My comment wasn’t directed at you. But like the OP, it sounds like you could describe yourself by saying “I am a Democratic supporter who registers in Republican primaries to undermine the extremist fringe.”
That’s a perfectly great thing to be, but it sounds like both of you have some hang-up about saying “I am a Democrat” or “I support Democrats”, which colors the whole performance as one of figuring out how to vote responsibly while clinging to a posture of disdaining Democrats and remaining loyal to a party that’s irrecoverably gone over the fucking edge. Which in turn casts a long shadow over whatever you claim is important to you.
I don’t doubt your views are sincerely held. However, in a thread where the OP is specifically looking for ways to remain a Republican and vote in a useful way, your post borders on thread shitting.
Please work within the confines of the stated OP, or refrain from posting. Thanks.
I consider myself an Arsonist with strong ‘preserve property’ tendencies, and also wonder what I can do to convince my fellow Arsonists to stop lighting stuff on fire.
The Republican Party’s view of the role of moderate Republicans is for them to be a false front, to allow the Party to falsely claim that they are inclusive of different views. If the Republican Party were a corporation moderates would be non-voting shareholders, much like the Log Cabin Republicans before them.
Where does she get that? Most of the big job creators pay little to no tax at all. I think some have even gotten money BACK from the IRS, which really chaps my hide. And most of the income for the 1% is capital gains from stock investments, and they’re not taxed on that, either.
As for the national debt, has she not noticed that it always goes up when Republicans are in control? If she’s worried about the national debt, the Republicans are the last people she should be working for.
Also, the last time we had a regulation-free economy (which is what I’m assuming she means by “free market”), we also had things like company towns and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Unregulated capitalism is not a good thing.
St Cad, I’m a pretty liberal Dem - be we share a lot of positions. I feel I’m in a similar boat to yours. What can I do besides voting? And I live in the bluest part of a pretty blue state.
One thing my sister said she had determined to do, was not keep her mouth shut when she heard people saying things that are especially hateful or ignorant. You know - the hard core Q-shit, folk who support Trump’s claims, anti minority hate… Of course, you gotta consider how much you wanna alienate friends/family/neighbors…
Right now we are looking for meaningful ways to donate and support persons/groups who support our beliefs. Good luck in finding moderate Repub candidates/orgs.
Apologies. That was not my intention. Just my clumsy way of pointing out that any individual turning around an organization 90+% of which is fanatically, pathologically dedicated to something is going to be an uphill climb.
Technically the best description is nonsense =) A restricted polling is one restricted to certain elements of the populations, such as Repubs or Dems =)
The Primary for President is an excellent example - there is a party who has several people who want to be president, so they run an election to pick the Party A candidate for president, while at roughly the same time Party B also runs a primary to pick their candidate. If you are Party A you can not vote for the Party B selection, only your own. Once Party A and B have their candidates for President then they run a general election. It can go all the way down to deciding which candidate Party A wants to run for local dog catcher …
What overlap do you see between the GOP of the good times and now? Can you point out any laws or changes made by - or led by- the Republican party in the last few decades. (More recent is better, of course. But let’s say within the last 30 years.) you agree with? Large national legislation is better, but I would accept anything, just to see where you find common ground with the party of today.
I’m not a Republican, but I consider myself to be centre-right and tend to be anti-progressive. My advice is to spend time thinking about the policies you care most about, and then support candidates that are most likely to advance those policies. I’m a huge believer in technology and entrepreneurship, so I tend to support pro-business candidates and policies. Similarly, I think the “safety net” should never be seen as an alternative to work. So any candidate that supports Universal Basic Income is likely to have me lean away from them. Going in the other direction, I’m a big supporter of green energy. So any candidate who’s against wind farms I’ll also lean away from.
As for what you can do within the Republican Party, do what you can to make the case for the policies you care about. While I suspect this thread contains assertions that Republican are nothing but pure evil (I haven’t read the thread yet), most politicians, left and right, are rational human beings. Suppose you care about wasteful spending. Almost no politician will declare that they’re in favour of wasteful spending. But many will disagree about what spending is wasteful, and whether ceasing that spending should be prioritised. But do the groundwork and identify the 2% of spending you think is least effective. Approach your local Republican Party associations and present your case about wasteful spending. Look for groups that agree with you and share ideas with them. Collaborate on an agreed proposal for spending cuts and a common message in favour of the proposal. After your ideas have some support, ask to meet with office members of Republican politicians and present your ideas to them. Good ideas with support tend to be popular. Don’t worry about ideology. Just make sure you have an effective argument with backing from other Republican supporters. As a single person, you won’t be able to do much to change the Republican Party’s direction. But success inspires imitation. Grass roots politics is still a thing. It’s just not a thing the centre utilises very much.
It seems to me that the way to change your party is from within. I’d attend every local, county, and state party convention. Take every opportunity to speak to your fellow Republicans and try to persuade them to stop whining about phony election fraud. In these conventions, vote for the least extreme alternatives whenever possible. In primaries, volunteer for the candidates, if any, that best match your views. If enough people work to nominate sane people, perhaps the nutjobs would go away. It’s a tall order, but if you really must stay in your party that’s what I’d do.
But I was under the impression you were a Brit, right?
Impression confirmed.
Again, I think your experience in a different political system may not have prepared you for the extent to which current political currents in parts of US politics can disincentivize this approach.
I’ve got US friends on both sides of the political spectrum. Many of the Republicans are like the ones in this thread - disappointed with the shift towards irrationalism and personality politics in what is supposed to be the grown-up party. But even the ones who support Trump are decent friendly people. The most common trend I see (admittedly mainly over Facebook so not a deep analysis) is that the more deeply religious ones follow the Republican Party, even despite Trump. After that, it’s a split between anti-socialists and anti-gun control. None of these are QAnon conspiracy theorists or people who outwardly support the January 6 Capitol invasion. Maybe I’m looking at a limited, filtered sample with some people hiding their darkest aspects. Or maybe they have the same view of leftists that many of this board have towards rightists.
Do you think that many of the left-wingers on this board would reject a sound idea just because it came from a Republican? In not, then why would you think Republicans would reject a sound idea just because it came from a Democrat? Your answer will probably say more about you than it will about any Republican.
I completely believe you, and that is consistent with my own (limited) acquaintance among Trump supporters. But I didn’t say that Republicans can’t be decent friendly people, or even that Republicans can’t be rational human beings. I said that the current state of their party politics is disincentivizing Republican politicians to behave like rational human beings in their approach to governance.
Excuse me, have you been looking at the actions of the actual US Republican Party leadership at all, rather than just talking to your Republican-voter friends about how they personally feel about things? Can you point to one instance of Trumpist leaders and Fox propagandists embracing a sound idea that came from a Democrat?
Stop trying to make this out to be some kind of unfair hatchet job against individual Republican Americans due to mere blind partisan bigotry. It isn’t. It’s a reasoned, and in fact very mild, description of what the Republican Party as an organization is deliberately trying to do to its voters.
Because they literally do that all the time. The Affordable Care act, popularly known as Obamacare, was based on a plan originally conceived by Mitt Romney. Before he was nominated to replace Antonin Scalia, Merrick Garland was put forward by Republicans as a Democratic SC nominee that Republicans would find acceptable. You can pretty reliably get Republicans who say they oppose a particular left wing policy, but if you explain the policy without telling them it came from a left wing politician, they support it.
