“Our problem is, we’re just too nice. We’re too moderate, reasonable and rational, so we let the other side (which has no principles whatsoever) steamroller us. Our side always loses and those guys always screw us over because we just aren’t mean enough. THEY play hardball, but we just roll over and play dead. We’ll never get anywhere until we’re as vicious and Machiavellian as they are.”
YES, both sides believe this with all their hearts.
And so do Independents. Even more so.
I don’t agree with any of that stuff.
I think Democratic *politicians *are generally more willing to compromise than Republican politicians, but many Democratic *voters *- especially Millennials - are often every bit as unyielding in their stance as GOPers in, say, rural Alabama.
Closely related to this is - “Compromise with the opposing side is bad for America.”
OP, that’s definitely the biggest shared rationalization. It’s funny how people all across the spectrum use so many similar talking points. Sometimes when you flip from a left wing to a right wing blog it’s written from the same script, just with different key words. Here’s some others:
The media is biased against us.
The other side used to be reasonable in the past, but now they’re crazy.
The establishment is full of corrupt RINOs/DINOs.
The other side only wins because of oligarch money (Soros/Kochs).
The other side doesn’t really believe in (issue). They’re just using it as a distraction.
History is on our side. Eventually the people will wake up, use some common sense, and rally to us.
The other side is conspiring to grab dictatorial power.
The other side keeps doing X. How can anyone vote for them?
Is the other side stupid, or evil? Why not both?
Or, the ones you hear about do, because they’re the ones who are shouting the loudest.
It was suggested in an editorial that compromise is considered to be bad because many of our Congressmen are lawyers, who are not concerned with right and wrong, but with winning their case.
I think astorian is right, and I think that usually those that think their party is too nice are usually wrong. Usually they are just less competent at being evil.
The Republicans could stand to be a little nicer these days. It would actually do wonders for their image.
Honestly, this observation is not reflective of the folks I know from both sides. Maybe I just hang around reasonable people. I mean, I’m a liberal, and I certainly don’t believe that. I might hear that sentiment on the far fringes of both sides, but not in the mainstream.
Really, you’ve never heard some variant of the following:
Democrats act like it’s a gentlemen’s debate club while the Republicans lie and smear them and the Democrats just sit there and take it, whether it’s Kerry being swift boated or racist conspiracy theories about Obama. They need to find a spine and fight fire with fire.
The Republicans have their own version, usually about allowing the corrupt media to paint them as racist misogynists who hate the poor, or about how the leadership is a bunch of wimps bowing to PC pressure. About the only other rationalization that’s in the running for most common is blaming the electorate for being stupid.
Not among my mainstream Democrat friends, no. Not the fight fire with fire part.
I should add, not so much among my Republican friends, either, being purposefully Machiavellian and things of that nature as described by the OP. Once again, on the fringes, sure.
If you want examples you can Google/Youtube “weak Democrats” or “spineless Democrats” and get pages of the stuff. One of the more recent examples was in a Bill Maher interview (@11:43).
Nonpartisan research shows conclusively that liberals are far less tolerant of opposing views than are conservatives. Liberal women are especially toxic.
InfoWars, sourcing a PPRI poll, shows:
TruthRevolt, sourcing a Pew Search poll, shows similar intolerant attitudes from the left regarding the 2016 election:
Curiously, research also shows liberals to be more mentally ill than conservatives. This time we head to the hilarious Louder With Crowder, sourcing ResearchGate:
There’s also ample research which shows that liberals are more dishonest, less charitable, and less scientifically-literate, but I’ll save those facts for another day.
If liberalism could be summed up in one word, that one word would be garbage.
Why is the “N” in “neuroticism” capitalized? Is that according to the Mar-a-Largo Book of Style?
What is garbage is your post. Making conclusions on mental health based on self reported surveys is laughable. Same for the supposed scientific literacy of conservatives, those online quizzes are so pathetically simple that only dumb conservatives have the wherewithal to take them so naturally they score high. And since there is a high correlation between mental illnesses such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, etc and age and additionally conservatives skew heavily toward the elderly, if anything the correlation is between conservativism and mental illness.
I wouldn’t tarry. You should make much of time, remember? Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Like the man said:
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men (an’ ither leegendar craiturs)
Gang aft agley
I am not doubting there are people who say that. I am saying that in my personal experience it is not a common sentiment among my friends and family (“the folks that I know” in my initial post) that I hear that Democrats need to be more Machiavellian and viscious. Or from Republicans, for that matter. So I certainly do not by any stretch of the imagination agree with the OP that this is something both sides agree on. I myself don’t think the Democrats need to be more vicious and Machiavellian. I would think most Americans, regardless of political stripe, would agree to the opposite: that dirty, vicious politics is undesirable in their own party.
Tell me, who are these people who want a liberal equivalent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? I don’t know anyone on the left who wants something like that.