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1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. 2) Run on draining the swamp. 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as an

1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. 2) Run on draining the swamp. 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements.

mindslight 6y ago
> 1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. It's a common critique. So sure he's right (as I said about fake news and drain the swamp), but I don't see how his actions amount to anything more than a battle between different groups of elites. > 2) Run on draining the swamp. No idea what you mean by "run on", but there is no draining going on. Trump is criticizing DC while feasting on it with his set of cronies, the same as every other politician has done. > 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. I can get behind this being the original message of Christ, but invoking Christ from 2k years ago as characteristic of what his supposed followers want to do today is fallacious. The basic lifecycle of social movements is that they're revolutionary at the start, and conservative after they've become an ordinary part of society. Modern anti-plutocrats have moved on to modern memes, and most people calling themselves Christian seem to want more government intervention into our private lives. > 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements. To build a bridge requires common ground. As I said, the problem is there can be no common ground while the red team directs their outrage at the grassroots of the blue team. With Republicans in power, it's the responsibility of the Republican grassroots to criticize their own politicians when they go against our country's ideals. But instead they're cheering on authoritarianism because it hurts the other team more. Where are the Republicans seriously condemning this neo-skinhead movement, which is actually manifesting real world violence? Ultimately if you want there to be any shred of a conservative party left, you're going to have to admit you were conned and repudiate your current radical populist (ie anti-conservative) figurehead and his destructive message. Until then this Libertarian is voting straight ticket blue in national elections. At least Democrats are talking about the problems we're facing (albeit in terms of misguided solutions, identity politics, big government, etc) rather than pretending they don't exist while getting whipped into a frenzy with patently fake news (latest delusion: "stop the steal").

mindslight 6y ago

> 1) Admit Trump was right about the coastal elites, then expound upon what they are. It's a common critique. So sure he's right (as I said about fake news and drain the swamp), but I don't see how his actions amount to anything more than a battle between different groups of elites. > 2) Run on draining the swamp. No idea what you mean by "run on", but there is no draining going on. Trump is criticizing DC while feasting on it with his set of cronies, the same as every other politician has done. > 3) Relay the genuine message of Christ as anti-plutocrat, anti-empire. I can get behind this being the original message of Christ, but invoking Christ from 2k years ago as characteristic of what his supposed followers want to do today is fallacious. The basic lifecycle of social movements is that they're revolutionary at the start, and conservative after they've become an ordinary part of society. Modern anti-plutocrats have moved on to modern memes, and most people calling themselves Christian seem to want more government intervention into our private lives. > 4) Build bridges instead of identity judgements. To build a bridge requires common ground. As I said, the problem is there can be no common ground while the red team directs their outrage at the grassroots of the blue team. With Republicans in power, it's the responsibility of the Republican grassroots to criticize their own politicians when they go against our country's ideals. But instead they're cheering on authoritarianism because it hurts the other team more. Where are the Republicans seriously condemning this neo-skinhead movement, which is actually manifesting real world violence? Ultimately if you want there to be any shred of a conservative party left, you're going to have to admit you were conned and repudiate your current radical populist (ie anti-conservative) figurehead and his destructive message. Until then this Libertarian is voting straight ticket blue in national elections. At least Democrats are talking about the problems we're facing (albeit in terms of misguided solutions, identity politics, big government, etc) rather than pretending they don't exist while getting whipped into a frenzy with patently fake news (latest delusion: "stop the steal").