10-29-2016, 02:49 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-30-2016, 01:47 PM by Bob Butler 54.)
(10-28-2016, 02:48 PM)Mikebert Wrote: Links would help when making a post like this. Are there some writers advocating for this idea? Link to them. If this is your idea then more detail and explanation is needed. Not in a single super-long post, but in bite sized pieces in which you respond to questions.
I can sympathize with Mike, here. This thread is introducing new labels, but isn’t defining what they mean very well. They are perfectly good labels, but haven’t we got enough labels?
I’ve a sense of a significant shift in the dynamics of the Red / Blue conflict, but rather than change the label I’d like to examine which issues have shifted. My first thought was to write a super-long mega post to examine each and every issue and look for shifts, but I’m afraid Mike might decide to apply a 2nd Amendment Solution.
The obvious change is that racism and sexism have been brought out in the open again. Through the unraveling, political correctness kept much of that below the surface. With hindsight, the deplorable thoughts were suppressed but hadn’t gone away. I have seen polls saying that one of Trump’s key draws is ‘curbing the excesses of political correctness.’ That is, of course, the politically correct way of saying he’s making it OK to be openly deplorable.
“Make America Deplorable Again?”
A second factor is his insulting of America. In order to assert he would make America better, he is portraying America as horrible, mostly by repeating stuff that simply isn't true over and over again. This isn’t so much a issue change as a campaign tactic. I’m not sure a new version of the Republican Party can be based on demeaning and insulting lies.
On economics, he’s going with Trumped Up Trickle Down. This isn’t new. The Republican base is sold on tax cuts and small government. He is promising more of the same but more so. Personally, I thought Bush 43 had already taken that well beyond the point of reason and collapsed the economy in the process. Trump is promising to go further beyond reason. Still, this isn’t a transformation of the Republican philosophy. If Reagan had some good ideas, and the Bushes hurt the country by over using these ideas, Trump is bushier than either Bush.
I could go on, but somewhere around here is the super long post mega line.
But what other issues are involved in this supposed change into a nationalist / cosmopolitan divide? To me, the Establishment Republicans were willing to mess up the country doing stupid things if doing stupid things would get them re-elected. Trump is taking the same old promises to the next level but adding open prejudice and hate. He has shown that if one deliberately seeks out the deplorable wing of the Republican party, one could win primaries and defeat the less deplorable Republicans. While this approach can win Republican primaries, to what extent can it win general elections?
That seems to be the key Trump shift. I’m not really seeing new ideas transforming party lines.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.