The war of partisan politics is destroying the country

Libertarian virtues are peace and cooperation. The modern statist virtues are violence, fear, and us vs. them.

 

Virtues depend on the person, which varies from person to person.

I'm talking about policies.

 

The Republican Party war on information is destroying the country and it precedes the gaslighting of the current administration.

I doubt their supporters know their representatives have passed legislation to suppress data whether it gun violence, climate change, or geospatial research. The list goes on and on.

The obvious conclusion is a need to suppress or manipulate data to fit their narrative of truth. You certainly wouldn’t want facts directing your argument or informing policy prescriptions.

If you’re conservative, I’m sorry but your party has been dead for quite some time. The odd thing about all this is you don’t need to suppress facts to a form a solid conservative argument on any subject.

It’s fairly obvious a well formed conservative argument on...say, climate change wouldn’t suit the Party’s donor class. Take any issue where R’s are actively suppressing data and note a well formed conservative argument utilizing that data just isn’t good enough
for the Party because it’s become the Party of BS. A steaming pile of elephant dung would be an apt logo for what the Party has devolved into.

Data and facts are required for this country to operate. COVID-19 is a prime example of their necessity. Our reaction to the virus is a perfect example the Party is no longer conservative.

The country’s biggest issue is the Republican Party apparatus and the lack of a conservative voice on the issues this country faces.

It’s hard to govern, create sound policy, deliberate-argue with a steaming pile of dung. Alternative facts do not exist and that step away from data and facts is expressly driving our “partisanship“.

 

Any monopoly on power is tempted to shackle any means that gives the average citizen the options to reduce that power. The elites fear the masses. The stranglehold is going to persist and get worse if the public doesn't fight for fairness, justice, and equality.

 

What are policies but virtue put into legislation and backed by force and threats of punishment for disobedience?

 

That's not what is put into legislation, but I would agree that laws should be driven by justice.

Justice is a virtue, but so is being humble, so is loving thy neighbor but humility and love cannot be legislated.

Justice is the law, not virtue.

 

Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

 

From Yahoo News..........

"A full 50 percent of President Trump’s supporters now believe the bizarre, false claims about an international ring of child sex traffickers at the core of the extremist conspiracy theory known as QAnon, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll — a disturbing sign of how susceptible partisans have become to bogus stories in an age of rampant polarization and unbridled social media.

The survey, which was conducted from Oct. 16 to 18, shows that most registered voters (55 percent) say they’ve never heard of QAnon, including 44 percent of Trump supporters. And 59 percent of voters who have heard of QAnon describe it as “an extremist conspiracy theory with no basis in fact.”

 

No truer words have been said.

 

The most dangerous, lying, thieving institution in human history (the state) is at the center of your political ideology. So, really, who is the one indulging fantasies?

 

Talk about a fantasy.

 

Your making **** up. If you have a point you'd like to debate, I'm all ears

 

No, I'm not. Your political ideology is centered around the existence of the state. And the state is the most murderous, corrupt, dysfunctional institution in human history. So if anyone is indulging fantasies here, it's most certainly you.

I doubt that. You've already made an assertion about libertarian ideology which evinces a total lack of understanding and openness.

 

Post of the week.

Precisely; a third party IMO would work wonders in pulling the country back together. It would give people a reason to work together to end the hypocrisy in Washington DC and give people renewed hope that they can break the monopoly currently enjoyed by both parties.

People say it cannot be done so they accept the two party system and complain about how bad everything is. Rome wasn't built in a day, it takes time and patience. Now is the time to begin forming a viable third party for 2024 and put the lifetime politicians on notice their jobs are no longer guaranteed. We may need to start from the bottom and work our way to the top but I believe it can be done.

 

Only problem, getting people to work in unison. Try getting 5 friends to meet up for lunch at the same time and place. Is not Perot the record vote getter for 3 rd party @13% of the total? It's usually what 3%? Until a 3rd party can get a third of the vote, they dont stand a chance. Unless a drastic shift happens....

 

I agree that a drastic shift needs to happen; the question is, has it occurred or close to occurring. I have a lot of faith in the American people and if there is a viable third option--for those who are fed up with Washington politics--they will give serious consideration. Of course there are no guarantees, but we don't know if we don't try. If we try and we lose, at least we tried; if we don't try, we'll never know for sure. Either way, for in here, it makes for good discussion.

 

Well, Trump has my vote, the next time they try running a Romney type...

 

We did try with Trump and most of the left had a heart attack, wanted to impeach the guy before he was sworn in.

 

It's always better to vote as opposed to not voting; at least you participate in the system; those who choose not to vote cannot be taken seriously when they complain about how bad things are. I have a few friends who don't vote for whatever the reason, yet they are the most vocal ones complaining about the system and I cannot take them seriously. Good for you I say.

I'll be voting on November 3rd. Definitely third party (as I normally do).

You have to shove both parties aside and start from zero IMO.

 

Which started with party chair Tom Perez flatly saying you cannot be a good Democrat if you do not believe in the [alleged] right to abortion. Lotsa room for diversity there, right?

 

Every so often they remove posts without clearly explaining why it violated rule thus-and-so, and they don't at least feed the "offending" text back to you for your possible editing and re-posting. So if you put your guts into a post keep a copy. Liberals moderate these forums. One of their front-people here recently admitted it.

 

that is part of the problem, the rights my way or the highway thinking is destroying this country

Trump could have been a good President, he could have got republicans to do anything he wanted, he wasted a great opportunity, I had not seen republicans worship anyone like they worshiped Trump, but Trump's ego was too fragile to get anything done

 

Let's amend the Constitution and give DJT a lifetime term like the Supreme Court. Because equality!

 

China managed to do it by lying about nearly everything stealing nearly everything else. One should note that the earlier statement that China spends only 1.9 % GDP on the military over looks the huge crossover among leadership positions between the PLA and the business community.

 

I used to be a libertarian/conservative, I voted for Ford, then, I voted for Ed Clark in 1980. I've been studying politics since the late 60s.

You know ****.

I'm not an ideologue. I became a democrat on the power of their stats, which blew repubs away, overall, over the years.

If I believed half of what those on the right say about democrats I'd still be a libertarian/conservative.

Only half.

Like I said, you know ****.

Sure, America is ****ed up no doubt, but there are only two parties with a sufficient caucus across the legislatures of AMerica to effect policy. pick one.

I left the republican party because it became apparent to me that they are stupid.
Oh, they had a few slick talkers, like Buckley, and Scalia, both of whom
can make a dumb argument uttered with the greatest of eloquence, giving the appearance of intelligence, but when the rubber hits the road, they are not
really that bright at all. It's not really about intelligence, I mean, they no doubt
have high IQs. but a hi IQ is no assurance of wisdom. Wisdom is the thing. Not intelligence, and, in fact, if the two exist in the same human being it is a coincidence. I really believe that. Hitler had a hi IQ, was he wise? Nahh.

The 'ideology' of the right is just a bucket of thought-terminating clichés that are meaningless, and they pay lip service ot things like 'small government' when they have tripled the deficit. Supply side economics is bunk. Oh, I could go on.

No, dems are not perfect, and things like teh debt and deficits are bipartisan, but dems are better than repubs, on the whole, and don't bore me with anecdotes like Blagojevich. And no, I'm not
a socialist. I'm a capitalist, I have owned businesses and believe in entrepreneurship. Listen to any video with Nick Hanauer in it, he's a billionaire, but he's no supply sider, that's for sure. I think he has some really good ideas.

To affect policy, you have to pick one, and I picked the better of the two.
Not perfect, just better. If you want to say the lesser of two evils, fine, it's just semantics.