As a registered Republican I am so frustrated!

Politics & Elections
21

My (now ex-) wife used to enjoy telling such people that Jesus of Nazareth* was born a Jew and lived His entire life in that tradition. Sometimes got dramatic reactions.

As to the topic at hand, good on ya for not drinking the Flavor Aid. And I hope that you and others like you can drag the party back from where it’s headed: the country needs a balance of political philosophies to keep more or less on track, and it’s sadly lacking of late.

*Not “Jesus Christ” — His actual name was likely something on the order of Yeshua ben Yusuf. Or as I would put it, “Christ” isn’t a name, it’s a job description.

22

Congratulations to @Temporary_Name and @TheCuse. You have passed the Voight-Kampff test and are no longer Rep(ub)licants.

23

I read, but do not post to, a right-wing board. Hoo-boy, do they have some strange ideas; mostly regarding socialism, and by extension, communism and Marxism.

They aren’t great about defining any of the above. Some correctly define “socialism” as “the workers own the means of production,” as Marx stated in the Communist Manifesto, but most don’t. For the most part, “socialism,” “communism,” and “Marxism,” are synonymous to them, and their definitions of these all seem to point back to Stalinism/Maoism/Kim Il-Sung-ism: your property will be taken away, guns and religion will be outlawed, and you will work for the state. Further, you will be told what job you will have, what doctor you can see, and what your children will become, when they get older. Hell, your kids are already being indoctrinated into the leftist way of life if they attend public schools, or colleges and universities. And if you disagree with any of the above, you will be put in a re-education camp until you agree.

These are American citizens. And they’re serious!

They’re not worried about Joe Biden–according to them he’s suffering from dementia, needs drugs to prop him up, and is hiding in his basement, until his handlers bring him out for an infrequent public appearance before the Biden-biased mainstream media, who will fawn all over him while slamming our God-given President Trump (hallowed be his name). Besides, Biden’s not holding rallies like President Trump, which as everybody knows, is the only way to campaign. And anyway, Biden could only attract maybe a dozen people to listen to his demented ramblings. [rolleyes and end of sarcasm]

No, to these Trumpists, Joe Biden is the “white male face” needed to be elected President. Once elected, he’ll resign in a couple of months (dementia, after all), upon which the US gets a black woman as President, who will promptly elevate people like AOC and Ilhan Omar to cabinet positions. So the Democratic Party’s ultimate plan is for the US to be in the hands of a Black woman, a Hispanic woman, and a Muslim woman. How un-American!

Don’t shoot the messenger, folks, I’m just taking one for the team and reporting on the toxicity that is being spread around among Trumpists in their bubble. Temporary Name’s acquaintances may sound way-out to us here on the SDMB, but they would fit perfectly among the posters at the right-wing forum I’ve been observing.

24

Have you moved to the left? Or have you stayed in the same place while the GOP has charged headlong off toward the far-right horizons?

25

So in restricted pollings I can vote FUCK NO as a republican and have my tiny little plaintive voice heard as not being for whatever insane thing they want.

Also, if they bother checking registration on the way in to any polling station, I have my registry paperwork showing republican, so I can sneak in and vote my conscience … and they will be thinking I am voting their way hey, fat white old chick needs ot be sneeky

26

Makes no sense to vote for the individual when it’s the party as a whole that puts legislation together. You’re not voting for individuals, you’re voting for laws.

The exception is when someone is so demonstrably bad that their personality represents a clear and present danger to the Republic - like Trump, for example. But then again, I’d argue that the Republican party as a whole represents a clear and present danger for all the enabling they’ve done over the years. So again, party more than the individual.

The Democratic party isn’t perfect by any means but they’re better for the country.

27

^^Well, I sure as shit am not going to vote for the Democratic candidate for my congresswoman. No way. I’m fine with my current congressman (Republican). He’s been known to go against Trump’s wishes and vote with the Dems.

So far as voting for the person and not the party–I don’t vote straight across the board political-wise. Never have. And never will.

28

“I certainly don’t support Chancellor Hitler, but I’m fine with my Gauleiter.”

What little soul the GOP had left has been utterly suborned by Trump and his ilk. GOP delenda est.

29

I think the overwhelming majority of conservatives should stop bandying about words like “Socialism,” “Marxism,” and “Communism” for the same reason that we don’t let children run around waving loaded handguns.

30

Like you I started off further to the right than I am today, and like you it was honest self-examination of the beliefs I held most dear that caused me to rethink this. With that in mind…

If this is so common, surely you can find an example of someone saying this sort of thing on the internet? Because I’ve never heard anything like this.

31

Being a registered Republican does not commit anyone to voting for a Republican.

However, it does give them the ability to influence the Republican party and to try to get less extreme people nominated to office.

Where I used to live, I was registered as a Republican because it was a given that the Republicans would win in all local races, so in order to have any voice in the outcome, I had to vote in the primaries among the people that would win.

32

I’m going to guess that the point being made was one I’ve made repeatedly: nobody’s trying to make abortion or same-sex marriage compulsory; just legal.

Amirite ?

33

Yeah, I have no idea what OP is referring to when he says he questioned whether people on the left wanted to force others to get abortions/into same sex marriages so I’m really curious for him to clarify.

34

I used to feel that way.

There are Republicans who are more competent than the Democrats running against them in some of my local races.

However, the reason for that is because the Democrat has such a little chance of winning that no one serious is willing to take the time to run.

I vote for the Democrat, knowing that they would probably not be as good at the office as the Republican, but also knowing that they have no chance of winning, in an attempt to show to other Democrats that it would be worthwhile running for that office.

It’s time to push the tiller hard left.

35

I took this:

To mean “When talking with my Republican relatives I often (sarcastically) ask if the Democrats are forcing them to have an abortion or marry a same sex partner, because the way those Republican relatives go on you’d think that was actually a thing that might be happening”.

36

I see – if thats the case then I apologize for my misreading! :blush:

37

Well, both.
The Republican Party has most assuredly packed up and headed for the far horizon, but being more open minded has led to me moving very slowly left. The first step was to stop letting “holy men” dictate my foundational beliefs (let alone political stances), the next step was to receive information from outside sources which led to making decisions based on knowledge rather than either emotion, or group dynamics. Reading the dope was part of that process, so was listening to NPR and not fearing information but respecting it.

It took ten to twelve years more or less, but now my original circle says Temporary is so open minded his brains have leaked out. That is what is so frustrating; I keep telling them – I am one of you, trust me. I tell them there is a whole world outside this bubble in which you live come look at it. If you don’t like it you may go back inside the cave but please open your mind enough to look for yourself. The end result is that none of them are going to allow me to drag them into eternal hell with me.

They tell me to come back to Jesus and Donald Trump and never realize those two figures are on opposite ends of the scale.

38

In Plato’s allegory, the men who remained in the cave staring at shadows hated the one who had left the cave and seen the world.

39

Because leaving the cave would change their world view.

They could always go back to the cave, but they could never forget the truth.

40

Please forgive me, I meant to briefly address this and went into way too much detail. It is all true however.

They don’t understand hyperbole. This is a holy war to them and as I started off saying - EVERYTHING is a slippery slope to them. They live by the motto: Broad is gate that leads to destruction, but narrow is the gate which leads to … I don’t recall. Redemption? Eternal life? Righteousness? To be good you must avoid the schemes of the evil one. I am quite certain several members of my family consider me to be an agent of Satan trying to lure them into damnation and socialized medicine!! See, they are good Christian Americans and everyone who is not as freedom loving as they are is closer to hell fire and damnation. They are still pissed off that public schools do not start every class by praying to Jesus. Separation of church and state is crazy to them, after all GOD Himself founded the United States by his own hand and ordained it as his holy city on hill. (Everyone of them is fine with every courthouse in America displaying the Ten Commandments – but arbor the thought of any quotes from the Koran being on display. I ask that very question pointedly.)

Socialism and Communism are just code words for ungodly to them. They really believe Democrats (even Joe Biden) are going to take their guns, take their bibles, and force them to share their wealth with lazy, unemployed hippies and (non-whites). Sure the commies will need them because they are the only ones who work or create jobs so they won’t be killed off but they will be used to further an agenda they despise. In this way they tip their hand, they believe Dems will subjugate them into eventual communism if they have the power to do so because they themselves are going to subjugate the Dems into a theocracy once they have the power to do so.

They think the original RED DAWN is a documentary about the future. They earnestly believe the world will most likely end within the next fifty years. There are wars and rumors of wars, and famine . . . all the signs are there – these are the last days