Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m sadder every day by the uneducated, racist, misogynistic, homophobic citizens of this country. I just can’t believe how many of them are out there. It’s depressing.
I despise the MAGA movement and consider it a threat to our country’s freedom.
What saddens me, however, is the rabid partisanship and stereotyping on both sides that the OP demonstrates.
While there are undoubtedly some voters on the Republican side (and in any large group, including the Democrats), who are uneducated, racist, misogynistic, and/or homophobic, most aren’t. They range the full spectrum from the incredibly good to the incredibly bad, with most falling somewhere in the middle.
Some of them have been misguided by right-wing media. Some may agree with Democrats on many issues, but have an issue of primary concern to them that they can’t accept the Democrat’s position.
Moreover, nobody likes to be unjustly vilified. Telling someone that they are uneducated, racist, misogynistic, and homophobic because they disagree with you isn’t likely to get them on your side, and is hardly convincing that you’re open-minded and tolerant.
I’m a conservative who intends to vote a straight Democratic ticket, because I recognize that defending our liberty takes priority over all other issues. You have to decide what your priorities are. Is it more important to you to demonize MAGA voters or to try to turn some of their votes? Stereotyping them and labeling them so negatively may allow you to feel smug and self-righteous, and even gather accolades from those who are like-minded, but you already have those votes. If that’s your priority, then I guess you can all feel smug and self-righteous if Republicans win and the country starts to go to Hell in Trump’s handbasket. On the other hand, if you want to prioritize winning the election, then I suggest treating Republicans like their vote would actually be welcome.
People are complex and so are the issues. You probably have some common ground with every MAGA candidate. Maybe you disagree on abortion and guns, but you can agree that grocery prices are too high. Maybe you disagree on fiscal policy, but you’re both pro-choice. Trump is not conservative. In a lot of ways, the parties have flipped. The Democrats are the ones defending the Constitution, fighting Russian invasion, have a former prosecutor in what appears to be a stable relationship as opposed to Trump who is covered with every kind of moral slime imaginable, not to mention his actual crimes. Trump is also pretty stupid for a “very stable genius” who has no filter and eight years of verbal diarrhea, not to mention his Tweets. Instead of attacking Trump voters, find out what they care about and show them how the Democrats can represent them better. In most cases, you can probably find a quote from Trump, himself, to make your point.
People talk about right and left like politics is a straight line with two opposite poles. I think that it’s actually like a circle. As you go further away from the political “center”, each side becomes more extreme until they meet on the side opposite the “center” at tyranny. Whether the tyrant labels himself a fascist or a communist, the politics doesn’t really matter. Whatever slogans he may spout, the only thing a tyrant really cares about is himself. Politics under a dictator are just the lever he used to seize power. Right now, I fear we stand at the edge of that cliff and Trump wants to push us over the edge. We must stop him. However, even if he is stopped, the divisiveness in this country with its fear-mongering and hatred leaves us vulnerable to the rise of others who would have similar ambitions, and they’ll use whichever side they feel they can exploit. Stopping Trump is vital, but it’s not enough. We must come together so we can’t be used against each other.
We need to win this election, and we need to come together with our fellow citizens. We are the UNITED States of America, and as Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.” We must look for common ground ground where we can find it, compromise where we can, recognize that most issues have gray areas, have the humility to acknowledge that occasionally we’re going to be wrong, respect the right that the other side has to be wrong, themselves, but extend to them the grace and goodwill when their sincere good intentions lead them to the wrong position on an issue that we might hope they would extend to us when we are likewise in error.
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