23 Aug 2020 6:50 pm
Agreed. No question at all.Olivaw » 21 Aug 2020, 10:29 am » wrote: ↑ A compelling and well written post, Phelix.
You are right. We need to be as ruthless as Republicans. Fight this election like it’s our last. Stack the court to restore balance, eliminate the filibuster, pass legislation to curtail administrative excesses, restore voting rights, grant DC statehood, change procedures to force the majority leader to put house bills to a vote, term limits for Supreme Court justices, treat healthcare and food security as basic human rights etc.
Never again can we allow a man like Moscow Mitch McConnell to use political trickery to subvert the will of the American people. Never again can we allow an authoritarian kleptocrat like Trump to occupy the Oval Office.
I understand your concern. I also am of two minds on this issue.Olivaw » 21 Aug 2020, 10:29 am » wrote: ↑ My concern is for individual conservatives - good people like Cyndi, Rippy and Neue - even Taipan and Neo. Huey appears to be a good guy too. Those people deserve respect. They are not scam artists. They are the victims. For them, I hope they can accept their upcoming disappointment with ease.
First, there are people who argue in good faith about policy. They aren't out to score a political point or to hurt anyone. Those people are few and far between. There are others who are here to throw spitballs or just argue for the sake of arguing or really do not dive deeply into policy but are well meaning. It becomes messy very quickly.
I'm not looking to hurt innocents.
Second, I recall something from Abbie Hoffman's "Steal This Book". It touched on the idea of an "innocent bystander" and from memory goes something like, "If you are just standing by, how can you be innocent?"
IMHO, negligence, indifference, apathy, incompetence and ignorance probably creates more harm in the world than absolute evil. If your standing is on those foundations, you're not innocent.
Was Stalin trying to starve millions to death? Did he put an incompetent in charge to purposely kill those people? Does it matter? Those people died terrible deaths regardless of Stalin's motives or reasoning or those of his subordinates.
Not that anyone here is a Stalin. When motives are such that they are used to promote harm to others, that is blameworthy. Is it less blameworthy that your motives were selfish and inner directed? I just don't think that is the case.
Telling the first case from the second case is the trick. It's more an art than a science.
Agreed.Olivaw » 21 Aug 2020, 10:29 am » wrote: ↑ There are others that do deserve contempt. Nefarious, Termin8or, str8edge, DitzyShoove. They are driven by anger and pettiness. Their refuse to respect anybody outside their sick cult disqualifies them as beneficiaries of our respect. For them, I am counting on copious tears in November.
Racists can crawl back under their rocks and STFU.
It's rare I can find a conservative anymore who hasn't left the GOP that is capable of a reasonable conversation. I'm sure they would make the same complaint on me. I have no solution to this problem.Olivaw » 21 Aug 2020, 10:29 am » wrote: ↑ Joe can’t heal the country. We can’t heal it on this forum either. Perhaps we can can make a small difference on the ground. Who knows? It would sure be nice to return to the days when we could disagree with our neighbor on politics without it becoming personal.
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Olivaw Aug 22, 2020
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