# Why are Republicans often seen as the "bad guys"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 17, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008 "2016-05-17T16:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/101 "2016-05-18T18:09:31Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > There seems to be this notion, like prosecutors in criminal cases as I mentioned in an earlier thread, where the Republicans are considered the bad guys in debates and political affairs. Some people from Europe say that where they live, Democrats are considered the good guys while Republicans are viewed as the evil force. Because they are? Or, to be more specific, their words and behaviors are bad ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/102 "2016-05-18T18:17:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > What’s your suggestion for regulating pollution? I don’t need one to criticize a government agency that supposedly works for me and my fellow citizens. Does clean water and air require strict liability laws against harming endangered species, such that if I accidentally mow over an invisible (to me) endangered snake’s nest, I could be sent to federal prison? The point is, you can certainly be a proponent of clean air and water while also being an opponent of the EPA. There is no reason these things are mutually exclusive, except for some people’s own failure of imagination. Let’s say it again: _You can criticize a government agency without being against that agency’s stated goals._ A simple example would be if that agency didn’t actually help attain those stated goals. Another exmaple would be if that agency created more harm than was necessary to achieve its goals. Another example might be if you were fundamentally opposed to the methods that agency uses to achieve those goals. These are all sources of valid complaints against an agency (_any_ agency) that don’t have anything to do with hating clean water, for example, or kicking puppies, or whatever nonsense it is you want to claim about your political opponents. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/103 "2016-05-18T18:37:09Z")
Is everyone who criticizes the TSA a terrorist? ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/104 "2016-05-18T21:06:28Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > … [snip]… > Let’s say it again: _You can criticize a government agency without being against that agency’s stated goals._ > …[snip]… Except in this case, the goals are also evil to EPA opponents. Republicans may pay lip service to “clean air and water” but reach and every effort to reach that and any other environmental goal is fought against tooth and nail in the name of corporate profits. In fact, anything that risks any reduction in corporate profits is fought against by Republicans. Combined with the moral hard on to restrict the freedoms of those their religion hates, reducing civil rights, punishing the downtrodden for being downtrodden, is it amy wonder they easily come across as mean people? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/105 "2016-05-18T22:19:24Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Well if we’re keeping score of what’s worse I don’t think anyone on the right, even Hitler, can match the illustrious records of Mao and Stalin for sheer misery and devastation of a nation’s populace. I guess the left does outperform the right. > > And even though Hitler is lumped into the right it was through the power of the state that his atrocities were committed. Let me know when you can find an example of a restrained government that is responsible for 7-8 figure death counts. > > Socialism sounds good on paper. Shame we don’t live on a notepad. I already pointed out that Britain is a socialist state, although the Conservatives have been doing their best recently to dismantle it against popular opinion. And I do like how you “lump in” Nazism as a form of socialism as if all forms of statism are socialist. If you’re just going to start from a position of “anything bad is socialism and anything good is not socialism” and redefine everything on that basis there’s no point in having a conversation about this. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/106 "2016-05-18T23:18:02Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I don’t need one to criticize a government agency that supposedly works for me and my fellow citizens. > > Does clean water and air require strict liability laws against harming endangered species, such that if I accidentally mow over an invisible (to me) endangered snake’s nest, I could be sent to federal prison? Could you please point me to someone who says that protection of endangered species directly reduces pollution? Could you give me a cite of someone who at one time truly accidentally harmed some species and went to jail? You’d think that such a case would be all over the right wing news. > [@](#): > > The point is, you can certainly be a proponent of clean air and water while also being an opponent of the EPA. There is no reason these things are mutually exclusive, except for some people’s own failure of imagination. Certainly. Someone can be against the EPA for not being aggressive enough. I don’'t think the Bush-era EPA was too useful. > [@](#): > > A simple example would be if that agency didn’t actually help attain those stated goals. Another exmaple would be if that agency created more harm than was necessary to achieve its goals. Another example might be if you were fundamentally opposed to the methods that agency uses to achieve those goals. These are all sources of valid complaints against an agency (_any_ agency) that don’t have anything to do with hating clean water, for example, or kicking puppies, or whatever nonsense it is you want to claim about your political opponents. No agency is optimal - Saying an agency is useless because it isn’t perfect is either dumb or a cover for making success impossible. Do you think that someone who said he was for fighting the Nazis as long as one died doing it was really for fighting the Nazis? And I wouldn’t say that they hate clean water and air - they just don’t think these goals are worth any amount of corporate profits. As for it not working - the right hated California’s stringent clean air rules. They make gas more expensive, even today. However I’m in LA now and I can breath, and I can’t remember the last time I saw air quality discussed on TV, like it was every night 40 years ago. Free enterprise, as good as it is, does not solve this problem. So I’d say most opponents of the purpose of the EPA may not hate clean air, but they don’t particularly care if we get it. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2016, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/107 "2016-05-18T23:57:09Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I already pointed out that Britain is a socialist state, although the Conservatives have been doing their best recently to dismantle it against popular opinion. And I do like how you “lump in” Nazism as a form of socialism as if all forms of statism are socialist. If you’re just going to start from a position of “anything bad is socialism and anything good is not socialism” and redefine everything on that basis there’s no point in having a conversation about this. What criteria are sufficient to accurately label a nation socialist? Is UK more socialist or capitalist? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/108 "2016-05-19T00:50:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Part of the Republican/Conservative philosophy is to cater to the least common denominator, and that usually doesn’t expose people’s best side. The interesting thing is that at least until recently this wasn’t the R/C philosophy, it was their strategy. At least in recent decades there haven’t been enough comfortable people to comprise a natural winning constituency drawn to their policies. So the traditional R/C powerbrokers used tactics that appealed to the LCD. This has now backfired on the traditional R/C powerbrokers spectacularly because they have now ended up with a candidate who appeals only to the LCD. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/109 "2016-05-19T01:30:40Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Healthcare for everyone=Government can’t do anything right or well. Witness long lines and long waits at airports due to NSA. **T** SA. The NSA doesn’t need to check your bags at the airport; they watched you pack them at home. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/110 "2016-05-19T01:36:35Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > **T** SA. The NSA doesn’t need to check your bags at the airport; they watched you pack them at home. See? Proof there’s poor inter-agency communications. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/111 "2016-05-19T01:52:25Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > **T** SA. The NSA doesn’t need to check your bags at the airport; they watched you pack them at home. Hahaha, thanks. It appears I sometimes get my huge, intrusive and unaccountable government agencies mixed up. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2016, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/112 "2016-05-19T02:56:00Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Petrostate is not the issue. Norway has vast oil wealth correct? It’s the fact that there are price caps on goods. Wage floors and price caps lead to market distortions which can be quite serious as Venezuela proves. But sharing, “living wage”, and a chicken in every sound good and compassionate so the consequences, which are known ahead of time, are to be ignored. Let’s give each other the benefit of the doubt for a minute. I can’t fully make sense of this post of yours- care to elaborate for me please? And (everybody) can we drop the comparisons to Mao, Stalin and Hitler, please? Correct me if I am wrong, but what those guys all had in common was _totalitarianism_. If someone wants to make the point that these are fine examples of government gone mad, I will concede the point. But what do these guys have to do with contemporary American politics? Neither food stamps nor tax cuts for the wealthy nor even the Iraq War really compare to The Great Leap Forward, The Gulag Archipelago or The Final Solution. Ok, maybe deporting 11 million people is in that direction… the only things in American history I can think of that really compare are slavery and the destruction of the natives, both which America at least had the class to wrap up before the Modern Age. I don’t think it makes much sense to say the left “owns” Stalin or the right “owns” Hitler- they were both murderous maniacs rather than political philosophers, mmmkay? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/113 "2016-05-19T03:35:54Z")
> [@R3d\_Anonymous](#): > > There seems to be this notion, like prosecutors in criminal cases as I mentioned in an earlier thread, where the Republicans are considered the bad guys in debates and political affairs. Some people from Europe say that where they live, Democrats are considered the good guys while Republicans are viewed as the evil force. > > I’ve also heard numerous stories of huge liberal bias taking place in college campuses. Some students with conservative leanings have spoken up about being asked to leave a class by a professor because they identified as a conservative, or things like five to ten people in a political science class dropping on the floor laughing because the professor mentioned “Mitt Romney”. Depends on the circle you run in. You could easily find circles where liberals are the bad guys if you go to an all white, rural part of the country. ---
**Author:** ![Commodore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Commodore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commodore)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/114 "2016-05-19T04:54:16Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > Let’s give each other the benefit of the doubt for a minute. I can’t fully make sense of this post of yours- care to elaborate for me please? > > And (everybody) can we drop the comparisons to Mao, Stalin and Hitler, please? Correct me if I am wrong, but what those guys all had in common was _totalitarianism_. If someone wants to make the point that these are fine examples of government gone mad, I will concede the point. But what do these guys have to do with contemporary American politics? Neither food stamps nor tax cuts for the wealthy nor even the Iraq War really compare to The Great Leap Forward, The Gulag Archipelago or The Final Solution. Ok, maybe deporting 11 million people is in that direction… the only things in American history I can think of that really compare are slavery and the destruction of the natives, both which America at least had the class to wrap up before the Modern Age. I don’t think it makes much sense to say the left “owns” Stalin or the right “owns” Hitler- they were both murderous maniacs rather than political philosophers, mmmkay? Hitler was voted in ! and was in fact a socialist, good bloke and all in the beginning. All the worlds governments said how great he was remember, but once socialism becomes to powerful and becomes big brother then look out because no one can rain them bastards in to control them, people then become slaves. Political Correctness only in slaves people as it’s tool that sick mad men and dictators use to get their way, it’s all about brainwashing and anyone who does not follow becomes an enemy of the State and the others become just like cattle. The far right and the far left are one in the same, only they work to play a games with all in the centre that can not fathom the ruthlessness of the extreme right and left. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/115 "2016-05-19T08:58:49Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Hitler was voted in ! and was in fact a socialist, good bloke and all in the beginning. He was voted in, yes, but despite the party name he was never a socialist nor a particularly “good bloke”. [quote=] All the worlds governments said how great he was remember, but once socialism becomes to powerful and becomes big brother then look out because no one can rain them bastards in to control them, people then become slaves. [/quote] As noted above, “socialism” and “totalitarianism” are not synonymous. Nazi Germany was statist, not socialist, and its excesses were the excesses of totalitarianism. > [@](#): > > Political Correctness only in slaves people as it’s tool that sick mad men and dictators use to get their way, it’s all about brainwashing and anyone who does not follow becomes an enemy of the State and the others become just like cattle. I’m sorry but this is gibberish. I’m not saying this because what you’ve written isn’t “Politically Correct”; I’m saying it because it isn’t _any_ kind of “correct”. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/116 "2016-05-19T09:55:37Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Hitler was voted in ! and was in fact a socialist, good bloke and all in the beginning. > > All the worlds governments said how great he was remember, but once socialism becomes to powerful and becomes big brother then look out because no one can rain them bastards in to control them, people then become slaves. > > Political Correctness only in slaves people as it’s tool that sick mad men and dictators use to get their way, it’s all about brainwashing and anyone who does not follow becomes an enemy of the State and the others become just like cattle. > > The far right and the far left are one in the same, only they work to play a games with all in the centre that can not fathom the ruthlessness of the extreme right and left. In the interest of fighting ignorance: The Nazi (or German National Socialist) party was not “socialist” by the commonly accepted definition of the term. It was fascist. Nazis are an example of far right politics. Political Correctness does not “in slave” [sic] people. It is “the avoidance, often considered as taken to extremes, of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against.” It is a reaction from minority groups that feel marginalized or disenfranchised. Hitler was not “politically correct”. Most dictators aren’t. They typically hold onto power by blaming both external and internal “agitators”. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/117 "2016-05-19T13:55:32Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Hitler was voted in ! and was in fact a socialist, good bloke and all in the beginning. “The state before the individual” is _quite_ different from proposals like health care and tuition for all like you hear from Sanders. I don’t think there is a meaningful comparison there, even considering “National Socialist” and “Democratic Socialist” both use the word “socialist”. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/118 "2016-05-19T16:14:49Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > Who are the bad guys? The ones who have a different opinion, or the ones who won’t let people speak their minds? Are you trying to claim the Republicans let people speak thier minds? The party that trIed to ban school faculty from saying the word ‘gay’? The party that banned doctors from discussing gun safety with the parents of thier patients? The party that requires doctors give factually untrue information to patients ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/119 "2016-05-19T17:10:53Z")
> [@Commodore](#): > > Hitler was voted in ! and was in fact a socialist, good bloke and all in the beginning. Hitler was not voted in ! On January 30, 1933, von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany. p.s. Hitler was never a “good bloke”. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/120 "2016-05-19T17:12:45Z")
> [@boytyperanma](#): > > Are you trying to claim the Republicans let people speak thier minds? > > The party that trIed to ban school faculty from saying the word ‘gay’? > > The party that banned doctors from discussing gun safety with the parents of thier patients? > > The party that requires doctors give factually untrue information to patients Ahem… Originally Posted by **doorhinge** Who are the bad guys? The ones who have a different opinion, or the ones who won’t let people speak their minds? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008.md?page=7)