left wing whiners with apparent passive aggressive tendencies, who can't make a salie

[buttslinger]

My Dad got shot at in Europe in WW II, for a long time my Mom said he used to bail out of bed and hit the floor whenever there was a large bang outside.
He met Wernher Von Braun for two weeks in the Reserves, they hit it off. Wernher gave my Pop a stock tip on a new kind of rocket fuel they were going with, my Dad had no money to invest but one of my Uncles hit it big.

When it comes to CASH, I am Mr Conservative.

But the Republicans show their hand when they fuck up the entire Country to fight Obamacare. The Bullshit Meter spins when these Big Pharma Politicians explain why we can't afford to care for the poor. The Middle Class finances the poor through taxes and the rich through goods and services. When the Republican Politicians say WE can't afford Obamacare, they mean the Uber-rich can't "afford" it.

I can understand why Joe Sixpack Republican likes Nascar and guns and pro-life, but why they continue to have a blind spot for being pawns of the one percent, I will never understand.

[broncofan]

Just because the Democratic party is not as organized or effective as they might be does not mean that complaining about the many unethical practices of the GOP is pointless griping. I remember when Kerry lost to Bush, Andrew Sullivan went on Bill Maher and said that the left had gotten what it deserved. The implication was that by ridiculing the right, they had, through their elitism, alienated Middle America.

But maybe that campaign was lost because Kerry was a rigid public speaker and Bush ran a good, tough campaign. What Andrew Sullivan was really saying is that Republicans don't want to hear moral judgments from Democrats. Couldn't it be that the comments he was objecting to merely inflame people who have already decided to vote for the GOP?

And perhaps the Democratic party does have broader appeal than election results would indicate. The problem may be that our policy choices are not easily articulable. It is not easy to explain the difference between a graduated tax rate and socialism to someone who is suspicious of anyone that receives government assistance. It's not easy to explain why we cannot attack countries unilaterally because this principle, if adopted by other countries could lead to perpetual conflict. It's also not easy to explain that living in a functioning society means that you cannot bar people from your establishment based on personal prejudice.

Thorstein Veblen talked about enabling myths; that people in positions of power use various myths to prevent individuals from realizing their mutual interests. I believe the Republican party has been very good at exploiting petty prejudice. Take a good look at some of the comments made about Obama's citizenship. People who have no reason to dislike him or question his citizenship do so out of racial animus. I don't accept that Democrats have lost elections only based on elitism. Republicans have done a tremendous job of misdirection and it requires vigilance and honesty to combat it.