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Caliman73

(11,767 posts)
13. Republicans painted themselves into a corner on that.
Tue Aug 15, 2017, 03:48 PM
Aug 2017

I think at the end of the day, Republicans know that their ideology is doomed because the natural state of people is to progress. Values and traditions change constantly in society. Conservatism may hold on to some values (and that is not necessarily a bad thing), but modern Republicans (after the 1920's) staked their political fortunes to the idea of supporting unfettered capitalism. When that failed miserably in the 1930's and FDR popularized the idea of Keynesian economics and a more centralized role for the federal government, Republicans found themselves in a losing battle. People (as disenchanted as they may be with government at times) saw government as a way to keep the playing field as even as possible, reigning in the excesses of capitalism.

Republicans, knowing that we are a nation of immigrants and that demographics change, were left to go after groups that naturally direct themselves to authoritarian and conservative politics (fundamentalists and White Supremacists). When the Democrats realized that restricting rights was not the future, and began fighting for integration in the 40's and 50's after the War (at least Northern Democrats), the Republicans saw the writing on the wall which is why They started courting the religious right and racists in the South.

Why is that relevant to Nazis? Because Nazism and White Supremacy go hand in hand, and that is at this point a major part of the Republican coalition. They can always break of small pieces of the Democratic coalition. People who are disaffected by the inefficiencies of government, but never to the extent where they can dominate in the area of ideas and win straight up in an election. We simply have more numbers, hence they cheat by suppressing the vote and other dirty tactics. They married White Supremacy and Religious fanaticism hoping that they could use the groups to maintain a level of power, but now those groups want their due, so Republicans have to put up or shut up. Republicans in leadership cannot forcefully condemn Nazis because they courted those people to help them get elected.

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What about the good old days when hating Communists was a bipartisan affair? n/t Binkie The Clown Aug 2017 #1
NAZIS are infinitely more loathsome. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #2
More loathsome than Putin? LisaM Aug 2017 #5
I don't follow you. Putin isn't a communist. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #7
He's ex-KGB. LisaM Aug 2017 #21
Agreed. He's still not a communist. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #27
He's a capitalist JonLP24 Aug 2017 #30
That's not communist, he's big grifting asshole like Benedict Donald uponit7771 Aug 2017 #35
Putin is an authoritarian. He certainly isn't a Marxist. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #8
Y'all making this way too complicated, like trump, putin is simply a criminal. Eliot Rosewater Aug 2017 #52
Putin is not a communist. Caliman73 Aug 2017 #19
The problem isn't Communism it is totalitarianism. Caliman73 Aug 2017 #4
Compare the end goal of Marx to the end goal of Hitler. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #10
Again. I am limited and may be wrong about communism... Caliman73 Aug 2017 #14
For all its flaws Marxism envisioned a humanistic future. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #17
You're either saying Nazis aren't that bad or Communists are as bad as Nazis. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #9
Stalin likely killed more people than Hitler. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #11
No, communism is not evil. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #16
Mendacity. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #20
Is Marxism an evil ideology? DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #24
And the Communists killed and enslaved more people in the 20th Century than the Nazis did. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #36
Hitler was a genocidal leader who all but eliminated European Jewry DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #41
And then those inspired by Marx, like Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the Kims... Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #44
Marxism is not an inherently evil ideology. Nazism is. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #46
It doesn't get more true when you repeat the Big Lie. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #48
Did we or did we not ally ourselves with the Soviet Union to fight Hitler ? DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #50
We made a deal with the devil (after the two devils, Hitler and Stalin, had a deal fell come apart). Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #53
Totalitarianism is evil. Marxism isn't. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #56
It's entirely defendable. I am a Democrat and a Marxist. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #25
Hello syringis Aug 2017 #32
I agree it would take a long time. I still thing it's an essential goal. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #33
The problem with Communism is it relies on the same humans that are exploiting & trafficking labor JonLP24 Aug 2017 #31
Mao, Pol Pot, and Stalin were butchers. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #18
Instead of finding yet another thing to quibble at among ourselves,... Binkie The Clown Aug 2017 #12
My point is your claim that communists are the bad guys is false. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #15
Khrushchev and Gorbachev tried to liberalize and reform the Soviet Union. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #22
Communism has never been a problem... Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #23
What tenet of communism demands extermination camps? Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #29
Ask Stalin and the millions he butchered. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #37
I've read the Gulag Archipelago multiple times. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #38
And yet seem to have learned nothing. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #39
Have you stopped to consider that I know what I'm talking about? Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #40
You don't give the impression that you know what you are talking about... Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #42
You realize there are thousands of democratic socialists in the Democratic party, right? Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #43
Are you now suggesting that democratic socialists are crypto-communists and Marxists? Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #45
Secret? I'm sure the vast majority of democratic socialists are self-avowed Marxists. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #47
Thanks for making that plain. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #49
You can dispense with the melodrama. We don't eat babies. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #51
I beg to differ. Expecting Rain Aug 2017 #55
Name for me the crucial tenets of Marxism. Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #57
I'm far from a Marxist but to conflate Marxism with Nazism is idiocy. DemocratSinceBirth Aug 2017 #54
As predicted, somebody told me I was wrong. Which sort of means I was right, doesn't it. n/t Binkie The Clown Aug 2017 #34
The problem is in defining who the true "bad guys" are. Caliman73 Aug 2017 #28
Bingfuckinggo Binkie. LSFL Aug 2017 #58
What precisely is your issue with communism? Gravitycollapse Aug 2017 #59
Give me back the cold war era of Nazis And Russia. democratisphere Aug 2017 #3
Nazi groups have been around forever. B2G Aug 2017 #6
Republicans painted themselves into a corner on that. Caliman73 Aug 2017 #13
+1 leftstreet Aug 2017 #26
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