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And the thing I’ve been struggling with throughout my political career is how do you close the gap. There’s all this goodness and decency and common sense on th
by twoodfin 11y ago
And the thing I’ve been struggling with throughout my political career is how do you close the gap. There’s all this goodness and decency and common sense on the ground, and somehow it gets translated into rigid, dogmatic, often mean-spirited politics.
Well, one way that happens is when political leaders don't try to engage their opponents' best arguments, but instead set up straw men that are wonderfully fun to watch burn:
Whenever I hear people saying that our problems would be solved without government, I always want to tell them you need to go to some other countries where there really is no government, where the roads are never repaired, where nobody has facilitated electricity going everywhere even where it’s not economical, where... the postal system doesn’t work, or kids don’t have access to basic primary education. That’s the logical conclusion if, in fact, you think that government is the enemy.
The GOP (thankfully) isn't composed of a bunch of anarchists, and framing your opposition as only made up of the idiots who run around saying "Keep government out of my Medicare" is not really a great way to persuade folks that, say, a $4.1T government is worth $300B more taxes and debt than a $3.8T government. Either could keep the roads paved and the mail delivered.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- cromwellian 11y agoYou mean hundreds of GOP representatives did not sign a pledge written by a philosphical leader who wants to "drown the government in a bathtub" Are these the same Republicans who when asked in debates what they'll do as president talk mostly about bulking up the military and buying more jets and ships? Or who want to spend more getting involved in wars or building walls? If you look at Paul Ryan's budget it's pretty easy to conclude the opposition is run by idiots. And if you want to straw man you opponents, how about calling them Marxists, doubt they're even American, claim they don't love America, that they're tearing up the constitution, that stuff they've done that every other gop president has done is "unprecedented" The GOP has been hyperbolically twisting Obama policies since day 1 stoking up fear. "death panels"? Coming to grab you guns?
- tsotha 11y agoThat's the way he's always been. Remember the "bitter clingers" remarks?
- rottyguy 11y agoI see a lot of poo being flung towards politicians but I have to wonder why they behave the way they do. The economics of human behavior are they we all, generally, gravitate towards doing things that reward us.