Question for Other Moderate Republicans Who Have Voted for Dems

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I get soured by the anticapitalist tone among some of the democrats. I am all for social programs and that includes universal health care. But there are a lot of programs pushed by the Democrats that I think are just redistribution of wealth and I am not for that.

Where do you live? Because redistribution of wealth is either happening to your detriment or in your favor RIGHT NOW with federal income taxes.

I often think people like the way words sound when they put them together but they really don't understand what they mean.

Is that supposed to be a groundbreaking revelation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[/b]And, I'm sick of seeing my subordinates slack off at work, while I work 50-60 hours a week, as they demand larger and larger pay raises.

I'll either vote Republican or not at all in 2022 and probably 2024. Someone will call me privileged, racist, or something else. Your knee-jerk response is exactly why people like me will cause Biden and co to lose... and lose big.

Turn off Fox.

I don't watch Fox, but Liberals constant cartoonist view of moderate Republicans is exactly why you will lose in 2022, then blame it on racism/sexism, then lose even more in 2024 before you get your act together.

Why are you working 50-60 hours a week? Either your company is understaffed and You are being taken advantage of, of you work overtime because your pay isn’t enough to support your COL. Just because you believe in working yourself to the bone doesn’t mean that is what healthy people do. What a horrible quality life. I can only imagine the way you treat your “subordinates“ who just want to have a decent quality of life. They’re probably also underpaid and overworked.

There are a lot of assumptions and over-generalizations in your response.

Enlighten me. Unless you are doing something Nobel like ending childhood poverty you don’t get brownie points for working 60 hours a week. No one’s ever put, “I wish I would’ve worked more” on their tombstone.

I am VP of Business Development for a federal contractor. [b]I work 60 hours a week to ensure we have enough business to pay a salary to over 100 employees. I worked 70+ hours a week last year to ensure no one was laid off during the height of the pandemic.

This is the very definition of a self-licking ice cream cone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think that this whole discussion is orchestrated by Republicans?

Not really. There are many reasons for moderates to be deeply concerned with the tone and language of many Democrats and the progressive left. They thought they were getting a pragmatic centrist aka Bill Clinton with Biden but we ended up with a president who seems to care more about national pronoun day than inflation and supply chain bottlenecks.

There is a distinct tone-deafness in the Democratic leadership to everyday needs and plights. I'm not really sure what is going on.

Do tell.

What magic wand do you think Biden should wave to end inflation?

And here's a fact sheet on the Biden Administration's action to tackle supply chain issues:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/13/fact-sheet-biden-administration-efforts-to-address-bottlenecks-at-ports-of-los-angeles-and-long-beach-moving-goods-from-ship-to-shelf/

We don't want a fact sheet. We want a President or a Secretary on the ground with the port chiefs and visiting the damned ships. I thought they fixed this? Apparently not as we're back to 90 ships waiting out at sea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think that this whole discussion is orchestrated by Republicans?

Not really. There are many reasons for moderates to be deeply concerned with the tone and language of many Democrats and the progressive left. They thought they were getting a pragmatic centrist aka Bill Clinton with Biden but we ended up with a president who seems to care more about national pronoun day than inflation and supply chain bottlenecks.

There is a distinct tone-deafness in the Democratic leadership to everyday needs and plights. I'm not really sure what is going on.

Do tell.

What magic wand do you think Biden should wave to end inflation?

And here's a fact sheet on the Biden Administration's action to tackle supply chain issues:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/13/fact-sheet-biden-administration-efforts-to-address-bottlenecks-at-ports-of-los-angeles-and-long-beach-moving-goods-from-ship-to-shelf/

We don't want a fact sheet. We want a President or a Secretary on the ground with the port chiefs and visiting the damned ships. I thought they fixed this? Apparently not as we're back to 90 ships waiting out at sea.

I’m sorry… you seriously think that the President or a Secretary needs to go to the ports? Do you want them out there steering the ships into harbor? Maybe go up in one of those cranes and personally unload a ship or two? Maybe just show up and look menacing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[…]

I do know things like white replacement theory emerged in the last few years as the Democrats turned a blind eye to the shambolic border mess and millions of illegal immigrants and extreme belittling of concepts like All lives matter (why wouldn't all lives matter?). When the Democrats make politics out of racial identities, it follows suit that someone is going to start making "white" into identity politics too. After all, why wouldn't that be a fair thing to do? Or are white people not allowed to have an identity? You can't have one but not the other.

It’s interesting that you’re coming at this from a place of defensiveness and resentment that has been fueled by the toxic racism on the right, but blaming the Democrats for it. I’m a White person and I used to feel defensive about this, too. I think the defensiveness comes from a level of awareness that the charges leveled against the White race (that we have benefited from a system we create, to the detriment of others).

Why do people get mad about the phrase “all lives matter”? Because traditionally, Black lives haven’t mattered. Murders of Black victims have gone under-investigated, under-prosecuted and under-punished, but this becomes even worse when the victim is murdered by the same people tasked with protecting their safety.

White replacement theory isn’t a response to borders, it’s anti-semitism, nativism, anti-immigration, bigotry and sexist (depending which strain of it you’re talking about). To the extent that it’s a “response,” it’s more a response to the feeling of loss of supremacy, which is not the same thing as loss of rights or opportunity: “ When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think that this whole discussion is orchestrated by Republicans?

Not really. There are many reasons for moderates to be deeply concerned with the tone and language of many Democrats and the progressive left. They thought they were getting a pragmatic centrist aka Bill Clinton with Biden but we ended up with a president who seems to care more about national pronoun day than inflation and supply chain bottlenecks.

There is a distinct tone-deafness in the Democratic leadership to everyday needs and plights. I'm not really sure what is going on.

Do tell.

What magic wand do you think Biden should wave to end inflation?

And here's a fact sheet on the Biden Administration's action to tackle supply chain issues:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/13/fact-sheet-biden-administration-efforts-to-address-bottlenecks-at-ports-of-los-angeles-and-long-beach-moving-goods-from-ship-to-shelf/

We don't want a fact sheet. We want a President or a Secretary on the ground with the port chiefs and visiting the damned ships. I thought they fixed this? Apparently not as we're back to 90 ships waiting out at sea.

I’m sorry… you seriously think that the President or a Secretary needs to go to the ports? Do you want them out there steering the ships into harbor? Maybe go up in one of those cranes and personally unload a ship or two? Maybe just show up and look menacing?

Let me put it this way - Obama and LaHood would have been on the ground. As would have Bush Jr and Trump with his damned paper towel rolls.

Biden is too tired to do it and Buttigieg doesn't travel west of Virginia.

[Anonymous]

The funny thing is the Obama-Biden team have been working to get this Infrastructure bill in place for a decade now. They finally got it and they're not shouting to the rooftops how momentous it is.

There should be groundbreakings and hardhats every week from now into Summer 2022.

In Miami, President Obama Talks About his Plan to Put People to Work Rebuilding America

President Obama was in Florida today, where he got a chance to see the Port Miami tunnel project on Dodge Island. The project, which is the result of three years of work by over 500 employees and more than 6,000 sub-contractors and vendors, will connect the port to the interstate highway system more quickly and safely and will take over 1.5 million trucks out of the downtown area per year.

[Anonymous]

God, you people.

Biden in New Hampshire

Biden in Missouri

Biden in Michigan

Biden in Minnesota

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God, you people.

Biden in New Hampshire

Biden in Missouri

Biden in Michigan

Biden in Minnesota

Oh yeah, a bus factory in what looks like an underground parking garage...real inspiring. The other three visits in November. However I give Biden credit - he's getting out there.

[Anonymous]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I get soured by the anticapitalist tone among some of the democrats. I am all for social programs and that includes universal health care. But there are a lot of programs pushed by the Democrats that I think are just redistribution of wealth and I am not for that.

There is a small, very vocal, very left group saying this. Not even Elizabeth Warren is anti-capitalist. Please don’t think activists represent the Democratic Party. The rightwing and mainstream (cable news) media LOVE to focus on the “radical” portion of the left while ignoring the very real radical takeover of the GOP by an anti-democracy faction.

The truth is, our country lags in so many programs that make a healthy up society. Paid time off, affordable healthcare, lower prescription drugs, affordable college…

Yes, there will always be scammers. I consider the biggest scammers to be the billionaires & wealthy corporations who have convinced the American public that they should be allowed to skip paying what they owe in taxes because they are
1. job makers
2. have “pulled bootstraps/ worked hard for their money, while ignoring that much of their wealth was built from the public good i.e. they and or their workers were educated in schools, their goods travel on public roads & purchased over publicly seed funded Internet…

They are laughing all the way to the bank, or in some cases to outerspace.

I thought that too. I feel like Biden is drawn to that group more than I expected and it lends a lot of legitimacy to their goals. Which makes me wonder if more democrats today are for that type of stuff. A lot of young people really want free college or tuition forgiveness. I hear some sad stories of people who got scammed by banks but for many I hear about massive tuition to earn a Low earning degree. That is a choice, not a tragedy. I know young people at my work who have massive debt but at least some of it was accumulated doing mostly frivolous semesters or summers abroad. I took loans and worked every summer and during the school year and NEVER got to do that because I couldn’t afford it. Or should I say, I wasn’t willing to take out loans to do it. I should not now be asked to pay for Larlas summer in Spain. Nope. But those same colleagues all talked about loan forgiveness. It made me so mad.

I worked through college and grad/law school. I borrowed over $100,000 in loans. I didn’t go abroad either and I still support bringing some loan forgiveness and sanity to the issue of funding college. All of that debt made it really hard for me to start out. I was living in group houses in my early 30’s to save money. After I got married and we bought a house, we really benefitted from the fact that my husband had no school debt. His parents were able to pay for his schooling. We had more for a down payment because he didn’t have a student loan payment. My friends who are realtors have commented on how many of their younger home buyers have family money and no other debt so they can purchase fairly expensive homes because they have a big downpayment. They didn’t earn family wealth, someone else did and they simply won the family lottery. A lottery I might add that our tax system not only encourages but makes the rest of us pay for (the tax system favors people who have investment income versus wage income). I don’t support wiping away all college debt and I don’t think we should pay for everyone to go to whatever school they want. I do believe that we need to make higher ed more accessible because right now it is skewed to helping those born to affluence maintain their affluence rather than provide opportunities to less affluent, working class, or low income students. I am acutely aware that while I have done really well so many of my family and friends from childhood who worked as hard or harder than me haven’t. Making education truly more affordable and accessible is something that needs to be done and that will benefit society as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think that this whole discussion is orchestrated by Republicans?

Not really. There are many reasons for moderates to be deeply concerned with the tone and language of many Democrats and the progressive left. They thought they were getting a pragmatic centrist aka Bill Clinton with Biden but we ended up with a president who seems to care more about national pronoun day than inflation and supply chain bottlenecks.

There is a distinct tone-deafness in the Democratic leadership to everyday needs and plights. I'm not really sure what is going on.

Do tell.

What magic wand do you think Biden should wave to end inflation?

And here's a fact sheet on the Biden Administration's action to tackle supply chain issues:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/13/fact-sheet-biden-administration-efforts-to-address-bottlenecks-at-ports-of-los-angeles-and-long-beach-moving-goods-from-ship-to-shelf/

We don't want a fact sheet. We want a President or a Secretary on the ground with the port chiefs and visiting the damned ships. I thought they fixed this? Apparently not as we're back to 90 ships waiting out at sea.

We don't want a fact sheet.

You sound like a three year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I get soured by the anticapitalist tone among some of the democrats. I am all for social programs and that includes universal health care. But there are a lot of programs pushed by the Democrats that I think are just redistribution of wealth and I am not for that.

Where do you live? Because redistribution of wealth is either happening to your detriment or in your favor RIGHT NOW with federal income taxes.

I often think people like the way words sound when they put them together but they really don't understand what they mean.

Is that supposed to be a groundbreaking revelation?

Apparently it is for the "anticapitalist tone" poster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone else think that this whole discussion is orchestrated by Republicans?

Not really. There are many reasons for moderates to be deeply concerned with the tone and language of many Democrats and the progressive left. They thought they were getting a pragmatic centrist aka Bill Clinton with Biden but we ended up with a president who seems to care more about national pronoun day than inflation and supply chain bottlenecks.

There is a distinct tone-deafness in the Democratic leadership to everyday needs and plights. I'm not really sure what is going on.

Do tell.

What magic wand do you think Biden should wave to end inflation?

And here's a fact sheet on the Biden Administration's action to tackle supply chain issues:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/13/fact-sheet-biden-administration-efforts-to-address-bottlenecks-at-ports-of-los-angeles-and-long-beach-moving-goods-from-ship-to-shelf/

We don't want a fact sheet. We want a President or a Secretary on the ground with the port chiefs and visiting the damned ships. I thought they fixed this? Apparently not as we're back to 90 ships waiting out at sea.

We don't want a fact sheet.

You sound like a three year old.

Three-year-olds love photo ops, which look pretty but don’t actually get anything done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I get soured by the anticapitalist tone among some of the democrats. I am all for social programs and that includes universal health care. But there are a lot of programs pushed by the Democrats that I think are just redistribution of wealth and I am not for that.

There is a small, very vocal, very left group saying this. Not even Elizabeth Warren is anti-capitalist. Please don’t think activists represent the Democratic Party. The rightwing and mainstream (cable news) media LOVE to focus on the “radical” portion of the left while ignoring the very real radical takeover of the GOP by an anti-democracy faction.

The truth is, our country lags in so many programs that make a healthy up society. Paid time off, affordable healthcare, lower prescription drugs, affordable college…

Yes, there will always be scammers. I consider the biggest scammers to be the billionaires & wealthy corporations who have convinced the American public that they should be allowed to skip paying what they owe in taxes because they are
1. job makers
2. have “pulled bootstraps/ worked hard for their money, while ignoring that much of their wealth was built from the public good i.e. they and or their workers were educated in schools, their goods travel on public roads & purchased over publicly seed funded Internet…

They are laughing all the way to the bank, or in some cases to outerspace.

If you think inflation is bad now, mass loan forgiveness would make it WAY worse. The end of the student loan moratorium on Feb 1 will take some of this excess money out of the system and at least help tame inflation a little bit.
I thought that too. I feel like Biden is drawn to that group more than I expected and it lends a lot of legitimacy to their goals. Which makes me wonder if more democrats today are for that type of stuff. A lot of young people really want free college or tuition forgiveness. I hear some sad stories of people who got scammed by banks but for many I hear about massive tuition to earn a Low earning degree. That is a choice, not a tragedy. I know young people at my work who have massive debt but at least some of it was accumulated doing mostly frivolous semesters or summers abroad. I took loans and worked every summer and during the school year and NEVER got to do that because I couldn’t afford it. Or should I say, I wasn’t willing to take out loans to do it. I should not now be asked to pay for Larlas summer in Spain. Nope. But those same colleagues all talked about loan forgiveness. It made me so mad.

I worked through college and grad/law school. I borrowed over $100,000 in loans. I didn’t go abroad either and I still support bringing some loan forgiveness and sanity to the issue of funding college. All of that debt made it really hard for me to start out. I was living in group houses in my early 30’s to save money. After I got married and we bought a house, we really benefitted from the fact that my husband had no school debt. His parents were able to pay for his schooling. We had more for a down payment because he didn’t have a student loan payment. My friends who are realtors have commented on how many of their younger home buyers have family money and no other debt so they can purchase fairly expensive homes because they have a big downpayment. They didn’t earn family wealth, someone else did and they simply won the family lottery. A lottery I might add that our tax system not only encourages but makes the rest of us pay for (the tax system favors people who have investment income versus wage income). I don’t support wiping away all college debt and I don’t think we should pay for everyone to go to whatever school they want. I do believe that we need to make higher ed more accessible because right now it is skewed to helping those born to affluence maintain their affluence rather than provide opportunities to less affluent, working class, or low income students. I am acutely aware that while I have done really well so many of my family and friends from childhood who worked as hard or harder than me haven’t. Making education truly more affordable and accessible is something that needs to be done and that will benefit society as a whole.