# What makes a "good Republican?" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787 "2019-02-01T15:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/81 "2019-02-03T18:43:06Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Right, today’s Republicans are EXACTLY THE SAME as persecuted Jews during WWII. Some people are trying to demonise them, present them as ‘the other’ in the same way that the Nazis did the Jews. And they appear to be succeeding. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/82 "2019-02-03T18:45:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, Goebbels would be sacred of us. It was the Democrats who kicked his ass in WWII. It was Americans of all political persuasions who kicked his ass, not just Democrats. Some of them were Democrats, some of them were Republicans, some were Communists, and some had other political persuasions. And that’s an interesting typo. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/83 "2019-02-03T18:55:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t think so. Kruger said _“the hallmark of fanatical centrism is the determination to see America’s left and right as equally extreme”_. > > As a practical matter, that’s certainly not the case with me. I’m on record as opposing the idea that the Democrats and the Republicans are equally bad. I think that the Republicans are clearly far worse and equating the two parties is giving the Republicans credit they don’t deserve. > > But at a more theoretical level, I’m not sure this would hold up. The reason I think the Republicans are worse is because they’ve been taken over by their extreme fringe. The conservatives dominate the Republican Party. Moderates still run the Democratic Party and their extreme fringe is marginalized. > > So I’m not sure whether the right wing fringe is inherently worse than the left wing fringe or they just seem worse because the right wing fringe has power and can act out in ways the left wing fringe can’t. If the situation was equalized and the left wing had the same power as the right wing has, I think it’s likely they would be just as bad. But you merely self reported as being a _centrist_. Krugman’s description can’t be expected to apply unless you self-identify as a _fanatical_ centrist. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/84 "2019-02-03T19:01:00Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Some people are trying to demonise them, present them as ‘the other’ in the same way that the Nazis did the Jews. And they appear to be succeeding. Then they (the Republicans) shouldn’t behave like demons and try to divide the world into themselves and “everybody else.” Which they are doing, and have been doing for some time. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/85 "2019-02-03T19:16:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > So I’m not sure whether the right wing fringe is inherently worse than the left wing fringe or they just seem worse because the right wing fringe has power and can act out in ways the left wing fringe can’t. If the situation was equalized and the left wing had the same power as the right wing has, I think it’s likely they would be just as bad. That bothers me a bit. I guess I can see how people might imagine that strict left-wing policy could seem oppressive. They certainly have been depicted that way. Even moderating my views in my oldage, I find myself to the left of 90% of the country, maybe 95. But I mostly look toward the pragmatic positives and maybe miss the possible down-sides. To me, the aggregate broad right-wing ideology, mangled and distorted as it is, follows a trajectory that converges on a sort of hybrid theocratic plutocracy. Each individual in that camp either does not see that at the endpoint or thinks it would be a good thing. So, to me, seeing the far left as comparably bad is difficult for me. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/86 "2019-02-03T19:26:29Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Some people are trying to demonise them, present them as ‘the other’ in the same way that the Nazis did the Jews. And they appear to be succeeding. No, some people are accurately describing the things that most Republicans are currently supporting. Accurately describing things isn’t demonizing. According to the polling, most Republicans in America are currently unapologetically supporting someone who bragged multiple times about violating women’s consent, who spent years spreading a racist, evidence-free conspiracy theory, who has praised white supremacists and said many other racist things, and much, much more (including deliberately instituting a policy that separated children from parents, sometimes permanently). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/87 "2019-02-03T20:10:15Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > Paul Ryan was a “good Republican,” as is Mitch McConnell. They opposed some of Trump’s agenda, particularly in foreign policy. Domestically, they supported lower taxes for the wealthy, cutting the social safety net (especially healthcare) for the middle class and poor, fewer regulations inhibiting big business from exploiting U.S. workers and ravaging the environment, limiting abortion, voting rights and immigration, and opposing most if-not-quite-all Democratic Party initiatives by default. Isn’t this what being a “good Republican” is all about? > > These have been Republican Party values for a number of years before Trump’s election, and Ryan and McConnell are undoubtedly proud of their accomplishments. Any Republican today going against this agenda is at best a RINO, at worst, a traitor to the party, and in no way worthy of being called a “good Republican.” Paul Ryan was the most ineffective Speaker in history, but to be fair it was rather like herding cats. His Congress got virtually nothing done. McConnell is a piece of shit. He denied Obama the opportunity to make a Supreme Court picked and bragged about it. He passed Obamacare repeals dozens of times knowing they will be vetoed, but now refuses to allow a vote on anything that Herr Donald will not sign. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/88 "2019-02-03T20:43:11Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Ronald Reagan is currently a good Republican. Because he’s dead now. He wasn’t “all that”. It’s propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/89 "2019-02-03T20:44:03Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Then they (the Republicans) shouldn’t behave like demons and try to divide the world into themselves and “everybody else.” Which they are doing, and have been doing for some time. Two wrongs don’t make a right. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/90 "2019-02-03T20:57:13Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Yeah it’s pretty clearly because he’s dead. Still, hate speech against a political party? What?! Hate speech being a thing against religions makes as much sense as hate speech being a thing against other symbols of ideology such as party affiliation. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/91 "2019-02-03T20:59:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > No, Goebbels would be sacred of us. It was the Democrats who kicked his ass in WWII. > > It’s Republicans who say things like there are “some very fine people” among the Nazis. The soviets weren’t Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/92 "2019-02-03T21:03:25Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Some people are trying to demonise them, present them as ‘the other’ in the same way that the Nazis did the Jews. And they appear to be succeeding. Let’s assume for a moment that I’m angry enough to want to shoot one of the incredibly evil shitheads running our country. Y’know what it’d take for me to not want to do that any more? For them to stop espousing the shitty, dangerous, pathological drivel they espouse. Either do the right thing in power, or abdicate power. Y’know, kind of like the Nazis. That’s it! It’s that easy! Because my grievance with them boils down entirely to “you are hurting me and people dear to me with your shitty policies”. If they stop doing that… Problem solved. The comparison to the persecution of the jews is insane. The far more reasonable comparison is, _ironically_, to the allied “persecution” of the Nazis! ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/93 "2019-02-03T21:07:05Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Two wrongs don’t make a right. It is NOT wrong to characterize demonic behavior as likely being rooted in demonic traits. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/94 "2019-02-03T21:07:24Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Hate speech being a thing against religions makes as much sense as hate speech being a thing against other symbols of ideology such as party affiliation. I disagree. By and large, people don’t choose their religion. Their parents bring them up in their faith. Sure, they may convert but most folks believe what their parents did. It’s a bit more of a choice than ethnicity or gender, but for the most part their religion was imposed on them. Choosing to be a Republican means you choose bigotry, you choose intolerance, you choose not helping your fellow man, you choose to ignore science. For those choices, you can and should be rightfully condemned. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/95 "2019-02-03T22:09:09Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I disagree. By and large, people don’t choose their religion. Their parents bring them up in their faith. Sure, they may convert but most folks believe what their parents did. It’s a bit more of a choice than ethnicity or gender, but for the most part their religion was imposed on them. Choosing to be a Republican means you choose bigotry, you choose intolerance, you choose not helping your fellow man, you choose to ignore science. For those choices, you can and should be rightfully condemned. Plus, I don’t think converting to Christianity saved Jews from the camps, did it? And of course, the Roma/Gypsies, homosexuals and others - what were they supposed to do? ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/96 "2019-02-03T23:26:15Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > The soviets weren’t Democrats. Wendell Wilke was running against FDR in '40. How would the events have transpired with him in office? I mean, FDR went against opposition to implement the oil embargo that provoked Japan to attack. Would Wilke have done that? I suspect not. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/97 "2019-02-04T02:56:45Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > Oh, it’s about conservatism? That’s salvageable. But when’s the last time the repiblican party actually stood for any of that? Only for a very brief time (IF you believe it) “when William F. Buckley tried to kick the shit stains, lunatics, future Deplorables, Birchers and future Trumpies OUT of the conservative movement”. But that is revisionist bullshit TOO. So, NEVER. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/98 "2019-02-04T03:09:42Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > You know, this is perilously close to hate speech. I’m sending this to that pit Ummm, the GOP does need to go. Just like the Whigs, the Know Nothings, the Bullmoose, the Jeffersonians, etc. They have become the Party of Trump, the Party of Putin, the Party of Treason. They need to be dissolved. As for Reagan, well he IS dead. Unless he got better. And he was NOT that great. Iran Contra, trickle down, ignoring the AIDS epidemic, ignored the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein and supplied him, supplied arms to both sides of the Iran-Iraq war, armed and supported the Mujahideen rebels in Afghanistan (creating Al Queda), supported the racist apartheid government in South Africa, supported Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, etc. In fact, he really sucked. _“People don’t become better when they’re dead; you just talk about them as if they are. But it’s not true! People are still assholes, they’re just dead assholes!”_ – Lemmy ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/99 "2019-02-04T03:22:34Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > My thought process was, what is it about Reagan that he is now thought of as a “good Republican”? This is a guy who kicked off his campaign in Philadelphia, MS to give a dog whistle to white supremacists that he was one of them. A guy who often spoke of welfare queens driving Cadillacs. Who invaded fucking Grenada of all places. Who passed irresponsible tax cuts that exploded the national debt. Who sold arms to the fucking ayatollah of all people. A guy who got elected by undermining Carter’s hostage negotiations with Iran, taking a page out of Tricky Dick’s playbook who did the same with LBJ and peace talks with North Vietnam. Why is this guy a good Republican? \*Because \*of all those things. He was corrupt & traitorous to the nation, he hurt people especially the poor, non-whites, homosexuals & women, he promoted plutocracy, bigotry and religious fanaticism; those _are_ what make somebody a good Republican. ---
**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:** [February 4, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787/100 "2019-02-04T04:45:58Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Two wrongs don’t make a right. And finding wrong is _never_ an excuse to _do_ wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-a-good-republican/828787.md?page=6)