Both sides are suggesting that the end justifies the means. Not exactly the first time that’s happened, izzit??
If that’s the level of analysis that mouthpieces of either “side” are willing get to, then those aren’t the mouths I’m looking for. There is a definite interplay between ends and means, and depending on the ends, sometimes the ends are actually worse than the means.
Make sure you can find the money to pay for your own water and fund your own government pensions, and I’m all for ya. Go for it.
California is a big state - it’s not expensive everywhere. Some places can literally be out in the middle of nowhere. If you have your own trade like plumber or electrician, you can make your home almost anywhere.
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Wait, you guys don’t have some kind of “electoral college” to keep Californians’ votes largely irrelevant? I’m liking this deal better all the time.
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I’m sure you don’t mean to imply that “state’s rights are a bad thing when our side controls the central government, but a good thing when the other side does”. I must be misinterpreting you.
Nobody is arguing states shouldn’t have any autonomy to enact their own laws, just that “States’ Rights” can’t be used as a pretense for allowing bigotry to trump basic civil rights. Historically the rallying cry of “States’ Rights!” had been a dog whistle for just that.
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What’s your gripe with Grapes?
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Quite the opposite in fact. The entire, explicit thrust of my first comment was to say that context matters when it comes to criticizing the use of a powerful political tool. All you did was say "but what would your statement look like if I (whips purple satin blanket off of now-empty cage) removed all the context?
I’m actually making the argument that focusing on whether the inherent goodness of the tool itself, in this case, is a distraction, when made by either “side.” I do think it’s appropriate, however, to remind people of the potency of a tool and the scale of damage that can be done with it, in order to illustrate the urgency of opposing a harmful* application of said tool.
*I admit this is quite often at least in part a subjective judgement, in the face of imperfect data models, but I don’t really have anything wrong with the subjectivity of political views. I actually do think my stances are morally superior to those I disagree with, and that my policy preferences deserve to win out. Otherwise they wouldn’t be very good political convictions.
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That puts it in perspective. 
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Yeah, but you can’t really go in the sea can you? Sharks. Not coming.
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Trump supporters would love our sharks.
They’re Great and White!
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Hey, if that means we can get Canadian beer and hard cider down here in Los Angeles easily I’m all for it… 
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