Un-American is a meaningless epithet to express that the person doesn’t hold similar views to the speaker of the word. Similar to the word “extreme”.
Kids, can you say “false equivalency”?
I knew you couldn’t! 
I repeat.
It could stop presidents from usurping power. The founders were wrong. That advice has led to empire.
Damn that Lind really loves a good yarn. He has been wrong on everything I’ve ever read from him.
You know they turn up on election day. That’s about it.
Wrong – wanting to ban the building of Mosques in some areas is not a widespread view. That’s an extreme view, whether held by Republicans or Democrats. So is the opinion that Sharia law is taking hold in America. Extreme.
I’ll take back the un-American stuff. But yes, calling Democrats communists (or calling Republicans fascists) is an extreme position. And you’re wrong about the equivalence – the TP is much larger than any extremists on the left. If it were the same size, then why is their political influence so wildly disparate?
It’s very extreme. It’s only been done a couple of times in history, and was never successfully upheld by the Senate.
This is a laughable view of the present-day Republican party, especially considering how the public’s view of the party has gone down so far. Michelle Bachmann, Allen West, and Steve King do not have many opinions that are in the mainstream of American political thought.
Threatening government default is an extreme position, and one that the public was overwhelmingly opposed to. Yet the TP supported it. Sure, cutting taxes and spending is a pretty mainstream view, but not getting rid of the Dept of Education, the EPA, etc- those are extreme positions in American politics.
Just saying “false equivalency” is pretty much you admitting that you can’t view a situation objectively.
The people who voted for the Tea Party supported it. That’s what you don’t seem to understand. It’s called representative democracy for a reason. If these positions are extreme, what is socialism, communism, neo-Nazism, anarchism, etc.? You dilute this word at your own risk.
Those are also extremist philosophies in America today. Not every position of the TP is extreme, but many are, and many TP members (like Bachmann, West, King, and others) are extremists. I don’t believe the TP is as extreme as communism (or neo-nazism), but I believe many of its positions fall into the “extremist” category.
I think millions of Americans who are preparing to file their taxes before April 15 think tax simplification isn’t the least bit “extreme.”
So you get to dismiss things with “I think they’re wrong”, but when people disagree with you on if something is an equivalent or not, they’re incorrect for not seeing your objective truth?
Ok, I have a question for you then WIllFarnaby -
Do you think the Tea Partiers who cheered at news of a Mosque being burned down were extremists?
Do you think the Christians who helped finance the murder of homosexuals in other countries were extremists?
Do you think the people who swear up and down that Obama is actually a Kenyan Muslim who forged his birth certificate are extremists?
Also, no matter how much you want to brush off the fact that Paul Ryan thinks women should die before they’re allowed abortions, thinks SSM should be illegal, thinks non-straight couples should be legally barred from adopting, and thinks anti-gay hate crimes shouldn’t be against the law… the rest of us aren’t just going to brush that off. Sorry, but those issues are important to some people, especially some people who’s lives literally depend on them.
Sigh. A Republican chooses to be identified as a Republican. A Jewish person doesn’t choose to be Jewish. A black person doesn’t choose to be black. A Latino doesn’t choose to be Latino.
Political affiliations are different, and while you can get butthurt about rhetoric, it’s not as morally repugnant as racism.
If, in fact, there were several prominent traitorous members of the Democratic party, supporters of that party would rightfully be lumped in as supporting treason. Non-traitor Democrats would do well to shut those traitors the hell up, get them out of office, and not give them control over the House agenda. If mainstream Dems *didn’t *do that, they would be at risk of being labeled traitors themselves, or sympathizers of treason, and rightfully so.
Likewise with the extreme TPers and the Republicans. Not only are the Pub party leaders not marginalizing the desperate dog caucus, they seem to *use *that extremist behavior when it benefits them.
Also, for the record - I don’t identify as a Democrat, because I heavily disagree with them on several issues, and I understand being a Democrat involves taking responsibility for things I have no desire to take responsibility before. A lot of people are like this, so the rhetoric of “Well YOU can be judged by the same logic” can just be responded to with a pat on the head of “I know, I am willing to take personal responsibility for my own actions.”.
I’m willing to take personal responsibility for MY OWN actions too. I’m not willing to take responsibility for the actions of others though. You?
Sigh. I didn’t know this analogy would confuse you so I started a new one with Muslims. Muslims choose to be Muslims. They can leave their religion at any time. So can you judge them for the actions of other Muslims? Yes or no?
It’s the same principle.
Wow. You’re doubling down on your idiocy.
What if there are a few traitors who are members of the Best Buy Discount Club? Does that make them all traitors?
I’m shocked you actually believe this and presumably claim to be a thinking person.
Please list all your voluntary affiliations - political, religious, social, etc. - so we can look up if there are any people who are also members of these groups who have said or done unsavory things so we can blame you for them. Please have this by the end of the day.
Hey, we’re all voluntarily affiliating ourselves with the Straight Dope message board, right?
So that means if anyone here says something really evil, we’re all responsible! Uh-oh.
If I choose to associate with people, I am responsible for those people’s actions, especially if I don’t call them out. I refuse to be friends with anti-vaxxers. I have left social groups due to the acceptance of members who were known to be blatantly racist, even though they didn’t do anything within that group. I specifically make a choice to not associate with people or organizations that are directly harmful to others, and if a group I’m in is part of that, I will make a fair effort to try to change that before getting the fuck out. Who I associate with, and what groups I join is an action. I wouldn’t accept “I’m not racist, sure I joined the KKK, but I haven’t gone to any rallies yet” - would you?
While your entire post is entertaining for the realms of fantasy you’ve constructed and the flights of fancy described, this gem surely typifies why a discussion of certain political points and ideas with you is almost certain to be less profitable than one would hope.
If the majority of the Dopers and PTB offered either tacit or explicit support for that “really evil” position, and it started to become the thing the rest of the world knows us for best, yup.
And that’s when I no longer associate with this place.
But whose people’s actions are we talking about here? SOME Republicans. Not all, and not the official leadership.
I’m sure I can find an unsavory character in LOTS of groups you’re a voluntary member of. I could go find a murderer who is a member of the National Geographic Society - does that mean they are all responsible for murder? If someone farts in your church, is everyone in your church responsible?
Let me try to explain this to you. Pretty much every single social group you may belong to that is larger than, say, 50 has a racist in it, or a woman-hater or whatever. That’s just statistics. So if you continue with this line of crap, you’re going to have no friends at all. Or you’ll be a massive hypocrite.
Also, every political party has racists. Certainly there are racist Democrats too. So now all Democrats are racists for not quitting the party because some Democrat, somewhere, said something racist.
And furthermore, even if you quit every possible group out there, you’ll still have friends, right? But those friends will still be members of groups. So you’ll still be friends with racists and such, since they’re responsible for the groups they’re in.
See how this nonsense doesn’t work when you apply logic?
But the KKK is officially racist. The GOP is not. See the difference? If and when the GOP adopts a “we hate blacks” plank, you’ll have a point. Blaming someone just for what others do or say in a group, as opposed to the group itself, is just wrong.
You are associating with people with all kinds of awful racist views right now, by participating in this thread. Does that make you a racist?
Oh, I see, now you’ve moved the goalposts to say it has to be “a MAJORITY.”
You’re getting warmer.