Pew Research: in 40 years, the GOP has become twice as conservative

[Anonymous]

Fascinating research out of Pew.



"The polarization in today’s Congress has roots that go back decades"
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/03/10/the-polarization-in-todays-congress-has-roots-that-go-back-decades/


What has led this change? In my view, American monied elites - who truly shape the national discourse - have gone off the deep-end. The Erik Prince's of today are not the Andrew Carnegie's of yesteryear. They build private armies, instead of building public libraries. The politicians they buy have followed suit in implementing more and more radical policy agendas.

What also concerns me is that both MSM and academics are apt to try to "both sides" this partisan extremism. No one wants to call it for what it is, because they are worried about offending advertisers or donors.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting this, it is very interesting. The only surprise is that Republicans in the Senate is more conservative than those in the House.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for posting - I missed this.

Norm Ornstein and Tom Mann - both who were as close to the middle as one could be through the course of their careers - wrote "It's Even Worse Than It Looks" in 2012 followed by "It's Even Worse Than It Was" in 2016. Here's a pull quote: "The political system faces what the authors call ”asymmetric polarization,” with the Republican Party implacably refusing to allow anything that might help the Democrats politically, no matter the cost." So no infrastructure, no insulin, no Obamacare - the list just goes on and on. And the GOP Senate Judiciary's reasons for not voting for Judge Jackson for SCOTUS are beyond embarrassing. Truly so.

[Anonymous]

It’s good that someone has done a study since Republicans gaslight people about this. Anyone with a functioning brain and the ability to look backwards can see how completely insane the GOP has become - even ones who more or less act normally (W, for one).

And 12:01 is right, too. There’s nothing that the GOP cares about. Not voting rights, not the continued existence do the nation, nothing.

[Anonymous]

But it isn't even conservative. It is radical hard right white nationalism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But it isn't even conservative. It is radical hard right white nationalism.

OP here: you're right, I should've put "conservative" in quotes. Because that word is absolutely meaningless these days. "Conservative" is just an empty-vessel cultural identity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But it isn't even conservative. It is radical hard right white nationalism.

Yeah but why let them off the hook with these semantics? The GOP has encouraged hard right white nationalism, fascism, misogyny and general stupidity to flourish. They’re reactionaries and the party is obviously fine with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s good that someone has done a study since Republicans gaslight people about this. Anyone with a functioning brain and the ability to look backwards can see how completely insane the GOP has become - even ones who more or less act normally (W, for one).

And 12:01 is right, too. There’s nothing that the GOP cares about. Not voting rights, not the continued existence do the nation, nothing.

+1

[Anonymous]

The shift in both parties is largely the result of the 1994 and 2010 elections in which moderate Democrats in right-leaning districts were replaced by paranoid idiot Republicans. Then when the Democrats took back seats in 2006 and 2018 they beat more moderate suburban Republicans, not the lunatics.

[Anonymous]

No duh! It’s frightening!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The shift in both parties is largely the result of the 1994 and 2010 elections in which moderate Democrats in right-leaning districts were replaced by paranoid idiot Republicans. Then when the Democrats took back seats in 2006 and 2018 they beat more moderate suburban Republicans, not the lunatics.

And those people in the moderate suburbs have now seen exactly what “moderate” democrats are - and will be tossing them out in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No duh! It’s frightening!

Why would they frighten you? It’s a reaction to what they’re seeing the left do

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No duh! It’s frightening!

Why would they frighten you? It’s a reaction to what they’re seeing the left do

No. It’s all paranoid idiocy of the right. Nothing they say is true or reasonable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No duh! It’s frightening!

Why would they frighten you? It’s a reaction to what they’re seeing the left do

No. It’s all paranoid idiocy of the right. Nothing they say is true or reasonable.

Nope. You’re wrong.

Sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The shift in both parties is largely the result of the 1994 and 2010 elections in which moderate Democrats in right-leaning districts were replaced by paranoid idiot Republicans. Then when the Democrats took back seats in 2006 and 2018 they beat more moderate suburban Republicans, not the lunatics.

And those people in the moderate suburbs have now seen exactly what “moderate” democrats are - and will be tossing them out in November.

I bet you’re claiming to be a “staunch Democrat” on other threads tonight, aren’t you.

The fact of the GOP’s extremism are evident to all, as is the risk that they pose to the US.

For example, here are two cases of right wing extremist movements that are currently posing a threat to the country’s safety (along with many other right wing domestic terrorists such as what we saw on 1/6). These people are totally welcome and at home in the GOP:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/incel-threat-secret-service-report/?dc_data=1131694_samsung-carnival-us&utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=taboola_news&utm_campaign=ECCBSiCBSNews&ui=e305b5ff-f116-401e-ae93-5bc95e33ef3f-tuct925560b

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/03/08/they-are-preparing-war-an-expert-civil-wars-discusses-where-political-extremists-are-taking-this-country/