# I pit the Republicans who have opposed social progress by... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 25, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924 "2013-06-25T23:37:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/101 "2013-06-28T21:03:36Z")
> [@sylmar](#): > > the Pee Wee Herman School of Rhetoric. I know you are, but what am I? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/102 "2013-06-28T22:16:44Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > I know you are, but what am I? [I know you are, but what is this?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Wee_Herman#1991_arrest) ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/103 "2013-06-29T01:38:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [I know you are, but what is this?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Wee_Herman#1991_arrest) A Pee Wee wee pee? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/104 "2013-06-29T04:05:20Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > We’re already in class warfare, the rich have declared the poor expendable a long time ago when they opposed the social progress of minimum wage, 40 hour work weeks, overtime, child labor laws, unions, and any form of worker protection. Sorry, the new definition of class warfare is doing anything about it. ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/105 "2013-06-29T16:51:24Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Sorry, the new definition of class warfare is doing anything about it. It’s sad the way the GOP has learned to use that in every counter argument they make. Complain about an incident of racism? You’re a racist! Complain about preferential financial laws regulations favoring the rich? Class warfare against the rich. Man, that PW Herman School is just churning them out… Is there a word for this particular rhetorical flourish? (Besides asshat). ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/106 "2013-06-29T19:03:00Z")
Having read this hot mess of a thread, I’m not sure which I enjoyed more: - **tralfamidor** ’s “my post is my cite” schtick - his obvious moving the goalposts from “there is limited upward mobility” to “there is NO upward mobility” - the crying about people being mean to him in the pit - trying to seize the moral high ground after being a total douche - a nonsensical post from **Clothahump** ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/107 "2013-06-29T19:42:58Z")
Has to be Clothahump’s “BOOM!”, roasted moment with the altered quotations. I was sure Miller was going to turn this car around and make us all go to our rooms… ---
**Author:** ![sylmar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@sylmar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sylmar)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/108 "2013-07-02T23:37:53Z")
> [@sylmar](#): > > Is there a word for this particular rhetorical flourish? (Besides asshat). False equivalency… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924/109 "2013-07-03T05:00:41Z")
> [@tralfamidor](#): > > Then how do you explain the actual, real-world social reform that has taken place in the last 100 years or so? Fought for and won (for a while, anyway, but we’re backsliding) by organized labor. > [@tralfamidor](#): > > How do you explain the advent of universal health care (however flawed)? I don’t explain it, because we don’t have it. We’ve got (or are about to have) a bullshit patchwork of private insurance that will be better for some people, but is unsustainable in the long run. > [@tralfamidor](#): > > If the eeeeevil rich were completely in iron-fisted control, little Joey would still be working 60-hour weeks in the textile factory, wouldn’t he? No, he’d be scrambling to put together 20 or 30 hours at a job where he’s ostensibly employed by a temp agency, but never allowed to get enough hours to qualify him for benefits. Wait, that’s what’s actually happening now. Yes, the company store has vanished (well, except for companies paying their employees via debit cards with fees for every transaction), but that’s just because they’ve thought up better ways to fuck over the working classes. > [@tralfamidor](#): > > We don’t need a revolution. We need a continuation of the democratic process, and to move–or lurch–in the direction we’ve been going. Demonizing the rich and igniting class warfare will slow that process down, not accelerate it. We do need a revolution. But don’t worry, it will never happen. But if we continue for another twenty years in the direction we’re going, we’ll have a hereditary aristocracy who owns everything and a bunch of destitute and semi-literate minimum-wage workers. The only upside to that is that eventually they’re going to wake up and get pissed off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-republicans-who-have-opposed-social-progress-by/661924.md?page=5)