4 ms·

Call me cynical but the fact white voters less badly affected surely must be in Republican calculations. Trump nonsense on mail-in voting is one thing but if yo

Call me cynical but the fact white voters less badly affected surely must be in Republican calculations. Trump nonsense on mail-in voting is one thing but if you've got no address in the first place...

throwaway0a5e 6y ago
I think the level of political gamesmanship and "do anything to win" has long surpassed that point. I think the people making the decisions for the republican party care far more about blue ballots than black skin. The fact that blue voters are darker on average is just a coincidence to them.
- mercer 6y ago
  Why yes, a history of overt racism in the republican party probably just suddenly disappeared! This stuff by no means lasts a full lifetime or propagates through generations!
  - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
    The other side is always going to have the most racists because the manifestation of racism in politics is pushing public policy that is bad for minorities and what is bad for people in general (of which minorities are a subset) depends on what side you're on. The racists on the left think that we need to pump minorities full of welfare and government services in order to better subjugate them for their own benefit. The non-racists on the left think welfare and whatnot will help those people. The racists on the right think that the minorities are a lost cause, dead weight to society and that we shouldn't waste a penny on them. The non-racists on the right think that we we got the government out of their business as much as possible these people would be able to help themselves. Whichever group of non-racists someone's world view aligns with you will have a hard time spotting them on your own side because their racism just looks like good policy and you will see many more on the other side because their bad policy looks like racism. The republicans probably do have more racists in their base because they're the whiter party and for historical "convince the poor white man he's better than the black man" reasons but IMO when it comes to actually pushing policy the racist party is whichever one has more policy you think is bad.
    - mercer 6y ago
      > The racists on the left think that we need to pump minorities full of welfare and government services in order to better subjugate them for their own benefit. I have never once in my life encountered this hypothetical racist leftist, and a I've met a fair variety of racists. Why would you pick this topic as one to be a whataboutist about, when it's really not that ambiguous in the current US political climate.
      - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
        >I have never once in my life encountered this hypothetical racist leftist, If you thought that easy access to welfare was bad for people then you'd have met a hell of a lot of leftists who want "racist" policy. My whole point is that one's evaluation of what is and isn't racist policy (assuming one believes in systemic racism in the first place) is based on what you consider good. Take a step back. Assume both parties believe that what they want is good for people and then assess the situation. I'm not denying that there's racist hicks in the republican base. There's some racist hicks in the democratic base too (the stereotype of the waspy union worker who votes a straight blue ticket didn't come from nowhere) though IMO they're likely smaller in proportion of the party's base.
        handol 6y ago
        > If you thought that easy access to welfare was bad for people then you'd have met a hell of a lot of leftists who want "racist" policy. If you thought water was piss you'd have met a lot of people that like to drink piss.
save_ferris 6y ago
I think the more charitable and accurate read on this situation is that the GOP has campaigned for years against government spending and making massive cuts to the budget. Now they’re faced with a situation that can’t be solved without spending tons of money, which is a massive challenge to them politically and a big gamble given that we’re in an election year. The last thing they want to do right now is look like hypocrites to their base.
- CarelessExpert 6y ago
  > the GOP has campaigned for years against government spending and making massive cuts to the budget. I think you mean massive cuts to taxes. I don't remember the last time they actually significantly cut the overall budget, hence the massive deficits they inevitably run up. And that's where I find this disingenuous. They're sure concerned about deficits, now, but it's odd that they don't seem to have similar concerns when talking about massive tax cuts that enlarge the deficit while disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Of course, the inevitable answer is to plug their ears and chant "Laffer curve", despite no recent tax cut having ever paid for itself..

throwaway0a5e 6y ago

I think the level of political gamesmanship and "do anything to win" has long surpassed that point. I think the people making the decisions for the republican party care far more about blue ballots than black skin. The fact that blue voters are darker on average is just a coincidence to them.

mercer 6y ago
Why yes, a history of overt racism in the republican party probably just suddenly disappeared! This stuff by no means lasts a full lifetime or propagates through generations!
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago
  The other side is always going to have the most racists because the manifestation of racism in politics is pushing public policy that is bad for minorities and what is bad for people in general (of which minorities are a subset) depends on what side you're on. The racists on the left think that we need to pump minorities full of welfare and government services in order to better subjugate them for their own benefit. The non-racists on the left think welfare and whatnot will help those people. The racists on the right think that the minorities are a lost cause, dead weight to society and that we shouldn't waste a penny on them. The non-racists on the right think that we we got the government out of their business as much as possible these people would be able to help themselves. Whichever group of non-racists someone's world view aligns with you will have a hard time spotting them on your own side because their racism just looks like good policy and you will see many more on the other side because their bad policy looks like racism. The republicans probably do have more racists in their base because they're the whiter party and for historical "convince the poor white man he's better than the black man" reasons but IMO when it comes to actually pushing policy the racist party is whichever one has more policy you think is bad.
  - mercer 6y ago
    > The racists on the left think that we need to pump minorities full of welfare and government services in order to better subjugate them for their own benefit. I have never once in my life encountered this hypothetical racist leftist, and a I've met a fair variety of racists. Why would you pick this topic as one to be a whataboutist about, when it's really not that ambiguous in the current US political climate.
    - throwaway0a5e 6y ago
      >I have never once in my life encountered this hypothetical racist leftist, If you thought that easy access to welfare was bad for people then you'd have met a hell of a lot of leftists who want "racist" policy. My whole point is that one's evaluation of what is and isn't racist policy (assuming one believes in systemic racism in the first place) is based on what you consider good. Take a step back. Assume both parties believe that what they want is good for people and then assess the situation. I'm not denying that there's racist hicks in the republican base. There's some racist hicks in the democratic base too (the stereotype of the waspy union worker who votes a straight blue ticket didn't come from nowhere) though IMO they're likely smaller in proportion of the party's base.
      - handol 6y ago
        > If you thought that easy access to welfare was bad for people then you'd have met a hell of a lot of leftists who want "racist" policy. If you thought water was piss you'd have met a lot of people that like to drink piss.

save_ferris 6y ago

I think the more charitable and accurate read on this situation is that the GOP has campaigned for years against government spending and making massive cuts to the budget. Now they’re faced with a situation that can’t be solved without spending tons of money, which is a massive challenge to them politically and a big gamble given that we’re in an election year. The last thing they want to do right now is look like hypocrites to their base.

CarelessExpert 6y ago
> the GOP has campaigned for years against government spending and making massive cuts to the budget. I think you mean massive cuts to taxes. I don't remember the last time they actually significantly cut the overall budget, hence the massive deficits they inevitably run up. And that's where I find this disingenuous. They're sure concerned about deficits, now, but it's odd that they don't seem to have similar concerns when talking about massive tax cuts that enlarge the deficit while disproportionately benefit the wealthy. Of course, the inevitable answer is to plug their ears and chant "Laffer curve", despite no recent tax cut having ever paid for itself..