# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/121 "2016-05-19T17:16:50Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > 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? State officials in Florida have been told that they may not mention the terms “global warming” or “climate change”. To which party does Florida Governor Rick Scott belong, again? [http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article12983720.html](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article12983720.html) ---
**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, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/122 "2016-05-19T17:19:01Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > 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?** [Gov. Rick Scott’s ban on climate change term extended to other state agencies](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article13576691.html) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/123 "2016-05-21T02:52:27Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I can’t find it, but a couple/few years ago there was a conservative person claiming that fossil fuels are infinite. I can’t remember if he said that it was continuously being made (at a rate higher than we’re extracting it), or if God makes it. But there was at least that one. Thomas Gold, and his [Hot Deep Biosphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold#The_Deep_Hot_Biosphere) theory. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/124 "2016-05-21T04:15:40Z")
> [@Chihuahua](#): > > Let’s see… The presumptive Republican nominee is a man who claims he will built a giant wall across the southern border, ban Muslims from entering the US, deport 11 million Mexicans, expresses admiration for Putin, wants to kill journalists, routinely incites mob violence at his rallies, flagrantly mocks the handicapped, makes sexist remarks about women, and promulgates materials that originated on KKK websites. And they want this man to be PRESIDENT. To be fair, a significant number of Republicans very much _do not_ want this man to be president. (One example: [P. J. O’Rourke](http://www.npr.org/2016/05/09/477339063/conservative-author-pj-orourke-reluctantly-backs-clinton).) On the other hand, one can make an argument that the rise of Mr. Trump is a result of what the Republicans have been doing over the past few years. Are we talking about Republicans in general, throughout history (or at least recent history), being seen as the “bad guys”; or are we talking about the Republicans of _today_ being seen as the bad guys? Anyway, I think some Republicans might answer the thread title’s question by saying something like, “Because it’s the Republicans who are the grown-ups. They’re the ones saying that you have to eat your vegetables, and you can’t stay up all night watching monster movies on TV when there’s school tomorrow, and we just don’t have enough money to buy you a pony or take you to Disneyland. And that makes them the bad guys.” I think there may have been some justification for this view at one time, but nowadays the Republicans are looking less and less like that kind of bad guys and more and more like cartoon villains. ---
**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 21, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/125 "2016-05-21T16:42:26Z")
“We don’t have the money to take you to Disneyland because we’re still deep in debt from burying all those exotic foreign hookers in the desert. Now eat your vegetables, because: Leviticus!” ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/126 "2016-05-21T17:11:35Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Thomas Gold, and his [Hot Deep Biosphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold#The_Deep_Hot_Biosphere) theory. That name rang a bell for me, and sure enough it’s the same Thomas Gold who thought the lunar modules would sink and get swallowed up by the moon during the Apollo program. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/127 "2016-05-21T17:24:44Z")
The modern republican party made it’s mark by opposing civil rights legislation, and a lot of its ‘conservative’ positions want to stick to the good ol days when blacks and other minorities knew ‘their place’. Note that a former KKK wizard has publicly endorsed the probable republican presidential candidate. The whole controversey over trans people in bathrooms is simply a ploy to stir up ignorant hatred against a small minority, there wasn’t ever a problem to solve, and the fact that ‘how many people are we talking about here?’ is a refrain in defense of such laws really says a lot. It’s really hard for a party built on hurting weaker people either for profit or just because they can to come off as ‘good guys’ in general. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/128 "2016-05-21T17:49:12Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > The modern republican party made it’s mark by opposing civil rights legislation, and a lot of its ‘conservative’ positions want to stick to the good ol days when blacks and other minorities knew ‘their place’. I suspect there may be some [confusion of the inverse](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Confusion_of_the_inverse) going on. It’s not that Republicans tend to be racists (or sexists, or bigots, or…); it’s that racists tend to be Republicans. Quite a while ago, I was reading one of Rush Limbaugh’s books, and arguing with it. IIRC he was trying to make the point that conservatives weren’t just selfish rich people looking out for their own interests: they supported the policies that they genuinely thought would make everyone better off. I thought, “Yeah, but if you _were_ a selfish rich person looking out for your own interests, those are the policies you’d support.” ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008/129 "2016-05-21T18:35:04Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I suspect there may be some [confusion of the inverse](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Confusion_of_the_inverse) going on. It’s not that Republicans tend to be racists (or sexists, or bigots, or…); it’s that racists tend to be Republicans. No, it’s not confusion of the inverse. The Republican party started the ‘southern strategy’ of opposing civil rights laws with the specific goal of getting southern racists to switch from voting Democrat to Republican. The party set out specifically to attract racists and today implements policies to attract racists and other bigots, like voter ID laws and anti-transgender laws. Republicans actively seek out racists and other bigots with their policies, ‘tend to’ is ignoring that it’s a deliberate strategy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-republicans-often-seen-as-the-bad-guys/755008.md?page=6)