it. They’ve discovered that they can literally do anything (Trump really could have shot somebody on 5th avenue and not lost support), and tell any lie, and their people will stand behind them. In fact, not just stand behind them, but attempt a coup to support the lie.
The answer of course, is that no civilization in history has lasted forever, all have fallen eventually.
The naivety of the Democrats is that this can be prevented if everyone works together to do so.
The ignorance of the Republicans is that it will continue to stand no matter how much they deliberately undermine it.
I agree with the original quote, only I’d change “liberals are stupid” to “liberals are naive.” If conservatives were really stupid, they wouldn’t have managed to succeed as well as they have, coming possibly a few hours away from overthrowing the government by force and getting away with the attempt without suffering any serious consequences other than that one woman who got shot during the insurrection. Liberals, by which I mean leaders of the Democratic Party and the Biden administration, on the other hand, continue to naively believe the system will hold. Merrick Garland has done nothing to provide any serious consequences to those who led and participated in the insurrection*. Instead the focus seems to be on pushing issues like “wokeness” which, while morally correct, are now seemingly turning off suburban moderates and pushing them into the Trump column. Political bashing of others should be for the hard core opposition, not directed at the swing voters. Republicans know that. Presumably Democrats do as well, they would just rather naively die while holding on to their principles rather than live while slightly compromising them.
*. No, spending a few months in jail while getting special accommodations to eat an all organic diet doesn’t count as serious consequence in my book.
Exactly. Those everyday conservatives aren’t stupidly voting against their own interests. They’ve just decided that they’re more interested in screwing over the liberals rather than improving their own lives.
Each party has many factions and it’s lazy to say the whole of either are evil and/or stupid. Truth of the matter is that their is a lot of intelligence in each party but it seems to be hard to admit that one’s ideological competitors have any form of virtue.
We are seeing a restructuring of the two parties and the how and why is being deliberately distorted. The so-called manufactured culture war talking point is part of that distortion.
If you can point me to the intelligent wing of the Republican party, then I’ll give you an internet cookie.
Heck, if you can point me to the non-evil wing of the Republican party, then I’ll give you two internet cookies.
Mitch McConnell is clearly one of them, as are many of the other Republican senators such as Ted Cruz (it wouldn’t surprise me if he tested in the genius range for IQ). The top people in Trump’s administration for the most part. Depending on whether you want to consider them Republicans or not, the 5 conservative members of the SCOTUS plus John Roberts are clearly very intelligent. My guess is so are the vast majority of Republican federal judges. The architects of the two most recent red waves in 1994 and 2010, Newt Gingrich and John Boehner, are intelligent.
There are many problems with Republicans, but a lack of intelligence among those in power isn’t one of them.
I said above there are individual Republican politicians that are intelligent. That is clearly true. I was referring more to ideology. What are the ideas that Republicans stand for that are borne of intellectualism? Based on facts, reasoning, critical thought, study, reflection, etc. A desire to make the lives of ordinary citizens better. To make America a better place.
The three significant wings of the Republican party right now are:
Trump wing: very stupid, very crazy, very evil
Tea party: pretty stupid, very crazy, very evil
“All we really want to pass are tax breaks” wing: Not stupid, but not really intelligent, just greedy. Not very crazy. Still evil.
So is there a wing with which I am unaware?
Got it. I was distinguishing between intelligence and intellectualism. IMHO those are two separate things. Agreed that all the wings of the Republican Party are lacking in intellectualism. I still disagree on the intelligence. If they weren’t intelligent, they would have long since been swept away by now, even by a party as lacking in unity and willingness to do what it takes as the current Democratic Party.
I recognize I phrased it poorly. My bad. 
Sounds like a three-wing circus.
I’ll see myself out.
Simply because we haven’t heard about anything he’s done doesn’t mean he’s done nothing. Remember, Mueller ran a pretty tight ship too. Not sure what your comment about “wokeness” meant.
And have the prosecutions even concluded? My impression has been that the prosecutors are doing the usual thing and rolling up from the bottom, with the most serious stuff still to come.
You are confusing what the dumbasses asked for with what they got.
He did get what he asked for.
By wokeness I mean causes that push the Overton window further to the left, as well as a focus on causes where the sides are well entrenched and not going to change. Things like trans girls and women participating in women’s sports, defunding the police, gun laws, and abortion laws.
Admittedly a lot of the rhetoric on those issues is being defined by the right, but that, of course, is part of the problems. The leaders on the left haven’t come up with effective tactics to counter what the right is doing.
He was granted the organic food diet while serving his term, which ended up being 41 months.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/08/us/prison-meals-qanon-shaman-organic-food/index.html
ETA: I know that polls show that a supposed majority of Americans support abortion rights, but in practice that doesn’t matter. Clearly many of those people who on a poll claim to support abortion rights pull the lever for the Republicans in the general election.
Oops, shoulda checked before posting, sorry.
It’s really two sides of the same coin.
Conservatives are naive enough to believe that without government intervention, the free market will allow you to negotiate the best possible outcome with your boss and that your neighbors will be motivated to work harder if they are jealous.
Liberals are naive enough to believe they can legislate an equitable society where bosses will ensure their employees needs are met and always treats them fairly and that your neighbors will all help each other to end homelessness, be more woke, and end global warming,
Conservatives are “evil” because the free market doesn’t care if you can’t afford your rent. Go find a better job, lazy. And no one held a gun to your head to become a criminal or drug addict. Why should society spend money on the dubious prospect of “reforming” you beyond what it costs to lock you away where you can’t hurt anyone. That money would be better spent on strengthening our military because it’s better to be the one dictating policy than have it dictated to you.
Liberals are “evil” because they believe so strongly in their high minded ideals they are willing to pass laws (and by extension, enforce them with state-sanction violence) to tell you what soda you can drink, what vaccines you need to take, how much money you are allowed to make, and how much baby seal steak you can eat each month.
Someone sent me a quote, (not sure from where), which I think shows another facet of that shift;
“…the metamorphosis of Jesus Christ, from humble servant of the abject poor, to a symbol of gun rights, prosperity theology, anti science, limited government neglecting the destitute and fierce nationalism, is truly the strangest transformation in human history.”
I think these shifts, in both religion and republicanism were moving in tandem a lot of the time.