# 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:** 1972
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39422 "2018-10-26T10:51:48Z")
In a NY Times article, Former Fed Chair, Paul Volcker, has echoed essentially the same concerns and observations I’ve discussed here. > **[Paul Volcker, at 91, Sees ‘a Hell of a Mess in Every Direction’ (Published 2018)](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/business/dealbook/paul-volcker-federal-reserve.html)** > > In an interview, the former Fed chairman had a feisty take on the state of politics and government. > [@](#): > > “And it’s really bad. At least the military still has all the respect. But I don’t know, how can you run a democracy when nobody believes in the leadership of the country?” As I said a while ago, there’s nothing wrong with respecting the military, but when people in a democracy have more faith in the military than they do in their own ability to produce quality legislators, that’s really, really dangerous. Such a democracy is unsustainable. The temptation for the plutocratically-inclined government to politicize the military and to use it as a hammer to reinforce its rule becomes greater and greater over time. > [@](#): > > “There is no force on earth that can stand up effectively, year after year, against the thousands of individuals and hundreds of millions of dollars in the Washington swamp aimed at influencing the legislative and electoral process,” he wrote in the book. Exactly - glad someone of his stature gets it, and is talking about it openly. But unfortunately most people under the age of 50 don’t even know who Paul Volcker is, or care. But back to his point, the money interests are being used to corrode whatever faith in government is left. The plutocrats want to corrupt government so that people become convinced that the government can’t solve their problems, so that ordinary middle class people conclude that it’s a waste of time to regard regulation and distribution of public services as having any sort of personal benefit. That’s not the end of it or the worst of it, though: eventually, the government, under the control of plutocrats, transitions from plutocracy to kleptocracy. The government, the public tax revenue, becomes another income stream; it becomes a publicly-funded piggy bank that the plutocrats (kleptocrats) can raid, further engendering a generation of suspicion and doubt about the government’s ability to do good for the people who fund it through taxation. Initially, the theft of public money is somewhat subtle, but it becomes more obvious and more brazen. As people begin to notice and question and protest, the kleptocrats realize that some intimidation tactics are required. The first thing they will do is to attack your right to criticize and protest. > [@](#): > > The central issue is we’re developing into a plutocracy,” he told me. “We’ve got an enormous number of enormously rich people that have convinced themselves that they’re rich because they’re smart and constructive. And they don’t like government, and they don’t like to pay taxes.” So much this. ^ And what’s more, they don’t intend to pay taxes - because taxes are for little people. They’re going to continue rigging the economy so that they take the lion’s share of the wealth during times of economic expansion, and the rest of us bear the brunt of the losses during economic contraction. They will get rich off of explosive growth in the stock market. They’ll cash out. They’ll buy up property that you rent and they’ll become your landlords. But they’ll make you pay for their losses through your taxes. > [@](#): > > Schools like the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, he said, have failed to educate a new generation of civil servants. Our society has talked a lot about the failures of education at the K-12 level, but the reality is that higher ed is turning out people who are increasingly ignorant and unschooled in critical areas. Americans enter public service - coming from our elite schools in some cases - unable to govern. The focus over the past 20-30 years has gone from knowing how to perform in a bureaucracy to learning more about how to become influential, how to become a policy wonk and find a job at some think tank and spread influence. As is so often the case, higher ed figures out how their graduates can become ‘successful’ alumni and steer them in the direction of job hunting and career building, guiding their graduates to find ways to fit into the economy of our current political system, even if that system is utterly failing at safeguarding democracy for future generations. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39423 "2018-10-26T11:31:39Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Newt Gingrich says that if the Democrats take the House and subpoena Trump’s records, it will go to the Supreme Court, and ‘We’ll see whether or not the Kavanaugh fight was worth it’. > > That was the whole reason for the nomination fight. > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/postlive/newt-gingrich-well-see-whether-or-not-the-kavanaugh-fight-was-worth-it/2018/10/25/098f95de-d8a3-11e8-8384-bcc5492fef49\_video.html?utm\_term=.b30fef85ed3e](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/postlive/newt-gingrich-well-see-whether-or-not-the-kavanaugh-fight-was-worth-it/2018/10/25/098f95de-d8a3-11e8-8384-bcc5492fef49_video.html?utm_term=.b30fef85ed3e) I’m sure I don’t know what he means. Mr. Trump himself has noted that Justice Kavanaugh was a sound and most importantly impartial litigator ! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39424 "2018-10-26T11:33:26Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Like I said, these fuckers love to intimidate people. They assume that they’re tougher, and that people will just back down. Maybe it’s time progressives start becoming NRA members, get CCW training, and make a few AR-15 purchases of their own. But do be careful not to be black if doing so. Ask the Black Panthers why. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39425 "2018-10-26T12:54:08Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Newt Gingrich says that if the Democrats take the House and subpoena Trump’s records, it will go to the Supreme Court, and ‘We’ll see whether or not the Kavanaugh fight was worth it’. > > That was the whole reason for the nomination fight. > [https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/postlive/newt-gingrich-well-see-whether-or-not-the-kavanaugh-fight-was-worth-it/2018/10/25/098f95de-d8a3-11e8-8384-bcc5492fef49\_video.html?utm\_term=.b30fef85ed3e](https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/postlive/newt-gingrich-well-see-whether-or-not-the-kavanaugh-fight-was-worth-it/2018/10/25/098f95de-d8a3-11e8-8384-bcc5492fef49_video.html?utm_term=.b30fef85ed3e) At least they are now saying the quiet part loudly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39426 "2018-10-26T16:17:01Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Maybe it’s time progressives start becoming NRA members, get CCW training, and make a few AR-15 purchases of their own. I know many liberal gun owners. Not many are members of the NRA though. ---
**Author:** ![JB99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@JB99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JB99)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39427 "2018-10-26T16:27:32Z")
Just voted for everyone with a D by their name. Because fuck all Republicans and everything they believe in. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39428 "2018-10-26T16:55:52Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Like I said, these fuckers love to intimidate people. They assume that they’re tougher, and that people will just back down. Maybe it’s time progressives start becoming NRA members, get CCW training, and make a few AR-15 purchases of their own. Okay, so this is a horrifying thought on a number of levels, but I suppose it’s still worth asking - how do you imagine this will help? Do you imagine that this will intimidate the MAGAts right back? Convince them to back down, put their guns aside, and start behaving like people who aren’t cowards? Because I think that they’d feel threatened and feel the need to present their toughness even _harder_ to ‘stay on top’. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39429 "2018-10-26T18:27:21Z")
Quick! [Change the subject!!](https://www.salon.com/2018/10/25/gop-senate-candidate-health-care-is-not-one-of-the-things-that-matter_partner/) > [@](#): > > Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ), the Arizona GOP’s candidate for Senate, recently joined the growing ranks of Republicans who are now trying to pretend they care about preserving health coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. > But when a reporter caught up with McSally and cornered her on her lie, her response was revealing. > “Dennis, can we please talk about the things that matter to most voters, instead of repeating the Arizona Democrat Party press releases?” she said. She added, “Do you have anything to talk about like the caravan or job opportunities?”… ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39430 "2018-10-26T18:46:50Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Exactly - glad someone of his stature gets it, and is talking about it openly. But unfortunately most people under the age of 50 don’t even know who Paul Volcker is, or care. I’m under 50, and I know his name. He was part of the plutocracy himself, going back to the 1970’s. ---
**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:** [October 26, 2018, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39431 "2018-10-26T21:18:23Z")
After the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the county clerk where Dodge City, KS is located because the only polling place in town was moved out of the city limits and more than a mile from the nearest bus stop, the official in charge forwarded a copy of the suit to Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State who is the leader in vote suppression, with the comment, “LOL”. > ---
**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:** [October 27, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39432 "2018-10-27T03:08:58Z")
There’s an ad from incumbent Republican Congressman Jeff Denham attacking his Democratic opponent for joining with Nancy Pelosi to steal “our” Congressional seat. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39433 "2018-10-27T10:53:31Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Okay, so this is a horrifying thought on a number of levels, but I suppose it’s still worth asking - how do you imagine this will help? Do you imagine that this will intimidate the MAGAts right back? Convince them to back down, put their guns aside, and start behaving like people who aren’t cowards? > > Because I think that they’d feel threatened and feel the need to present their toughness even _harder_ to ‘stay on top’. What’s horrifying about it? There’s nothing illegal or immoral about legal firearms ownership. I’m a gun control advocate myself, but until this society is ready for change, it seems reasonable to keep the option of self-defense on the table. I don’t necessarily think being armed or sporting an NRA sticker is going to intimidate a MAGAbot - nor do I care to. It just sends the message that there might be easier people to mess with. Hell, they might even identify with you as a gun owner - what’s wrong with that? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39434 "2018-10-27T11:00:45Z")
> **[Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh and others stick with conspiracy theories after...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/27/ann-coulter-didnt-ditch-conspiracy-theories-after-bombers-arrest-most-false-flaggers-didnt/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d06a15c024df)** > > From Ann Coulter to Rush Limbaugh to Candace Owens, prominent conservatives suggested liberals were behind the mail bomber. His arrest Friday changed few minds. Meanwhile, despite the suspected bomber’s arrest, it’s the conspiracy theory Olympiad on Planet Republican. So that’s where we’re at now as a country. A major political party tries unashamedly to rig democracy while hatching conspiracy theories that portray the opposition party as a danger to the country. Someone acts on these theories, is arrested, and now the majority party claims that it’s a conspiracy, further fueling the instability. ---
**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:** [October 27, 2018, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39435 "2018-10-27T23:43:37Z")
Ann Coulter calls for an invasion of Mexico. [Ann Coulter: Donald Trump Should Order U.S. Military To Invade Mexico | HuffPost Latest News](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ann-coulter-laura-ingraham-invade-mexico_us_5bd41231e4b055bc948c1aed)? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2018, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39436 "2018-10-27T23:59:06Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Ann Coulter calls for an invasion of Mexico. > [Ann Coulter: Donald Trump Should Order U.S. Military To Invade Mexico | HuffPost Latest News](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ann-coulter-laura-ingraham-invade-mexico_us_5bd41231e4b055bc948c1aed)? Ummm…why? ---
**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:** [October 28, 2018, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39437 "2018-10-28T00:06:22Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Ummm…why? To keep the caravan from reaching the border. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39438 "2018-10-28T00:14:18Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Ummm…why? Make them pay for a wall, to keep us out. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39439 "2018-10-28T00:28:12Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Ann Coulter calls for an invasion of Mexico. > [Ann Coulter: Donald Trump Should Order U.S. Military To Invade Mexico | HuffPost Latest News](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ann-coulter-laura-ingraham-invade-mexico_us_5bd41231e4b055bc948c1aed)? Of all the idiotic things these Trump-supporting lowlifes pretend to believe in, the idea that “the caravan” represents an actual threat to the USA has to be the most ludicrous. However do Coulter et al pretend otherwise with straight faces? What acting talent! Truly they’ve all missed their callings. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39440 "2018-10-28T00:55:06Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Ummm…why? Because she’s a crazy bitch. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/39441 "2018-10-28T01:17:49Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Because she’s a crazy bitch. Ah. I get that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1971) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=1973)