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> However, the recent stuff - abortion and voting rights being eroded - has just knocked me sideways. I'd have said they were un-American. Now, I don't know wha

> However, the recent stuff - abortion and voting rights being eroded - has just knocked me sideways. I'd have said they were un-American. Now, I don't know what to think. I really mean this. Was I always wrong? Anti-abortionism has always been a core pillar of the GOP's social policy because it's highly popular with the religious demographics that make up much of their base, even people who might otherwise not vote for them (e.g. some Catholics). After a Republican president had the chance to seat 3 judges, it's logical that red states would start a war against Roe v. Wade. We saw this coming as soon as Trump got his second SCOTUS judge, and when RBG died the writing was on the wall. No matter how strongly I feel about abortion, the election stuff is more acutely concerning after seeing the degree to which powerful state- and local-level politicians were willing to kowtow to Trump and repeat his baseless lies in the fallout from the 2020 election. These are political hacks with zero regard for the integrity of our electoral process, and with some changes to local election law (like we've been seeing across the country, predicated on lies about election fraud), they may just accomplish in 2024 what they were trying to do in 2020. I would call it a relatively new trend, and it is fucking frightening. They are learning that the more they corrupt the process, the less anybody is able to hold them to account, and their mendacity and depravity seem to know no bounds.

samizdis 5y ago
>... powerful state- and local-level politicians were willing to kowtow to Trump and repeat his baseless lies in the fallout from the 2020 election. These are political hacks with zero regard for the integrity of our electoral process, ... >I would call it a relatively new trend, and it is fucking frightening. They are learning that the more they corrupt the process, the less anybody is able to hold them to account, and their mendacity and depravity seem to know no bounds. Yes, this. It is something that I would never have expected in the US, because, to me, "unAmerican". When I was growing up, I was extremely conscious that although I was British by birth, my entire family was Irish (from the republic). I fielded a lot of crap from people on account of my parents' accents etc; there were lots of problems in the UK because of IRA attacks etc. My go-to place, my haven in my head, was that the US (although I realised even when growing up that many Irish-Americans were pro-Republican and supported extremism in the cause of a united Ireland) was bigger, better and as a nation above partisanship, seeing a world picture and being the leader in championing rights and fairness. Yes, a bit cut-throat and market-driven, but always in pursuit of equal opportunity and fairness. I'd imagined that the US would lead the world into a higher plane - by example, and by sheer economic force: "you need our money, you toe the line". Anyhow, I still cling to my childhood dream of America and Americans coming through for the rest of the world. In simplistic terms, as I saw that dream, that everyone deserves the same degree of respect because of our common humanity. To restate my original sentiment, perhaps I was just wrong.

samizdis 5y ago

>... powerful state- and local-level politicians were willing to kowtow to Trump and repeat his baseless lies in the fallout from the 2020 election. These are political hacks with zero regard for the integrity of our electoral process, ... >I would call it a relatively new trend, and it is fucking frightening. They are learning that the more they corrupt the process, the less anybody is able to hold them to account, and their mendacity and depravity seem to know no bounds. Yes, this. It is something that I would never have expected in the US, because, to me, "unAmerican". When I was growing up, I was extremely conscious that although I was British by birth, my entire family was Irish (from the republic). I fielded a lot of crap from people on account of my parents' accents etc; there were lots of problems in the UK because of IRA attacks etc. My go-to place, my haven in my head, was that the US (although I realised even when growing up that many Irish-Americans were pro-Republican and supported extremism in the cause of a united Ireland) was bigger, better and as a nation above partisanship, seeing a world picture and being the leader in championing rights and fairness. Yes, a bit cut-throat and market-driven, but always in pursuit of equal opportunity and fairness. I'd imagined that the US would lead the world into a higher plane - by example, and by sheer economic force: "you need our money, you toe the line". Anyhow, I still cling to my childhood dream of America and Americans coming through for the rest of the world. In simplistic terms, as I saw that dream, that everyone deserves the same degree of respect because of our common humanity. To restate my original sentiment, perhaps I was just wrong.