I refuse to write off 60 million people — nearly 20% of the population of the USA — as a “lost cause.”
Derek Black broke from the ideology of hate, despite his father being one of the biggest purveyors of that hatred. If anyone should have been written off as a lost cause, it would have been him. It can be done.
It won’t be easy, but I believe it can be done.
Well if it’s any consolation, it looks like Clinton won the popular vote. How many times has this happened to the left? How many times have we lost the electoral college and won the popular vote? Fuck, maybe this will finally be the motivation we need to fix this broken system, but probably not.
I’m still in shocked zombie mode, but I hope to be where you are within a week.
Except I’ve got to face all my Trump supporting relatives repeatedly this holiday season, so it might take until January. Oh, wait, the inauguration. February…definitely February. Black History Month, perfect.
To be fair, I have a very nice border between me and you. The sensation of impending doom still makes it across the border, but it’s a bit muffled.
[sad angry sarcasm] Yep, they’ll definitely be history within a month of him taking office… [/sarcasm]
I’m fully expecting to see an upswing in hate crimes over the next several months, much like what the Brits have been witnessing since Brexit.
Did the libertarian party get a high enough percentage to keep getting election money?
Fuck libertarians… part of the fucking problem.
Don’t disagree, but it might explain Gary Johnson (L-his own asshole) celebrating.
It’s my smug third-party-voting cousin that’s pissing me off the most right now. I dumped all the Trump supporters ages ago, but his “See, I told you so DNC!” is going to make me burst an artery.
Oh well, as long as you got to say “I told you so” that’s what really matters here.
Good question. He should have, but he might not have.
Wouldn’t they draw votes from Trump though?
I prefer principled libertarians to hate-filled deplorables any day.
I don’t know. I don’t want to blame them for this trainwreck, even though I disagree with them on tons of stuff.
Many of them are just as “elite” (if not more so) than the rest of us. They got theirs and they want to draw up the ladder on the rest of the population.
After yesterday, I think there’s a decent chance she’ll change her mind.
At least it isn’t just another flag.
Converting individual people, one-on-one, away from a deep indoctrination with racist ideology is an admirable goal. And it is a thing that can be done, as your example points out.
But it’s a long-term process requiring deep commitment, with a very low success rate. That requires a one-on-one personal relationship.
It’s a lovely thing to do for a person. But it isn’t a political strategy.
Fortunately, you don’t need to do it that way. The entire GOP voter base is massively outnumbered by American non-voters. The hardcore fascist Trumpkin faction of the GOP is even more outnumbered.
And, as Trump just regrettably proved, those non-voters are accessible. You just have to give them something to vote for.
Most of the non-voters aren’t arseholes. Trump got the ones that are, but there’s still plenty left for Bernie II (whoever that is) to bring to the polls.
I do too; when you find some could you introduce me? Because this:
Seems to be all I can find.
I mean, really this… I think that modern libertarianism stems from Ayn Rand’s works, which are all about the glorification of the “rugged” individual and the making of money. Libertarian used to have a much broader set of meanings, but the right wing has really appropriated that terminology.
The two declared Libertarians I have spoken with this week have both expressed regret at the unequal conditions in this country that brought about the rise of Trump, but challenged me to find a solution that didn’t penalize people who had done nothing wrong (must have been in the newsletter this month).
Because taxes are a penalty, you know, not the fucking cost of living in a functioning society.
They really said that? I mean… WUT?
They got up to the penalty part, the rest was my screaming drowning them out.
ETA: Yes, they believed any taxation is a penalty. I didn’t actually scream at them but I may have rage stroked for a second or two before I could address them about the benefits their businesses enjoyed existing in a relatively well functioning society.
