# The snowflakes are out in force **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 19, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182 "2016-12-19T21:11:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [December 21, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/141 "2016-12-21T18:45:19Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You have to ask? Even trump has said it doesn’t matter but **Clothy** is still apoplectic at the thought of Clinton not going to jail. And now [Trump is dropping](http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/newt-gingrich-trump-drain-the-swamp/)the “Drain the Swamp” rhetoric, now that he’s filling the swamp with his billionaire and far right cronies. No wall will be built, no Muslims deported, no Clintons locked up. And the ACA will simply be re-named “Trumpcare” with some cosmetic window dressing. \*\*Clothy \*\*and his ilk are suckers. They are useful idiots who have been utterly, utterly used by Trump. Some of them will wake up and realize this, when every single promise Trump made to them is broken and he laughs in their faces. Others are too stupid to realize they’ve been had. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/142 "2016-12-21T20:20:54Z")
I sometimes wonder if Clothy has any minority students. Or perhaps, more accurate to say “for longer than about a month”. Combine the stupid and the anger with the “feels comfortable saying racist shit because he’s entitled” and I can’t imagine his dojo being a very comfortable place for any but his ilk. Cobra Kai for white Texan racists. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/143 "2016-12-21T20:40:27Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > . . . Of all your political views, which are you will to bend on? > > Abortion? . . . We already bent deeply on that: we have the Hyde act, where the government won’t pay for abortions. That’s a compromise that we can live with. When have the conservatives ever given up anything even close to that on this issue? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/144 "2016-12-21T20:41:36Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > So let me turn it over to you. :rolleyes: As I figured: when it comes to identifying actual policy compromises with the Right, you’re all vague harrumphing about unspecified liberal intransigence and no actual ideas. [QUOTE=Grrr!] Is there any issue of significance you’d be willing to bend on for the sake of finding more common ground? And maybe, just maybe finding more folks to come roost on our side of the fence in the process? [/QUOTE] As I said, **we already have tons of common ground** with many of the actual policy positions that most voters support (especially when it comes to the demographic growth areas of younger and non-white voters, but significantly so with older white voters too). Survey after survey has [confirmed that voters in general are **already on “our side of the fence”**](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/11/04/americans-will-to-vote-for-republicans-even-though-they-disagree-with-them-on-everything/?utm_term=.ae04081e6144): > [@](#): > > […] on the biggest issues facing Congress, they [voters] still agree with Democrats on … almost everything. That includes issues like raising the minimum wage, making the rich pay more in taxes, letting illegal immigrants stay in the United States, taking action to stem global warming, legalizing same sex marriage and fixing the Affordable Care Act rather than repealing it. […] > > Republicans in Congress get lower approval ratings than Democrats in Congress, even as Americans are planning to send more Republicans to Congress. So as liberals, “bending” on our policy positions on important issues to compromise with right-wing ideology _ **is the exact opposite of what we ought to be doing if the goal is to attain “common ground” with the voters themselves** _. On the contrary, what we need to do is stick to our principles and **do a better job of showing the voters that the Republicans whose rhetoric they fall for _are not actually the ones interested in giving them the policy achievements that they want_**. In other words, “complaining” in the sense of critically analyzing and refuting right-wing ideological bullshit **is exactly what liberals ought to be doing to establish that sought-after “common ground”**. Please tell me, specifically, why you disagree with this reasoning to the extent of preferring to go on vaguely kvetching about liberals being so “whiny” and “uncooperative”. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/145 "2016-12-21T21:38:13Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > I have literally no idea (post shortened) Hahahaha. I couldn’t have said it better myself. And you’re still too stupid to spell my name correctly, but that’s not unexpected. Is this the best defense you have? To weakly demand that people who disagree with your particular style of horseshit should be exiled? You’re quite the elitist, aren’t you. And a coward. _Please, somebody, anybody, don’t let people disagree with me. Please don’t let them make me feel bad about myself. Again. Oh, lawdy, lawdy, lawdy, somebody please help me do what I can’t do for myself. Somebody please help me._ Bwahahahaha! Your arrogant attitude is why Hillary lost. Thank you. You convinced yourself that Hillary couldn’t lose. And now you’re embarrassed. Justifiably so, I might add. You allowed the pundits, polls, and pinheads to convince you that Hillary couldn’t lose. You allowed the media outlet newsreaders, and their specially selected guests, to convince you that Hillary couldn’t lose. You allowed comedians, and entertainers, to convince you that Hillary couldn’t lose. And now you can’t understand how the people you believed to be beneath you could kick your political ass. Shocking. :rolleyes: Stopping the conversation doesn’t stop people from voting. But you have no way of knowing that. Keep up the good work. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/146 "2016-12-21T23:11:20Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Please tell me, specifically, why you disagree with this reasoning to the extent of preferring to go on vaguely kvetching about liberals being so “whiny” and “uncooperative”. There is a difference between having a well reasoned debate, and bitching about things that are most certainly going to come to pass. As I said: TRUMP IS GOING TO BE OUR NEXT PRESIDENT. It’s going to happen, there is nothing you can do to change that, so let’s roll up our sleeves and figure out what can be done to make this country a little less divisive. Let’s not cut off our noses to spite our faces. Let’s not hope the worst possible for this country simply because Trump is in office and the Republicans have control of both houses. In short: LET’S NOT DO THE EXACT THING REPUBLICANS DID WHEN OBAMA GOT ELECTED! Let’s, dare I say, be the bigger party. Let us know humility. As **doorhinge** demonstrates, there is a large segment of Americans that view us as arrogant pricks. And that can’t be good for the party’s image. Something different has to be done. Because what we’re doing isn’t working. And that different may involve more bending ss distasteful as that sounds. But we’re all supposedly grown ups here. So suck it up, and let’s get to it. And since you seem to be so determined for me to state specific policy issues, here ya go: Lay off gun control. Get tougher on immigration. Ease up on coal/fossil fuels. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/147 "2016-12-21T23:45:20Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > None of these are ‘political views.’ Just sayin’. > > Also, where most of us left-of-center types are at _is the result of bending._ Obamacare is a way of getting almost-universal health coverage by the most conservative, market-friendly means possible, and conservatives hate it anyway. Cap-and-trade was the same thing for dealing with global warming (and had already been successfully used to combat acid rain and the ozone hole), and conservatives killed it anyway. Etcetera. We bent, and it didn’t do shit. There have to be people on the other side who are _also_ willing to bend. Where you stand on those issues is indeed a political view is it not? What exactly would a political view be other than what relates to government policy? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/148 "2016-12-21T23:46:55Z")
[QUOTE=Grrr!] And since you seem to be so determined for me to state specific policy issues, here ya go: Lay off gun control. [/quote] Why? Surveys show that [a majority of US voters, especially younger voters, support having stricter gun control laws.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/gun-control-measures-pollinggun-control-measures-polling-224953) > [@](#): > > More than half of registered voters support stricter gun laws in the United States, according to the latest results of a nationwide Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday that also found strong levels of support for background checks and for preventing people on government watch lists from purchasing guns. […] > > Asked if it is possible to have new gun laws that will not interfere with the rights of responsible gun owners, 64 percent overall said they thought that would be the case […] > > Six in 10 voters between the ages of 18 and 35 expressed support, compared to 57 percent of those aged 35 to 49 and 54 percent for those 65 and older. […] > > Support was more universal for requiring background checks of all gun buyers. More than nine in 10, 93 percent, said they supported that […] I agree that more extreme positions like advocating a total gun ban or confiscation of specific currently legal weapons would get much less bipartisan support. **But most liberals don’t support those more extreme positions in the first place.** **Why should liberals move away from a principled reasonable position that most voters already agree with, just in the hope of seeming less “arrogant” to the minority of ignorant right-wing extremists?** [QUOTE=Grrr!] Get tougher on immigration. [/quote] Why? Democrats already support strong enforcement of immigration laws, and under the current Democratic administration, [the number of undocumented immigrants in the US has changed from steadily increasing during the 1990-2007 period to stable/slightly declining](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/03/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/). Major influxes of illegal immigrants simply are not a problem at present. Moreover, surveys show that [American voters in general support less draconian policies on undocumented immigrants already here:](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/15/americans-views-of-immigrants-marked-by-widening-partisan-generational-divides/) > [@](#): > > Since 2013, majorities of both Democrats and Republicans have said that undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. should be allowed to stay in this country legally. […] > > Nearly nine-in-ten Democrats and Democratic leaners (88%) say there should be a way for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who meet certain conditions to remain in the country legally […] Currently, 59% of Republicans favor allowing undocumented immigrants to remain in the country legally […] support is more widespread among Millennials (82% favor) than among Gen Xers (73%), Boomers (71%) or Silents (70%) […] > > The idea of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a centerpiece proposal of Donald Trump’s campaign, is favored by only about a third of the public (34%), while 62% are opposed. **Why should liberals move away from a principled reasonable position that most voters already agree with, just in the hope of seeming less “arrogant” to the minority of ignorant right-wing extremists?** [QUOTE=Grrr!] Ease up on coal/fossil fuels. [/QUOTE] Why? Not only can a strong case be made for the importance of fossil fuel regulation even if it were unpopular, because of its huge environmental consequences, but [studies show that American voters in general support it](https://citizensclimatelobby.org/public-opinion-overwhelmingly-supports-paris-agreement-emissions-regulation/): > [@](#): > > Yesterday [12 December], the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication released the results from their latest national survey […] > > - 69% of registered voters say the U.S. should participate in the Paris Agreement adopted at COP21 last year. > > - 70% of registered voters support emissions limits on coal-fired power plants, to reduce global warming and improve public health > > - Registered voters are also concerned about the impacts of global warming on public water supplies (76%), agriculture (75%) and people’s health (74%) […] > > - 78% of registered voters support taxing global warming pollution, regulating it, or both > > - 66% of registered voters support fossil fuel companies paying a carbon tax, and using those funds to reduce other taxes. […] > > - 85% of Democrats, 78% of Independents, and 76% of Republicans want to see the U.S. use more renewable energy. **Why should liberals move away from a principled reasonable position that most voters already agree with, just in the hope of seeming less “arrogant” to the minority of ignorant right-wing extremists?** > [@Grrr!](#): > > Let’s, dare I say, be the bigger party. Let us know humility. […] > > Something different has to be done. Because what we’re doing isn’t working. And that different may involve more bending ss distasteful as that sounds. But we’re all supposedly grown ups here. So suck it up, and let’s get to it. :rolleyes: You seem to think that “humility” requires liberals to cave in on valid policy ideas that **already have majority support among voters** , just because the disproportionately powerful but numerically inferior radical right wing doesn’t like them. **I say that on the contrary, it’s time for American liberals to stop betraying the American people by cringing and “bending” before the talking heads of Fox News and other unprincipled Republican partisans, in the vain hope that they’ll suddenly decide to join us in responsible bipartisanship. Yes, “something different has to be done”: but what that means is that we need to stop abandoning our principles, and start fighting for them.** Suck **that** up, buttercup. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/149 "2016-12-21T23:52:13Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > I have literally no idea what possible value a poster a blinkered and fucking _stupid_ as **Clothahump** brings to this board. Similarly, I see little value to be gained from arguing with a pathological liar like **Doorhinge**. I think literally the only posts from **DrunkySmurf** I have ever seen that I couldn’t classify as blatant trolling were in the Hearthstone thread. These individuals offer next to nothing to this board, save perhaps pariahs to laugh at, and I seriously doubt the board would be worse off without them. Is there a single thread any of these three have contributed anything worth reading to? I mean, fuck dude, if pressed I could probably find something D’Anconia wrote that was actually worth reading. But no, Clothy’s fucking magnum opus consists almost entirely of three kinds of posts: > > 1. Incredibly stupid, misguided bullshit by Clothahump > 2. People pointing out how incredibly stupid and misguided Clothahump’s bullshit is > 3. Someone else pointing out a stupid liberal idea, something which you’d think wouldn’t be so fucking hard for someone with such visceral hate and disdain for liberals. :rolleyes: > > I literally do not understand for what purpose the powers that be keep these three festering headwounds around. They are immune to the fight against ignorance because they intentionally refuse to take part in it. So, your solution is to have those you disagree with banned? You know what works just as well? Don’t engage. No one is forcing you to click on the threads these folks start. No one is forcing you to argue with them. That’s on you and your own lack of self control. Which sort of makes you own of the snowflakes that gets ridiculed. You don’t care to ignore them you want to deprive them and others who may want to interact with them, for whatever reason, the opportunity to do so peacefully. No, they aren’t entitled and neither is anyone else other than the owner of the board to use this board. But if they aren’t breaking the rules, even though Colibri has called one of them a troll multiple times, then just don’t engage with those you don’t want to and leave them be. Obviously you and others derive perverse pleasure in slinging invective at those you disagree with. If that’s the case perhaps you are being a bit disingenuous yourself. Personally, I like engaging with people I disagree with. Even folks like Der Trihs who I think is a bit over the top because I think interacting with a very wide range of views, even those derived from a position of ignorance, is of benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/150 "2016-12-22T00:35:11Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Why? Surveys show that [a majority of US voters, especially younger voters, support having stricter gun control laws.](http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/gun-control-measures-pollinggun-control-measures-polling-224953) > > Moreover, surveys show that [American voters in general support less draconian policies on undocumented immigrants already here:](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/15/americans-views-of-immigrants-marked-by-widening-partisan-generational-divides/) > > Why? Not only can a strong case be made for the importance of fossil fuel regulation even if it were unpopular, because of its huge environmental consequences, but [studies show that American voters in general support it](https://citizensclimatelobby.org/public-opinion-overwhelmingly-supports-paris-agreement-emissions-regulation/): > > :rolleyes: You seem to think that “humility” requires liberals to cave in on valid policy ideas that **already have majority support among voters** , just because the disproportionately powerful but numerically inferior radical right wing doesn’t like them. > **I say that on the contrary, it’s time for American liberals to stop betraying the American people by cringing and “bending” before the talking heads of Fox News and other unprincipled Republican partisans, in the vain hope that they’ll suddenly decide to join us in responsible bipartisanship. Yes, “something different has to be done”: but what that means is that we need to stop abandoning our principles, and start fighting for them.** > > Suck **that** up, buttercup. Surveys showed that there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump. How’s that working out for you, buttercup? ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/151 "2016-12-22T00:46:49Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Someone has to supply the ignorance. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/152 "2016-12-22T00:52:53Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Surveys showed that there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump. Nonsense, surveys showed no such thing, and nobody who had even an elementary grasp of statistical basics would be foolish enough to claim that they did. In the first place, it’s absurd to speak of any survey showing that “there’s no chance” of any one of a set of closely ranked outcomes occurring. Surveys are statistical estimates subject to statistical error and random fluctuations. For example, just as a statistical estimate of a 10% chance of rain is not at all the same thing as showing that there is **no** chance it will rain that day, a statistical estimate of, say, a 10% polling lead for Clinton over Trump is not at all the same thing as showing “that there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump”. And of course, especially as the election approached, the differences in the Clinton/Trump polling numbers were much closer that that, often falling within the polls’ own margins of error. For most of the end of the campaign, Clinton and Trump were statistically tied for the lead. No responsible pollster that I’m aware of ever attempted to represent those results as showing “that there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump”. So your ridiculous attempt at a “gotcha” analogy is completely invalid. Buttercup. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/153 "2016-12-22T00:56:44Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Surveys showed that there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump. This is the classic example of the same kind of dumb-shit reasoning that the President-elect uses. You can’t believe any surveys because the polls were off nationally by less than 2%? (Yes, at the state level some were off by somewhat more than that.) And, they didn’t show “there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump.” They showed a tight race where Clinton seemed to have a slight advantage. However, careful people like Nate Silver were saying there was a 30% chance she would lose to Trump…and he even noted that a significant fraction of this probability consisted of scenarios where she won the popular vote but lost the electoral college. He specifically noted that the hopeful claims that she had a firewall in the electoral college that would prevent her from losing even if she lost the popular vote was based on not understanding how states would tip if the race tightened or if the polls were off due to assumptions about likely voters or what-have-you. If you thought “there was no chance of Clinton losing to Trump”, you only have yourself to blame for not reading good sources of information. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/154 "2016-12-22T01:33:26Z")
To steal a line I saw somewhere online recently… You know what the call a bunch of snowflakes? An avalanche. And it’s on the way. I see Trump as the last gasp of the republican party. Poll after poll shows what little support they actually have for their pet issues and poll after poll shows the next generation is likely to vote overwhelmingly democrat. The only way they stay relevant is through rabid propaganda, gerrymandering and voter suppression (and recently Russia and the FBI). We’ve all seen that stereotype “racist grandfather” who occasionally says something shocking, to which everyone says “Just don’t say anything. He’s old and set in his ways and won’t be with us much longer.” That’s the republican party. While they’re frothing at the mouth over who goes to which bathroom and how the EPA is evil, the younger generation is shaking their head and thinking “You’re dead in like 5 years but we gotta live here for a long time still. Could you just shut the fuck up already?” ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/155 "2016-12-22T02:12:48Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > To steal a line I saw somewhere online recently… You know what the call a bunch of snowflakes? An avalanche. > > And it’s on the way. > > I see Trump as the last gasp of the republican party. Poll after poll shows what little support they actually have for their pet issues and poll after poll shows the next generation is likely to vote overwhelmingly democrat. The only way they stay relevant is through rabid propaganda, gerrymandering and voter suppression (and recently Russia and the FBI). > > We’ve all seen that stereotype “racist grandfather” who occasionally says something shocking, to which everyone says “Just don’t say anything. He’s old and set in his ways and won’t be with us much longer.” That’s the republican party. While they’re frothing at the mouth over who goes to which bathroom and how the EPA is evil, the younger generation is shaking their head and thinking “You’re dead in like 5 years but we gotta live here for a long time still. Could you just shut the fuck up already?” You all thought that 8 years ago. You also forget that as demographics morph so do parties. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/156 "2016-12-22T02:20:11Z")
Strangely enough, I have become fond of some of the wingnut blatherers here. Occasionally they post in **Cafe Society** , where they can be seen to express appreciation for good music and good movies, and make intelligent comments on fine art. And some of them seem to be good cooks! **Clothahump** can come by my place for martinis, and we’ll spin a few sides of Bach or Sonny Rollins, maybe watch a couple of Bunuel films. And he can show me how he makes his _gratin Savoyard_. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/157 "2016-12-22T03:03:54Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You all thought that 8 years ago. And AFAICT it was valid then too. I don’t think anybody 8 years ago was seriously predicting that the Republican Party would be defunct within 8 years. But the demographic trends that were identified then—declining white percentage of population, younger voters more socially liberal on gay rights etc., increase in non-Christian and nonexistent religious affiliation, increased radicalization of the young by global media and the shrinking of middle-class career opportunities—are continuing now, and they are all chipping away at the traditional Republican constituencies. [QUOTE=octopus] You also forget that as demographics morph so do parties. [/QUOTE] Speed the day, sez I! 🙂 I would be delighted to see a modern “morphing” Republican Party more actively accommodating racial and religious diversity, social justice movements, gay rights, reproductive rights, and most of all scientific reasoning in education and public policy. **But where is it??** The present-day Republican Party that I see has chosen instead to cling to its shrinking traditional constituencies and stop up the widening gaps with money, media influence, and propaganda provided by its corporate elites. So they’ve got wealthy educated libertarian types embarrassed by the anti-science Bible-thumpers, and union-family ex-Democrats embarrassed by the offshoring capitalists, and so on in an unstable piecemeal coalition cobbled together with Koch money and talk-radio mythology about Demon Lying Hillary and Kenyan Muslim Obama. I don’t see how that party structure is sustainable over the long term in the face of the ongoing demographic and technological changes. But Republicans can’t “morph” it as a whole, because any changes desirable to one piece of their uneasy alliance will be anathema and betrayal to the others. As of recent years they’ve held on because they haven’t really attempted to do anything but obstruct Democrats. But what happens now that they’ve actually got to govern? And moreover, govern a nation in which most of the voters fundamentally disagree with their policy positions? There’s only so much longer that Republicans can fake it by assuring their constituents that deregulation is good for workers and climate change is a hoax and corporate giveaways will restore the US manufacturing base and all the problems are the fault of the Muslims and immigrants and pampered minorities and liberals. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/158 "2016-12-22T03:25:58Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > Yeah, of course. It’s also a fact that she lost because GOP voters, like you, can’t face reality and choose to love in comfortable delusion. And they hate America, don’t forget that part. ---
**Author:** ![ganthet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@ganthet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ganthet)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/159 "2016-12-22T03:41:36Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You all thought that 8 years ago. You also forget that as demographics morph so do parties. The Republican morphing from the top this year hasn’t been in the direction that most conservatives would have been comfortable with a year ago - anti-free trade, pro-Russia, pro-Putin, pro-unfunded massive stimulus package combined with a tax cut, pro-overriding budgetary restrictions, anti-budget balancing, pro-gay marriage (or at least no longer concerned about it at all), pro-Assad, and pro-Congressional term limits. Trump has adopted many Republican and conservative positions recently, but all of these seem like a lot for the GOP to swallow/morph. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182/160 "2016-12-22T04:14:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > For one thing, you all need to stop calling him “Clothy”. It’s way too cutesy for this fucking troll. “Humpy” is far more appropriate, IMO. It’s the Y on the end that makes it too cutesy. Hump, or shorten the first to Clot… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-snowflakes-are-out-in-force/775182.md?page=9)