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qqueenofhades · 5 years ago

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so i’ve been following the presidential race closely, and i’ve been a fan of bernie since the start. however, my mom says that he wouldn’t make any big changes, as he’s hard to work with, can’t make the necessary compromises. the example she used was that throughout his senate term, he’s only passed 3 bills, 2 of which were insignificant. i didn’t think of this, as this is my first time closely following an election. what are your thoughts? would a sanders presidency make any real changes?

Oh dear. You really want to get me into trouble this morning, don’t you. Which is 100% not your fault, you are smart to be thinking about all this and asking questions, and by no means do I want you to stop doing that. So I’ll try to explain this as clearly and straightforwardly as I can, and if I get hate for it, alas.

The thing about Bernie is, which certain subsets of his supporters don’t seem to quite appreciate, is that he’s a great candidate, he’s been useful in pushing the public dialogue and political climate of the Democrats further to the left, he obviously inspires a devoted following, and I agree completely with all of his policies. But there’s still a gulf – a very wide gulf – between all that, and actually putting good ideas into political practice in the (very) flawed American system of government as it currently exists. Yes, the system sucks, we know that, and it can feel outrageously frustrating when moderate candidates are offering milquetoast proposals that don’t really get at the underlying structural causes of massive, entrenched inequality, oppression, racism, sexism, etc that these bright young people have rightly identified in the world. That’s why Bernie is appealing as a candidate, and while my primary already happened on Super Tuesday, I would vote for him over Biden if that was my choice right now. But the seeming expectation that we could pick Bernie, he’d win, he’d instantly remake the entire American political system and implement all his changes, and everything would be fine again – and that if we can’t have that option, just not voting is somehow better – is, to say the least, deeply problematic.

I supported Elizabeth Warren for a number of reasons, but one of them was that while she had many progressive policies similar to or almost identical to Bernie’s, she had tangible evidence of being able to get them done (see: the CFPB), to network and form functional relationships with the Democratic establishment, to work within the existing framework of party politics, and to actually do everything she had written her plans for. To certain Bernie supporters, this made her a corporate shill, a heartless witch who wanted to personally kill poor children, an establishment hack, so on and so forth. They attacked her for running in the first place, they attacked her for challenging Bernie in debates, they attacked her for not dropping out before Super Tuesday, they attacked her for dropping out and then not immediately endorsing Sanders, they attacked her supporters, so on and so forth. I’d still vote for Sanders in a heartbeat over Biden, and I will be happy to vote for him if he gets the nomination. But when you’re treating people that way who fundamentally agree with you on all your policies, there’s something wrong.

And no, it’s not a touchy-feely “we need to hold hands and be nice and listen to each other!” respectabillity politics issue, which also gets used as a straw man. Warren was committed to Medicare for All, but she also recognized there needed to be a transition period and that a public option was a good first step (something which Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the other progressive superstar, has also said). Because she accepted any limitations, because she wanted to work in the system, because she didn’t say she’d burn down global capitalism on day 1, this made her a Very Bad Candidate, and people who otherwise agreed with her didn’t think she’d win, so they didn’t vote for her and turned it into a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m not saying Warren didn’t have flaws. She did. She’s a politician. There were other reasons people might not have been personally drawn to her. But the flack she got for daring to run as a progressive, while also acknowledging the power of the system and that you cannot uproot these structures immediately (she also planned to use executive power to implement some of her proposals on her first day in office), while challenging Bernie… wow.

Because the thing is, Bernie isn’t going to deliver absolutely everything he promises, and that’s not necessarily his fault. No politician in the history of time ever has. If Bernie somehow does get elected, with a Democratic-controlled House and Senate: great! Then yes, he does have a decent chance of passing some planks of his legislative policy. But there are several things you have to keep in mind here, and this is not “Bernie bashing”:

1. Bernie is not, strictly speaking, a Democrat. He’s an independent, he caucuses and votes often with the Democratic party, and he’s obviously running for their presidential nomination. But he’s not part of the party apparatus, he’s proud of that fact, and this is also a selling point for his supporters: look, he’s not part of the Corrupt Establishment! The DNC obviously has deep and systematic problems and is more committed to the bureaucratic status quo than uprooting inequality in America. That’s not up for debate. But as a candidate and as a nominee for the Democratic Party, Bernie would still need to have the backing of that system. If he doesn’t have it, that makes it harder.

2. “What does that matter?” a certain kind of Bernie supporter might cry. “They’re corrupt and rigging the election for Biden! Voter suppression!”

3. Pause for a deep sigh. Yes. There were long lines in many precincts on Super Tuesday. But voters for all candidates had to stand in them anyway. We’ve already discussed how some Sanders supporters treated Warren and her supporters, the ideologically closest candidate to them in the race. If your entire political ethos involves yelling at people and calling them names on the internet, that’s… not really sustainable as an outreach program and getting them into the hard work of day-to-day coalition building. I say this because I WANT to see progressive politics succeed and actually get put into practice, not just narrowly refined tighter and tighter into a certain tiny subset of Pure Beliefs that never amount to a hill of beans in anyone’s lives. You can have the greatest policies possible, but if you never acknowledge or accept any way to DO SOMETHING about them… really, is that a political ethos based on action and compassion or not? I’m voting for Sanders if he gets the nomination, and I’d vote for him if my primary was still upcoming and my first choice (Warren) was out. But I’m pretty fed up at how some camps on that side have been acting, and I am already a progressive. This… isn’t going to help build support beyond people who are already all in for Bernie. People who you will need to win an election.

4. The usual response here is often to blow off moderates and undecided voters and other people who are apparently just too dumb to see what’s going on. Yes! It is frustrating that half of America still wants to vote for Donald Goddamn Trump! But you’re still not winning an election and getting rid of him that way!

5. Bernie does, in fact, have a thin legislative track record, which may or may not matter if he actually becomes president. America has forgotten that the president is not SUPPOSED to make policy like a king, even though the function of the executive branch has been wildly expanded and bloated since W’s (and honestly, Reagan’s) day. The LEGISLATIVE branch, i.e. the House and Senate, is supposed to make policies, and the president EXECUTES them. That is his/her (ha, if only) JOB. But Bernie doesn’t have the kind of connections in the House/Senate that would help him efficiently mobilize policies, at least on his own initiative. Bills and amendments are slow, boring work. They require committee meetings, drafts, multiple readings, changes, deletions, hearings, final passage, etc. Ironically, the person Bernie could probably most count on in the Senate would be… Elizabeth Warren. And she’d obviously help him out, no matter what the rabid Bernie bros think, but it shows that party establishment politics, no matter how distasteful, are part of getting anything done.

6. Bernie’s plans to pay for some of his big policy proposals, such as student loan debt relief (which I am obviously very into) and Medicare for All, involve, according to him, levying a big new tax on Wall Street and the one percent. Passing a major new tax platform that RAISES taxes is always like pulling teeth. That would require passage in the House and Senate. Cool, let’s say the Democrats control both. Are all of them, especially the moderate ones or senators from red-leaning states, going to vote for it? Probably. But it’s not guaranteed. If you’re funding public policy by raising taxes (the one thing the American public has notably hated since 1773) it’s going to be HARD WORK. Let’s say that takes a year to pass. Let’s also guess that a President Sanders would lose either the House or the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections, because sitting presidents almost invariably do. Obama had two years to enact some of his policy proposals. Then came 2010 and the Tea Party, and it was, as a deliberate and ongoing GOP choice, gridlock central.

7. You think the Republicans obstructed OBAMA? Centrist corporate Democrat Obama, whose policies were solidly in line with the American establishment, but who happened to have brown skin and a funny name? You ain’t seen NOTHING compared to what they would do to a President Sanders. And as we said, even if the Democrats take Congressional control in 2020, they would invariably lose at least one branch in 2022. We are already figuring in at least a year for Bernie to somehow get his tax plan through. The billionaires are mad. They pour money like crazy into GOP candidates. Welp.

8. So this leaves us… maybe 12-16 months for Bernie to try to enact all his policy reforms, while being deliberately outside of the Democratic party establishment, while having to work with the House and Senate in a way he hasn’t really done before, and accepting limitations on his policies and his political ability, also not something he has really shown an aptitude for.

9. So what? Bernie supporters demand. Are you saying don’t vote for Bernie, it’s hopeless! CORPORATE SHILL!

10. No. Not what I am saying at all. Obviously a Sanders presidency would be light years, LIGHT FUCKING YEARS, better than what we’ve got in there right now. But Sanders (and also Biden) are in their late 70s and have underlying health problems. The likelihood that either of them would serve two full terms is… slim. Obama is two decades younger and we saw how much the presidency aged him. I feel like they’re both flawed candidates in different ways, and my deepest fear is that neither of them can beat Trump, that the Democrats by trying to go for Biden, an Establishment Centrist Old White Man, think they’re playing to a “middle” that doesn’t really exist, and that either progressives or moderates will feel left out in the cold if Biden or Sanders win the nomination. The candidate will have to do the post-convention “pivot,” i.e. trying to appeal to those of their party’s voters who didn’t choose them in the primary, but is Sanders going to do that? His whole platform and the reason his supporters love him is that he doesn’t compromise. Which again, great for ideology, but runs into problems with consistent and actual implementation.

At the end of all this, the takeaway is this: yes, vote for Bernie if you believe in him! But also have a realistic idea of what he will be up against! There is simply no way that he’s going to sweep into office, even if he does get elected, and magically whisk away all the parts of America that we hate. He would have maybe two years to ram through most of his policies, it requires a legislative skill set he hasn’t honed, it rests on passing a major tax package that would be deeply unpopular and cause him to get pummelled in the 2022 midterms, and he has made a career out of operating as the lone wolf. Once again, it’s not a question of whether the current system sucks. We know that it does. But it still exists, and one candidate, no matter how much we agree with him, is not going to change that. He would hopefully manage to pass some of his major policy initiatives. But pretending that there would be no opposition, that it would all be magically fine, and that everyone who DOES raise a note of caution is a cowardly defeatist, a secret capitalist pig, a fake progressive, a secret Trumper (and we’re not the ones threatening to vote for Trump or not at all if our fave doesn’t get the nomination) or whatever else is… not helpful.

Ultimately, if we do get stuck with Biden, we have to hold our noses and vote for him anyway. If we can hold the House and flip the Senate, they can make progressive legislation and Biden is very likely to sign it anyway. The presidential system is not SUPPOSED to rest purely on the personal beliefs of the president, like an absolutist monarch – there was a pretty famous war about it back in the eighteenth century. Biden has displayed no initiative to act like Trump and be a megalomaniacal fascist overlord. We need to take a step AWAY from the insanity that is the current administration, we need to get back to NORMAL, before we can keep going left. Which is what we want! But it happens in stages, if it happens at all, and pretending that it doesn’t, that the only options are the Whole Revolution Now or Nothing, is never, NEVER going to work. And yes, Biden’s positions are generally pretty eye-rolling and I’ll be annoyed if I have to vote for him. But I’ll still do it, because he is NOT equivalent to Trump. Biden got the Violence Against Women Act (which the GOP-controlled Senate notably just failed to reauthorize) funded and passed. Trump has been accused of sexual assault by… what, 22 women? RBG isn’t likely to last another four years. The circuit courts have already been stacked with young, wildly unqualified, hard-right John Birch Society-type judges who will hold their posts for at least 40 years, and this has a direct impact on the kind of cases that are reviewed, confirmed, or struck down even before they get to the Supreme Court. Climate change, the end. There is too much at stake to fuck this up for the sake of Not Getting Everything Now.

As a final note, the Russian propaganda/troll machine has made it clear that they’re posing as Bernie supporters who insist that if Bernie doesn’t win, you shouldn’t vote. They know Bernie supporters are already voicing and disseminating that argument themselves, and they’re going to inflame it as much as possible. So that’s something to keep in mind.

#politics for ts #long post #aroace-space-case #ask

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meterteller4-blog · 6 years ago

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Those Who Care and Those Who Don’t: Children and Racism in the Trump Era

DECEMBER 14, 2018

This piece appears in the latest issue of the LARB Print Quarterly Journal: No. 20 Childhood

To receive the LARB Quarterly Journal, become a member or purchase a copy at your local bookstore.

“Trump does some bad things,” 10-year-old Kenny tells me one afternoon. I’m sitting across from him at a coffee shop in a small town in Mississippi. Kenny is black and loves soccer. As he talks, he anxiously spins a pen cap on the table between us. “Trump talks about racist things … and he does racist things! He puts inappropriate things on Twitter. Like, people won’t admit it but saying, ‘I’m going to build a wall from Mexico,’ and saying bad things about Mexicans is racist and [people] won’t admit it!” Kenny pauses, looks down to the ground, and shakes his head with disbelief. “To me, that’s something.”

Kenny is just one of the millions of children growing up in the United States under the Trump administration. And he, like many of these children, is experiencing a shocking moment in American history. These are young people who have otherwise been taught that America is making progress when it comes to issues like racism and sexism. Their childhoods unfolded during the “post-racial” era of President Obama; their television programs celebrate multiculturalism and diversity; their T-shirts have girl-empowerment slogans; their schools conduct anti-bullying and inclusion campaigns. For the youngest generations in the United States, racial progress was the common narrative across the political spectrum. This changed during the 2016 presidential election, which marked a drastic turning point in this narrative. Things were suddenly different, and the election of Donald Trump deeply complicated how many children in America understand their country.

As many people have pointed out, Trump began his political career by propagating a racist conspiracy against President Obama. Sociologist Matthew W. Hughey argued that the effect of “Birther” movement was in fact twofold: it stoked white fear of a black man in power and encouraged fantasies of a white ethno-state as a remedy for those fears. Trump perhaps noticed its effectiveness. He went on to use explicitly racist rhetoric and antisemitic dog whistles in his presidential campaign ads. Even after taking office, Trump has continued to stoke racial division and white fear. He has used racist, derogatory language to refer to Mexicans, Muslims, and entire nations in Africa and the Caribbean. He has insulted a long list of black celebrities, politicians, and athletes. And his rhetoric is also backed up by action. Within its first year, the Trump administration advanced a ban on Muslim people and refugees entering the country; it has more recently enforced family separation at the border, taking children from their parents and putting them in cages; Trump has pardoned former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man with a long history of racial discrimination. Trump also famously refused to denounce white supremacists after their racist and antisemitic rallying and violence in Charlottesville. His racist rhetoric has only escalated in the run up to the midterm elections.

In October 2017, political scientist Cathy J. Cohen and her colleagues at the University of Chicago reported findings from their GenForward Survey of Millennial Attitudes on Race in the U.S. They found that across all racial groups, Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 believe that racism is one of the three most important problems in the United States today and that this problem is getting worse (Cohen, Fowler, Medenica, & Rogowski, 2017). However, nearly half of the white young adults in this research believed that “discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against Blacks and other minorities.” Across all racial groups, very few young people thought racial relations were improving in the United States, and when asked if they believed Trump is a racist, 82 percent of African-American respondents, 78 percent of Latinx respondents, and 74 percent of Asian-American respondents said they did. White respondents were split almost exactly down the middle: 51 percent believed he is racist while 48 percent disagreed.

My conversation with Kenny was part of my ongoing research with youth and racism in the United States. My work as a sociologist focuses on racial socialization — I study how children learn about race and racism in the context of their families, communities, and everyday lives. Part of my work involves speaking with children directly about their experiences and perspectives of the social world. I knew from my previous research that for many white children who grew up in the Obama era, they believed that racism was “no longer a problem in America.” In many ways, it made sense for these children to feel this way. Although the United States has a long history of racism and white supremacy, in more recent years, social scientists have found that racism at the individual level has not disappeared but, rather, is expressed in more subtle and implicit ways. The circumstances, however, have clearly changed, and these same children are now confronted with explicit and overt forms of racism in the public sphere. I wanted to know what young people, particularly children in middle school, are thinking about racism in the new Trump era. What are their views on this matter? How are they feeling? What do they have to say?

Over the past year, a team of graduate students and I interviewed children between the ages of 10 and 13 in two distinct geographic locations: Mississippi and Massachusetts. We asked them a range of questions about current events, their schools and families, and their reaction to Trump’s words and actions as president. After interviewing more than 50 children, we found that children of color in both states expressed a great deal of anxiety, stress, fear, and anger about the present moment. The white children’s responses, however, surprised me. For many, their acknowledgment of Trump’s explicitly racist words and actions seemed to mark a rearrangement of empathy, and a rearrangement of how they thought about racism — and, perhaps more importantly, how much they cared.

One day after school in Mississippi, I talk with 10-year-old Crystal, who describes herself as “African American and mixed.” Crystal tells me what she remembers from the night of the 2016 presidential election. “We were very scared the night before…When I was sleeping, I did have a bad dream so I think I could kind of tell that it wasn’t going to end up as I expected.”

“What happened the next day at school?” I ask. She brings up race right away.

“Some black boys and girls were saying that that, like, they really didn’t want Trump to win or that he had won and [that they] didn’t really like him. And then some people who did vote for Trump were like, ‘I’m so happy!’ and they told their friends who also voted for Trump. … It was like allll day.”

I ask her if the kids who supported Trump were black.

Crystal replies immediately: “No. They were all white.” For Crystal, the connection between whiteness and support for Trump is clear.

At the coffee shop, Kenny has similar ideas: “When Barack Obama was the president, I wasn’t thinking about politics,” Kenny explains. “I didn’t really talk about Barack Obama because there’s nothing to talk about! He didn’t do anything bad. He didn’t start anything. So I mean, when he was president, I didn’t get into politics because I didn’t have to. Because he was a good president.”

Later in our interview, I ask Kenny, “What do you think is a big problem in America?”

“Racism is one of the main things that this country has always had problems with. And I’m scared Trump will make that worse,” he adds.

In Massachusetts, children of color express similar fears and anxieties about this moment of reemerging racial animosity. Mariana is 10 years old and identifies as “Mexican-American and white.” She and I sit together talking in a small classroom at her afterschool program.

“Do you think Trump is doing a good job or a bad job leading our country” I ask Mariana.

“I don’t like Donald Trump!” she shouts as she slaps her hand on the desk. “He is terrible! I want Obama to come back. Obama is a better president. In my head, I’m like, Trump is going to get us all bombed. Like, after he won the election, at school, everyonewas like screaming, ‘Ahhhh!’ People were running around and then someone started crying and said, ‘I want Obama to come back!’” Mariana goes on to tell me how “Trump is racist” and a “bad president.”

I also talk with 11-year-old Dominick who identifies as “black and Cape Verdean.” “I have heard him say something bad about black people,” Dominick tells me. “Donald Trump shouldn’t build the wall. … It’s just weird and just like, you’re making fun of a certain region because they like look different? Really?”

I ask him how he feels when the president says bad things about black people.

“I feel like if the president says something racist, I think that they shouldn’t be the president,” he replies.

I hear this opinion echoed in Massachusetts, over and over again. Suzannah tells me that she thinks Trump is “very racist” and that “we need someone [who is] both of our colors so they can be more fair ’cause he only likes really the whiter people.”

Devion, an 11-year-old black boy, responds so quickly I can barely finish asking the question. “He’s said stuff about Mexico, and he’s basically just racial-profiling people! … And people have been joining him! I’ve heard some things on the news and what he says isn’t right!”

I ask him how he felt the day after the election.

“I felt just sad for America. … I was very surprised.” He goes on to tell me about white kids chanting, “Build a wall,” and harassing Latinx kids at his school.

“I honestly think that it’s crazy that kids would say that. I’ve had, um, a kid in my class that I was just fully ashamed by that kid ’cause he was saying some racist stuff [after Trump won] and that was the kid that has [previously] said racist stuff to me.” Devion tells me that he absolutely thinks the election of Trump has emboldened the already-racist bullies at his school.

These conversations reveal that these particular children of color are deeply affected by the state of the country and the larger events and conversations happening around them. My findings are reinforced by a recent survey conducted with teachers by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). This survey, held in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, described what the Center referred to as the “Trump Effect. “The report found that more than two-thirds of teachers noted increased anxiety on the behalf of students of color, immigrant students, Muslim students, and LGBTQ students. The report also found that 90 percent of teachers surveyed indicated that their school climate had been negatively affected by the political campaign and election of Donald Trump. This was also reflected in the news: during the past two years, headlines from across the nation have described instances of white youth engaging in forms of racial violence and other forms of harassment — chanting “Build the wall!” in the faces of Latinx kids at athletic competitions or in the school cafeteria, bringing Confederate flags into classrooms to taunt their black peers, sexually assaulting and “grabbing” girls, inflicting physical violence such as pulling hijabs off Muslim students, and so on (SPLC Hatewatch, 2016).

White children are also thinking and engaging in the current political moment, of course, though our conversations are notably different. With white children, I notice a profound divide between how much some children seem to care about Trump’s racist words and actions and how much some don’t.

Paige, 12 years old, was one of the children I talk to in Mississippi. I sit down with her in her living room on a Saturday morning. “We had an assignment after the presidential election,” Paige tells me. “We had to draw a picture of what we think the future is going to look like under our new government…The teacher actually made half the class redo it because she was unhappy with the results because she got a lot of walls and cities in flames or like evil-looking politicians.”

“What did you draw?” I ask. “I personally drew Trump behind a wall of fire,” she says, matter-of-factly. I ask her why she drew that particular image. “I just felt like we were making so much progress with Obama. Like on everything. Like women’s rights, gay rights, racism, like things like global warming. Then, like, now that we have the new president — it’s like a million steps backward.”

A bit later, I ask her if she thinks the election of Trump has had any immediate impact on kids.

She nods. “I think that him being elected has made some people think, ‘Oh, well, since our president has these beliefs, it’s okay.’…Like him being disrespectful to women, some people are like, ‘Oh [if ] the president did that in his past, it’s okay for me to do that,’ … and that’s not okay.”

Zena, another white 12-year-old girl growing up in Mississippi talks to me about some recent changes in how some of her friends are relating to their parents.

“Trump’s not the best person and I think we all know that,” she tells me. “I have friends with parents who are like, ‘We need to raise you like this, and you need to do this, and you need to be a big supporter of Jesus and Trump and racism, and [my friends] are like, you know, ‘I’m going to need you to take a few steps back.’…These kids are like, ‘I should do some of my own research before I jump headfirst into his big agenda.’”

Zena goes on to tell me about one friend who is outraged by Trump’s racism despite her parents’ full support of him. “She argues with her parents all the time,” Zena explains. “What about you?” I ask. “Do you think we still have racism in America?” “I think we are 100 percent not past racism,” she states definitively. “I think recently everyone has had this realization that we are not past this because there are people … who sit in the big chairs and say, ‘No. I don’t want that law [that would help racial minorities] passed,’ and I feel like it’s a problem because the people who have power … they like use it for the wrong reasons. I don’t think we are past [racism] because people in power like Trump aren’t allowing us to get past it. And that sucks.”

Trump’s election has made 12-year-old Charlie, who is also white, rethink aspects of President Obama’s time in office. “I knew President Obama was the first black president, but I didn’t understand the significance of it until Trump became president,” 12-year-old Charlie tells me one afternoon at a restaurant in Mississippi. Charlie attends a public school that is almost 70 percent black. Like many of the white kids I interviewed, Charlie tells me that lately he has been talking about racism with his parents, his friends, and his teachers “all the time.”

“Trump has definitely done something to make things worse,” he tells me.

I ask him what it was like at his school around the time of the election.

“I was surprised [when Trump won]. We did this vote at our school and it was 16 people who voted for Trump while the 360 other people voted for Clinton. But I heard that at this other school [nearby] … the vote was so Trump.”

“How is it that these two schools that are located pretty close to each other have such different results?” I ask him.

“Well, I think our school is more racially diverse than that school,” he responds. Based on his experience growing up in Mississippi — like Crystal — Charlie could also see a connection between support for Trump and whiteness.

A number of white children, in both Massachusetts and Mississippi, tell me they are shocked and outraged by what they perceived to be racism radiating from the highest seats of power. For these kids, Trump’s presidency not only challenges their understanding of the country but also sheds new light on previously held notions about race in America. In addition to their outrage, these children also exhibit racial empathy for people of color, immigrants, women, and other groups that they perceive to be under attack by the Trump administration. In fact, part of what they dislike so much about Trump is how badly he treats the vulnerable and how he seems to bully the marginalized.

Other white children I speak with have a different reaction. They don’t all consider Trump’s racism to be a problem. Children, in both Massachusetts and Mississippi, tell me that even though they recognize Trump’s racism, they ultimately don’t care.

Twelve-year-old Erin lives in Mississippi and attends a former segregationist academy that is still almost entirely white. Erin knows she is white, she explains, because “I was born in America and my skin is white.” I ask her how she felt after Trump won the election. “I was happy he won because I think he knows how to handle, like, people who threaten us and stuff.” She describes kids at her school making jokes about building a wall at recess, but she says she did not tell the teacher because she “did not think it was a big deal.” Like many of the kids, Erin also shares her views on the differences she has observed since President Obama was in office: “When Barack was president, like, there was a lot of tension going on ’cause he was, like, the first black president … the people didn’t think it was right that he should be president because he was black. Now we have a white president again.”

When Erin is asked if she recognizes the rise of racial tension in the United States right now, she acknowledges that Trump “has said racist things,” but she isn’t too bothered by it. “I honestly think it’s fine,” she says with a laugh. “I don’t really care.”

Erin’s attitude echoes what contemporary social scientists have found when studying the racial attitudes of white Americans. White people in the United States have found more subtle ways to express their prejudices toward people of color over time. These new forms of racism often help people maintain the external appearance of not being racist even as they continue to engage in practices and behaviors that reproduce racial inequality — a way of “saving face” so to speak. Drawing on findings from a large, national survey of racial attitudes spanning 40 years, sociologist Tyrone A. Forman finds evidence for an increasein what he defines as “racial apathy” in the United States. White racial apathy, he argues, “refers to lack of feeling or indifference toward societal racial and ethnic inequality and lack of engagement with race-related social issues.” In his research, Forman finds an increase in whites’ use of “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” when asked survey questions about racial integration.

When it comes to young people specifically, Forman and his colleague, sociologist Amanda E. Lewis, explore expressions of racial apathy in white high school students over time. They find that instead of new generations of white kids being less racist and more tolerant than generations before them, this population instead embraces more subtle forms of racism like being indifferent to racial inequality. Data from this important research suggests that racial apathy is actually on the rise.

In talking with some of the white children in my study, I find similar patterns. For instance, Blake, who is 10 years old and lives in Massachusetts, tries many different ways to avoid identifying his race. Eventually, though, he tells me he is white. After talking with him a bit about his hockey team and upcoming game, I ask him what he thought the day after Trump was elected.

“I didn’t care,” he tells me, shrugging.

When I ask him if he thinks Trump is racist, he responds, “I don’t know ’cause I’ve never heard him be racist. But he said um, that we’ll build a wall between Mexico. … Mexico is like part of our world so you shouldn’t try to keep them out.” Blake tells me that there is racism still in America, but that he doesn’t really know much about it. “I’ve never heard anybody say [anything racist],” he tells me. He explains he does not talk about race or racism with his family members. Generally, he says, he does not think much about racism — but he knows that it exists.

“Yeah.” He tells me. “But I don’t pay attention to that stuff.”

Betsy, who is 12 years old, white, and lives in Massachusetts, is more engaged with politics than Blake. She tells me that she loves knowing what is going on in the world. In fact, she gets up early to drink a cup of tea and watch the news before school every morning.

“I feel like I’ve heard stuff on the news about [Trump] being racist, but like, the [news anchors] exaggerate stuff. But I don’t really think he’s racist. I think when he does one thing wrong, people turn it against him.” She can discuss many of the issues that have come up while Trump has been in office, like the wall and the Muslim ban. “Overall, I’m not saying he’s the best president, and he’s definitely not the worst. But he’s not racist. There might have been one or two incidents when he was racist, but he’s not racist.” Betsy tells me that even though she wishes we could have elected a woman for president, from her perspective, Trump is “fine” and even though he is racist sometimes, she does not think that it is a major problem.

Back in Mississippi, 12-year-old Ellie, who is white, tells me about voting in a mock election at her private school, complete with mock voter ID cards that students had to show before casting their mock ballot. “Everyone wanted Trump to win and they were like, ‘If you want Hillary to win, then you’re terrible.’” Ellie was not surprised when Trump won the actual election. “I knew he was probably gonna win,” she tells me. “I didn’t really think anything about it [when he did.]” Ellie talks about how she liked one of the other Republican candidates better than Trump but that ultimately, she was happy Trump won.

When Ellie is asked about her thoughts on racism in the United States today, particularly in light of Trump’s election, she says she has heard people say he is racist, but she “do[esn’t] really know.” She also explains that her family does not talk about racism. “There’s not really any [racism] going on in Mississippi but there might be in like, other states, I just haven’t noticed anything. … I don’t really know. … It’s not something I care about.”

Kids offer different versions of this opinion. James, a 12-year-old boy who identifies as “Caucasian” and who goes to the same school as Ellie, “felt good” after Trump was elected because he supports many of Trump’s positions, even the more controversial stance on the wall between the United States and Mexico. James understands that Trump’s policies may upset people, but he ultimately cares more about other things. For example, he spends a lot of time discussing the conflict between the United States and Muslim countries. “I think it’s silly that [conflict] is still going on,” he says. “They’ve been fighting since 1999 and nobody’s won. Why [hasn’t the United States] dropped an atomic bomb on them? It would just end them, so they wouldn’t like, come at us again.”

In terms of racial politics at the national level, James recognizes that racism exists but does not think that it is serious enough to merit a solution or any political action. Regarding football players kneeling at NFL games, he says, “Some people are doing it because they don’t like the president. They don’t like racism. They don’t like the way some people are getting treated. … But if [they] want to live in America, why [are they] kneeling instead of like, loving our country that people fight for every day so we can be free? If they don’t like wanna stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or the National An

them, why are they living here?” James makes it clear that he understands these protests to be about real racism in America, but he ultimately concludes that racism is not a legitimate reason to protest.

Ava, who is 12 years old and white, also likes Trump but finds him “embarrassing” at times. Sometimes, he “acts like a kid,” she says explaining that her family and friends share the hope that he “straightens out soon.” Despite how embarrassing he is, Ava goes on to say that she was happy Trump won. But, she still thinks “he seems kinda mean.” When I ask her what she means, she says: “Well, I don’t really want him to build a wall even though it keeps some mean people out,” she explains. “There’s usually nice people who want, like, a better life too.”

When Ava is asked if she thinks that the president is racist, Ava replies, “Mmm, maybe, sorta, kinda because he built the wall and because like, he wants to keep some religions out. And I think if it’s just because of like, the religions, we could try to teach them like, about God and like that Jesus Christ came for our sins.” For Ava, racism is, again, not an important issue. Even if Trump’s wall and Muslim ban are “maybe sorta kinda” racist, the real issue with these policies is that they might prevent people from converting to Christianity.

Jason, who is 11 years old and identifies as white, views Trump in a similar “kinda racist” way as Ava. His reaction to Trump winning the election was, “I didn’t care.” When asked if he thinks Trump is racist, Jason replies, “Trump is kind-of racist, kind-of not. He kind-of is building a wall so other people won’t come in.” I ask him what he would say to Trump if he had the opportunity.

“I would make a joke like, ‘Hurry up and build that wall!’” Jason goes on to say that during recess, kids made other “jokes” about immigrants. To Jason, even if Trump’s wall is “kind-of racist,” he does not see a problem with making jokes about it, or replicating the racism in his own conversations or playful interactions with his peers.

The views of children like Ellie, James, Ava, Jason, and others are in direct opposition to those of children who are fearful of or outraged by the Trump administration. Even when this group of kids identifies racism in the words and actions of the president and his administration — even when they agree that Trump is doing something racist — they do not really seem to care. Although they are aware of racism, they would prefer to not think about it.

Indeed, racial apathy is not new, and I found signs of it among the many children I spoke with during the Obama era. But, in my previous work, kids who expressed this apathy embraced a “colorblind” racial logic — they believed that because a black man was president, American society didn’t have to worry about racism anymore. This is different from the apathy I observed in many of these white children today. Based on this new research, it seems that some kids are learning not to care about racism or racial inequality in any way, even when it is explicitly present. The narrative seems to be shifting: “I don’t see racism, so I don’t care” is becoming, “I see racism, and I still don’t care.”

Social science research makes it abundantly clear that, across the board, children today are growing up in a country with increasing economic inequality and “deep differences of opportunity” (Kids Count, 2017). Race and wealth disparities between children are well documented in a wide variety of realms like education, health, the criminal justice system, the child welfare system, the labor market, housing, wealth holdings, and so on. American children are growing up in this context, among tremendous race and class inequality and deep powerful political divides. Based on my new research, however, it seems that there is another type of division separating today’s younger generations: how they respond to explicit forms of racism.

Why is this division important? As psychologist Derald Wing Sue puts it, rather than expressing a “conscious desire to hurt,” racial apathy conveys a “failure to help.” That failure is twofold: it is not just a failure of action, it’s a failure of empathy — it’s the failure to even care about the persistence and consequences of racism in the United States. This “failure to help” — this failure to concern oneself with the suffering and humanity of others — is a powerful tool, used to reproduce and perpetuate existing racial oppression. As Forman and Lewis ask:

If, in the face of entrenched, systemic, and institutionalized racial inequality, most whites say that they have no negative feelings toward racial minorities but feel no responsibility to do anything about enduring racial and ethnic inequalities and in fact object to any programmatic solutions to addressing those inequalities, is that progress, or is it rather a new form of prejudice in its passive support for an unequal racial status quo?

White peoples’ disinterest in racism — or the more active refusal of interest in human suffering — dramatically increases the stakes for racially marginalized people. Every child of color I interviewed not only articulated disgust and outrage with the president’s racist language and actions but also described feeling scared, angry, anxious, upset, and worried because of Trump’s presidency and specifically what his racist actions might mean for themselves or the people they love. They told me about their nightmares and about drawing violent images. They talked to me about feeling fearful and not being able to relax when out in public or around authority figures. As one 11-year-old told me, “When Trump got elected, I was actually kind of nervous. My dad isn’t a citizen. If [Trump] sends him back, he’s not going to be able to come back and I won’t be able to see him. … Like, like [one time recently] we were just driving and the police were behind us and I got scared because if he were to get pulled over, they would arrest him and they’ll send him back. I am scared.” She was on the verge of tears.

Empathy alone will not solve racism and racial injustice in America. But, in the Trump era, when children are confronted with the stark reality of the legacy and persistence of racism in the United States, it appears that they respond in different ways. For black, brown, and other marginalized children, this reality seems to be connected to feelings of stress, fear, anger, and anxiety. For some of the white children I spoke with, this reality seems to be connected to empathy, anger, and a sense of concern for their peers. But, for other white children, this reality simply does not matter, even though they know and can acknowledge that it exists. If children cannot develop empathetic perspectives, if they cannot learn to care about the suffering or humanity of their peers, what does that suggest for our future? Collectively, we must identify, acknowledge, and resist the power of racial apathy — and recognize the destruction it brings to our democratic society, to our political efforts, and to the children growing up in this world.

Margaret A. Hagerman is an assistant professor of Sociology at Mississippi State University. She is the author of White Kids: Growing Up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America (NYU Press.)

Source: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/care-dont-children-racism-trump-era/

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veliusthewanderer · 4 years ago

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My Most Rage-Filled Rant EVER!

As I’m writing this, nearly a month has passed since the Capitol Hill riots which took the lives of 5 people, injured dozens more and very likely contributed to the greatest Covid-19 spread in the new year, I feel a need to make my feelings known. I also have to make clear that not everyone who is a conservative is going to get the full fury of my rant. Hence, I decided to break this down into two sections. The first will be addressed to those conservatives who might’ve supported Trump until the Riots happened, then turned their backs on him. I’ll even address those who may have abandoned Trump well before the events of January 6. I will be dignified, respectful, and compassionate. The second part will be broken down for three groups, and here I will not be so merciful, so if you offend easily, you may wish to stop reading now.To the first group, now that you’ve seen how Trump behaved during the last four years, and up to the dreadful day where 70,000 people stormed the Capitol on his orders to stop the election certification, do you have any regrets backing him back in 2016? You likely have turned your back on him and even denounced him. The first step to handling any problem is acknowledging that you have a problem, and its never easy to do so, especially in a time where emotions continue to run high as a result of the most contentious election that this country ever had. You no doubt have family, co-workers, friends, lovers who have all but ostracized you for your decision to abandon ‘the cause’. As hard as this will be to read, at this point these people should be considered lost causes. No matter how much factual information you try to provide them, they will never accept it. Instead of trying to rehabilitate them, its better to cast them adrift and let them stew in their disgust. You may feel like you need to keep a line of communication open-and that’s certainly your choice-but you run the risk of inflaming the resentments to a point in which the outcome will not be a good one, so if you choose to keep a line open, always approach the topic slowly. For many in my own inner circle-family mostly, there may never be a way to bridge the gulf of misunderstanding. As much as I would love to open their eyes to the damage Trump has done, its never going to break the hypnotic trance he’s put them in. For you, its enough to know you aren’t alone in not knowing how to handle the division. You took a big chance in condemning Trump even if only because of his role in the Insurrection and for that you have my never-ending admiration and respect. I personally will not shame you for the prior support you gave to Trump because you honestly didn’t know what kind of person he truly was. I will apologize if I have put you in the crosshairs with your colleagues who still adore Trump, but you needed to know that I do not hold a grudge against you for whatever prior support you showed him.Now that I’ve addressed the first group and offered them my moral support, its time to address the lost causes out there. I must insist again that if you’re easily offended by the slightest truth, then you need to stop reading because the gloves are about to come off. I will be addressing three particular groups in this second half: the rioters (assuming they haven’t been arrested already), the co-conspirators in Congress (all GOP, by the way) and lastly, the people who while not directly involved in the Insurrection continue to espouse the Big Lie that Trump was cheated. I will be sure to break my rage-rant down, but all will start with the same opening line. I will also remind you that as my identity has not nor will ever be revealed, there is no point in posting death-threats. However, if you insist on doing so, I WILL report them to Tumblr and the police.

- To the rioters who have yet to be arrested:

HOW DARE YOU!! How dare you attempt an insurrection against a lawfully elected government on the basis of a BS claim by your ‘Great Leader’ Trump. You claim to be fighting against ‘communism’ yet you’re willing to enact a fascist dictatorship because you’re frightened of the alternative. This is a DEMOCRACY, and in a democracy there are winners and losers. Those who lost have an opportunity in four years-unless they’ve already had two presidential terms-to run again. Had Trump not incited 70,000 people to storm the Capitol with calls to hang Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi, then half-heartedly attempted to stop the rioting, he could’ve had his chance again in 2024. Because of your actions and his role, he will very likely NEVER run for political office again. The fact that many of you who participated in the Insurrection were military veterans is the most damning thing about this situation. You fought against fascism, you were on guard against communist insurgency, you defended this country from Islamic extremism, yet you were willing to march in lockstep with a soon-to-be ex-President Trump to install a dictatorship because you bought into the Big Lie. You should not only be ashamed of yourself, but you should be stripped of any medals and commendations you earned in your career. Another point to make, and one I will repeat throughout the rest of this rage-rant, the fact that 5 people died during the insurrection. 5 people that shouldn’t have had to die. Four of the deaths were rioters and at least one of them was a military veteran. One police officer who did his duty to hold off the mob also died. You may think you did your patriotic duty by making your outrage known, but that is no consolation to the families of the people who died. They died because you wanted Trump to seize power and stop a legal election process. If the very thought that their families will now have to celebrate birthdays, Holidays, anniversaries and other happy occasions without them doesn’t make you feel guilty and ashamed, then you are not patriotic at all, only cold-hearted and stupid

-To the GOP traitors who abetted the Trump Insurrection:

HOW DARE YOU!! How dare you aid a would-be dictator to overturn the results of a legal election. You not only bought into the Big Lie, you promoted it within your offices. You even ran on the Big Lie and-somehow-won. Case in point is Marjorie Taylor Green, the woman known for her QAnon videos. She was on record as suggesting execution of Democrat leaders would be the only way to end the ‘pedophilia ring, Deep State system’ that she claimed was working against Trump. But its not just Green. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas were the loudspeakers for the Big Lie, and even after the Capitol had finally been cleared of the rioters, insisted on objecting to the electoral results even knowing the objections were based on false claims and would not be considered. Even now, they remain committed to the Big Lie and have already begun their effort to obstruct President Biden’s agenda which can help ALL Americans regardless of political views, particularly where the pandemic is concerned. They would rather see Americans suffer with disease, loss of jobs, foreclosure, eviction because they still believe Biden is illegitimate and Trump is the rightful winner, than to assist in improving the conditions the pandemic has left and continues to leave in its wake. I make this warning clear: we will remember what you did when 2022 comes and you’re up for re-election. This goes for the other 137 House GOP and 13 Senate GOP who participated in Trump’s attempted coup and in some cases (Mo Brooks of Alabama) even fired up the rioters just before the Insurrection began. I should also remind you that the blood of 5 people coats your hands, and that the families of those 5 souls lost on that terrible day will never forgive you for your role in it. Shame on you and may you rot in eternal damnation.

-Finally, to those who still believe Trump won:

SHAME ON YOU!!

You, who spread the Big Lie around social media. You who couldn’t be bothered to actually research some new claim before spreading it around because it came from a ‘trusted source’ such as a family member, close friend, co-worker, fellow churchgoer, even ‘news’ outlets like F*X News, OANN, and Newsmax. You like to tell those who challenge your information that they refuse to question ‘facts’ and buy into whatever CNN or ABC News says. The cold truth is, it is YOU that refuse to fact-check. Whether its because you believe the source or because the idea that the alternate fact is in fact a bald-faced lie scares you doesn’t matter. It was because of you that 70,000 people went to Washington DC, listened to the fiery orations of Trump, Don Jt., Giuliani, and Brooks, then marched with the intention to take hostages, even execute government officials all for the purpose of making sure Trump won his second term. It’s because of you that Marjorie Taylor Green is now a congresswoman and still-despite her claims otherwise-attached to QAnon. It is because of you that there is division in this country that may or may not ever be truly healed despite the best efforts of the new POTUS. Worst of all, it may very well be you that keeps us locked down in a pandemic that your so-called ‘saviour’ had the power to defeat but instead chose to sit on his butt and dismiss as a novelty that would magically go away. If you’re already thinking of sending hate posts in response to this, I can only see it as your continued refusal to come to reality and accept that your Great Leader lost the election, lost his numerous court battles to save his legacy, and ultimately failed to forcefully overturn the legitimate results of an election that was already contentious before Covid-19 changed the rules. You are a lost cause and should henceforth be treated as such. And if you went to Washington DC to participate in the rally-turned-insurrection and have found yourself hence without a job, ostracized by friends and family, then you deserve it. You cannot blame the “libtards” for costing you your job, costing you your love life, costing you respect. You ultimately have only yourself to blame. You might as well hide in the basement, stick your fingers in your ears and hum as loud as possible for the next four years because like it or not, Biden is now the POTUS

#byebyetrump #getoverit

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swan2swan · 7 years ago

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A Ramble on Religion

Over the years, I’ve come to see a different side of the “separation of church and state”. In my high school years, I was more or less taught from a number of influences that the separation of church and state was a great threat to religion. It was mostly being exploited as a way for our country to become “less religious” and that it was a “threat” to religion (which I’ve come to realize lately is laughable, because I highly doubt that God would be so sloppy in laying out the framework of his religious orders as to make it so that everyone would just stop believing, and honestly, when you realize that a lot of Christianity’s worst parts came out because people lost their faith and decided that they needed to protect Christianity because somehow God needed their protection, a lot of things make sense, but that’s another conversation), and thus I was always leery of that one.

But lately, I’ve come to see that the “separation of church and state” is actually a safeguard for the church itself. The more the lines between a religion and a government blur, the more beholden a religion becomes to the government. When your president spouts that “we need to protect God’s children”, a Christian cannot immediately say “this is the wrong thing to do”, because yes, we do need to protect God’s children...and even if this Christian realizes in another second that “protecting God’s children” means murdering another human being, it’s too late, and a moral dilemma has already begun. If a man (or woman) of faith sits upon a seat of worldly power and wishes to do what is just in the eyes of the Lord, they should not have to invoke God’s name in order to do so: what they do should be done simply because they know it is righteous.

But any nonbeliever can stand before a crowd and scream “God Bless America!” Then the faithful, who truly wish for God to bless America as well, will cheer and shout their assent--even if what preceded these words was anathema to every view they had. Thus, they become deceived, and the deceiver who stands before them has twisted them to follow a will that is not God’s, but his own.

Much of this epiphany was aided by Hillary Clinton’s book, What Happened. In its pages, Hillary talks about how prayer helped to get her through the times after the election, and about the times she prayed during the election, and about all that she did in working with churches and her local pastors. She exhibits insight that demonstrates a clear faith and calm...and she has nothing to gain for this. If her faith and statements of “God Bless America” were simply political posturing, such introspection would be nonexistent or unconvincing. There would be no need for pretense anymoe, since she no longer intends to run for office.

But I remember how Donald Trump never said “God Bless America” on the night of his victory. He never thanked God, or gave any deference to a higher power. It was all him, and to some extent, his voters. On that night, more than any other time, I saw through him. And I know that if he had ghostwritten a book called What Happened (he wouldn’t), he would have made no mention of his prayer or humility. If he did, it would have been just as false and transparent as everything else he does.

And yet he is the one who claims to protect religion. He is the one who claims to be doing all that he does in the name of God, that we are one nation united under one God, and that he is the one who can protect our faithful and their institutions. Perhaps he believes it, in his own Ozymandian way...but it’s not true. Christianity will survive with or without him. God does not need bathroom bills or federal funding to churches in order to protect His children. I’ve had my faith secured far more by the sight of Steven Colbert proudly announcing that he is donating one million dollars to Puerto Rico after a two-week long fundaiser than anything Sarah Sanders has said from her podium. And it’s not because I trust in money or human nature, but because Colbert makes no attempt to hide his Catholic faith. Most importantly, his Catholic faith shone through most when he was sitting in shock and horror last November, struggling to find the words to describe a situation he had never conceived possible...and he spoke quietly about how he still believed in everyone, and about how he would do his best to help in the future. “The Devil cannot abide mockery”, he said. And in that moment, as I watched a man close to breaking call upon his faith, I knew I could trust him. He wasn’t using Catholicism as a way of showcasing his quality and his righteousness, but as a source of strength and hope...how it’s supposed to be done. And when he threw his hands in the air and proclaimed that he was going to donate a million dollars to hurricane victims, he never invoked God or praised Jesus or tied it into his faith or religion...he simply did it.

That is a man who has been given many talents by his Lord, and he is using them to help others. He does not bury them, he does not hide them for himself, but he shares them, plants them, talks about them, confesses his faith and then moves on to shine light in the world simply because he knows it is the right thing to do. He could stand up there and try to use his faith as a mouthpiece to those in the Conservative party, stretching out and saying, “Hey, I’m a Christian, and I think this, so you should, too!”...but he doesn’t, because that’s a cheap tool that politicians use to manipulate people.

Governments have, and will, always use religion to achieve their own ends. It’s their easiest tool, because it allows them to reach straight to a person’s soul. By asking citizens to use faith in their reasoning, they bypass facts and logic (because that’s how faith works), and can easily sway them to their side. “Having guns is our God-given right!” people cry, because a politician doesn’t say otherwise. “The people of this country have turned their back on God!” a speaker cries from the podium, and because the faithful know that they have not turned their backs on God and the speaker is not addressing them with that statement, they know that it’s everyone else who has turned their back.

It breaks my heart.

Because they’re my people, my family, my friends, people I aspire to be--confident enough to thank God every day for their blessings, never too shy or timid to say “I believe in Jesus”, and always eager to go to church...and yet I see so much wrong with their practice. I see hatred, and bigotry, and intolerance, and an unwillingness to forgive, and it festers and manifests into political ideology. Swastikas and angled crosses filled with stars, hurtful words and pitiless faces, haughty smiles and backhanded mockery...all performed by the faithful, because men and women who claim to be of the same faith have deceived them. Men like Trump, Huckabee, and Bannon don’t want to be faithful servants of the Lord...they want power, and wealth, and everything this world has to offer. They want fire, they want authority, they want gold, they want the masses who writhe beneath them to turn upon each other while they feast at the top. And all they have to do to achieve this is to step in front of a microphone once a day, clear their throat and say three words. Three words devoid of meaning, hollow, words that creep inside the ears of the vain and stoke their pride while twisting into the faces of the doubter and the nonbeliever and sowing hatred.

Because they have married the church and the state, and as long as the state lets the church believe that it is in control, the state can lead the church down any path it choose. Nuclear strikes against millions of innocent people, distrust of refugees fleeing a war-torn nation, protections for men who rape and murder, disdain for islands impoverished by greed, fear of people whose bodies are different, outrage against people who only want to feel safe...what the state says, the church will believe.

Especially if those words are “the greatest threat to the church is those who call for the separation of church and state”.

#religion #christianity #politics #long post #swan rambling #largely written because I missed church for the third time in a row and I feel guilty #but every time I go I'm frustrated because we continue with the traditional prayer for the ''health and prosperity'' of our president #who really has enough health and prosperity #and I know we extend the same prayer to every president but it just causes a lot of conflict #and conflict and anxiety just don't mix #I have faith that we'll get through this #but I pray for the people who will suffer #and I long for the day when people see through the deception

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spheresofdesire · 5 years ago

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Thoughts on the upcoming election

This is going to be political - so if you don’t like politics skip it. Otherwise, brace yourself - this will be a VERY long post.

I’ve been thinking about things because of the recent protests about the lock downs in various states. What does this indicates about the state of the union at the moment? And what are the trends we’re witnessing? Bear with me here.

Regarding the protests of the lock downs, I honestly think there are fewer of these people out there than they want us to believe. If you've noticed, the photos are always close-ups of them in groups - which makes them seem more numerous. But when you see photos of them at a distance, it's always a handful of people (except the car convoy in Michigan, which is a bit harder to judge given that they're all in gigantic pick-ups). I don’t think these people reflect some “silent majority,” at all.

I'm more concerned about Trump's attempts to incite this stuff the closer we get to the election and the clearer it becomes he's going to lose. And the reason I feel confident he's going to lose is because the last few elections, starting in 2018, the data is showing that the Republicans have been losing the suburbs. It's interesting, intellectually, since they seem to have made a calculation to trade upper middle class votes for blue collar votes (which is how they got Michigan, etc in 2016). However, the problem is that they've been alienating traditional Republican voters (with all the RINO language, etc). The Republican party has actually shrunk by 30% the last three years, while independents have grown by roughly the same amount. And in the recent elections that have been held (Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana) those lost votes have tipped the scales toward the Democrats. So here's what I think you can expect for the upcoming elections:

First, severe character assassination on Biden -- either with the whole "Hunter Biden" nonsense or with allegations of sexual assault. The latter will be to try and influence women not to vote for Biden, since numbers are showing women are definitely breaking against Trump. In fact, the female vote will be one of the biggest factors in the election - and given how Trump has truly lost the majority of women voters, they'll try to portray Biden as a rapist to depress the female vote for him. No one should fall for this.

Second, voter suppression will be the other technique they'll use. Expect lots of misinformation on Facebook and social media that will either rouse the base (ala these nonsensical "Liberate" tweets) or dampen support for Biden (such as the weak tea attempts to get Sanders voters to vote for Trump). This is what we now know happened in Michigan in the last election, where Russian trolls targeted the African American vote with egregious lies about Clinton (particularly Bill Clinton) which influenced the turnout in places like Detroit enough to help Trump barely take the state. The Democrats will counter this with the Obamas coming off the benches for this election, which he couldn't do in the last one since he was still president. It will definitely be a "get out the vote" election, with the Republicans doing everything they can to undermine support for Biden by defaming him with particular accusations that are meant to suppress the turnout of particular groups and rouse the base with militant rhetoric as we're now starting to see.

This is in addition to whatever legal obstacles they'll try to use to suppress the vote, like they just did in Wisconsin where they said the vote had to be held in person and then cut the number of polling stations in Milwaukee from over a hundred to just FIVE. This is actually a common voter suppression technique that isn't really discussed: but restricting the number of polls makes it harder for people to vote, and both parties have done this at different times. Right now, it's definitely a page in the Republican playbook. People saw through it and voted anyway.

Third, there will be the issue of this pandemic. I think this is absolutely going to cost Trump the election. His response is - on record - clearly one of incompetence and ineptitude. Even these daily briefings are horrific, which is why Lindsay Graham said he should only do one a week. Everyone is getting a clear indication of just how unsuited for this office Trump really is. Every time he opens his mouth a medical expert has to correct what he says - or he simply tries to displace blame to others - or he tries to take credit for things others have done. And that’s when he makes sense. Half the time he rambles and simply loses the thread - and it’s really disconcerting.

Also, to be really honest, I think the rush to open things up is going to backfire. This thing is not under control anywhere in the world (China is beginning to evince new cases) but only in the US are loud mouths talking like it is. The outbreak in South Dakota at a food processing plant is deeply concerning, because they may have infected the pork they were handling. And all because they weren't given the proper PPE while that nutjob governor insisted that they had it under control. Same with this recent opening of the beaches in Jacksonville. Florida has not flattened the curve fully - and this is one of the most foolish things they could do. Wait about 2 weeks and watch the numbers spike again. There will be no excuses at the point for what they've done - although they'll try. But I think people are really able to see through the bullshit at this point and realize just how lunatic the Republican party has become under Trump. If this rush to open things in the name of "liberty" goes sideways - as I suspect it will - and makes this pandemic last longer or worsens it, there will be hell to pay for the Republican party and Trump in November.

Finally, there's the stock market and the economy. The stock market is a very good bell weather for what's going on economically - not in terms of actual economic productivity - but in terms of confidence. The market pretty much ONLY measures confidence regarding future earning potentials, and investors will not invest because of political bullshit being passed off as truth. That's why it dropped so much (which also signifies how badly overvalued it's been under Trump). China is a key cog in the world in terms of resources (80% of natural minerals for things like the Apple phone, etc are found in China - which is part of the reason they're produced there - it's where the actual material to make them is) - and a key cog in production for manufacturing not just for us but everyone. Their economy declined by 10% - which is massive - and will undoubtedly influence everyone else. Investors will not ignore that, nor will they sink money into the market just because political pundits and Trump try to act like everything's okay. Everyone knows he's a liar, and while things were fine they were willing to overlook it. But no longer.

I think the economic recovery to this is going to be in fits and starts: manufacturing may pop back quickly in some areas (when Covid-19 is under control) but the service sector is going to be in for a rough time. A lot of smaller businesses are not going to recover from this (restaurants, etc) - and given that our economy is now primarily a service based economy - I think it's going to be rough going for a while. Especially if there's a second wave of this thing, as I think there will be. I thought we'd see it again in the fall - but now, with the idiotic push to re-open things immediately - I think we'll see a second wave in late spring/early summer. Which is going to wind up shuttering things again, etc. The stock market is a good indicator of the level of confidence people have in what's going on (and will not be anything other than realistic) while the economy will simply adjust itself to the virus regardless of political demands. The rush to open things that's been driven by Republican leaders is likely to worsen things - and if that happens there'll be no way to avoid accountability for it.

I honestly think Trump's toast at this point. The electoral shifts we've seen since 2016 don't favor the Republicans at all - and the constant rhetoric that's meant to fire up the base is ALSO firing up the opposition, even those who aren't particularly politically motivated. The economic impact of their mishandling of this pandemic is undeniable, and no amount of blaming WHO (who actually offered us test kits in January that Trump refused to take) or China or the media will change that. I don't think anything can be taken for granted though. People absolutely have to vote - or the US as we know it will be destroyed. This guy is, at this point, literally using the Nazi playbook (provoking private militias to intimidate elected officials is Brownshirt activity, pure and simple) for undermining democracy, and yes, it's scary. Not because it's being so effective, but because he has the audacity to attempt it and it's precedent setting.

My biggest hope at this point is that he discredits the Republican party so much that it implodes and becomes little more than an opposition party. These things have happened before - one party that's a major party goes too far and discredits itself before disappearing (the Federalist party was one of the original political parties and strongly criticized the US in the War of 1812 - going so as to try and get northern states to secede and join Canada. It obviously didn't work, and the Federalists were doomed at that point). This may be happening now and the Republican party is just so full of bluff and bluster that they've convinced their members they're more powerful than they are, while distracting everyone from the real trends that are unfolding. Trump only got 63 million votes in a nation of nearly 350 million citizens. I've not see him do anything to grow that number, and like I've pointed out, his actions have actually harmed the Republican party itself. They can't continue the trajectory they're on - and if they do, so much the worse for them.

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sundaywhiskey · 5 years ago

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on why you should vote for Bernie Sanders

The Sunday Blunt is a 2020 election survival effort of researched, brief-ish, minimally edited rants on America’s hellish political hellscape and related hell. I’ve not been shy about my support for Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary. Today she suspended her campaign for president, and I’d be lying if I said I’m not writing this in tears. My hands are a lil shaky. Honestly I feel like I’m going through a breakup. It’s fine. Ultimately Warren was a prepared, fearless warrior for the progressive cause, but not the cause itself, so to honor the righteous work she’s done in this race, it is only necessary that I urge everyone still to vote to cast their ballot for Bernie Sanders. There are a few considerations all of us weigh to some degree when casting a ballot. Personally, I vote based on shared values; that’s why I didn’t cast a strategic ballot in the California primary and stayed true to my heart by voting Warren. Actually, I cried then, too, when casting my ballot. My boyfriend joked that’s “The American Dream,” but honestly... kind of. At the bare minimum, we want to believe in the vision of America that our candidate represents, and that’s reasonable considering these fuckers *do* work for us. These campaigns, as cursedly long and tedious as they are, are literally job interviews. I imagine those who stay home on Election Day feel unheard and disenchanted and probably disenfranchised by the political system. They wouldn’t hire any of the options. A progressive candidate could turn out more voters by illustrating an America that isn’t a return to the status quo, but something better for all of us. For no small or invalid reasons, most Americans want better than what we’ve received so far. I’m one of those Americans. Actually, I can confidently assume a majority of people reading this are one of those Americans as recent polling shows 70% of us support a pretty radical change in Medicare 4 All. I say radical, but what I mean is moral. America’s current healthcare model (and the one Biden vows to protect under the misnomer of “Public Option”) maintains healthcare as a business where multiple industries make a shit ton of money off of you and me getting and staying sick. This includes the pharma industry, the insurance industry, and the hospital industry. And because industries on a whole incentivize profits, nobody is working on behalf of Americans’ health. If Americans are healthy, nobody makes money. Which is truly wild because our Constitution very clearly and early on identifies the pursuit of life as an inalienable right. Meanwhile, there are 27 million uninsured Americans (like ya girl) and nearly 44 million under-insured Americans buried alive both metaphorically and literally by medical debt or postponing (or altogether not seeking) necessary care. I fall into that latter group. Shit’s not right, and any proposal that falls short of guaranteeing health insurance for all Americans and dismantling the profiteering of our illnesses is a disingenuous slab of garbage, I’m not sorry for saying so. There are lives on the line. Voters also vote with their pocketbooks. I’m not in love with this strategy but I’m broke so I get it. We’re justifiably protective of our tax dollars—it’s money we earned but can’t control. Who the fuck likes that? And considering the undertaking, it’s no question Medicare 4 All would be expensive, and voters want to know if restructuring the current model will flatter their bank accounts. So will it? The short answer is literally nobody knows. My primary care doctor (a dreamy old fellow named Dr. Horowitz who wears bowties and still sees me without insurance every three months for medication refills, although usually I go every four months when I can’t afford it) tells me the first step of the transition to single-payer will be nailing down cost. Right now, one doctor might charge one patient $20 for Advil while another might charge hundreds because the patient is in a different hospital or a person of color or just because they can. (This isn’t an exaggeration, it happens every day, ask for itemized bills.) So anybody who claims to know how much Medicare 4 All will cost is lying, which means nobody can confidently tell you how your taxes will be affected. We can predict, however, how much the current system costs you. Obviously, there are premiums and co-pays and deductibles and medication costs and, like, a zillion other ways you’re charged. Need to call an ambulance? Depending on the distance, you can ride in this life-saving transport for between a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars. Wanna have a baby? Ten thousand dollars. Diabetic? Despite outrage on both sides of the aisle, two bottles of insulin can cost upwards of $700 a month and prices are still rising. And even though we live in a dystopian hellscape where we can GoFundMe our healthcare costs, 90% of campaigns don’t get fully funded. Can you believe even that isn’t a solution? Which means I guess there’s only one thing we can do and follow the advice a rich, retired, Medicare-receiving man swirling iced white wine on a catamaran once gave me: Make more money. No, I’m kidding. We need to elect the only candidate with a god damn humanistic solution to this very real and urgent crisis, shit. Obviously, and much to my dismay, a vote for Bernie is not a vote for universal healthcare. Before we can even have that conversation, we first have to get our preferred old white man in the White House. Look, I’m not a pundit, but I pretend to be one in every Facebook status and conversation with my mother, so I’m going to answer the question on every political strategist’s voter’s mind: Can Bernie beat Trump? The short answer is yes and with better odds than Joe Biden. The long answer is holy what now!? who would have the answer to that question? Can you tell the future? Can I tell the future? Can Rachel Maddow tell the future? In all seriousness though, I absolutely do get it. There is no denying that the threat of four more years of the Trump administration will have a devastating and long-lasting effect on our planet and every single global citizen. It’s bad, my dudes. That said, voting for political strategy is my least favorite way of voting. For starters, it’s an unreliable barometer based on nothing but guesswork and confidence in your own thoughts. But more importantly, it is insincere and doesn’t communicate to Democratic politicians what standards and values we’ll hold them to. Again, we employ them. If we want to be sensitive about our tax dollars, we should be mindful of which representatives build their whole damn lifestyles off of them. We shouldn’t be voting for politicians who have built a career on passing legislation and otherwise making decisions that degrade people of color, women, and the LGBTQ+ community or lead our country into war. However, if you arreeee going to vote strategically, here’s why Bernie: Centrists don’t win elections. As much as Hillary was very much a woman and sexism very much played a role in her electoral defeat, so did the fact that she’s a moderate. That’s (partially) why there was no President Kerry or Gore or Romney or McCain: Each of those candidates painted a decidedly more status quo America compared to their more extreme opponent. Whoever we elect needs to engage and energize voters. Two things are for sure: 1. Republicans fucking love to vote. (They also love to suppress the vote, but another day, my friends.) 2. Progressive policies are popular and poll better than Trump’s policies across the board. The Democratic Party is a big, welcoming tent where everyone can hang and be protected and represented... when we elect the right officials. Unfortunately, many people the Democratic Party seeks to help (and need to reach in order to win) still don’t see themselves represented in the current political landscape or find solace in moderate policies. Biden’s campaign promises a return to 2016 when, y’all, if you can believe it, I still wasn’t insured. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate in the race whose policies address the needs of marginalized groups we’d need to turn out in November. If we can draw one lesson from Elizabeth’s campaign, it’s that politicians should be listening to the individual circumstances and needs of their constituents. Elizabeth did this in every selfie line and phone call to small-dollar donors and meeting with marginalized groups. At her speeches, she kept the lights on her audiences bright so she could see the people she was talking to. Elizabeth fundamentally understood that this never was about her being president but about the good she could do for each of us once she got there. There’s no question that Bernie has understood this his whole life. The president isn’t the leader of our land, but rather a representative hired to do the work of the American people. I believe then that it is our duty to elect the candidate who would do the greatest amount of good for the greatest number of us. Without a doubt, Bernie Sanders is that candidate.

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alwayswriting123 · 5 years ago

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Are Young People Tuning In?

Youngsters don’t want to sit through either a 2 or 3 hour-long debate of old people arguing about why they deserve to sit their kiesters in one of the world's most powerful chairs ever. (Hmm, wonder if it’s a lazy boy... anyway) No, they’d rather sit around and vape or do the smart thing like the bird-box challenge and posting it online.

In fact, I bet if I asked a group of teenagers who Pete Buttigieg is, they’d reply with a vacuum cleaner salesman and I’m not kidding. I sat down with a group of teenagers and someone literally said he’s a vacuum cleaner salesman. I felt so bad for little Petie I continued to ask them questions on all of the current candidates. Their results? A D+. So I began to wonder, just how many teenagers aren’t tuning into the debates? And what’s the most efficient way of getting to these young voters? Through social media and other places of course!

Well I mean, like, I don’t know about other people but I just don’t care about that kind of stuff. Like, I hear about politics a lot more in my household and stuff - it’s not that I don’t wanna learn it’s just that I feel afraid to contribute to the conversation, you know? Like I don’t wanna open my mouth and say something wrong. Trust me, I don’t like Donald Trump at all, I really don’t know why he won in the first place. That say’s a lot about America. Like a lot but, I really hope he doesn’t win again. I mean, I voted in the past.

Me: “That’s good you should keep doing that.”

That’s why I feel bad because I didn’t vote in the last election. And it wasn’t because I didn’t like either candidate, I liked Hillary. But I just felt like my vote wouldn’t count. The electoral college is messed up! That **** is crazy and plain bananas. - Greg Soyer

Mmm, that **** was indeed crazy and bananas. (This **** is bananas- B-A-N-A-N-A-S!) But I still was hungry for answers. Why was the **** crazy? I needed to find out. So I did the opposite of what I did the first time and asked older and much wiser people.

Question 1. Why do you feel like young voters aren’t or are tuned in to the election?

I think young people starting out in life are very worried about one thing and that is what is going to happen to their future. The presidency affects not just the individual but also their entire existence. Though the argument can also be made that they also don’t tune in because they mistrust the government and at times think it’s corrupt. - Tucker White

No reliable news outlets. [There is] too much to sort through.- Anonymous

I feel like young voters don’t want to be involved or, the ones that are involved don’t pay attention to the policies. - Anonymouse

While I’m not sure if more young adults are tuned in are tuned in or not, I personally feel conflicted. On one hand, I’m invested because I want Trump & his administration out of office. On the other hand, I feel discouraged about who can be trusted to lead our nation next. It feels like the corruption never ends, regardless of who’s in office.- Elizabeth Adebayo

You know it’s funny that you bring that up because I asked my son if he was gonna vote and he said no. I asked him why not and he just responded with my vote won’t change anything. And you know, I feel bad. As a mother, you hear your kid telling you he has no control over what happens in his life? It made my heart almost break. I wanted to argue with him but... I couldn’t look him in the eye and tell him to vote because I’m not even sure if it’ll change anything with the last election.- Elizabeth DeTar.

I can speak for like late 20-somethings millennials. We’re too busy drowning in debt and trying to make it to care about a bunch of lackluster candidates who don’t seem to be inspiring - Anonymous

I soon realized a pattern in each responder's answers. They all felt betrayed. Violated by their government, concerned and scared about not only where their future would end up but, the next generations. I, for one, had hope that democracy wasn’t dead. And to prove it, I continued my search for some good ole’ fashioned teenage spirit, printed out a couple of headshots of each of the 2020 democratic candidates and headed to the one place where teenagers gather (sometimes in flocks) the mall.

First up was Bernie Sanders.

“Do you know who this guy is?”

Oh, of course, that’s Bernie Sanders. He’s one of the candidates. - Amanda Peters

Amanda got Pete, Sanders, Elizabeth, and Biden right, but when it came to Klobuchar... she got the short end of the stick.

Oh... yeah I don’t know, gee I guess I don’t know much about the candidates.

But that was just one person, right? Next, Tom Styer.

“Who is this guy, what do you think of him and do you know any of his policies?”

Oh shoot... I know the guy! I just can’t remember his name. Oh jeez, am I gonna get in trouble for this?

"Okay, I believe you. Do you know any of his policies?”

I’m not even gonna lie, I haven’t even been to his page.

“Do you know who your gonna vote for in the 2020 elections?”

Oh, definitely Pete Buttigieg! I definitely have huge respect for him and his campaign. I mean to come out on national television as a gay man and give zero ***** about it? That takes huge balls. And he has a certain Obama swag about him. I’m not just voting for him because we're both gay, that’s the stupidest argument ever people try to make. I’m voting for him because he’s actually got great ideas. For example, his climate change policy is offering a National Catastrophic Disaster Insurance program that helps and provides stability to people like me. Our house was hit last year. - Ben Potemyer

Wow, now that’s somebody who knows their stuff! Also, he later told me to mention he highly recommends that people read up on his policies. So I invite all of you to look into him with me.

Question 2. Do you feel like most people are just tuning in more now than ever because they just want Donald Trump out of office or for other reasons? And if so, what are those reasons?

In a way, Trump has awakened people who, otherwise, wouldn’t care to know what’s going on politically. I also think that he’s insighted a new era of people to at least watch his comedic politics to get their news. The Trevor Noah’s & Hasan Minhaj’s of the world have become more popular because people are trying to engage in polotics without boring themselves or feeling lost in the conversation. - Elizabeth Adebayo

Yes, people are tuning into the news because of the recent impeachment trial. But I don’t feel like it’s just for seeing him removed from office. - Tucker White

I think people are tuning in because of Trump. Because they see even though the president has checks and balances, he can still have a huge implication on other Americans and how those Americans treat other people. - Anonymous

I do believe it has to do with wanting Trump out, but I think that is because of a want for other types of social policies that Trump is against. - Anonymous

I don’t think more people are tuning in. I think we’re all transient bystanders watching the circus fire. - Anonymous

Another coincidence, among these people I interviewed, all of them said that they think young people aren't focused on this coming election. I wanted to try and find more people. All of this talk about generations got me thinking. What if there were people, who couldn’t even vote yet, had opinions? I met a powerful little 10 year old. And I’ll never forget what she said.

I don’t think it’s because of either one of those things. I think people now see what they have done and who they’ve put in the oval office and they want to correct what they’ve done. Because deep down, we should all love each other. Love should always win.” - Ashley

Love should always win. Wise kid huh?

Question 3. Who do you have your eye on in the race? What draws you to them?

I’m supportive of Bernie Sanders, as I was in the last race. His views seem to be less about solely taking care of the wealthy, but actually looking out for working-class people. I want a leader who cares about helping Americans create better lives for themselves through healthcare & employment v.s focusing solely on our external affairs. I’m also interested in Elizabeth Warren, but I need to do more research on her political decisions. - Elizabeth Adebayo

I have my eye on three candidates, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and, Bernie Sanders. Currently, I’m leaning towards Elizabeth Warren. Joe seems a little consertive and Bernie seems too progressive. Elizabeth has just the right balance. - Tucker White

Of all the candidates I would consider Gabbard, Yang, Biden or Trump. I lean center-right and see the U.S as doing pretty well right now. I do find Gabbard and Yang appealing because they seem very genuine and tell it like it is, similar to Bernie. - Anonymous

I don’t really have anyone I’m drawn to right now if anything, Bernie Sanders but I don’t know everything about him either. - Anonymous

No one. - Anonymous

Question 4. Why are all the big named candidates like Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, and Amy Klobuchar popular in the news?

Honestly, I don’t know. - Elizabeth Adebayo

I feel like these names are in the news the most because they are the mainstream and more established friendly. - Anonymous

I suppose they pop up bc they’re campaigning and doing they’re part to try to spread their message. - Anonymous

I think the simplest way of saying it is because they have the money and resources to be able to. - Tucker White

Mayor Pete appeals the common man, Bernie has a wonderful grassroots base, Joe Biden was/is associated with Obama and, Elizabeth Warren is supposed to appeal to women(?) I don’t know about that last one. I expect they make a splash because either A: they have clout and social media following or B: they have the money to appear like they have clout. You forgot Yang! (This person is referring to Yang being a big named candidate.) - Anonymous

Question 5. Who do you feel has the most successful chance of being president?

At this point, I don’t know. For better or for worse, Trumps election has changed the expectation of what we view as a suitible leader to run our nation, so I can’t even say. I do think that we, as Americans, are over the smoke & mirrors of politics. - Elizabeth Adebayo

I think Trump either gets re-elected or Bernie or Biden gets elected. Warren isin’t as strong as Sanders in my eyes. Anonymous

I feel like maybe Elizabeth Warren or Joe Biden. Maybe even Bernie. - Anonymous

I’d say Elizabeth Warren would be the best canidate for the job. - Tucker White -

I don’t know, maybe Warren. I honestly think our country sucks enough that we’re about to elect Donald Trump again. - Anonymous

Question 6. What are the biggest flaws amping these candidates and what could help improve their chances?

I just want a politician that’s real that cares about actual people and isn’t the “Better of two evils” bull. - Anonymous

The thing that’s hurting all these campaigns is easily that they’re just playing to their bases instead of trying to sway moderates and voters on the other side. - Anonymous

To face not just the Democrats but also the Republicans. - Tucker White

Bernie and Biden feel like familiar territory to me, so with the exception of Warren, the other candidates haven’t built enough of a rapport with the country to solidify their chances. - Elizabeth Adebayo

Question 7. How do you feel about Pete Buttigieg? Do you think him being gay will hurt him or do you think we, as a country have gotten over that hurdle?

I’d say he’s a pretty good alternative to Biden. From what I hear he doesn’t have very good support in the south, where Biden does, but he can be seen as a strong candidate to religious voters. - Anonymous

As a country, I don’t think we’ve gotten over that hurdle, despite what the media portrays, but if he could speak to the needs of working/middle-class Americans by talking about the things that matter most to them, he might have a chance. - Elizabeth Adebayo

[Buttigieg] Sounds like a solid candidate. I like what I’ve heard about him so far. As for his chances, America is still super “Christian”. And that’s a large chunk of the voting base that isn't ready for a gay president. So no, we suck at getting over that hurdle.- Anonymous

Question 8. And finally, do you think young voters are just affiliating themselves with their parents/ close friends same party?

I want to say that more conservative voters may be doing that because they focus a lot on the idea of the collective through their moral or religious values. Liberals, on the other hand seem to think more individually, but are more heavily influenced by their friends. - Elizabeth Adebayo

Ergh, maybe younger ones. In my experience with mid to late twenty-somethings, we’re diametrically opposed to family members voting wise-- to the point where it’s awkward at family reuinions. - Anonymous

I would like to thank everyone who participated in this very long post about what everyday Americans thought about the candidates so far. For the most part, I say young people/first-time voters are clearly in desperate need of just a little education on each of the candidates and the power - the drive to get engaged. But most of all, to not be afraid. To all my readers, thank you.

#buzzfeed #buzzfeednews #buzzfeed as/is #jurnalist #alwayswritting

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opedguy · 5 years ago

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Lisa Page Breaks Silence and Rips Trump

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Dec. 2, 2019.--Breaking her two-year silence, former FBI Atty. Lisa Page slammed 73-year-old President Donald Trump for humiliating her, forcing her out of her career at the FBI. Page was outed by the Washington Post in 2017 for having an affair with disgraced former FBI Agent Peter Strzok, whose email and text messages exposed for all to see the two lovers hatred of Trump. Both talked openly about their strategy of what they’d do if Trump became president, something that happened Nov. 4, 2016. Page’s email and text message train was so egregious it got Strzok fired Aug. 10, 2018. Both Page and Strzok denied that their email and text messages attacking Trump affected their work, insisting they were only opinions. With Department of Justice [DOJ] Inspector General Michael Horowitz due to release his report Dec. 9 on the 2016 election, Page picked the perfect time to voice her innocence.

Both Strzok and Page were terminated from working on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, after their anti-Trump emails and texts leaked out. Whether Strzok and Page participated in any convert FBI plot to sabotage Trump’s campaign is anyone’s guess. What’s known for sure, no matter how embarrassing, that the two lovers expressed antipathy toward Trump and his campaign. Page and Strzok worked closely with former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe on former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email investigation. Trump cited Strzok and Page’s emails as proof of the FBI’s involvement in an unlawful counterintelligence investigation, designed to harm his presidential campaign. Trump blames Strzok and Page as part of the Deep State that worked feverishly to prevent Trump from becoming president. When beat Hillary Nov. 4, 2026, the Deep State went into overdrive to sabotage Trump.

Trump couldn’t restrain himself after Page portrayed herself as a victim of the president’s attacks. “When Lisa Page, the lover of Peter Strzok, talks about being ‘crushed,’ and how innocent she is, ask her to read Peter’s ‘Insurance Policy’ text, to her, just in case Hillary loses. Also, why were the lovers’ text messages scrubbed after he left Mueller. Where are they Lisa?” Trump tweeted. Page complained to the Daily Beast about how her career was destroyed by Trump, when, in reality, she destroyed her own career. Her only fault was she go caught red-handed slamming Trump with Strzok during the campaign. When you consider that Trump was under intense FBI counterintelligence, it’s no wonder Trump cares about what happened to Page, given her hostile emails and texts. Trump mentioned that thousands of her emails were scrubbed by Strzok off the DOJ’s server.

Trump’s Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway didn’t buy Pages latest confession to the Daily Beast. Page broke her silence only days before DOJ IG Michael Horowitz is due to release his report on the FBI’s counterintelligence probe on Trump and his campaign. “Honestly, his demeaning fake orgasm was really the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Page told the Daily Beast why she finally went public. Conway found it odd that Paged blamed Trump for her silence, saying she’s already faced humiliation at the hands of the president. “It sounds like she is very rattled every time the president tweets something out,” Conway said, finding Pages’s explanations incredulous. “Sounds like she is very rattled in the interview. I read what she said. She said that the biggest mistake she ever made in her life was having an affair with her colleague Peter Strzok,” Conway said.

Page told the Daily Beast she felt harassed by Trump and his White House staff. “It wasn’t the president who revealed that [affair]. It was the Washington Post who revealed that she was having a relationship with a colleague and that in their text messages that was part of what was revealed,” said Conway, rejecting Page’s finger pointing at the president. “I actually think that she feels sorry for herself and that if she were a career lawyer at the FBI and DOJ, she could have stayed on that job,” Kellyanne said. “Nobody here removed her. She quit voluntarily.” Page said she has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder waiting for Trump to tweet about her, not knowing when the next tweet will come. Like Strzok, Page feels victimized by her own behavior, knowing she trashed an otherwise distinguished career. Unlike Strzok who was fired Aug. 10. 2018, Page voluntarily resigned from the FBI.

Told it’s time to break her silence before IG Horowitz releases his report on the FBI’s conduct in the 2016 presidential campaign, Page presented herself as the victim. Whether Page or Strzok had any power to impact the 2016 presidential race, the FBI was clearly knee-deep investigating Trump. If there’s any truth to the Deep State, it’s clear that Strzok and Page at the FBI had it in for Trump. Whether they had any impact on former FBI Director James Comey’s counterintelligence investigation of Trump is anyone’s guess. Even if they had no effect, it was highly unprofessional that they both exchanged emails and texts denouncing Trump. Page has no one to blame but herself for destroying her government career. Trump reacted to the Washington Post report that she exchanged numerous anti-Trump emails and texts with Strzok, exposing political bias working for the FBI.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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ramblingsofafedupmillennial-blog · 7 years ago

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The Moral Problem that Everyone is Missing with the Healthcare Debate Right Now

Other than the fact that healthcare is simply not a right, there is a huge debate surrounding congress and the president’s attempts at passing a repeal/repeal+replace of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, otherwise (not so) affectionately known as ”Obamacare.”

Under Obamacare, we have seen premiums skyrocket. They will be quick to blame the insurance companies to start, forgetting the simple economic understanding explains that when you force the insurance company to cover things you not only remove the competition (you know, keeping prices in check) from the market, but also adds unnecessary bureaucratic costs to procedures that maintain no risk.(x) Perhaps I’ve already lost you in this argument—I urge you to read on as I’m going to be making a completely different point by the end. I also encourage you to look up a man by the name of Thomas Sowell, and study his works. He’s a great thinker and has a lot of strong arguments about healthcare.(x)

Those in favor of the bill will tell you that we have seen an increase in the number of people who are now insured. But what they won’t tell you is how many of these people are now insured because they have to be. They are not willingly participating in the marketplace, but instead submitting to a government mandate that continues to fall well outside the boundaries of the Constitution. Newest speculation regarding the potential “22 million that will lose their insurance under the BCRA or others” comes from the fact that 73% (or 16,060,000 people) of these people will opt out of their own free will.

Americans are being forced to buy into a product that they don’t want or don’t need. They have no say in the matter. I am one of those people.

I am a very healthy, 27-year-old single female. I go to the doctor’s office once a year for an exam that costs about $140 out of pocket in my region. How much did I pay for premiums in 2016? $2,016.37. Don’t worry, my premiums only went up 25% for 2017. That’s right: one doctor’s visit cost me $2,000 last year. I work for a non-profit. I’m sitting on a great deal of student debt. The last thing I wanted to do was throw an extra $2,000 out the window when I had actual bills I needed and wanted to pay. Instead, I’m subject to a tax or a penalty, I’m getting to choose between two different guns pointed at my head—oh boy.

And on top of that I get to be counted as one of the Obama administration’s “accomplishments” of now being insured, but I had NO say in the matter. Am I the only one that sees a problem with that?

I understand that a lot of my religious and even “conservative” friends are very much in favor of Obamacare, universal healthcare, or similar proposals. Their argument is simply that we must take care of the people in our country. I would agree with this--I absolutely believe in helping those less fortunate than myself. But that is not where their view ends. They are for expanding Medicare, saying that reducing it will harm many people, that we must pay into a system to ensure that everyone is protected and we as Christians need to help our neighbors as God commands us. (PS - you all know that there are still millions of uninsured people out there, right?)

But really—what is it that God says? I’m still trying to find the verse that says “make sure you do all of these things at the forceful hand of the government.” Essentially they try to support the ideas of charity within the mandate of government regulations, but that’s not true religion, is it?

James 1:27 tells us that “pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained.”

Pure religion. Seems like almost too easy of a concept. One of the most important aspects of this is visiting the orphans and widows, those who (in that society) cannot take care of themselves and require support from the community. Yes, I am in complete support of providing for those who need it. It is our duty to help these individuals. Part of this help comes from:

C H A R I T Y

Private charity is a strongly articulated concept in scriptures. We see it perpetuate throughout both the Old and New Testaments.

Psalm 112:5a - “It is well with the man who is gracious and lends.”

Psalm 41:1 - “How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.”

Proverbs 19:17 - “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord and He will repay him for his good deed.”

Proverbs 28:27 - “He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.”

I Timothy 6:18 - “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.”

1 John 3:17 - “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?”

But we also know that the Lord judges our heart, our intent, not simply our actions. The Lord shows Samuel this very principle even in OT times when He says “God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 states “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

The Lord shows that a believer gives not only generously, but with a pure heart that is not under compulsion.

The fact is simple: we as believers are called to give to charity. It is clear as day. It is a simple and pure truth that is perpetuated throughout the Scriptures. But that is where the church and all religious people have failed. They believe that it is the government’s job to take care of its lowly citizens, when it is 100% ours. And unless we remove the mandates and overwhelming impositions of the government, the church is never going to step up. Someone needs to call out believers for the hypocrites that they are. When your brother is in need, did you bother to help him? When is the last time you reached into your pocket and pulled out that last $20 you had to give to the man down the street that you know can’t buy groceries this week? When is the last time you chose in faith to commit even a small $5 donation to the family friend that is trying to raise money for a medical procedure they cannot get covered? That is the problem. Plain and simple.

Many of my friends will argue that if we remove the government influences (since the church has failed), the victims of poor circumstances will remain. It appears my friends that you are treading on fallacious grounds.

There are plenty of instances where we have seen American (and non) citizens step up when their government, whether federal or local, has failed to act.

How about the citizens of Portland that took to patching their streets in an effort to show their desire for “freedom and equality?” (x x x)

Have you been paying attention to the stories of churches that are attempting to provide shelter to homeless individuals but their local governments are trying to fine them?

Across the pond, even though government overreach ultimately cost the young Charlie Gard his chance at life, his family successfully raised over 1.6 million USD to cover the costs of experimental medical treatment here in the US. And after hearing of this story, a US hospital offered to treat the sweet child at no cost. (x x)

Even the abortion-mill Planned Parenthood had a great increase in donations when they were at risk of legislation defunding them due to the 2016 presidential election results. (x x x)

Websites like GoFundMe serve as perpetual examples of the opportunity for private charity. Log on and you can easily send $5, $50, or $500 to a person in need, and you don’t even have to know them.

Perhaps people don’t believe me. Here I am sitting on my soapbox proclaiming a simple solution to a very complex problem. I don’t want my private charities to be exalted here, because that is not what this is about (Matthew 6:1-4). I will assure you, believe me or not, that I am 100% practicing what I’m preaching. And if I wasn’t pouring out thousands of dollars in mandated health insurance that I honestly don’t need, I would be able to give even more.

Acts 3:6 reminds believers of the giving nature that we are called to. Peter expressed to the lame beggar on the side of the road that he had no silver or gold to offer, but what he had he gave freely.

This is the mindset that believers should be taking. Private charity is the only way to properly cover this great need that people feel has spread across our country. Those who cannot have their expenses covered should not need to look any farther than their local church. The church has failed, however. They need to turn and repent, and then follow the commands of the Lord.

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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On Saturday, GOP Rep. Justin Amash took major heat from Republicans and conservatives after calling for the impeachment of President Trump.

Amash maintains that the president has committed “impeachable offenses” and these claims prompted intense responses from both conservatives and President Trump himself, as documented by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Why Does Amash Believe Trump Should be Impeached?

Typically, calls for the president’s impeachment come from far-left radical Democrats. However, Amash is one of the few “never Trump” Republicans who believe that impeachment is warranted and necessary.

Despite the plethora of faults within this logic, Amash explained his reasoning in the following tweets:

Here are my principal conclusions: 1. Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report. 2. President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct. 3. Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances. 4. Few members of Congress have read the report.