Yep! I’ve examined them, and found that the Tea Party is pretty much the resurgence of the same xenophobic nativism as the Know-Nothing Party of the 1840s and 1850s. They don’t stand for anything beyond their own petty interests and fears. Trump’s ascendance has taken that unhealthy mix and has added nothing concrete to it (beyond the infamous and implausible Wall™), and is essentially playing from the fascist playbook at this point, which is something that the Tea GOP was already primed to follow.
Nope! We spend a great deal of time on here and elsewhere examining the GOP’s arguments and viewpoints, and have found them to be full of double standards, compartmentalized thinking, xenophobia, intolerance, reactionary thinking, kneejerk submission to authority figures, tribalism, white supremacy, promises of violence, lack of respect for the rule of law, mythologized and incorrect history, and a staunch refusal to acknowledge reality, and utterly lacking in virtue, wisdom, insight, understanding, or decency.
Okay! It’s better to laugh than to cry, afterall, when a country that has such high ideals contained within its founding documents falters and falls into fascism.
Incorrect! You could speak to the other people in your social circle and say things like “I was wrong,” and “I don’t want to hate people because they’re not like me,” and “why do we need to build a wall?” and “can we try to act as Jesus instructed us to and be kind and loving to one another?”
You could say things like that and potentially make massive changes.
Alright, I’ll bite. Could you please suggest one to three specific policies, concepts, or ideological principles that you wish for us to reexamine from first principles and with an open mind, and to accept or reject on those and only those basis?
As people get older, they do tend to get more resistant to change and new concepts, that is indeed backed up by research. However, kindness, decency, understanding, empathy, equality, and charity are not new ideas. Wisdom is looking at past experiences and past history and learning from those experiences in order to have greater understanding and insight into the problems of today, which is not the sort of thing that Der Trumper offers. (Bernie, in contrast…)
