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Edward Hackett's avatar

You have put your finger right on the cause of the many delusions shared by those on the right. They see America rapidly changing in ways they don't like. In my almost 80 years, I have seen so many changes that I can understand why people who held various prejudices, to begin with, are now scared of what this country has become. I remember gay slurs, the outcry against feminism, and job losses to overseas work. Still, even now, the blame is being laid on immigrants—no need even to mention the racial slurs against various minorities.

I was happy to see these changes because I thought they would make America a better country, with more opportunities for everyone. I never considered how fearful many people are when confronted by change, especially when these changes bring into question their worldviews.

The question remains, "Are the many people who share these delusions willing to fight and die to try and stop the changes and bring back the world they think they remember?" I believe some will fight, and they will cause a great deal of harm, but the majority will not commit violence in the face of their own imprisonment or death. It's easy to talk about violence but much harder to commit violence. It's similar to what is happening on the internet. It's easy to insult people in writing but much harder to do in person.

Racial integration, the Vietnam war, and the bombing of abortion clinics all produced violence, but the violence never spread past a few die-hard opponents of these changes. Most of us don't want to kill our neighbors, regardless of what we feel about their political views.

There is one more factor that is not mentioned very often. Most of us, myself included, have never been to war and seen the absolute carnage caused by bombs and bullets. TV and movies rarely show the actual effects of violence on the human body. For most of us, real life has a way of tempering our more radical desires.

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mel ladi's avatar

Flying in from the cultural right to report in. Here’s the deal. Much of cultural left seems to eschew anything to do with responsibility before self. I think I noticed it first with marriage in particular -- the primacy of self over the family unit. Then there was the decoupling of having kids from marriage and often without a two party commitment to raise them. Because, as said by many liberals and conservatives alike, it doesn’t affect me so why should I care?

Here is the thing though, we do live with the result with other people’s choices and, worst of all, children do. I worked for awhile with CASA (court appointed special advocates for children) and trust me, the kids pay the price of their parents behavior often with no ability to change or get out of the situation. Liberals act as if that isn’t a factor, as if it happens in a vacuum or entirely due to economic instability or marginalization. And broken children too often result in broken adults -- and I don’t think I have spell out the results to society of broken adults.

Now I actually vote mostly Dem because I think they have better fiscal policy for the society we have now. On top of that, the MAGA Republicans are cuckoo (as well detailed above) and Trump? Is just plain evil.

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