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I call BS. The assertion that I hold my views because I'm partisan is absurd. I'm right here. Right where I've been for several decades.

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I'm glad you responded. I don't think Greg feels that all of us that vote Democrat are holding extreme beliefs. In the same way he is saying that not all Republicans are saying the opposite. It is good to be a partisan. That is required of Democracies. We line up together behind different understandings of major policy differences. And we discuss with conviction and humility these differences. Often not agreeing with each other. It is the "talking points" that bother both of us. Or should we say the shouting points. I don't think that Skip is "one of them." Nor Greg. I just think we will soon, and better sooner than later, have to adjust to a different way of partisanship. "Love the sinner not the sin?" Well, not quite the same. Differentiate between "evil" and reasonable disagreement. Spare us the absolutes of truth and wrong. Politics is not religion. Perhaps it is time that religion is not religion but that is another discussion. And I almost erased that last sentence because I'm afraid that not one will understand what I mean. I need to write again about what some have called secular political debate. It allows the freedom to disaagree and the imperative to continue to engage.

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No, he's not saying we're extreme. He's saying we are talking about the same old things and that we switch sides depending on if "our party" is in power or not. That's just false. Just looked at a poll and he skipped over the issues identified by Republican and Democratic voters. Crime is the #2 issue for Republicans but feelings seem to be preventing everyone from realizing that Republican states have more crime. He mentioned deficits. Is he ignorant of the role of deficits in our neo Keynesian economy? Ideas held generally by Democrats. It's Republicans who flip flop all over themselves on deficits. That's why the rack them up when they're in charge. But those are old timey politics. Insurrections, election integrity, civil war if the "wrong" side wins is the new wave.

I'm with Robert Reich on this one. The so-called radical left is standing in the same place. It's the right that has moved.

https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/political-extremism-is-a-one-sided-affair-robert-reich/

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your linked example is a good example of what Greg was criticizing - Reich talks about the Jan 6 crew + Trump as if those are the typical Republicans. They are not, anymore than "the Squad" is typical mainstream Democrats. Both parties have recently had leadership trending towards the fringes of each, whether because they truly think that way or because they think it is more likely to keep them in those positions of power.

Issues - Inflation is #1 for both. Pubs think most of it is the DEMs fault, DEMs think it is Trump tax cuts and Putin's war (which Pubs think Biden essentially invited him to wage). Hint - it is mostly Federal government spending and Biden energy policy.

Crime and Immigration and issues 2 and 3. I challenge your assertion that "Republican states have more crime" but Republicans aren't the ones who have tacitly been inviting immigrants, giving them public support, and pushing amnesty. You may not personally hold those positions, but in a two party system if you vote for Democrats, you are voting for those policies.

All the "save democracy" and "women's healthcare" crap is just that, useful only for political gain and not reasonable discussion and decision-making. Re voting integrity, my prediction is the Democrats will rue some of their proposed "fixes", though not near as much as they will if they kill the filibuster. But as John points out, it isn't useful to have your political discussions around the fringes of either party- it accomplishes nothing and only encourages the politicians to think that's what (a majority of) the voters want to hear. We just need to get back to where national candidates ran on being in the "middle", however they defined that for their party, rather than on appealing to their fringes.

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I broke this up.

"Pubs think most of it is the DEMs fault, DEMs think it is Trump tax cuts and Putin's war (which Pubs think Biden essentially invited him to wage). Hint - it is mostly Federal government spending and Biden energy policy."

Inflation is not the #1 voting issue for both. I don't agree at all. No one is saying the trump tax cuts caused inflation. And Putin's war, Biden and Democrats warned and warned and warned. Republicans scoffed. Anyway that's just opinion. Federal spending actually has very little to do with inflation. Inflation is international. That's one of the reasons the Fed has been so ineffective by cutting the monetary base. It's supply chains and higher profits. And can you show me the Biden energy policies that have caused inflation?

"Crime and Immigration and issues 2 and 3. I challenge your assertion that "Republican states have more crime"'

Facts are facts. The governor of Florida went up to New York and lectured them on their crime. Yet, Florida has more violent crime. That's the trend. In fact, violent crime peaked in the US in 2019 and 2020. It's fallen since.

"but Republicans aren't the ones who have tacitly been inviting immigrants, giving them public support, and pushing amnesty. You may not personally hold those positions"'

You seem to be making the assumption that immigrants are more criminal that Americans.

"my prediction is the Democrats will rue some of their proposed "fixes"'

I will never rue a system in which the winner wins and loser accepts loss like an adult.

I found an old college paper I wrote about corporations. My view is the same today. When a small group of Democrats talk about ideas like FDR, even when many other Democrats are centrists, that doesn't make them radicalized. The right has swung hard to the right. Except for a few, all they have is fringe.

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