This is an old story of the right. Richard Hofstadter talked about it. It amazes me that these people are afraid of things that don't really effect them. Marriage equality and the choice issue don't concern anyone other than the individuals involved. Why does the culture seem left leaning? Because Hollywood doesn't make as much money on movies that are made from a conservative point of view. Ignorance feeds paranoia, and the people who watch Fox News as their sole source of information are ignorant of the reality of so many situations. The real problem is how does this get corrected?
It will not be corrected, because I don't need to be corrected. We were told marriage equality would not affect us. Yet ask the Colorado baker who nearly lost a family business, because he did not wish to participate in a ceremony he found offended his religion. Nothing liberals ever do is confined to the issue at hand. It is always a smokescreen.
I don't buy this argument. Despite the ruling, I see the baker as operating from a prejudicial position. He wasn't being asked to participate, just supply a cake. The concept of religious freedom is to freely worship, not bake cake. Way too often lately the cry of religious freedom is being used to discriminate and steal tax dollars. I find this despicable.
Then don't shop at the business. The sign "This establishment reserves the right to refuse service to anyone" should be respected.
That's a key part of the Charles Murray book "By the People". We should engage in as much bartering as possible. Starve the government of tax revenue. More and more, as liberals would say, there is no benefit for conservatives in the current social contract.
I look at it this way: I am practicing evangelical Christian, and my brief, if you will, is to show Jesus’ love and share the gospel, neither of which the bakery did, imo. So that was a basic fail from an Ev Xn standpoint. He should have baked the damn cake. It would have been a much better witness, as we term it.
That said, why poke at it? Somebody doesn’t want to bake you a cake? Go elsewhere.
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.
When the people attempt to infuse the collective living space with lies, more lies and iterations upon lies, all with the help of an ever compliant main stream media, the resulting divide is the only logical metamorphosis. It is all most as if the media lays the foundation for the next crackpot utopian nirvana.
One point totally missed in this obviously left article is that the left in America has lost its mind. We are being pushed into something NO American wants. And this is by design. The real problem exists because the people in power are no longer accountable.
Hate Trump all you want. I dont care. But what you are missing is that he brought the illusion of freedom back to America. And as any, even moderate, leftist knows, "freedom" is a bad idea. In order for the left to be even moderately satisfied the ,gov MUST be involved in all decisions. The left puts all of its faith, hope, and goodwill into a totally fallible system that is, by it's own creation, not designed to govern dishonest people.
Our system cannot exist without a staunch adherence to the principles expressed in the Constitution. More importantly, the LEFT cannot exist without the Constitution, yet they seek to destroy it at every turn.
Three FACTS:
Men cannot bear children.
The 2nd is NOT about hunting.
There is no other country on this planet that offers the illusion of freedom better than the USA.
P.S. I really LOVE to see the hypocrisy of the left on full display as soon as 50 illegal immigrants arrive in Martha's Vineyard. A white enclave (89%) who professes tolerance and acceptance allowed the "poor migrants" to be in their midst for 24 hours before removing them. So very human of them.
"...injuries and grievances, whether or not they are grounded in reality" Not all Republican grievances are equal. You have to distinguish between conspiracy theory-fed grievances such as QAnon and stolen 2020 election, and other grievances that are anything but delusional. Take away the former two, and you are still left with identity politics that traces our problems to men, particularly white men, long-term income inequality, declining quality of education, illegal immigration and crime, to name just a few. The Democrats' failure to address these problems is the reason that Republicans are even competitive in this fall's election, let alone potentially victorious. How is that delusional?
I agree with most of those distinctions and wouldn't describe everything the GOP says about Democrats/the left as delusional. I was mainly talking about QAnon and election-fraud conspiracism.
Thanks for reply, but I was referring to what Luke Mogelson said, not you. Your conclusions are more balanced, but I still think liberals don't understand that non-MAGA Republicans are just as angry about some things as Trumpers are. They may not reconcile themselves to progressive political and cultural changes for a generation or two, and may never admit defeat. This isn't like Southerners having to accept civil rights for black people in the 60s. The middle of the country sees what's happening on the coasts and in big cities, and it wants no part of it.
If I were to tell you that I see smoke on the back of your house and you told me, "That's not smoke. Please go away," before you even looked at it, just how smart would that be? Well that is EXACTLY what .gov did when it came to election concerns.
Btw... QAnon is a construct of the people that claim to be defending our country, all while they seek America's demise.
Please keep in mind: People, Americans in particular, dont like to be treated as stupid. Especially by our .gov, but we have let .gov get away with it for so long .gov has decided it is better than We the People.
The left no longer allows men to be men. All left leaning men have neutered themselves. This happened when when the .gov decided to control all expression, and the left leaning men offered zero resistance. Because the .gov said so.
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.
Are you trying to say that the left does not have hegemonic control of every one of the institutions mentioned? That when social conservatives use what meager power to rein in the excesses, there is a major hue and cry. How is defeating Liz Cheney in Wyoming not a democratic act? Elections are democratic, even ones the left loses.
The key Mr. Linker seems to want is for conservatives to just pay the taxes for the society that liberals have ruined. Just try to make your way as the whole system is rotted out from the inside. That liberals never can be held to account. I reject that whole idea. Defunding leftist run American institutions is not violence. Eliminating the publicly funded jobs of liberals in conservative areas is our right, and it is our duty to do so.
As to election fraud, all one need do is look into the voting patterns of nursing homes in Wisconsin in key counties to know the fix was in, at least in that state.
I’m a social conservative but I categorically and firmly reject that I must then be a fiscal conservative. That’s the biggest lie of all. That one has to key their whole worldview on what they believe on one particular subject.
I’m pro-life and pro-children-within-marriage. I’m also pro-children not suffering due to the sins of their parents. I’m pro every child having guaranteed health care. I’m pro mothers (mostly) having extra financial help from society to feed their children. It all stems from the same ethic.
If one pays for it, one gets more of it. The same goes for degeneracy as it does for anything else. If we could fund our way out of the conditions you speak of, wouldn't we have done so by now?
Example: if you want more global warming/climate change lies, just make sure the folks who are paying for the lies get what they ordered. Too bad truth cant be a requirement for taxpayer funded "science. "
This substack app is imperfect to say the least. I never saw your reply, drohan. I think it is facile to say we get more of what we pay for.
Poverty, let alone human behavior itself, is a complex and intertwined with so many other factors. You can’t “fund” your way out of it, any more than you can dictate your way out of it, or do it by supplying selfish bromides such as ascribing poverty solely to laziness and/or moral failure, as so many of my conservative friends do.
Both the deeply progressive and the deeply conservative share this: They think we can moralize and shame our way out of society’s ills as opposed to rolling up our shirtsleeves and doing the work.
As far back as I am aware, humans have told this story: once upon a time we lived in a golden age. Then The Others came and now the world is a wasteland.
It is a fairy tale, but humans have loved it from the very beginning and I don't imagine this will ever change.
This is an old story of the right. Richard Hofstadter talked about it. It amazes me that these people are afraid of things that don't really effect them. Marriage equality and the choice issue don't concern anyone other than the individuals involved. Why does the culture seem left leaning? Because Hollywood doesn't make as much money on movies that are made from a conservative point of view. Ignorance feeds paranoia, and the people who watch Fox News as their sole source of information are ignorant of the reality of so many situations. The real problem is how does this get corrected?
It will not be corrected, because I don't need to be corrected. We were told marriage equality would not affect us. Yet ask the Colorado baker who nearly lost a family business, because he did not wish to participate in a ceremony he found offended his religion. Nothing liberals ever do is confined to the issue at hand. It is always a smokescreen.
I don't buy this argument. Despite the ruling, I see the baker as operating from a prejudicial position. He wasn't being asked to participate, just supply a cake. The concept of religious freedom is to freely worship, not bake cake. Way too often lately the cry of religious freedom is being used to discriminate and steal tax dollars. I find this despicable.
Then don't shop at the business. The sign "This establishment reserves the right to refuse service to anyone" should be respected.
That's a key part of the Charles Murray book "By the People". We should engage in as much bartering as possible. Starve the government of tax revenue. More and more, as liberals would say, there is no benefit for conservatives in the current social contract.
I look at it this way: I am practicing evangelical Christian, and my brief, if you will, is to show Jesus’ love and share the gospel, neither of which the bakery did, imo. So that was a basic fail from an Ev Xn standpoint. He should have baked the damn cake. It would have been a much better witness, as we term it.
That said, why poke at it? Somebody doesn’t want to bake you a cake? Go elsewhere.
Despicable indeed. If I dont want to work for you, I do not have to. Period.
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.
When the people attempt to infuse the collective living space with lies, more lies and iterations upon lies, all with the help of an ever compliant main stream media, the resulting divide is the only logical metamorphosis. It is all most as if the media lays the foundation for the next crackpot utopian nirvana.
One point totally missed in this obviously left article is that the left in America has lost its mind. We are being pushed into something NO American wants. And this is by design. The real problem exists because the people in power are no longer accountable.
Hate Trump all you want. I dont care. But what you are missing is that he brought the illusion of freedom back to America. And as any, even moderate, leftist knows, "freedom" is a bad idea. In order for the left to be even moderately satisfied the ,gov MUST be involved in all decisions. The left puts all of its faith, hope, and goodwill into a totally fallible system that is, by it's own creation, not designed to govern dishonest people.
Our system cannot exist without a staunch adherence to the principles expressed in the Constitution. More importantly, the LEFT cannot exist without the Constitution, yet they seek to destroy it at every turn.
Three FACTS:
Men cannot bear children.
The 2nd is NOT about hunting.
There is no other country on this planet that offers the illusion of freedom better than the USA.
P.S. I really LOVE to see the hypocrisy of the left on full display as soon as 50 illegal immigrants arrive in Martha's Vineyard. A white enclave (89%) who professes tolerance and acceptance allowed the "poor migrants" to be in their midst for 24 hours before removing them. So very human of them.
"...injuries and grievances, whether or not they are grounded in reality" Not all Republican grievances are equal. You have to distinguish between conspiracy theory-fed grievances such as QAnon and stolen 2020 election, and other grievances that are anything but delusional. Take away the former two, and you are still left with identity politics that traces our problems to men, particularly white men, long-term income inequality, declining quality of education, illegal immigration and crime, to name just a few. The Democrats' failure to address these problems is the reason that Republicans are even competitive in this fall's election, let alone potentially victorious. How is that delusional?
I agree with most of those distinctions and wouldn't describe everything the GOP says about Democrats/the left as delusional. I was mainly talking about QAnon and election-fraud conspiracism.
Thanks for reply, but I was referring to what Luke Mogelson said, not you. Your conclusions are more balanced, but I still think liberals don't understand that non-MAGA Republicans are just as angry about some things as Trumpers are. They may not reconcile themselves to progressive political and cultural changes for a generation or two, and may never admit defeat. This isn't like Southerners having to accept civil rights for black people in the 60s. The middle of the country sees what's happening on the coasts and in big cities, and it wants no part of it.
If I were to tell you that I see smoke on the back of your house and you told me, "That's not smoke. Please go away," before you even looked at it, just how smart would that be? Well that is EXACTLY what .gov did when it came to election concerns.
Btw... QAnon is a construct of the people that claim to be defending our country, all while they seek America's demise.
Please keep in mind: People, Americans in particular, dont like to be treated as stupid. Especially by our .gov, but we have let .gov get away with it for so long .gov has decided it is better than We the People.
The left no longer allows men to be men. All left leaning men have neutered themselves. This happened when when the .gov decided to control all expression, and the left leaning men offered zero resistance. Because the .gov said so.
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.
Are you trying to say that the left does not have hegemonic control of every one of the institutions mentioned? That when social conservatives use what meager power to rein in the excesses, there is a major hue and cry. How is defeating Liz Cheney in Wyoming not a democratic act? Elections are democratic, even ones the left loses.
The key Mr. Linker seems to want is for conservatives to just pay the taxes for the society that liberals have ruined. Just try to make your way as the whole system is rotted out from the inside. That liberals never can be held to account. I reject that whole idea. Defunding leftist run American institutions is not violence. Eliminating the publicly funded jobs of liberals in conservative areas is our right, and it is our duty to do so.
As to election fraud, all one need do is look into the voting patterns of nursing homes in Wisconsin in key counties to know the fix was in, at least in that state.
I’m a social conservative but I categorically and firmly reject that I must then be a fiscal conservative. That’s the biggest lie of all. That one has to key their whole worldview on what they believe on one particular subject.
I’m pro-life and pro-children-within-marriage. I’m also pro-children not suffering due to the sins of their parents. I’m pro every child having guaranteed health care. I’m pro mothers (mostly) having extra financial help from society to feed their children. It all stems from the same ethic.
If one pays for it, one gets more of it. The same goes for degeneracy as it does for anything else. If we could fund our way out of the conditions you speak of, wouldn't we have done so by now?
Example: if you want more global warming/climate change lies, just make sure the folks who are paying for the lies get what they ordered. Too bad truth cant be a requirement for taxpayer funded "science. "
This substack app is imperfect to say the least. I never saw your reply, drohan. I think it is facile to say we get more of what we pay for.
Poverty, let alone human behavior itself, is a complex and intertwined with so many other factors. You can’t “fund” your way out of it, any more than you can dictate your way out of it, or do it by supplying selfish bromides such as ascribing poverty solely to laziness and/or moral failure, as so many of my conservative friends do.
Both the deeply progressive and the deeply conservative share this: They think we can moralize and shame our way out of society’s ills as opposed to rolling up our shirtsleeves and doing the work.
As far back as I am aware, humans have told this story: once upon a time we lived in a golden age. Then The Others came and now the world is a wasteland.
It is a fairy tale, but humans have loved it from the very beginning and I don't imagine this will ever change.