Matt, I have been following your work and admiring your honesty ever since the vampire squid article came out. I consider you one of the most intellectually honest and intelligent reporters out there.
The question i have for you - why did you vote for democrats for so long in the first place? How come intelligent people only see the problems when they are impacted personally?
Many "intelligent" people keep voting Democrat even after they are impacted personally by higher taxes, crime, etc. Check out the cases of Josh Kreuger, Ryan Carson, and Pava Lapere. You cannot reason with a demoralized person, my namesake tried to warn us in 1984: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-reason-with-a-demoralized-person-yuri
Democrats are an awful lot and so are republicans. Both parties and their mindless partisan live to desecrate the first mandate of the constitution which is to strive “for a more perfect union.” Selfishly voting out of economic interests while the parties actively collude to divide us is anti-American.
Because we have a first-past-the-post voting system, not a parliamentary system, alternative vote, or any of the other systems that make third parties viable options. Look these things up and learn about their systemic consequences and all will be revealed.
Because unlike where you (probably) live it’s insanely diverse with massive variance in lifestyles and values. So the ‘big issues’ tend to be more fundamental in nature. Abortion. Guns. Healthcare. Religion.
At least that’s my theory. Hard to be a pro abortion anti-gun evangelical socialist. If there were to be a powerful third party it might be in form of a racial minority coalition (Eg, African-Americans abandon democrats but don’t join republicans.... see evangelical socialists above). We’ll see.
Gotta live here to understand it otherwise too easy to throw stones - especially with your own (likely state owned) media brainwashing you, too.
I have. Patrick Buchanan (twice), and Ralph Nader (also twice). The other 3rd Party candidates seemed like they were bought off just like the D & R candidates.
Everyone needs to start voting for themselves, things that actually impact them. Most people vote for a percieved benefit to someone else, like people voting as abortion rights being a primary issue. I don't care if you can or can not get abortions but since less than 1 percent of the nation will need to get an abortion it seems silly to vote on that as a primary issue.
Now I get that you are voting out of some altruism, like voting Democrat is better for minorities, that is a feeling many Democrat voters have that are not minorities, but since the issue doesn't actually impact you, you do not actually have first hand knowledge that Democrat vote is for minorities.
When we vote for "other people" not out of our own benefit you actually get bad results. Because how we vote and how webare controlled to vote impacts our politicians. If everyone voted selfishly politicians might actually have to DO things that benefit us because as a swlfish voter you would KNOW if you were benefitted.
Think about this like an ice cream parlor, imagine the ice cream parlor has 16 flavors and they make new flavors based on popularity of the existing ones and instead of picking ice cream you want to eat you see a sign that says eating the Kale and Kelp Ice Cream is good for pregnant women, so you order the god awful ice cream because if you don't maybe the parlor won't keep making that ice cream pregnant women eat.
Of course its terrible ice cream and of course the parlor keeps making more of it but do you know if pregalnant women are ever actually eating the Kale and Kelp Ice Cream? Or are you just pissing money down the drain and stopping the ice cream parlor from replacing that flavor with something someone might like.
Why does a brilliant black man who was an adult during Jim Crowe, educated at Harvard and Chicago on Merit scholarships, was a young communist until finishing his PHD, but now believes Democrats are destroying black America. Read Thomas Sowell and start thinking.
I agree about the voting for self-interest but I think the 50/50 split among the electorate makes that easier. They can just say we can't negotiate with the other because it will alienate our base. We need a 60/40 split.
I think it's yet to be empirically proven, other than through editorializing, whether higher taxes, crime, etc., aren't also a product of republican voting, though perhaps propagandized by the right using different rhetorical moves. Bottom line is that it's a scam, and part of that scam is emphasizing false claims about how democratic policies across the board result in XYZ while republican policies don't. Many Substack writers that think of themselves as "intelligent" seem to continue to run this scam rhetoric that you're putting across.
It has been empirically proven that increasing crime in big cities, and the brazenness of criminals, and the inertia of law enforcement, have absolutely nothing to do with Republican voting because the government on ALL levels in these cities is from the Democratic party. You would have to use a magnifying glass and still would not find a Republican in the NYC government, for example. In local elections, you would have to register as a Democrat if you wanted your vote to be counted for a more moderate Democrat against progressive left extremists.
Here in Illinois the Dems have a super legislative majority, and all State constitutional offices. Chicago hasn't had a Repub mayor or city council since . . . it's been awhile. State-wide cashless bail went into effect in Sept. Chicago is a sanctuary city and the Mayor needs more money to provide for the new arrivals. Chicago needs more money for failing schools and pension systems. So although one may live closer to Missouri than Chicago, all Illinois residents are going to pay.
I watched a special on the homeless problem on PBS. They visited a number of cities and spoke residents and government officials. When the Mayor of San Francisco had her turn, she basically blamed all of her cities problems on Republican's. The interviewer neither laughed or questioned the Mayor. The magnifying glass comment reminded me of this show.
And nothing else anywhere in the global economy, public policy, or anything else impacts people. Only their little tiny spot on the globe and local politics. It has been empirically proven that partisans are dumb. There is progressive left or conservative right. There are only corrupt politicians the people they make tools to keep them in power. Whether they're banning abortion or twerking naked in gay pride parades, identity politics is what passes for governance of, for and by the people. .
democratic policies across the board and republican policies across the board insure that the finance sector profits and middle Americans pay the bills. ......
- I do not believe that anything in politics can be "empirically proven". Whether it is a statement that turns out to be provenly false "no deal with out a public option" or acknowledged policy that clearly is illegal, such as the murder of American citizens without due process. Nothing is empirically proven, it all is subject to revisionism and spin. George Bush threw out the first pitch of a baseball game last night although many would say it has been empirically proven he lied and led us into a war; but apparently that's not the case.
That is why politics is such an art that captures people's passion and imagination but seemingly does little to form a more perfect union as the poster above mentioned.
To blame to not blame, to call it a scam by one side and not the other; we are dealing with a coin that has heads on both sides.
I do not believe that the "intelligent" people here are blaming polices of XYZ on democrats. I think most if not all here know that both parties are (most likely) equally to blame as the powers in those parties feed at the same trough.
Being passionately dissolussioned by the Democratic party, the ACLU, wikipedia, etc is not promoting a scam. It's just expressing remorse at things folks wanted to believe but are not true, and being able to commiserate and bitch a little bit.
An interesting quote that Dick Cheney said onetime about whose politics are the cause for the successes and failures was something like " it's not until an administration or two after the one in which the policies were implemented that we see results"
He was referring to the first Bush "read my lips no new taxes". After Bush realized he needed to work with Congress to raise taxes to stave off economic calamity he lost when a conservative challenged him. We all know this ushered in Clinton who would have had no chance without Perot. We know the Clinton administration led to (in many ways) our current economic system.
As a side not- Does anyone remember the surplus, the "lock box" as Gore called it. Then we had the coup d'etat of 2000 and look who got to come in a spend all that money that republican politics (tax increases, contract with (on)America) had helped achieved....
Parties are used by politicians to gain power. It is correct to assume that many politicians don't have a ideological base, or if they do, that their base actually aligns with their party. If you want to win in CA, you better call yourself a D. If you want to win in TN, you better call yourself an R.
However at the end of the day, if your one party state has a serious issue that is not being addressed, then it is correct to assume that the party itself is actually responsible. Notice how the D party gamed things to keep Bernie out of the Presidency. Parties do have strong influence due to money.
If you want your project done in CA, you better give to Democrats. If you want it done in TN, you better give to Republicans.
23 Skidoo: “Empirically proven” means a basis of information obtained by experimentation and observation. I’d say people have observed a significant increase in crime in democrat run cities so your statement is incorrect. Regarding taxes, I’d say people have seen that cutting taxes has resulted in increased economic growth and improved real buying power so your statement is factually incorrect and your claim it’s a “scam” is nothing more than blame shifting.
Obama himself even said that it was more important to be perceived as taxing the rich than it was to generate revenues. He knew his tax policy would reduce income from what it would be otherwise, but it was a political exercise. He was more interested in the politics than the results. He is a politician.
The average person is inundated with Democratic Party propaganda generated within consultant groups, spread by the media, unions, universities, government agencies, and a plethora of other sources. “The borders are not open.” “The Republicans are in chaos.” “Republicans practice voter suppression.” “Trump is a Russian asset.” When that average person identifies some of that propaganda and reacts negatively to what the Dems have been spewing, they are already programmed to question and see negatively the alternative, which is a major objective of the propaganda: “If you think we’re bad, they’re much worse. Better stick with us, the less-incompetent.” It’s not so much the long-game as it is the game that’s been running for a long time.
I don’t get my news about Republican ambitions for authoritarian government from MSNBC or ABC or CN, etc. I. get it straight from Donald Trump on his truth social posts.
The bed is a stark, raving lunatic, and he’s going to start by throwing homeless people who knows where
I must have missed Trump's lust for authoritarianism when he completely ceded authority over covid mandates to the states, leaving freedom- and democracy-loving governors such as Cuomo, Whitmer, Newsom, Brown et al. to demonstrate their true nature. By your logic, Trump must have been a clueless idiot to squander a once-in-century opportunity to rule the whole country with an iron fist. What a chump!
Authoritarian regimes of the past would be stunned by the propaganda tools availed today, from literally all fronts. Many that have been directed toward us were billed as scientific or medical. Important to also resist those that advance derangement syndromes.
A significant majority ignores MSM. That’s why YouTube, Wikipedia, etc get cleansed and AI-s, which use these as sources got introduced.
One has to be really astute and nuts to waste time verifying crap to figure out the lies.
In a credible source saw 1936 flags. Among them a flag of Palestine, close to the modern day Israel’s. Dug some more, got the history. Verified with other sources.
Went to MSdncFT’s Chat and got as 1936 flag of Palestine the modern day Palestinian flag, which is close replica of 1936 Jordan flag …
Because Republicans are just as bad--they only differ in what they want to control about you. Both parties are right wing authoritarian parties. Democrats have not been left wing in a very long time.
Clearly you don’t intellectually grasp the basic concepts of Right snd Left, typical! Democrats are now the Far Left Wing, they have swallowed the Neo-Marxist ideology and have modified it the be Cultural Marxism rather than economic.
Using race, gender and sexual orientation to divide human beings who would otherwise seek out common ground is their method to dismantle Society and to assume absolute power and control. The Democrat Party has not been a “liberal” Party for a couple of decades now, but Obama is the one that accelerated that decline into the illiberal, anti-human flourishing Party it is now.
As a former Democrat, and classic Liberal, I can no longer stomach the systemic dismantling of our constitutionally mandated Liberal democracy. In hindsight, the blinders I wore to what the Democrat Party is, and not what they portray themselves to be is mindboggling. Never again, my eyes are wide open, the veil has been removed, and the moral and intellectual rot has finally been exposed for what it is - nihilism!
"Democrats are now Far Left Wing, they have swallowed the Neo-Marxist ideology and have modified it to be Cultural Marxism rather than economic."
I don't know where you get your information from, but this is a little crazy to me. Neo-Marxist? 'Cultural Marxism rather than economic'? There is an accurate word to describe the Democrats, and it is 'Neoliberal'. You could also throw in Imperialist and even Fascist if you wanted to describe the Democrats. None of these are 'Far Left Wing'. They are in fact Right wing. You can't have Marxism without the economics. If you don't have the economic aspect of Marxism, it isn't Marxism. Calling 'Wokism' 'Cultural Marxism' is nonsensical. Wokism is the pretty well-meaning face Democrats paste over the face of Neoliberalism to make the Liberals feel better about themselves, while ignoring material conditions.
To summarize:
Left Wing: pro worker, anti-large private interest. Nationalization of critical industries, important necessary services (medicine, utilities, education) are to be provided at-cost by state run industry. Belief in international working class solidarity. No war but class war.
Right wing: zenophobia, militarism, sacredness of individual property rights over the common good, the state exists to protect property rights, 'Free Market' privatization of all services, anti-union, sacredness of Our Nation State vs. all other Nation States. Class doesn't exist, only bootstraps and entrepreneurs.
The Democrats since the New Deal have really dropped the ball on Left wing policies. Today they absolutely resemble a Right wing party. And the Republicans aren't much different in practice.
I don’t see Republicans empowering the teachers union to take over our schools, mandating vaccines, masking children, pushing the sexual mutilation of children, censoring the public, exalting a Marxist terror group masquerading under a civil rights banner (BLM), pushing intellectually bankrupt ideas like critical race theory, or sicking the IRS on its rivals. I’m not happy with the Republicans because many of them have gotten way to comfortable with the status quo, but the ideas and actions that are dismantling our Republic are coming from the left and whatever the Democrats are considered today.
The late 60's radicals, Angela Davis, Herbert Marcuse, Derrick Bell, Paolo Freire, the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, the Black Liberation Army are the foundation of the Neo-Marxism and the Far Left cultural revolution we see in America today. Chris Rufo among many others have done a lot of research on this, might want to check him out.
The Democrat Party has swallowed the ideology of the critical theories and is now implementing it into every aspect of the government bureaucracy, changing laws and policies as we speak. You have a very one-dimensional idea of what the "Left" is, you should get out more. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a Marxist ideology, the very concept of "equity" is Marxist.
Neoliberal might describe what some are, like the Clintons, but there is far more to it. Oppressor v. Oppressed and the Victimhood ideology pushed by Democrats is also Marxist. The Chinese Cultural Revolution is Cultural Marxism, so it is hardly "nonsensical."
Also, by your definition of "Right Wing," few if any of those positions match what the Democrat Party is today. The militarism most likely comes from the Neoliberal Republicans who have joined the Party since Trump, but that doesn't make Democrats "Right Wing."
Neo-Marxism has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with the redistribution of perceived social "power," wresting it from (to use their terminology) the white man's hegemony and distributing it among what neo-Marxism defines as the "historically marginalized." It's the ideology behind Diversity Inclusion and Equity (DIE); it explains why the Pentagon is giving lip service to homosexuals and trans-sexuals; it explains why so many on the left support the bloodthirsty Hamas as liberators of oppressed Palestinians, and on and on.
Neo-Marxism is the origin of what many like to dismiss as trivial--"identity politics" and the "culture war."
The right is still conservative in the traditional sense, and what you call "xenophobia" is simply the recognition that nations need borders and should be selective about who is allowed citizenship. Not very "far right"normally, but the left's extremists apply that epithet to everything to the right of Marcuse.
Let’s make a deal with the left. Us libertarian/righty types will leave Marx out of our criticisms while the leftys will concede that the roots of our current disastrous social policies in US cities are to be found in the writings of Antonio Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse.
Don't forget the migration of so-called neoconservatives like Bill Kristol from R to D. That the Ds are now the pro-war faction is pretty remarkable given the history of the 20th-century.
Let’s see...which party got us into WW1, WW2, and Vietnam. A faction within the Republican Party has returned to its isolationist roots. The war mongering party has historically been the democrats.
LOL--OMG. I'm fully aware of what constitutes the left and right, thanks. Suggest you take a look at politicalcompass.org to see what the criteria actually are. The site was started by two political science profs to use with college students.
Relying on a website for "truth" seems like "Leftie logic," kind of like banking on the "honesty" of a source like Politifact or the Washington Post "Fact" Checker thinking it's unbiased?! Also, the LOL & OMG seem histrionic, how old are you?
You can always sign into the Washington Post or MSNBC if you are more comfortable with the Far Left bubble you seem to live in? It's quite clear that many on the Left can't comprehend the face of Far Left Authoritarianism as expressed by the Democrat Party these days... let me guess, Communism hasn't been done the "right" way?
Stalin, Lenin, Mao and Pol Pot, are all fine examples of Left Wing "social justice," and now the Democrats have Angela Davis, Ibrahim X Kendi, BLM and their ilk to take the grift to even more absurd levels. The Far Left demolishes existing hierarchies, only to create new ones that are even more regressive and antediluvian that what preceded it... so much "progress" I can hardly stand it comrade -
Amen to blinders off and veils lifting. Kind of sickening to reckon with former Democratic Party allegiances and activism. Had Yuuuge blinders to the unbridgeable chasm between what the say they are and what they really are. Having said that, it is absolutely true (for me) that the Republican party is same, just “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Registered Independent, still care, but not fooled.
RINO Republicans are aligned with the Democrats. Republicans are trying to separate from Uniparty RINOS. Look at the process in choosing a Speaker. I thought it was fantastic. The Democrats lack values and courage most likely because they were all bought off.
Yes, and now we have a speaker who believes the earth is 5000 years old and calls Netanyahu, one of the biggest thugs on the world stage for the last 30 years, his "friend."
He's a conservative with convictions he acts on. He can believe whatever he likes as long as he leads the Rs in the Right direction and arranges the purge of RINOS from the party.
Yeah, basically. Good on Jim Jordan in this case, though it was an easy act to take, he ends up getting to be on the right side of things with this. Hardly exonerates him for all his other bullshit. Nonetheless Matt has a point
This is the 4th or 5th time I have heard this "Jim Jordan is a bad person" thing from someone on the left. I always ask the same question: What has Jim Jordan done that makes him "bad"??
Jordan is pals with Dennis Kucinich. They both admittedly disagree on most policy issues, but have a common respect for the Constitution and proper governmental processes-as illustrated by Taibbi’s anecdote.
The democrat party has divided the country using the most perverse and twisted racialist narratives. They destroyed every institution to overturn Trump’s election in 2016 and weaponized those same institutions to prevent him from being elected in 2020 and to prevent any sort of legitimate election in 2024. They’ve rounded up their political opponents en masse and thrown them in jail for years without trial (see J6). In short, they’ve attacked or perverted every important constitutional right in their pursuit of power. How exactly are the two parties equally bad? It’s just dumb to claim that at this point. There are many problems with republicans. Wake me up when they start rounding up their political opponents by the thousands as the Dems have been doing.
The Ds in California, Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia,etc. sure don’t seem interested in controlling anything. Eliminating cash bail and essentially legalizing retail theft don’t seem like elements of authoritarian control.
So controlling your speech, right to assembly and bodily autonomy isn't authoritarian enough for you? And remember, those policies you mention above may not control criminals, but they control YOU.
I've been independent until this year because most of the republicans are just as dirty. Now that the dems have set themselves on fire, I moved right. Matt Gaetz is another reason. May he keep bulldozing and get us back to at least 2 distinct parties.
So you believe there's no difference between McCarthy and Mike Johnson? The "showboat" managed to get the flaming dems to shoot themselves in both feet by removing McCarthy to end up with Johnson. Johnson's plan for individual spending bills may just help to save the future.
We seem to be stuck in a pattern of choosing who blows up what, not choosing people with plans. And God forbid we get any more "progress". We're already drowning in it.
I can tell you as a life long lefty who only in the past three years started to take a good, hard look at the other side of things, the view is very different from what people see on the conservative side of the aisle.
I never could open my mind to anything coming from the right, because the Republicans I knew were also the ones telling the racist jokes and trying to explain to little old me why whites were fundamentally superior to blacks. Oh, they laaaaaaugghed at me when I’d get so angry. That creates a real sticking point when it comes to being interested in anything else someone has to say.
I cried for two days straight after Trump was elected, and I was absolutely convinced that all the minorities were going to be in concentration camps within 6 months of him becoming president. But that six months came and went, and the apocalypse I had anticipated never came about, and I started to wonder what was going on on the other side. I was increasingly dismayed by all the hate coming from all my love and peace blue communities… My politics were based on my values and I just didn’t understand how much the left no longer represented those. I didn’t know how much the media had been lying. It has taken time to grasp how far the Democrats have gone off the rails. The people who learned me how to be antiestablishment and to watch out for propaganda have no idea they’re drunk the koolaid, themselves. We are a long way from where it all started, at least where it did for this 70’s child.
I began listening to conservative voices, and I started paying attention to all the lefties leaving the party. I discovered brand new to me information about issues I had previously thought I was super informed on (starting with Michael Shellenberger). I became politically homeless. I sat in silence up at all our family get togethers when politics came up because I had no idea how to navigate those conversations from the new place I found myself in. The view is SO different from the left. The mainstream media is blocking out so much reality, and if you don’t go looking for something else, the right looks pretty terrifying. But also, if you don’t see the insanity of writing off 50% of the population as ignorant and evil, ya ain’t gonna start questioning the narrative.
The past few years have been an awakening for a lot of us democrats who have been #leavingtheleft. And I can tell you all the dems I know, those who’ve seen the light and those who haven’t, are good-hearted, intelligent folks who have the propensity to get stuck needing to be right, and are vulnerable to forces that seek to scare and anger them in order to be in control. That describes a lot people on both sides. Most of the humans.
You asked why people keep voting for democrats. Hey, I’m with you. I was shocked after the last election to find out how blue this state still is. Heartbroken. Outraged. Who remains still oblivious in California at this point?
But I do understand who and why, because that’s where I came from. If anyone honestly wants to understand how another person or another group sees things, ya gotsta get up, go around, and look at things from over there.
And many people aren’t concerned with issues until they’re affected personally. That’s kinda sensible sometimes. But the left I came from, the old school left, was made up of a lot of people who stood up for people whose problems didn’t affect them personally. They stood, they marched, and worked for humane treatment of all people… it’s just not clear to a lot of people that that ain’t the platform anymore.
Shellenberger ran in the D primary for governor in California and finished fourth. That tells you all you need to know about current D thinking. I’m a lifelong libertarian/conservative and would vote for Shellenberger in a heartbeat. He has the best policy thinking on environmental and homeless/urban crime issues out there today.
"Good-hearted, intelligent folks who have the propensity to get stuck needing to be right, and are vulnerable to forces that seek to scare and anger them in order to be in control" deserve whatever political nightmare they cling to in order to protect their fragile egos.
William Burroughs called this condition "the Right virus." People infected must at all times be right or they experience extreme emotional distress. They feel threatened when they're proven wrong about anything. I have nothing but contempt for such people. Let Jesus have pity on them for their moral failing.
That's a little harsh. How about “you cannot reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into” posted by Robert Hunter on one of Matt's SS’s. I find this to be the case in some of these comments.
There are those with a ‘government-must-fix attitude’ when their empathy for others that fall below their own perch in life (regardless of the underlying reason(s)), need attention. “a lot of people who stood up for people whose problems didn’t affect them personally. They stood, they marched, and worked for humane treatment of all people. . .” That is the remedy when one has a self-defined guilt. Life is not or never perhaps, fair (not a God term). The force of laws and more $programs$ is rarely, if ever, an answer because the root causes are never addressed. The 'fixes' become the perpetual degradation of society.
Consider Dr. Cornell West. He is also running from a place you might recognize. Next to nothing in the Democratic Party is left, anyway not the left I grew up with.
Hear hear. This reminds me of the scene in Braveheart, where William Wallace is thatching some hut or something, and the rebels come asking for help. He states he will not participate in the troubles or help them in the peril. Later, after his wife is murdered by the English magistrate, William Wallace goes all in asking for ALL the clans help. But only AFTER he felt the pain personally.
No, Matt's been moving away from doctrinaire Democratic stuff for some time now. Perhaps the reason he voted for Democrats is because in virtually every election, the other side was desiring to privatize Social Security and Medicare, and lower taxes for rich people. Which they still desire.
Probably because Democrats are typically driven by emotions and emotional causes. Democrats like to self congratulate themselves for being the "nice", "empathetic", "sympathetic", party that "cares" for the oppressed class and fights the oppressors. Because of these emotional drivers, Democrats conveniently forget to look at the actual results of their policies. Results don't matter for them, only feeling good and ensuring that they appear as "good" people versus those mean, awful conservatives. It's hard for such people to admit that their party's policies have generally lead to a worsening for the oppressed classes that they claim as their personal fiefdom of voters. Lastly, Democrats do not like anyone to question them and when one fo their own does it, that's when the really sharp claws come out. No one wants to lose their supposed "friends".
I can say that I always voted Democrat because they were more humane. The crazy screaming ad hominem crazies used to be on Republican. Now they are with the Dems. Neither party is serious.
As Matt and many longtime Dem voters would tell you, many of their beliefs once aligned with the party. When the party shifted dramatically--as in the case of warmongering and free speech which directly affects his profession--one has to consider going independent or losing most of your friends by condemning them.
I'm like Matt in that I voted D for a good while. Republicans want to cut taxes on rich people, don't give a shit about health care coverage, love censorship, and love war. Just because Dems now also love censorship and war doesn't automatically mean one should vote for Republicans.
I would guess it's because the Republican party set policies based on appealing to religious fanatics, are just as pro endless war as the Democrats, and use levers of power to harass and attack political opponents just as much as the Dems do. The only difference today and 20 years ago is that the shoe is on the other foot for who's the party in the power.
Any remaining Republican warmongers are now RINOS. Republican hawks like William Kristol have been migrating to the Democratic Party, the party of US global domination, the party bankrupting the US by funding proxy wars and pursuing WW III with its bombing of Syria.
Since we are stuck in a 2-party morass, I choose the current lesser of two evils, especially since it is advancing Trump for 2024 (if he can avoid prison or assassination beforehand).
I am much more comfortable with religious fanatics than neo-Marxists, as long as those fanatics aren't Muslims or bent on realizing some Biblical fantasy about Israel and Armageddon.
Trump stayed in Afghanistan, a war started by war hawks, that wasted American and Afghanistan lives and trillions of dollars.
Biden actually put an end to the nonsense, and was immediately attacked by every Republican for do so. I doubt the sincerity of the Republican party claiming to be a party of isolationism, when it's actively supporting turning the entire Middle East into a war zone over Israel.
When to comes to public finances the Republican have been consistently worse at balancing budges than Democrats have, since the whole party loves cutting taxes for the rich and corporations, while spending even more on the military.
The lesser of two evils in this case are clearly dementia Joe and the Democrats since they're not trying to actively strip civil rights away from minorities while supporting the same war mongering policies that yes all the Republicans support.
Sorry--this lesser of two weevils bullshit gets us nowhere.
The RP can dissolve and go away forever, as far as I care. That goes double for the DP, especially in light of their arrogant, cynical, and plain evil advancement of Dementia Joe to the office, with his cackling stewing hen Harris. I will vote Trump again for a third time because he fucks up the status quo and has permanent party DC bureaucrats and the press pissing themselves with fear--as they have from day 1. Too bad they decided to destroy the source of their anxiety instead of determining which faults of their own may have led them to this situation
The more stress and anxiety Trump generates in these totalitarian bureaucrats and their pimps in the press, the better.
I am curious how you define “a religious fanatic”. Would that be someone who believes in God and tries to live their life by the principles of their beliefs? Would I be a fanatic simply because of one aspect of my beliefs- that life begins at conception? I believe Thou shalt not kill, but I believe their are times when it would be acceptable to do so even as I know that I would have to live with that stain on my soul the rest of my life. Are these examples of a fanatic? Please, I really would like to know.
You can believe in any bronze age fairy tales you want to believe, but you become a fanatic when you seek to impose those beliefs on others by force, which is what the Republican party has made a core part of its policy for over 50 years now.
You believe life begins at conception, that's fine, don't get an abortion. You become a fanatic when you seek to deny others the right to choose what they do with their own bodies by claiming you have moral authority over them. Authority that you claim is granted to you by a book written by people who also claimed that anyone who eats shellfish should be put to death, who thought the sun orbited the earth, and said slavery was fine.
Probably because the Republican party is even worse, and the way we've designed our voting system it is impossible to meaningfully vote for anyone else.
The greatest danger facing our country today and all that it once stood for is the modern Democratic party. Your grandfather's Democratic party that truly stood for working men and women is looong gone. It is now dominated by coastal elites who view those very working class citizens with mistrust, disdain, and even contempt.
I sure don’t like some of items the Republican made the foundation of their agenda. For example, I think abortion is an issue that should be left alone between a woman and her doctor. I don’t want them to touch Social Security. I think there are vulnerable groups of population, like aged and disabled, that the government must assist, and that a blanket statement “small govt by all means” does not work. But in a big picture, my self-preservation instinct tells me to stay away from Democrats as far as possible and to not let them ruin this country, what they have pretty much succeeded in doing already. I will close my nose and vote for republicans while disagreeing with them on many points. It will still be safer.
"I will close my nose and vote for republicans while disagreeing with them on many points. It will still be safer." Precisely. Because while many of us may disagree with some Repubs on certain policy, we're starting to realize that factions of the Democratic Party are out and out loons. For example, they cannot tell you what a woman is but that men can become pregnant; that "silence is violence" but looting is not; and on and on...
Dont rule out Bobby Kennedy, Jr...he's running as an Independent, which means he represents US, the nation, not a neocon/neolib ideological party...that is if we even make it to 2024 election. A lot can happen between now & then.
Unfortunately Social Security has to be touched unless our population can grow at a substantial rate constantly. The math of ehat people put into social security vs what it pays out just doesnt work, the average person gets back 7 times what they put in.that is a pyramid scheme.
Or you stop adding to the liat of people and there dependents that can claim disabilitu because that number is blowing up
Agree, the program has to be made solvent again. But touched in a reasonable way, taking into consideration that many people depend on it and with an outlook for generations ahead. All I hear from right wing of the GOP is cut cut cut.
Let's be clear, the Right Wing does not control the Republican Party. It influences the party. I've only heard a Republican proposals to reasonable solvency by increasing the eligibility age to receive benefits, and tighten the abuses to the system. I defy you to provide an instance where a Republican Party, representing more than 15 House members, that has proposed benefit cuts.
And let's go ahead and state the obvious that the Democrat Party has never creditably offered a proposal that would address the pending insolvency. Indeed, Democrat Party always presses to expand the costs, exacerbating and drawing the reckoning closer.
And if you want to express your dissatisfaction, they will arrest you drag you through their corrupt courts, assign you a dirty prosecutor, a bias judge and lock you up.
That Old Democrat Party of freedom and justice for all tossed Harry Truman on the ash heap. Despite trying to bill itself as the smarter, better educated and sophisticated crowd, it functions more like People Magazine or TMZ in determining objectives according to an ever evolving, Twitterized, "current thing" agenda.
You mean this exact clip here, where Jim Jordan, during a congressional hearing, explicitly talks about the IRS going after Matt Taibbi? It's at 0:50 into the clip, so that you can continue to put in absolutely no effort at doing any research for yourself:
I deregistred as a Democrat recently, and like you, had voted in step for 30 years. After the covid debacle, the censorship, the aggressive liberal wings response to supporting HAMAS, I am done.
Like many, many others, I grew up in a Democrat Party household and was myself a registered Democrat. That was in the 1950s when the Party tended to be liberal (leaving aside its historical support of slavery and the KKK). But its relentless march to left, to illiberalism and authoritarianism, left me behind. The Obama and Biden Administrations did and are doing everything they could and can to destroy America, with considerable success. It appears to me that Democrats are enemies of America.
And lets not forget the destruction done to America by Ronald Reagan and baby Bush. Both parties are incompetent, corrupt, and totally self-serving. Partisans are blind and helping those crooks to destroy the country and middle class.
When IRS agents are deployed with fake names to harass journalists & Members of Congress keep growing the secret powers we know they have zero interest in a government of the people.
There was a time that, as a libertarian, I halfway related to Republicans and halfway with Democrats.
Over the last couple of decades, my philosophy has been unwavering but times have changed. It's very rare I can relate to anything coming out of the Democratic party. On the other hand, the Republican grassroots has become very libertarian.
Unfortunately, those that get elected - especially nationally - rarely differ much from Democrats in anything other than rhetoric. As Carlin said, "It's all one big club and you ain't in it."
Jordan's one of a handful of exceptions.
You'll note the numerous occasions Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses and yet, nothing serious was done about our bloated and tyrannical government.
Regardless of what happens in 2024, the wars, spying, corruption, spending, and taxing will continue unabated. In fact, government will grow either way.
I voted for libertarian Ed Clark in 1980, and continued to vote libertarian for over 25 years. I can testify that like the republicans not all libertarians agree about everything. I have never and never will vote democratic. I always felt they were too socialist for me, and smug.
They were always the party who wanted to spend other people’s money on what they thought was correct.
I think there are some good republicans who are the only ones protecting us from a completely socialist/Marxist transition.
The democrat party today are like a hive of bees who move in a pact without an independent thought.
No. That is the problem. That is what is creating this stalemate. At this point there is no difference between the 2 parties, except for the courageous Republicans who are pushing back. The inclination, if you are a corporate media consumer, is that they are showboating, and are in it for themselves, etc. But if you're serious about draining the swamp then let's go! Who cares if they are an Independent? Who cares if they have a big mouth and orange skin? Put your vote where your mouth is. Vote for the least establishment candidate. The election is rigged anyway.
It's the man with the "big mouth" and "orange hair" who let the cat out of the bag. The Dems had everything in place, The shock of Trump's election forced them out into the open.
How much would we know about if Hillary had been elected? They've been working since the 60s, on college campuses, training leftist teachers, professors, lawyers, judges.
I suspect that those who opposed Jordan are about to get the be careful what you wish for lesson. Personally I am.okay because I like Jordan where he is and the SoH job is reported to be grueling.
Me too. They have fired a shot across the bow on spending too. If we can at least get individual.spending bills instead of those huge everything including the kitchen sink spendathons I will be happy. Well happier.
I voted for Hillary in 2016. Trump in 2020. What woke me up was the media, writ large. MSM, top to bottom. The level of vitriol, hysteria and pandemonium generated by one man stood in stark relief to the facts on the ground. Things were getting objectively better, on all fronts, and yet, the drum beat and orgiastic dancing continued in unison: Trump is a Russian plant! White supremacist! WW3 is imminent! The scales slowly came off my eyes as I juxtaposed what they were saying about him compared to what he was saying, with great humor, about himself and the country. The lies, false narratives and obfuscation of the so called 'news' became self-evident. I began to drift away from the left, slowly at first, but then quicker as I discovered voices on the right that seemed to be advocating for the very things that had anchored me, once upon a time, to the left. It's been a long, strange trip, but it's interesting that I never stopped reading/listening to Matt Taibbi, and my respect for the man has never wavered.
Thanks for sharing this. It is generous of you to be so honest. You may be giving someone else encouragement to walk away and look at things with a fresh perspective.
It's absolutely bizarre to me that so many liberals have bought into that Handmaid's Tale bullshit about Christians. It's a dystopian fantasy concocted by a diseased mind that is as repellent to Christians as it is to Second Wave feminists.
I don’t buy into it at all, just saying that is what I see. I think that people misunderstand each other a lot because they don’t really listen or try to understand each other, plus we have a media environment that lies and pushes division instead of common ground and reconciliation?
That may be all you see because you won't go and see what other Christians are thinking. I am a Christian and most of my friends are but believe me we are not against all of the things you seem to think we're against get out and go to a liberal Church you may be surprised
What do you mean “the Handmaid’s Tale” bullshit? you talking about how politicians try to do stuff like outlaw abortion, and hypocritically invoke the name of their God and their Christ, and flatter themselves with names like “pro-life,” and most of the faithful and the church either stay silent and complicit or (sometimes) even openly boost it?
I agree. The religious prattle I hear out of the Speakers mouth creeps me out. He’d like my grand daughters barefoot and pregnant...But I guess at least he probably walks the walk. When Trump holds a bible or talks about faith, I’d like to scream.
I'm afraid you might still be bitterly clinging to decades-old propaganda. Nobody's going to tolerate a theocracy, but they've bought your vote by scaring you with that.
It was about that long ago for me. William Jefferson Clinton. Say what you will about his personal issues and the incredibly corrupt Clinton foundation, but he was a close to the middle (where I believe >80% of Americans are).
I voted for Bill Clinton. I was young, idealistic, and disillusioned by the lack of action by the formerly popular George Bush. Prior to the '92 election, the first time I ever heard of Bill Clinton was on some C-Span show where he was giving a speech to some press club. To make this long story short, a Democrat couldn't even come close to giving a speech like that and, especially at the time, would have been a good speech for a Republican.
I left the Dems for reasons very similar x ten They’re insane. No moral compass, anti-Constitutional, racist, antisemitic, anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-business, anti-American, lawless, violent, accusatory, sociopathic, unhinged totalitarian, despotic, pro- surveillance, pro-censorship, pro WEF/UN/Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg, Kleptocorporate multinational monopolism, lockdowns, pedophilia, open borders, forced vaccines, war monger, big bank misery pimps. Soulless Cult of Death and Destruction.
I have been finding it odd or hard to believe that many people find the behavior of the Democratic Party on this regard surprising. This is the logical conclusion to their approach to government which has always been to persecute their opponents. The KKK was the armed wing of the Democratic Party and the House UnAmerican activities committee was controlled by democrats.
Antifa and BLM are the modern day equivalent of the KKK. Throughout Trump’s term they beat, knifed, and gunned down Trump supporters with almost no repercussions. I don’t remember Taibbi standing up for them. I don’t remember Taibbi speaking up when they deployed nationwide violence in order to intimidate voters before the 2020 election. I don’t remember him speaking up for J6 defendants as they languished in jail for years awaiting trial for concocted or trumped up crimes. Has he done anything on behalf of any of these people since he’s had this awakening? I certainly appreciate his awakening and want to encourage it, but he’s got a lot of work to do before I’m convinced he’s really committed to the principles this nation was founded upon.
Citations for what? I was alive during 2020. I watched as the people dressed in all black beat the ever living shit out of people or worse and burned down businesses across the country. The FBI sat and watched. Now, they round up the people that rightly protested a stolen election in the people’s house and throw them in jail for years without trial.
Yes. The one thing democrats are highly accomplished in is character assassination. As most high-profile black and female republicans will confirm. Oh yeah, any black conservative Supreme Court Justice also.
Matt, I have been following your work and admiring your honesty ever since the vampire squid article came out. I consider you one of the most intellectually honest and intelligent reporters out there.
The question i have for you - why did you vote for democrats for so long in the first place? How come intelligent people only see the problems when they are impacted personally?
Many "intelligent" people keep voting Democrat even after they are impacted personally by higher taxes, crime, etc. Check out the cases of Josh Kreuger, Ryan Carson, and Pava Lapere. You cannot reason with a demoralized person, my namesake tried to warn us in 1984: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-reason-with-a-demoralized-person-yuri
Democrats are an awful lot and so are republicans. Both parties and their mindless partisan live to desecrate the first mandate of the constitution which is to strive “for a more perfect union.” Selfishly voting out of economic interests while the parties actively collude to divide us is anti-American.
SO why do Amerikans why do they not vote for people (3rd party)?
Because we have a first-past-the-post voting system, not a parliamentary system, alternative vote, or any of the other systems that make third parties viable options. Look these things up and learn about their systemic consequences and all will be revealed.
Because unlike where you (probably) live it’s insanely diverse with massive variance in lifestyles and values. So the ‘big issues’ tend to be more fundamental in nature. Abortion. Guns. Healthcare. Religion.
At least that’s my theory. Hard to be a pro abortion anti-gun evangelical socialist. If there were to be a powerful third party it might be in form of a racial minority coalition (Eg, African-Americans abandon democrats but don’t join republicans.... see evangelical socialists above). We’ll see.
Gotta live here to understand it otherwise too easy to throw stones - especially with your own (likely state owned) media brainwashing you, too.
I have. Patrick Buchanan (twice), and Ralph Nader (also twice). The other 3rd Party candidates seemed like they were bought off just like the D & R candidates.
Everyone needs to start voting for themselves, things that actually impact them. Most people vote for a percieved benefit to someone else, like people voting as abortion rights being a primary issue. I don't care if you can or can not get abortions but since less than 1 percent of the nation will need to get an abortion it seems silly to vote on that as a primary issue.
Now I get that you are voting out of some altruism, like voting Democrat is better for minorities, that is a feeling many Democrat voters have that are not minorities, but since the issue doesn't actually impact you, you do not actually have first hand knowledge that Democrat vote is for minorities.
When we vote for "other people" not out of our own benefit you actually get bad results. Because how we vote and how webare controlled to vote impacts our politicians. If everyone voted selfishly politicians might actually have to DO things that benefit us because as a swlfish voter you would KNOW if you were benefitted.
Think about this like an ice cream parlor, imagine the ice cream parlor has 16 flavors and they make new flavors based on popularity of the existing ones and instead of picking ice cream you want to eat you see a sign that says eating the Kale and Kelp Ice Cream is good for pregnant women, so you order the god awful ice cream because if you don't maybe the parlor won't keep making that ice cream pregnant women eat.
Of course its terrible ice cream and of course the parlor keeps making more of it but do you know if pregalnant women are ever actually eating the Kale and Kelp Ice Cream? Or are you just pissing money down the drain and stopping the ice cream parlor from replacing that flavor with something someone might like.
Why does a brilliant black man who was an adult during Jim Crowe, educated at Harvard and Chicago on Merit scholarships, was a young communist until finishing his PHD, but now believes Democrats are destroying black America. Read Thomas Sowell and start thinking.
I agree about the voting for self-interest but I think the 50/50 split among the electorate makes that easier. They can just say we can't negotiate with the other because it will alienate our base. We need a 60/40 split.
I think it's yet to be empirically proven, other than through editorializing, whether higher taxes, crime, etc., aren't also a product of republican voting, though perhaps propagandized by the right using different rhetorical moves. Bottom line is that it's a scam, and part of that scam is emphasizing false claims about how democratic policies across the board result in XYZ while republican policies don't. Many Substack writers that think of themselves as "intelligent" seem to continue to run this scam rhetoric that you're putting across.
It has been empirically proven that increasing crime in big cities, and the brazenness of criminals, and the inertia of law enforcement, have absolutely nothing to do with Republican voting because the government on ALL levels in these cities is from the Democratic party. You would have to use a magnifying glass and still would not find a Republican in the NYC government, for example. In local elections, you would have to register as a Democrat if you wanted your vote to be counted for a more moderate Democrat against progressive left extremists.
Here in Illinois the Dems have a super legislative majority, and all State constitutional offices. Chicago hasn't had a Repub mayor or city council since . . . it's been awhile. State-wide cashless bail went into effect in Sept. Chicago is a sanctuary city and the Mayor needs more money to provide for the new arrivals. Chicago needs more money for failing schools and pension systems. So although one may live closer to Missouri than Chicago, all Illinois residents are going to pay.
I watched a special on the homeless problem on PBS. They visited a number of cities and spoke residents and government officials. When the Mayor of San Francisco had her turn, she basically blamed all of her cities problems on Republican's. The interviewer neither laughed or questioned the Mayor. The magnifying glass comment reminded me of this show.
And nothing else anywhere in the global economy, public policy, or anything else impacts people. Only their little tiny spot on the globe and local politics. It has been empirically proven that partisans are dumb. There is progressive left or conservative right. There are only corrupt politicians the people they make tools to keep them in power. Whether they're banning abortion or twerking naked in gay pride parades, identity politics is what passes for governance of, for and by the people. .
democratic policies across the board and republican policies across the board insure that the finance sector profits and middle Americans pay the bills. ......
This is because you have a 2 party system BOTH controlled by big money!
finance, pharma, defense, teacher's union, and congressional families...
- I do not believe that anything in politics can be "empirically proven". Whether it is a statement that turns out to be provenly false "no deal with out a public option" or acknowledged policy that clearly is illegal, such as the murder of American citizens without due process. Nothing is empirically proven, it all is subject to revisionism and spin. George Bush threw out the first pitch of a baseball game last night although many would say it has been empirically proven he lied and led us into a war; but apparently that's not the case.
That is why politics is such an art that captures people's passion and imagination but seemingly does little to form a more perfect union as the poster above mentioned.
To blame to not blame, to call it a scam by one side and not the other; we are dealing with a coin that has heads on both sides.
I do not believe that the "intelligent" people here are blaming polices of XYZ on democrats. I think most if not all here know that both parties are (most likely) equally to blame as the powers in those parties feed at the same trough.
Being passionately dissolussioned by the Democratic party, the ACLU, wikipedia, etc is not promoting a scam. It's just expressing remorse at things folks wanted to believe but are not true, and being able to commiserate and bitch a little bit.
An interesting quote that Dick Cheney said onetime about whose politics are the cause for the successes and failures was something like " it's not until an administration or two after the one in which the policies were implemented that we see results"
He was referring to the first Bush "read my lips no new taxes". After Bush realized he needed to work with Congress to raise taxes to stave off economic calamity he lost when a conservative challenged him. We all know this ushered in Clinton who would have had no chance without Perot. We know the Clinton administration led to (in many ways) our current economic system.
As a side not- Does anyone remember the surplus, the "lock box" as Gore called it. Then we had the coup d'etat of 2000 and look who got to come in a spend all that money that republican politics (tax increases, contract with (on)America) had helped achieved....
"...I do not believe that the "intelligent" people here are blaming polices of XYZ on democrats."
Wholeheartedly agree.
Parties are used by politicians to gain power. It is correct to assume that many politicians don't have a ideological base, or if they do, that their base actually aligns with their party. If you want to win in CA, you better call yourself a D. If you want to win in TN, you better call yourself an R.
However at the end of the day, if your one party state has a serious issue that is not being addressed, then it is correct to assume that the party itself is actually responsible. Notice how the D party gamed things to keep Bernie out of the Presidency. Parties do have strong influence due to money.
If you want your project done in CA, you better give to Democrats. If you want it done in TN, you better give to Republicans.
23 Skidoo: “Empirically proven” means a basis of information obtained by experimentation and observation. I’d say people have observed a significant increase in crime in democrat run cities so your statement is incorrect. Regarding taxes, I’d say people have seen that cutting taxes has resulted in increased economic growth and improved real buying power so your statement is factually incorrect and your claim it’s a “scam” is nothing more than blame shifting.
Obama himself even said that it was more important to be perceived as taxing the rich than it was to generate revenues. He knew his tax policy would reduce income from what it would be otherwise, but it was a political exercise. He was more interested in the politics than the results. He is a politician.
Your comment makes zero sense. You can literally track the history of which party has power and how they vote lol
You are suffering from rectal-cranial inversion. Seek help immediately!
Why don’t you go visit any big city in the country, Skidoo. Guess who runs them?
Mormons?
Here's your answer. https://rumble.com/v2s0gp8-plandemic-3-the-great-awakening-full-unedited-movie.html
Someone just claimed that Youngkin won in Virginia, because Asians, who value education, voted for him.
It took me the whole 25 seconds to prove him wrong: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-americans-favored-democrats-wide-margin-high-profile-races-exit-rcna5024
Well, in America, Asians are just like blacks and Jews. All groups are screwed mightily and still vote for their soul owners. 😢
The average person is inundated with Democratic Party propaganda generated within consultant groups, spread by the media, unions, universities, government agencies, and a plethora of other sources. “The borders are not open.” “The Republicans are in chaos.” “Republicans practice voter suppression.” “Trump is a Russian asset.” When that average person identifies some of that propaganda and reacts negatively to what the Dems have been spewing, they are already programmed to question and see negatively the alternative, which is a major objective of the propaganda: “If you think we’re bad, they’re much worse. Better stick with us, the less-incompetent.” It’s not so much the long-game as it is the game that’s been running for a long time.
I don’t get my news about Republican ambitions for authoritarian government from MSNBC or ABC or CN, etc. I. get it straight from Donald Trump on his truth social posts.
The bed is a stark, raving lunatic, and he’s going to start by throwing homeless people who knows where
I must have missed Trump's lust for authoritarianism when he completely ceded authority over covid mandates to the states, leaving freedom- and democracy-loving governors such as Cuomo, Whitmer, Newsom, Brown et al. to demonstrate their true nature. By your logic, Trump must have been a clueless idiot to squander a once-in-century opportunity to rule the whole country with an iron fist. What a chump!
Trump still is a clueless idiot, as well as a mendacious one.
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/27-insane-things-trump-said-he-will-do-in-a-2nd-term
You think Trump is authoritarian? Lol. You’ve been brainwashed.
He wants to be King. Once you let this maniac into the Presidency he will never leave. Watch out.
You mean the GOP would make things worse for the homeless than conditions in LA, San Francisco, or Philadelphia.
Unquestionably. And not just the homeless.
Authoritarian regimes of the past would be stunned by the propaganda tools availed today, from literally all fronts. Many that have been directed toward us were billed as scientific or medical. Important to also resist those that advance derangement syndromes.
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/27-insane-things-trump-said-he-will-do-in-a-2nd-term
If you think Trumpnis calling for tyranny then you either have a processing error, a per eption error,or a data error. Possibly combinations if all 3.
A significant majority ignores MSM. That’s why YouTube, Wikipedia, etc get cleansed and AI-s, which use these as sources got introduced.
One has to be really astute and nuts to waste time verifying crap to figure out the lies.
In a credible source saw 1936 flags. Among them a flag of Palestine, close to the modern day Israel’s. Dug some more, got the history. Verified with other sources.
Went to MSdncFT’s Chat and got as 1936 flag of Palestine the modern day Palestinian flag, which is close replica of 1936 Jordan flag …
It’s like Back In The USSR, China, etc.
Yes, Texan, 'nuff said.
Because Republicans are just as bad--they only differ in what they want to control about you. Both parties are right wing authoritarian parties. Democrats have not been left wing in a very long time.
Clearly you don’t intellectually grasp the basic concepts of Right snd Left, typical! Democrats are now the Far Left Wing, they have swallowed the Neo-Marxist ideology and have modified it the be Cultural Marxism rather than economic.
Using race, gender and sexual orientation to divide human beings who would otherwise seek out common ground is their method to dismantle Society and to assume absolute power and control. The Democrat Party has not been a “liberal” Party for a couple of decades now, but Obama is the one that accelerated that decline into the illiberal, anti-human flourishing Party it is now.
As a former Democrat, and classic Liberal, I can no longer stomach the systemic dismantling of our constitutionally mandated Liberal democracy. In hindsight, the blinders I wore to what the Democrat Party is, and not what they portray themselves to be is mindboggling. Never again, my eyes are wide open, the veil has been removed, and the moral and intellectual rot has finally been exposed for what it is - nihilism!
"Democrats are now Far Left Wing, they have swallowed the Neo-Marxist ideology and have modified it to be Cultural Marxism rather than economic."
I don't know where you get your information from, but this is a little crazy to me. Neo-Marxist? 'Cultural Marxism rather than economic'? There is an accurate word to describe the Democrats, and it is 'Neoliberal'. You could also throw in Imperialist and even Fascist if you wanted to describe the Democrats. None of these are 'Far Left Wing'. They are in fact Right wing. You can't have Marxism without the economics. If you don't have the economic aspect of Marxism, it isn't Marxism. Calling 'Wokism' 'Cultural Marxism' is nonsensical. Wokism is the pretty well-meaning face Democrats paste over the face of Neoliberalism to make the Liberals feel better about themselves, while ignoring material conditions.
To summarize:
Left Wing: pro worker, anti-large private interest. Nationalization of critical industries, important necessary services (medicine, utilities, education) are to be provided at-cost by state run industry. Belief in international working class solidarity. No war but class war.
Right wing: zenophobia, militarism, sacredness of individual property rights over the common good, the state exists to protect property rights, 'Free Market' privatization of all services, anti-union, sacredness of Our Nation State vs. all other Nation States. Class doesn't exist, only bootstraps and entrepreneurs.
The Democrats since the New Deal have really dropped the ball on Left wing policies. Today they absolutely resemble a Right wing party. And the Republicans aren't much different in practice.
I don’t see Republicans empowering the teachers union to take over our schools, mandating vaccines, masking children, pushing the sexual mutilation of children, censoring the public, exalting a Marxist terror group masquerading under a civil rights banner (BLM), pushing intellectually bankrupt ideas like critical race theory, or sicking the IRS on its rivals. I’m not happy with the Republicans because many of them have gotten way to comfortable with the status quo, but the ideas and actions that are dismantling our Republic are coming from the left and whatever the Democrats are considered today.
The late 60's radicals, Angela Davis, Herbert Marcuse, Derrick Bell, Paolo Freire, the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, the Black Liberation Army are the foundation of the Neo-Marxism and the Far Left cultural revolution we see in America today. Chris Rufo among many others have done a lot of research on this, might want to check him out.
The Democrat Party has swallowed the ideology of the critical theories and is now implementing it into every aspect of the government bureaucracy, changing laws and policies as we speak. You have a very one-dimensional idea of what the "Left" is, you should get out more. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a Marxist ideology, the very concept of "equity" is Marxist.
Neoliberal might describe what some are, like the Clintons, but there is far more to it. Oppressor v. Oppressed and the Victimhood ideology pushed by Democrats is also Marxist. The Chinese Cultural Revolution is Cultural Marxism, so it is hardly "nonsensical."
Also, by your definition of "Right Wing," few if any of those positions match what the Democrat Party is today. The militarism most likely comes from the Neoliberal Republicans who have joined the Party since Trump, but that doesn't make Democrats "Right Wing."
You are behind the times.
Neo-Marxism has nothing to do with economics and everything to do with the redistribution of perceived social "power," wresting it from (to use their terminology) the white man's hegemony and distributing it among what neo-Marxism defines as the "historically marginalized." It's the ideology behind Diversity Inclusion and Equity (DIE); it explains why the Pentagon is giving lip service to homosexuals and trans-sexuals; it explains why so many on the left support the bloodthirsty Hamas as liberators of oppressed Palestinians, and on and on.
Neo-Marxism is the origin of what many like to dismiss as trivial--"identity politics" and the "culture war."
The right is still conservative in the traditional sense, and what you call "xenophobia" is simply the recognition that nations need borders and should be selective about who is allowed citizenship. Not very "far right"normally, but the left's extremists apply that epithet to everything to the right of Marcuse.
Let’s make a deal with the left. Us libertarian/righty types will leave Marx out of our criticisms while the leftys will concede that the roots of our current disastrous social policies in US cities are to be found in the writings of Antonio Gramsci and Herbert Marcuse.
Agree.
Don't forget the migration of so-called neoconservatives like Bill Kristol from R to D. That the Ds are now the pro-war faction is pretty remarkable given the history of the 20th-century.
Let’s see...which party got us into WW1, WW2, and Vietnam. A faction within the Republican Party has returned to its isolationist roots. The war mongering party has historically been the democrats.
LOL--OMG. I'm fully aware of what constitutes the left and right, thanks. Suggest you take a look at politicalcompass.org to see what the criteria actually are. The site was started by two political science profs to use with college students.
Relying on a website for "truth" seems like "Leftie logic," kind of like banking on the "honesty" of a source like Politifact or the Washington Post "Fact" Checker thinking it's unbiased?! Also, the LOL & OMG seem histrionic, how old are you?
As a former Democrat, and classic liberal, I am now...off on a tangent from which I'm unlikely to return?
You can always sign into the Washington Post or MSNBC if you are more comfortable with the Far Left bubble you seem to live in? It's quite clear that many on the Left can't comprehend the face of Far Left Authoritarianism as expressed by the Democrat Party these days... let me guess, Communism hasn't been done the "right" way?
Stalin, Lenin, Mao and Pol Pot, are all fine examples of Left Wing "social justice," and now the Democrats have Angela Davis, Ibrahim X Kendi, BLM and their ilk to take the grift to even more absurd levels. The Far Left demolishes existing hierarchies, only to create new ones that are even more regressive and antediluvian that what preceded it... so much "progress" I can hardly stand it comrade -
Ya, ok, sure.
Amen to blinders off and veils lifting. Kind of sickening to reckon with former Democratic Party allegiances and activism. Had Yuuuge blinders to the unbridgeable chasm between what the say they are and what they really are. Having said that, it is absolutely true (for me) that the Republican party is same, just “meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” Registered Independent, still care, but not fooled.
Incoherent pseudo-theoretical mooning. Gibberish and nonsense.
That’s not an argument.
RINO Republicans are aligned with the Democrats. Republicans are trying to separate from Uniparty RINOS. Look at the process in choosing a Speaker. I thought it was fantastic. The Democrats lack values and courage most likely because they were all bought off.
Yes, and now we have a speaker who believes the earth is 5000 years old and calls Netanyahu, one of the biggest thugs on the world stage for the last 30 years, his "friend."
He's a conservative with convictions he acts on. He can believe whatever he likes as long as he leads the Rs in the Right direction and arranges the purge of RINOS from the party.
The jury is out on the Speaker for sure. The point is they tried to send an anti establishment message.
They are back where they were with McCarthy.
Except McCarthy didn't say (at least in public) that the Bible was his world view.
Yeah, basically. Good on Jim Jordan in this case, though it was an easy act to take, he ends up getting to be on the right side of things with this. Hardly exonerates him for all his other bullshit. Nonetheless Matt has a point
Mark. Curious about “the other bullshit” you reference concerning Jordan.
This is the 4th or 5th time I have heard this "Jim Jordan is a bad person" thing from someone on the left. I always ask the same question: What has Jim Jordan done that makes him "bad"??
Jordan is pals with Dennis Kucinich. They both admittedly disagree on most policy issues, but have a common respect for the Constitution and proper governmental processes-as illustrated by Taibbi’s anecdote.
By "other bullshit" you mean what exacrly?
Except that the VP of the United States has repeatedly said we need equity, which is a Marxist concept to its core.
Marxism is considered the far left of the political sphere.
Your comment does not pass basic rigor or the laugh test.
Bro you gotta read more
What would you suggest?
They aren’t just as bad. That’s absurd.
Why do you follow Matt? Have you read his reporting? What do you think it's about?
The democrat party has divided the country using the most perverse and twisted racialist narratives. They destroyed every institution to overturn Trump’s election in 2016 and weaponized those same institutions to prevent him from being elected in 2020 and to prevent any sort of legitimate election in 2024. They’ve rounded up their political opponents en masse and thrown them in jail for years without trial (see J6). In short, they’ve attacked or perverted every important constitutional right in their pursuit of power. How exactly are the two parties equally bad? It’s just dumb to claim that at this point. There are many problems with republicans. Wake me up when they start rounding up their political opponents by the thousands as the Dems have been doing.
The Ds in California, Chicago, NYC, Philadelphia,etc. sure don’t seem interested in controlling anything. Eliminating cash bail and essentially legalizing retail theft don’t seem like elements of authoritarian control.
So controlling your speech, right to assembly and bodily autonomy isn't authoritarian enough for you? And remember, those policies you mention above may not control criminals, but they control YOU.
A fetus/child has a separate DNA structure from it’s mother. It is not subject to someone else’s bodily autonomy.
I've been independent until this year because most of the republicans are just as dirty. Now that the dems have set themselves on fire, I moved right. Matt Gaetz is another reason. May he keep bulldozing and get us back to at least 2 distinct parties.
Oh, please, Gaetz is not the guy. Don't be taken in by a showboat out for himself. Blowing something up without a rebuilding plan is not progress.
So you believe there's no difference between McCarthy and Mike Johnson? The "showboat" managed to get the flaming dems to shoot themselves in both feet by removing McCarthy to end up with Johnson. Johnson's plan for individual spending bills may just help to save the future.
I was stating my opinion of Gaetz. If Johnson is actually better than McCarthy, I'll be pleased.
There was a plan. The new Speaker garnered 100% of the Republican votes.
We seem to be stuck in a pattern of choosing who blows up what, not choosing people with plans. And God forbid we get any more "progress". We're already drowning in it.
That sound like a sound bite from the rinos
Matt Gaetz is a piece of work.
Like in master piece? He took the Big Dog Uniparty swamp creature down - the one with the mediocre scorecard.
“took the big dog unitary swamp creature down” 👀
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12607773/Matt-Gaetz-insists-absence-House-Speaker-not-impact-ability-Congress-provide-aid-Israel.html
“Matt Gaetz insists absence of a House Speaker will not impact ability of Congress to provide aid to Israel”
OHHHHHHHHHH!
I can tell you as a life long lefty who only in the past three years started to take a good, hard look at the other side of things, the view is very different from what people see on the conservative side of the aisle.
I never could open my mind to anything coming from the right, because the Republicans I knew were also the ones telling the racist jokes and trying to explain to little old me why whites were fundamentally superior to blacks. Oh, they laaaaaaugghed at me when I’d get so angry. That creates a real sticking point when it comes to being interested in anything else someone has to say.
I cried for two days straight after Trump was elected, and I was absolutely convinced that all the minorities were going to be in concentration camps within 6 months of him becoming president. But that six months came and went, and the apocalypse I had anticipated never came about, and I started to wonder what was going on on the other side. I was increasingly dismayed by all the hate coming from all my love and peace blue communities… My politics were based on my values and I just didn’t understand how much the left no longer represented those. I didn’t know how much the media had been lying. It has taken time to grasp how far the Democrats have gone off the rails. The people who learned me how to be antiestablishment and to watch out for propaganda have no idea they’re drunk the koolaid, themselves. We are a long way from where it all started, at least where it did for this 70’s child.
I began listening to conservative voices, and I started paying attention to all the lefties leaving the party. I discovered brand new to me information about issues I had previously thought I was super informed on (starting with Michael Shellenberger). I became politically homeless. I sat in silence up at all our family get togethers when politics came up because I had no idea how to navigate those conversations from the new place I found myself in. The view is SO different from the left. The mainstream media is blocking out so much reality, and if you don’t go looking for something else, the right looks pretty terrifying. But also, if you don’t see the insanity of writing off 50% of the population as ignorant and evil, ya ain’t gonna start questioning the narrative.
The past few years have been an awakening for a lot of us democrats who have been #leavingtheleft. And I can tell you all the dems I know, those who’ve seen the light and those who haven’t, are good-hearted, intelligent folks who have the propensity to get stuck needing to be right, and are vulnerable to forces that seek to scare and anger them in order to be in control. That describes a lot people on both sides. Most of the humans.
You asked why people keep voting for democrats. Hey, I’m with you. I was shocked after the last election to find out how blue this state still is. Heartbroken. Outraged. Who remains still oblivious in California at this point?
But I do understand who and why, because that’s where I came from. If anyone honestly wants to understand how another person or another group sees things, ya gotsta get up, go around, and look at things from over there.
And many people aren’t concerned with issues until they’re affected personally. That’s kinda sensible sometimes. But the left I came from, the old school left, was made up of a lot of people who stood up for people whose problems didn’t affect them personally. They stood, they marched, and worked for humane treatment of all people… it’s just not clear to a lot of people that that ain’t the platform anymore.
Shellenberger ran in the D primary for governor in California and finished fourth. That tells you all you need to know about current D thinking. I’m a lifelong libertarian/conservative and would vote for Shellenberger in a heartbeat. He has the best policy thinking on environmental and homeless/urban crime issues out there today.
I voted for him. I was so sad he didn’t win, but he did bring more attention to his work, at least.
"Good-hearted, intelligent folks who have the propensity to get stuck needing to be right, and are vulnerable to forces that seek to scare and anger them in order to be in control" deserve whatever political nightmare they cling to in order to protect their fragile egos.
William Burroughs called this condition "the Right virus." People infected must at all times be right or they experience extreme emotional distress. They feel threatened when they're proven wrong about anything. I have nothing but contempt for such people. Let Jesus have pity on them for their moral failing.
That's a little harsh. How about “you cannot reason someone out of something they weren't reasoned into” posted by Robert Hunter on one of Matt's SS’s. I find this to be the case in some of these comments.
There are those with a ‘government-must-fix attitude’ when their empathy for others that fall below their own perch in life (regardless of the underlying reason(s)), need attention. “a lot of people who stood up for people whose problems didn’t affect them personally. They stood, they marched, and worked for humane treatment of all people. . .” That is the remedy when one has a self-defined guilt. Life is not or never perhaps, fair (not a God term). The force of laws and more $programs$ is rarely, if ever, an answer because the root causes are never addressed. The 'fixes' become the perpetual degradation of society.
Consider Dr. Cornell West. He is also running from a place you might recognize. Next to nothing in the Democratic Party is left, anyway not the left I grew up with.
i would argue the Democratic Party is a moderate liberal party, not a leftist party.
Thanks for your brave and honest advice. Nice post.
Perfect questions!
Democrats hounded President Trump from day 1. They created chaos around President Trump's every action, then blamed him for the chaos.
President Trump and people on his campaign, in his administration, were lied about, surveiled, harassed, indicted, jailed...non-stop.
Did you think that was normal?
Did you consider any of this when deciding to vote Democrat?
Hear hear. This reminds me of the scene in Braveheart, where William Wallace is thatching some hut or something, and the rebels come asking for help. He states he will not participate in the troubles or help them in the peril. Later, after his wife is murdered by the English magistrate, William Wallace goes all in asking for ALL the clans help. But only AFTER he felt the pain personally.
No, Matt's been moving away from doctrinaire Democratic stuff for some time now. Perhaps the reason he voted for Democrats is because in virtually every election, the other side was desiring to privatize Social Security and Medicare, and lower taxes for rich people. Which they still desire.
Probably because Democrats are typically driven by emotions and emotional causes. Democrats like to self congratulate themselves for being the "nice", "empathetic", "sympathetic", party that "cares" for the oppressed class and fights the oppressors. Because of these emotional drivers, Democrats conveniently forget to look at the actual results of their policies. Results don't matter for them, only feeling good and ensuring that they appear as "good" people versus those mean, awful conservatives. It's hard for such people to admit that their party's policies have generally lead to a worsening for the oppressed classes that they claim as their personal fiefdom of voters. Lastly, Democrats do not like anyone to question them and when one fo their own does it, that's when the really sharp claws come out. No one wants to lose their supposed "friends".
I can say that I always voted Democrat because they were more humane. The crazy screaming ad hominem crazies used to be on Republican. Now they are with the Dems. Neither party is serious.
As Matt and many longtime Dem voters would tell you, many of their beliefs once aligned with the party. When the party shifted dramatically--as in the case of warmongering and free speech which directly affects his profession--one has to consider going independent or losing most of your friends by condemning them.
I'm pretty sure that Matt has said that he voted for Jill Stein in 2016, so that was years before he was 'impacted personally' by the IRS visit.
I'm like Matt in that I voted D for a good while. Republicans want to cut taxes on rich people, don't give a shit about health care coverage, love censorship, and love war. Just because Dems now also love censorship and war doesn't automatically mean one should vote for Republicans.
I would guess it's because the Republican party set policies based on appealing to religious fanatics, are just as pro endless war as the Democrats, and use levers of power to harass and attack political opponents just as much as the Dems do. The only difference today and 20 years ago is that the shoe is on the other foot for who's the party in the power.
Any remaining Republican warmongers are now RINOS. Republican hawks like William Kristol have been migrating to the Democratic Party, the party of US global domination, the party bankrupting the US by funding proxy wars and pursuing WW III with its bombing of Syria.
Since we are stuck in a 2-party morass, I choose the current lesser of two evils, especially since it is advancing Trump for 2024 (if he can avoid prison or assassination beforehand).
I am much more comfortable with religious fanatics than neo-Marxists, as long as those fanatics aren't Muslims or bent on realizing some Biblical fantasy about Israel and Armageddon.
Trump stayed in Afghanistan, a war started by war hawks, that wasted American and Afghanistan lives and trillions of dollars.
Biden actually put an end to the nonsense, and was immediately attacked by every Republican for do so. I doubt the sincerity of the Republican party claiming to be a party of isolationism, when it's actively supporting turning the entire Middle East into a war zone over Israel.
When to comes to public finances the Republican have been consistently worse at balancing budges than Democrats have, since the whole party loves cutting taxes for the rich and corporations, while spending even more on the military.
The lesser of two evils in this case are clearly dementia Joe and the Democrats since they're not trying to actively strip civil rights away from minorities while supporting the same war mongering policies that yes all the Republicans support.
Sorry--this lesser of two weevils bullshit gets us nowhere.
The RP can dissolve and go away forever, as far as I care. That goes double for the DP, especially in light of their arrogant, cynical, and plain evil advancement of Dementia Joe to the office, with his cackling stewing hen Harris. I will vote Trump again for a third time because he fucks up the status quo and has permanent party DC bureaucrats and the press pissing themselves with fear--as they have from day 1. Too bad they decided to destroy the source of their anxiety instead of determining which faults of their own may have led them to this situation
The more stress and anxiety Trump generates in these totalitarian bureaucrats and their pimps in the press, the better.
I am curious how you define “a religious fanatic”. Would that be someone who believes in God and tries to live their life by the principles of their beliefs? Would I be a fanatic simply because of one aspect of my beliefs- that life begins at conception? I believe Thou shalt not kill, but I believe their are times when it would be acceptable to do so even as I know that I would have to live with that stain on my soul the rest of my life. Are these examples of a fanatic? Please, I really would like to know.
You can believe in any bronze age fairy tales you want to believe, but you become a fanatic when you seek to impose those beliefs on others by force, which is what the Republican party has made a core part of its policy for over 50 years now.
You believe life begins at conception, that's fine, don't get an abortion. You become a fanatic when you seek to deny others the right to choose what they do with their own bodies by claiming you have moral authority over them. Authority that you claim is granted to you by a book written by people who also claimed that anyone who eats shellfish should be put to death, who thought the sun orbited the earth, and said slavery was fine.
Dimitri - that is exactly what I thought when I read Matt’s comments - Matt, what’s your answer??
Probably because the Republican party is even worse, and the way we've designed our voting system it is impossible to meaningfully vote for anyone else.
Yeah, things are so much better in 2023 since democrats took control lol
This is a good question and would help me understand this perspective more.
The greatest danger facing our country today and all that it once stood for is the modern Democratic party. Your grandfather's Democratic party that truly stood for working men and women is looong gone. It is now dominated by coastal elites who view those very working class citizens with mistrust, disdain, and even contempt.
I sure don’t like some of items the Republican made the foundation of their agenda. For example, I think abortion is an issue that should be left alone between a woman and her doctor. I don’t want them to touch Social Security. I think there are vulnerable groups of population, like aged and disabled, that the government must assist, and that a blanket statement “small govt by all means” does not work. But in a big picture, my self-preservation instinct tells me to stay away from Democrats as far as possible and to not let them ruin this country, what they have pretty much succeeded in doing already. I will close my nose and vote for republicans while disagreeing with them on many points. It will still be safer.
"I will close my nose and vote for republicans while disagreeing with them on many points. It will still be safer." Precisely. Because while many of us may disagree with some Repubs on certain policy, we're starting to realize that factions of the Democratic Party are out and out loons. For example, they cannot tell you what a woman is but that men can become pregnant; that "silence is violence" but looting is not; and on and on...
Dont rule out Bobby Kennedy, Jr...he's running as an Independent, which means he represents US, the nation, not a neocon/neolib ideological party...that is if we even make it to 2024 election. A lot can happen between now & then.
Unfortunately Social Security has to be touched unless our population can grow at a substantial rate constantly. The math of ehat people put into social security vs what it pays out just doesnt work, the average person gets back 7 times what they put in.that is a pyramid scheme.
Or you stop adding to the liat of people and there dependents that can claim disabilitu because that number is blowing up
Agree, the program has to be made solvent again. But touched in a reasonable way, taking into consideration that many people depend on it and with an outlook for generations ahead. All I hear from right wing of the GOP is cut cut cut.
Let's be clear, the Right Wing does not control the Republican Party. It influences the party. I've only heard a Republican proposals to reasonable solvency by increasing the eligibility age to receive benefits, and tighten the abuses to the system. I defy you to provide an instance where a Republican Party, representing more than 15 House members, that has proposed benefit cuts.
And let's go ahead and state the obvious that the Democrat Party has never creditably offered a proposal that would address the pending insolvency. Indeed, Democrat Party always presses to expand the costs, exacerbating and drawing the reckoning closer.
And if you want to express your dissatisfaction, they will arrest you drag you through their corrupt courts, assign you a dirty prosecutor, a bias judge and lock you up.
The democrat party never stood for working men. Lol. They’ve always been frauds.
That Old Democrat Party of freedom and justice for all tossed Harry Truman on the ash heap. Despite trying to bill itself as the smarter, better educated and sophisticated crowd, it functions more like People Magazine or TMZ in determining objectives according to an ever evolving, Twitterized, "current thing" agenda.
"Why couldn't I call a Democrat?"
---------
You would have been able to if you had just parroted the narrative like they wanted!
Exactly. Because WrongThinkers aren’t welcome on Team Unanimity.
Diversity is our strength -- but not diversity of thought! That gets you banned.
Über-Team Ubiquity... er, Iniquity...?
Yep - he didn't obey.
But then the IRS wouldn't have shown up at his house to begin with!
Catch-22!
lol
Is his congressman one? Even if not he could have called his rep.
Glad Rep. Jim Jordan had your back Matt and thanks again for taking your gloves off to fight those that seek our countrys demise.
Lmfao
Trenchant, Hrothgar.
“Glad Rep. Jim Jordan had your back”
He never saw, never heard of, was never told, of any kind of tax enforcement abuse
You mean this exact clip here, where Jim Jordan, during a congressional hearing, explicitly talks about the IRS going after Matt Taibbi? It's at 0:50 into the clip, so that you can continue to put in absolutely no effort at doing any research for yourself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsVMHK2yPBs
So it was just a coincidence that they showed up at his house the day of the hearing, Hrothgar?
I deregistred as a Democrat recently, and like you, had voted in step for 30 years. After the covid debacle, the censorship, the aggressive liberal wings response to supporting HAMAS, I am done.
Like many, many others, I grew up in a Democrat Party household and was myself a registered Democrat. That was in the 1950s when the Party tended to be liberal (leaving aside its historical support of slavery and the KKK). But its relentless march to left, to illiberalism and authoritarianism, left me behind. The Obama and Biden Administrations did and are doing everything they could and can to destroy America, with considerable success. It appears to me that Democrats are enemies of America.
And lets not forget the destruction done to America by Ronald Reagan and baby Bush. Both parties are incompetent, corrupt, and totally self-serving. Partisans are blind and helping those crooks to destroy the country and middle class.
When IRS agents are deployed with fake names to harass journalists & Members of Congress keep growing the secret powers we know they have zero interest in a government of the people.
I’m a lifelong lib and they will never get my vote again 💯
There was a time that, as a libertarian, I halfway related to Republicans and halfway with Democrats.
Over the last couple of decades, my philosophy has been unwavering but times have changed. It's very rare I can relate to anything coming out of the Democratic party. On the other hand, the Republican grassroots has become very libertarian.
Unfortunately, those that get elected - especially nationally - rarely differ much from Democrats in anything other than rhetoric. As Carlin said, "It's all one big club and you ain't in it."
Jordan's one of a handful of exceptions.
You'll note the numerous occasions Republicans controlled the presidency and both houses and yet, nothing serious was done about our bloated and tyrannical government.
Regardless of what happens in 2024, the wars, spying, corruption, spending, and taxing will continue unabated. In fact, government will grow either way.
I voted for libertarian Ed Clark in 1980, and continued to vote libertarian for over 25 years. I can testify that like the republicans not all libertarians agree about everything. I have never and never will vote democratic. I always felt they were too socialist for me, and smug.
They were always the party who wanted to spend other people’s money on what they thought was correct.
I think there are some good republicans who are the only ones protecting us from a completely socialist/Marxist transition.
The democrat party today are like a hive of bees who move in a pact without an independent thought.
Uniparty.
Take a look at Chappelle's bit on Trump.
“We are doing everything you think we’re doing in there!!”
Now is not the time to give up. If a person can't choose a favorite, there's always "the lesser of two evils" decision making process.
No. That is the problem. That is what is creating this stalemate. At this point there is no difference between the 2 parties, except for the courageous Republicans who are pushing back. The inclination, if you are a corporate media consumer, is that they are showboating, and are in it for themselves, etc. But if you're serious about draining the swamp then let's go! Who cares if they are an Independent? Who cares if they have a big mouth and orange skin? Put your vote where your mouth is. Vote for the least establishment candidate. The election is rigged anyway.
It's the man with the "big mouth" and "orange hair" who let the cat out of the bag. The Dems had everything in place, The shock of Trump's election forced them out into the open.
How much would we know about if Hillary had been elected? They've been working since the 60s, on college campuses, training leftist teachers, professors, lawyers, judges.
So true.
The BLM movement, specifically, felt to me as if it was strategically launched, during the Covid pandemic, to add to the chaos.
I really wanted Jim Jordan to win. I hope things work out and the government stops harassing you.
I suspect that those who opposed Jordan are about to get the be careful what you wish for lesson. Personally I am.okay because I like Jordan where he is and the SoH job is reported to be grueling.
The new guy seems ok from what I’ve read on him so far.
Me too. They have fired a shot across the bow on spending too. If we can at least get individual.spending bills instead of those huge everything including the kitchen sink spendathons I will be happy. Well happier.
I too am glad Jim Jordan can keep working hard on his Committees. He is doing a great job, as is Comer.
I voted for Hillary in 2016. Trump in 2020. What woke me up was the media, writ large. MSM, top to bottom. The level of vitriol, hysteria and pandemonium generated by one man stood in stark relief to the facts on the ground. Things were getting objectively better, on all fronts, and yet, the drum beat and orgiastic dancing continued in unison: Trump is a Russian plant! White supremacist! WW3 is imminent! The scales slowly came off my eyes as I juxtaposed what they were saying about him compared to what he was saying, with great humor, about himself and the country. The lies, false narratives and obfuscation of the so called 'news' became self-evident. I began to drift away from the left, slowly at first, but then quicker as I discovered voices on the right that seemed to be advocating for the very things that had anchored me, once upon a time, to the left. It's been a long, strange trip, but it's interesting that I never stopped reading/listening to Matt Taibbi, and my respect for the man has never wavered.
Thanks for sharing this. It is generous of you to be so honest. You may be giving someone else encouragement to walk away and look at things with a fresh perspective.
You're very kind. Thank you. 😊
Welcome to my world….
The Democrats were also the party most invested in aggressively pushing the positives of politically correct speech, way back in the 20th century.
As someone who is a free speech absolutist, maybe an equally valid question is why you would have voted D any time in the past 30 years…
I think for many, the Religious Right’s dominance in the Republican Party would be the main issue.
It's absolutely bizarre to me that so many liberals have bought into that Handmaid's Tale bullshit about Christians. It's a dystopian fantasy concocted by a diseased mind that is as repellent to Christians as it is to Second Wave feminists.
I don’t buy into it at all, just saying that is what I see. I think that people misunderstand each other a lot because they don’t really listen or try to understand each other, plus we have a media environment that lies and pushes division instead of common ground and reconciliation?
That may be all you see because you won't go and see what other Christians are thinking. I am a Christian and most of my friends are but believe me we are not against all of the things you seem to think we're against get out and go to a liberal Church you may be surprised
What do you mean “the Handmaid’s Tale” bullshit? you talking about how politicians try to do stuff like outlaw abortion, and hypocritically invoke the name of their God and their Christ, and flatter themselves with names like “pro-life,” and most of the faithful and the church either stay silent and complicit or (sometimes) even openly boost it?
I agree. The religious prattle I hear out of the Speakers mouth creeps me out. He’d like my grand daughters barefoot and pregnant...But I guess at least he probably walks the walk. When Trump holds a bible or talks about faith, I’d like to scream.
I'm afraid you might still be bitterly clinging to decades-old propaganda. Nobody's going to tolerate a theocracy, but they've bought your vote by scaring you with that.
He’d like your grand daughters barefoot and pregnant? This is a fever dream delusion. Please wake up.
Well barefoot and pregnant might be better than three kids, no fathers and a crappy job.
It was about that long ago for me. William Jefferson Clinton. Say what you will about his personal issues and the incredibly corrupt Clinton foundation, but he was a close to the middle (where I believe >80% of Americans are).
I voted for Bill Clinton. I was young, idealistic, and disillusioned by the lack of action by the formerly popular George Bush. Prior to the '92 election, the first time I ever heard of Bill Clinton was on some C-Span show where he was giving a speech to some press club. To make this long story short, a Democrat couldn't even come close to giving a speech like that and, especially at the time, would have been a good speech for a Republican.
I left the Dems for reasons very similar x ten They’re insane. No moral compass, anti-Constitutional, racist, antisemitic, anti-Christian, anti-family, anti-business, anti-American, lawless, violent, accusatory, sociopathic, unhinged totalitarian, despotic, pro- surveillance, pro-censorship, pro WEF/UN/Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg, Kleptocorporate multinational monopolism, lockdowns, pedophilia, open borders, forced vaccines, war monger, big bank misery pimps. Soulless Cult of Death and Destruction.
Yes, and anti-women
That may be all true, but then, Gavin Newsom has nice hair. Isn't that enough?
Careful, Matt. You're about to overdose on all these red pills.
The red ones may be bad but the blue ones will kill you
The system is broken. Period. It's like living in the old East Germany with the Stasi. Complete with the informing neighbors.
💯
Either that’s true, or you’ve just publicly lost any sense of perspective or proportion. Tough to say
I have been finding it odd or hard to believe that many people find the behavior of the Democratic Party on this regard surprising. This is the logical conclusion to their approach to government which has always been to persecute their opponents. The KKK was the armed wing of the Democratic Party and the House UnAmerican activities committee was controlled by democrats.
Antifa and BLM are the modern day equivalent of the KKK. Throughout Trump’s term they beat, knifed, and gunned down Trump supporters with almost no repercussions. I don’t remember Taibbi standing up for them. I don’t remember Taibbi speaking up when they deployed nationwide violence in order to intimidate voters before the 2020 election. I don’t remember him speaking up for J6 defendants as they languished in jail for years awaiting trial for concocted or trumped up crimes. Has he done anything on behalf of any of these people since he’s had this awakening? I certainly appreciate his awakening and want to encourage it, but he’s got a lot of work to do before I’m convinced he’s really committed to the principles this nation was founded upon.
Citations needed
Citations for what? I was alive during 2020. I watched as the people dressed in all black beat the ever living shit out of people or worse and burned down businesses across the country. The FBI sat and watched. Now, they round up the people that rightly protested a stolen election in the people’s house and throw them in jail for years without trial.
Lmfao “stolen election”
you just keep piling on whopper after whopper
No wonder you’re beholden to Taibbi for his ongoing tongue-bathing of Jim Jordan
Yes. The one thing democrats are highly accomplished in is character assassination. As most high-profile black and female republicans will confirm. Oh yeah, any black conservative Supreme Court Justice also.