# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1649
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32962 "2017-03-14T17:21:12Z")
I’m not fighting to maintain any sort of superiority. I wouldn’t care if I was the last white person in America. It would serve the rest of you crackers right! ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32963 "2017-03-14T17:21:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Here we have a textbook example of the depraved philosophy of “moral equivalence”, often attributed to “liberals” but in fact more common amongst conservatives (e.g. the current President’s equation of US military killings with Russian killing of political opponents). “Moral equivalence” is easily recognized by the alert reader by noting the abuse of logic and semantics to equate moral evil (e.g. racism) with morally neutral circumstances (e.g. mental illness, addiciton, and poverty)\*. > > \*While mental illness may result in evil behavior, and addiction and poverty may result from evil behavior, neither is a form of moral evil in itself. While recognizing that racism is a moral evil, it is usually in the 21st century comorbid with other social ills. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32964 "2017-03-14T17:23:06Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > But immigration policy also has a big effect, and we did decide through the democratic process to restrict immigration to a certain level. A level which has not been enforced, and has failed to be enforced in defiance of the will of the people. Well, which of these do you propose: 1. Continue to gnash your teeth and complain about it, or 2. Put the fatcats who want unlimited cheap labor up against the wall and shoot them, that being the only way to change the power dynamic. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32965 "2017-03-14T17:23:34Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > In _this_ cohnah… > …aaaand in the _other_ cohnah…! > Watch them duke it out for supremacy on Sunday, _Sunday_, _ **SUUUNNNDDAAAAYYYYY** _!!! No contradiction here. It is wrong to discriminate against immigrants by race. It is not wrong to restrict the number of foreigners allowed into the country, if white foreigners are excluded as well as non-white foreigners. It is certainly not racist to have an immigration cap and enforce it. The United States and all other countries seek to maintain the essential demographic nature of their nation. We just don’t talk about it in as crass terms as others, and some in these countries seek to quietly undermine it. Thus the backlash. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32966 "2017-03-14T17:25:28Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Well, which of these do you propose: > > 1. Continue to gnash your teeth and complain about it, or > > 2. Put the fatcats who want unlimited cheap labor up against the wall and shoot them, that being the only way to change the power dynamic. It actually would accomplish nothing, since railing against rich people wanting cheap labor is known as “lip service”. A way to express outrage without actually doing anything. Workplace raids were halted under the Obama administration, and Democrats oppose E-verify. Democrats effectively are very supportive of the fat cats wanting cheap labor. Because you can’t hurt the fatcats without hurting the laborers. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32967 "2017-03-14T17:28:43Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > t is not wrong to restrict the number of foreigners allowed into the country, if white foreigners are excluded as well as non-white foreigners. Irrelevant, since you were specifically defending race-based exclusion (“If a country wants to keep foreigners out, that is a fundamental right _even if it’s racist_.” – emphasis added). ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32968 "2017-03-14T17:30:14Z")
You misunderstood. I said that excluding foreigners is okay even if it’s racist because some have argued that xenophobia in general is racist. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32969 "2017-03-14T17:34:41Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You misunderstood. I said that excluding foreigners is okay even if it’s racist because some have argued that xenophobia in general is racist. Word games? Cute. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32970 "2017-03-14T17:44:22Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Okay, so just so we’re clear, you do not regard lack of enforcement of immigration laws, resulting in declining white demographics, to be a legitimate grievance? 😕 In whatthefuck sense is that a _ **white** _ grievance? How are US white citizens any more entitled to be pissed off about lax immigration-law enforcement than US black citizens, US Asian-American citizens, US Latino citizens, or any other group of Americans? The legal problems caused by illegal immigration into a country are indeed a legitimate grievance for any and all legal residents of that country. But **the concept that white Americans in particular are especially entitled to resent illegal immigration specifically because it’s threatening white demographic superiority is beyond disgusting.** Where was your empathetic concern back when Hispanics/Latinos started to outnumber African-Americans as the largest ethnic minority group in the US? Did you pay the slightest bit of attention to the concept that illegal Latino immigration constituted a special “grievance” for black Americans on account of their consequent “decline” in relative demographics? No, you damn well did not, for the good and simple reason that there was not a sufficiently significant African-Americans being crybaby fragile snowflakes about their shrinking demographic impact for you to notice it. But let a spiteful, hateful white supremacist like Bannon openly endorse the forty-year-old apocalyptic “invasion” imagery of a sex-obsessed racist French xenophobe, and suddenly you’re all chin-stroking empathy for the hapless whites being inadvertently “radicalized” by contemplation of their upcoming unfairly imposed minority status. Fuck that self-indulgent racist noise. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32971 "2017-03-14T17:45:55Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > While recognizing that racism is a moral evil, it is usually in the 21st century comorbid with other social ills. Policies and practices like Sundown towns (which economically hurt the locals who insist on it), or the Nazis efforts at exterminating Jews _even when it took away resources from their war effort_, show that many of the worst instances of racism and bigotry were propelled for their own sake (presumably by intense mass hatred and tolerance/ambivalence about this hatred), not for the reasons of advancing other goals. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32972 "2017-03-14T17:59:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > …The United States and all other countries seek to maintain the essential demographic nature of their nation… True…meaning, more than anything else, the mix of AGE cohorts. Disproportionately fewer working-age folks –\> weakened economy and fewer tax dollars to keep the old folks healthy (among other expenses). Thus the mere lip-service from some on either side of the political spectrum to truly shutting the door – and the blowback from so much of the business (and higher education) world from the chilling effect of Trump’s executive order/attitude. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32973 "2017-03-14T18:04:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > No, I’m observing that whites are starting to act like a minority … Then I must not be white or know any whites, because I have not been noticing whites acting like a minority – other than the skanks who make a big deal about being white. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32974 "2017-03-14T18:52:35Z")
Could someone who knows more about these things than I get back to us on whether or not there is sufficient lebensraum in Iowa? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32975 "2017-03-14T19:13:43Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Could someone who knows more about these things than I get back to us on whether or not there is sufficient lebensraum in Iowa? There is not. I have it on good authority that Iowans can stand touching noses for a week at a time. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32976 "2017-03-14T19:16:26Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > There is not. I have it on good authority that Iowans can stand touching noses for a week at a time. And never see eye-to-eye. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32977 "2017-03-14T19:43:54Z")
Erika Dreifus’ short story “Lebensraum” from her _Quiet Americans_ collection is set in Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32978 "2017-03-14T19:46:08Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Yet being an asshole is not treated as near criminal in most cases when it is not based on racism. Assholes are all around us, and many of them have good paying jobs. Racism is rarer, and primarily the province of the poor and disaffected. Because if you’re racist and actually express racist views in public, expect to stay poor. Or be elected to the House of Representatives. Why can I call an asshole an asshole, but I can’t call a racist a racist? Do they need safe spaces? ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32979 "2017-03-14T19:49:18Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > There is not. I have it on good authority that Iowans can stand touching noses for a week at a time. More like belly to belly. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32980 "2017-03-14T19:58:25Z")
Former NC governor Pat McCrory, the leader of the bathroom bill, can’t find a job because, for some reason, people think he’s a bigot. > **[Former North Carolina Gov. Says It’s Tough Finding A Job Because People Think...](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pat-mccrory-bigot_n_58c7ff26e4b0428c7f13352a?section=politics)** > > Pat McCrory signed a law that discriminates against transgender people. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/32981 "2017-03-14T20:25:44Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Former NC governor Pat McCrory, the leader of the bathroom bill, can’t find a job because, for some reason, people think he’s a bigot. > [Former North Carolina Gov. Says It’s Tough Finding A Job Because People Think He’s A Bigot | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pat-mccrory-bigot_us_58c7ff26e4b0428c7f13352a?section=politics) Poor poor baby: > [@](#): > > In the podcast interview, McCrory, who insisted during his failed re-election bid that “the left” had introduced the “radical concept” of gender identity to North Carolina, blamed liberal groups for harming his reputation. > > “If you disagree with the politically correct thought police on this new definition of gender, you’re a bigot, you’re the worst of evil,” he said. Hey, you weaselly slimeball, the reason decent people don’t like you is not because you dared to “disagree” on “this new definition of gender”. It’s because you **made it illegal for anyone to use the bathroom of their choice if _they_ disagreed with your _old_ definition of gender**. Nobody’s trying to control your thoughts or make you agree with their opinions; what they resent is your unjustifiably and inappropriately trying to control other people’s actions if **they** happen to disagree with **your** opinions. Asshat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1648) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1650)