All? No. But for my own purposes it’s safer for me to assume so and remain vigilant. 
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How many more years do you want people to give them? All the current nutjobbery and racism has been present in the GOP and its supporters for decades by this point. And even if one chooses to dispute or the degree to which the average voter was aware of that, the current level of overt racism and anti-democratic authoritarianism has steadily ramped up since 2001 with a sharp uptick since 2008.
Really, how much longer do these apparently unaware voters need?
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All republicans are tolerant of neo-nazis. That makes them just as much of a problem as neo-nazis and they all get equal respect from me to neo-nazis.
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Is there a way to turn the Ecofash against their climate change denialist confederates.
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Give them until… what, exactly? Should we be bracing for civil war with roughly 70-million Americans? Arming up? Or is saying that all Republicans are Nazis on an Internet forum occupied 98% by extremely left commenters accomplishing something of utility? I ask this in all sincerity.
Some people here seem to think just saying “all Republicans are Nazis” does something. I submit it does not.
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I agree that the question “Are all somethings something?” is not a useful question (there are always problems with assuming that all of a group of people share the same something). I also think that we would be better off phrasing the question as, “Is the Republican party now a fascist party in general?” (i.e. “Is fascism now the mainstream within the party?”)
That said, I cannot say what, if anything, we should do with the answer to that question (and I think that the answer is “Yes”). I suppose another, corollary question is, “Can we ever forgive somebody who voted for Trump in 2020 (or even 2016), regardless of their reasons?” I think that is a more useful question for us to explore. (My own answer is “No,” but the dynamics of friendships and families makes it a complex question…and one worth exploring.)
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I totally agree.
As far as what to do about it, as far as I’m concerned, there’s only one option, which I mentioned previously: Keep the fascist party out of power at the National level at all costs. The only question that I really care about, more than labels, is what is the path of greatest utility to achieving these ends.
Where my head keeps going, and again, I’ve said this before — it’s all about peeling off the few percent of traditional Republican voters. And I think the way to do this is to identify the party itself, and it’s leaders, as fascists, and get the few semi-reasonable ones left in the party to bail on it. But you have to have a bridge built for those few percent you’re trying to slough off from the base.
IMHO you’ve utterly failed in that strategy, if you’ve told that several percent that they too are already Nazis — there’s no bridge there. And then you potentially have the worst-case scenario — they win the Presidency or much worse, all of Federal government, again — and take power in this more crazed state than we’ve ever seen out of the GOP.
Oh, and on the point of “can we forgive them?” Honestly, I don’t give a shit. That’s about “me” and this is not about “me.” I want to keep them out of power at the national level, no matter what. Choosing to forgive is besides the point. If some people can’t make that choice because they personally won’t feel good doing it, and it puts the GOP back in power — well that would be a real shame IMHO.
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Imo the gop is most fascist they have ever been (ianah) and the silence surrounding this from the gop is deafening.
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I agree that keeping them out of power is of paramount importance, and I would also add state level to that, though in some states that’s a tall order.
Not to detract from what you said, but in addition to peeling off the saner Republicans, we need also to keep our eye on the ball when it comes to getting out the vote and fighting for our right to vote. We should take Republicans with a conscience where we can get them, but we cannot count on them.
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As one of the people here who is openly far left, I’m going to have to ask you for evidence for anything near that number.
There is a lot of ideological distance between Bernie Sanders and Murray Bookchin.
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Based on the Fox News definition (and math), we’re about 116% extreme left. In actuality, it’s hard to tell.
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It really isn’t hard to tell, unless a commenter here subscribes to the Fox News definition of “extreme left” (e.g. wanting some sort of single-payer universal health insurance system, which by those terms would make 70% of Americans – let alone BBers – raging Commies).
In actuality, 98% of the commenters here would be more than happy with a Scandinavian- or Canadian-style mixed economy, more social justice for minority groups and less imperial adventurism. Someone who sincerely characterises any of that as “extreme leftism” is saying more about himself than those he’s discussing.
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I don’t want to speculate about people’s political leanings on here (that’s why I said it’s hard to tell), but yeah that describes me to a T, and I’d be surprised if that weren’t the majority opinion on here indeed. When did common sense become extreme?
Edit Addition: Let’s not worry about exact percentages and just leave it at, we’re more or less all among friends here.
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Usually when a Murdoch “news” outlet becomes a major player in a country’s media environment. There’s a strong correlation there.
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I’m comfortable doing it after years of reading the comments here, just as I’m comfortable characterising anyone who still supports the GOP (especially someone intelligent and/or educated) as actively enabling a fascist and white supremacist party. In both cases, the evidence is there if one wishes to observe it.
BB happens to have a more educated (as opposed to merely credentialed), diverse, cosmopolitan, and geek-friendly user base than most communities, which tends to translate to the (very non “extreme left”) political philosophy I described above.
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This appears to be a question as to my own political leanings? Or did I misunderstand? Regardless, I tend to fall into the following camp: “We should probably be working our way to outright Star Trek-style post-scarcity communism as quickly as possible, and in fact, the fate of the planet likely hinges on it. It’s not something we can do at the snap of the fingers, it will have to be phased in, and will have to be accompanied by a significant evolutionary leap in human consciousness — but again, it has to happen or the planet likely won’t be livable much longer, so let’s have at it and start yesterday.”
I think that about covers it. Which probably places me about as left as a person can get, and more-so than most people here. I still think that compared to the average Democrat, the bb forums lean significantly more to the left than that. IMHO.
I should clarify that I meant in the relative terms of contemporary American political-economic ideology. Which makes American “far left” center-left by most standards.
No, it’s a general observation about how far the Overton Window has shifted to a point that the “neoliberal default” has taken hold and discussions of politics have been degraded such that someone might claim with a straight face and without any qualification (until pressed) that this is “an Internet forum occupied 98% by extremely left commenters”.
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Well, I agree, thus my clarification above — I am referring to our current political spectrum, current Overton-shift in place.
But don’t worry — I’m not feeling pressed. I’m here because I enjoy sharing my perspectives.
indeed. when i first came to a political consciousness in my early teens, around 1974-75, my views were considered close to the mainstream of center-left liberalism. as time has passed my political beliefs haven’t moved much but they are considered by most to be closer to far-left liberalism in the current context.
to put it another way, it’s nice to see the re-ascendance of eisenhower/rockerfeller style moderate republicanism but i have mixed feelings about it happening within the democratic party. i’ve seen a few hopeful signs in the nascent biden administration. the rejection, so far, of larry summers and rahm emmanuel being among them.
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