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If the author of this article thinks that all their political disagreements can be reduced to "I care about people and you don't", that precisely explains why t

If the author of this article thinks that all their political disagreements can be reduced to "I care about people and you don't", that precisely explains why they struggle so much to "reach across the aisle" and why they are burnt out on political debate. If your political opponent wants the same things as you, but merely has differing values and perspectives, then reason and compromise should be able to cause some meaningful change in perspective or come up with some useful middle-ground policy. But if your political opponent does not want the same things as you - they are, in fact, "callous" and don't care about the well-being of others - then there's no room for meaningful debate. Telling someone who disagrees with you "can you please stop being evil?" isn't going to convince them of anything. The other side simply needs to be removed from power so that you are unopposed in implementing your policies. So I actually agree with the author: if that is what you believe about your political opponents, then debating about politics is probably a waste of your time.

civilitty 3y ago
> “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.” -Barry Goldwater Goldwater called it thirty years ago. That's exactly what happened, especially in the last few years. It'd be one thing if there were any more free market (small "c") conservatives left to compromise with. All that remains in the GOP are the religious and Q-anon factions that genuinely believe that Democrats are Satanists and child molesters. These people expect total capitulation because they think god is on their side and that is not compromise in any sense of the word. They're not even fit to govern with total control of three branches as shown during the first half of Trump's term, let alone compromise when they're in the opposition. The recent shitshow with the Speaker of the House election and the constant brinkmanship with the budget are just the latest symptoms of their degeneracy as a functioning political party. They can't even compromise within their own ranks because their religious fervor has turned terminal.
- theironhammer 3y ago
  And what about the Democrat Party standing with Netanyahu's war in Gaza. I'd say that's as abhorrent as as any Repugnant Party policies. Both parties are fascist in different ways.
  - civilitty 3y ago
    The Democratic party is literally torn in half over the issue of Palestine and Israel with the younger progressive wing fighting tooth and nail with the establishment of the party.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
alistairSH 3y ago
There is reasonable debate to be had on marginal tax rates, the correct rate of international aid to provide to whichever nation needs it today, the size of our military, and things like that. There is very little room for debate on issues like book-banning, withholding rights from the LGBTQ community (civil marriage, healthcare), or most of the other issues the GOP uses as wedge issues. Then there are issues where compromise should be possible, and the left largely wants compromise, but the GOP refuses. Abortion and guns come to mind. The GOP is currently hellbent on banning the former outright and ensuring easy access to the latter. Most of the political left would be happy with some reasonable compromise on both (and in fact, we had what most of the nation felt was a reasonable compromise on abortion until very recently).
- throwawa14223 3y ago
  If you want the other side, the perception on the right is that we have been compromising on guns since the 80's but every compromise is the next loophole to be closed. See the "Gunshow loophole" which the right perceives as one of those compromises.
  - alistairSH 3y ago
    But that loophole still exists - the right refuses to close it - so I'm confused by what you mean? And every attempt at gun control has been fought and challenged by the right (bump stock bans being a recent example). Despite some state-level regulation, we're near the top of the list in death-by-gun. And the political right seems largely ok with this, which is baffling. Parts of Latin America are worse, but they have massive drug crime issues and often failing economics and governments. Greenland has lots of gun suicides. The US has all of the above.
    - Turing_Machine 3y ago
      There is no "gun show loophole". It's not a thing. Really. The same regulations apply to gun sales at gun shows as anywhere else. Yes, private citizens can sell guns at gun shows without performing a background check. They can also sell guns without performing a background check in Grand Canyon National Park, on a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, or in the parking lot of the local McDonalds. "Gun shows" have nothing to do with it. Gun dealers at gun shows likewise have to perform the same check that they perform at their normal place of business. Again, the fact that it is a gun show changes nothing. You should try to remember who told you that the "gun show loophole" is actually a thing, and resolve to trust no further information from that source. To put it bluntly: they lied to you.
xracy 3y ago
Do you think they got to that point without trying to "reach across the aisle" and talk to these folks? I promise you I didn't come to similar conclusions without having hundreds of conversations with people I disagreed with. It's not that they're evil. It's more often that they're selfish. Also, there are plenty of people "on my side" who I disagree with and I can have productive conversations because we have the same goals. I disagree with a lot of liberal principles (they're pretty god-awful and selfish people themselves, ahem Pelosi). But I think there's still enough of a range of views within the Democratic party that if you got rid of all of the Republicans, I would still disagree with like 80% of congress. I would just also have a prayer that compromises could be made, because we're not starting negotiations from a position where 50% of congress is going to say 'no' no matter what regardless of who it hurts. Have you seen the Tuberville thing where he claims our military is weak, but he refuses to allow any military promotions through? Republicans complain about the gov't not working, and then go work overtime to make sure nothing gets done.

civilitty 3y ago

> “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.” -Barry Goldwater Goldwater called it thirty years ago. That's exactly what happened, especially in the last few years. It'd be one thing if there were any more free market (small "c") conservatives left to compromise with. All that remains in the GOP are the religious and Q-anon factions that genuinely believe that Democrats are Satanists and child molesters. These people expect total capitulation because they think god is on their side and that is not compromise in any sense of the word. They're not even fit to govern with total control of three branches as shown during the first half of Trump's term, let alone compromise when they're in the opposition. The recent shitshow with the Speaker of the House election and the constant brinkmanship with the budget are just the latest symptoms of their degeneracy as a functioning political party. They can't even compromise within their own ranks because their religious fervor has turned terminal.

theironhammer 3y ago
And what about the Democrat Party standing with Netanyahu's war in Gaza. I'd say that's as abhorrent as as any Repugnant Party policies. Both parties are fascist in different ways.
- civilitty 3y ago
  The Democratic party is literally torn in half over the issue of Palestine and Israel with the younger progressive wing fighting tooth and nail with the establishment of the party.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]

alistairSH 3y ago

There is reasonable debate to be had on marginal tax rates, the correct rate of international aid to provide to whichever nation needs it today, the size of our military, and things like that. There is very little room for debate on issues like book-banning, withholding rights from the LGBTQ community (civil marriage, healthcare), or most of the other issues the GOP uses as wedge issues. Then there are issues where compromise should be possible, and the left largely wants compromise, but the GOP refuses. Abortion and guns come to mind. The GOP is currently hellbent on banning the former outright and ensuring easy access to the latter. Most of the political left would be happy with some reasonable compromise on both (and in fact, we had what most of the nation felt was a reasonable compromise on abortion until very recently).

throwawa14223 3y ago
If you want the other side, the perception on the right is that we have been compromising on guns since the 80's but every compromise is the next loophole to be closed. See the "Gunshow loophole" which the right perceives as one of those compromises.
- alistairSH 3y ago
  But that loophole still exists - the right refuses to close it - so I'm confused by what you mean? And every attempt at gun control has been fought and challenged by the right (bump stock bans being a recent example). Despite some state-level regulation, we're near the top of the list in death-by-gun. And the political right seems largely ok with this, which is baffling. Parts of Latin America are worse, but they have massive drug crime issues and often failing economics and governments. Greenland has lots of gun suicides. The US has all of the above.
  - Turing_Machine 3y ago
    There is no "gun show loophole". It's not a thing. Really. The same regulations apply to gun sales at gun shows as anywhere else. Yes, private citizens can sell guns at gun shows without performing a background check. They can also sell guns without performing a background check in Grand Canyon National Park, on a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, or in the parking lot of the local McDonalds. "Gun shows" have nothing to do with it. Gun dealers at gun shows likewise have to perform the same check that they perform at their normal place of business. Again, the fact that it is a gun show changes nothing. You should try to remember who told you that the "gun show loophole" is actually a thing, and resolve to trust no further information from that source. To put it bluntly: they lied to you.

xracy 3y ago

Do you think they got to that point without trying to "reach across the aisle" and talk to these folks? I promise you I didn't come to similar conclusions without having hundreds of conversations with people I disagreed with. It's not that they're evil. It's more often that they're selfish. Also, there are plenty of people "on my side" who I disagree with and I can have productive conversations because we have the same goals. I disagree with a lot of liberal principles (they're pretty god-awful and selfish people themselves, ahem Pelosi). But I think there's still enough of a range of views within the Democratic party that if you got rid of all of the Republicans, I would still disagree with like 80% of congress. I would just also have a prayer that compromises could be made, because we're not starting negotiations from a position where 50% of congress is going to say 'no' no matter what regardless of who it hurts. Have you seen the Tuberville thing where he claims our military is weak, but he refuses to allow any military promotions through? Republicans complain about the gov't not working, and then go work overtime to make sure nothing gets done.