Prickly City by Scott Stantis for April 10, 2021

How about, “I’m an American”.

That most feared question, “What else you got?”

It’s hard to know what to call yourself when your party has lost its way.

—) A child as a Republican? Well, if a child is bound to rebell against her upbringing, you might as well bring her up the wrong way. —) Wait … So what happened with Marjorie Taylor Greene?

You keep dancing around the idea of what “conservative” means. You have no idea, do you?

Carmen seems to be a Republicant!

Carmen might still be a Republican. But the Republicans aren’t any more; and they haven’t been since 1877.

Republicans did not, in fact, accept they were beaten in 2020. Instead President Trump whipped his supporters into a frenzy with lies that Democrats had stolen the election, and they tried to overthrow the government by force.

As historian Eric Hobsbawm writes in his book Age of Extremes, “Democratic systems do not work unless there is a basic consensus among most citizens about the acceptability of their state and social system, or at least a readiness to bargain for compromise settlements.”

Anti-democracy conservatives such as Williamson and Georgia Republicans, just like their fire-eater ideological ancestors, do not realize the danger the arguments and tactics they are pushing pose to themselves.

If a large enough fraction of the population comes to believe that democracy is illegitimate, then we are right back to raw force as the ultimate arbiter of political conflict.

Why accept that somebody is your “real” representative when the system has been rigged so they cannot possibly lose?

And in that case why not march on Washington and throw them out?

The reason even a minority party should support fair elections based on a universal franchise is that it’s better than civil war — and besides, history shows that today’s minority is most often tomorrow’s majority.

This country doesn’t even have a tradition of monarchy that might theoretically provide a minimal foundation for permanent Republican rule — on the contrary, the entire legitimacy of the American state is based on the consent of “we the people”…

(which is why conservatives have to come up with such preposterous arguments that “the people” should include fewer people, or convince themselves that Democrats are the ones stealing elections).

Republicans would put themselves in basically the same position as King George III in 1776, and we all know how that turned out.

~

https://www.theweek.com/articles/976287/cynics-case-democracy

If Democrats can reconcile Aoc & Joe Manchin, they can find a place for Carmen.

Bloomberg Opinion Today: The New Cold War Will Look a Bit Like the Old One — We wrote earlier this week about how the Thucydides Trap may not exactly describe the U.S.-China rivalry. China may actually be falling into a different kind of trap, Hal Brands writes, of overconfidence and aggression that turns the rest of the world against it. …But as we wrote on Wednesday, China could become even more dangerous when it realizes its position is slipping.

Can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m a free-thinking, reasoning independent.

She’s a coward who will vote for anti democracy republicans even tho vicious lying racist Trump is still the head of the party.

More Americans identify as Democrats than Republicans by a margin that hasn’t been seen in a decade, according to a report released by Gallup on Wednesday.

An average of 49% of adults age 18 and older reported Democratic Party affiliation or said they are independent with Democratic leanings throughout the first quarter of 2021, the pollster reported. The survey was conducted by phone from January-March. 

In comparison, 40% of adults identified as Republican or Republican-leaning. The 9 percentage point difference is the Democrats’ largest advantage since the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the report.

[USA Today 4/7/2021]

Just acknowledge that you are not a “right-wing populist.”

I am DONE with both parties.

They fail to vet their candidates and we get “men” like Donald Trump, Mario Coumo and Matt Gaetz. They allow incumbents to run unopposed. They fail to put up opposition in races that they think that they’re going to lose anyway. If someone does run in such a district they fail to support him. If they don’t have the numbers to win, they don’t even try.

We don’t need party’s at the state and local level. Hell, half the time I can’t tell the difference between a state or local D or R. We need men and women who know and understand how to run state government. Not how to stop the other guys from winning.

Most Republicans and Democrats inherited their party from their parents and only worry about “winning”. They have NO idea what goes on and never, ever participate in party decisions. Since there is only ever only ONE candidate voting doesn’t hardly even count as participating.

For most folks party affiliation is like rooting for the right college or professional sports team. Most folks know more about SPORTS than they do about who makes their decisions.

I am sick of them ALL.

Have a great weekend my friends.

CARMEN is a Republican. The criminals and window-lickers in Washington are TRUMPlicans.

Become a Joe Manchin Democrat.

Some republicans are demonstrating serious flaws in our education system. Trump knows how to manipulate his “followers”. It is easy.

The GOP has become the “Know Nothing” Party of the 21st century.

Don’t let a modern Republican hear that you’re not sure if you’re a Republican anymore – they will declare you a (insert long tirade of insults here) liberal, tell Trump on you, and then hold out their hands for a donation…

Start with gender identification