Friday, October 04, 2013
We Must Change Now
The incident at the Capitol yesterday involving Miriam Carey once again illustrates how we are failing on the issue of mental health in this country. Family members have said that Carey suffered from post-partum depression and mental illness.
We may never know what set her off yesterday as she was shot and killed by Capitol police but we can take steps now to improving the perception of mental health in this country. The first thing that has to happen is we need to remove the stigma that is associated with it on a cultural level. There are far too many people who think that people that see therapists are "nuts" and should be locked away. This is fallout from baby boomer bullshit and all their fucked up issues with their parents.
The fact is that the brain is the most complex organ in our bodies. Something that is "in the mind" is not magically disassociated from the body. Why on earth do people think this? We don't think twice about getting our annual breast exam or prostate check. Or even going to the dentist every six months. But a psychologist? Well, that's only if you are crazy...so the stigma sadly goes.
Everyone, and I mean every single person, should see a therapist at least a couple of times a year for a tune up, if you will, at the very least. Working out the complexity and the difficulties of emotional and mental issues require specialized dedication. It's a process, so the joke goes from the Analyze That. This isn't a "take a pill and you are cure" situation. Whatever drove Miriam Carey to go berserk yesterday is likely a combination of several issues (nature, nurture) that require individual attention.
There is no doubt in my mind that we could reduce violence in this country if we moved to changed our perception and actions on mental health.
We may never know what set her off yesterday as she was shot and killed by Capitol police but we can take steps now to improving the perception of mental health in this country. The first thing that has to happen is we need to remove the stigma that is associated with it on a cultural level. There are far too many people who think that people that see therapists are "nuts" and should be locked away. This is fallout from baby boomer bullshit and all their fucked up issues with their parents.
The fact is that the brain is the most complex organ in our bodies. Something that is "in the mind" is not magically disassociated from the body. Why on earth do people think this? We don't think twice about getting our annual breast exam or prostate check. Or even going to the dentist every six months. But a psychologist? Well, that's only if you are crazy...so the stigma sadly goes.
Everyone, and I mean every single person, should see a therapist at least a couple of times a year for a tune up, if you will, at the very least. Working out the complexity and the difficulties of emotional and mental issues require specialized dedication. It's a process, so the joke goes from the Analyze That. This isn't a "take a pill and you are cure" situation. Whatever drove Miriam Carey to go berserk yesterday is likely a combination of several issues (nature, nurture) that require individual attention.
There is no doubt in my mind that we could reduce violence in this country if we moved to changed our perception and actions on mental health.
Thursday, October 03, 2013
Republican Type #4
Also very familiar....:)
Tea Party Republicans:
These Republicans are a dumbed-down combination of the previous two groups of Republicans. They think Sarah Palin is intelligent and it’s the media filter’s fault that she looks so stupid. They think Reagan was fiscally conservative even though he tripled the deficit. They watch Fox News religiously, and think Glenn Beck is credible. They don’t understand why people think they’re racist while they’re standing next to people holding racist signs. They protest higher taxes even though taxes have gone down for 95 percent of working families since President Obama took office.
The problem with this type of Republican’s views:
They parrot Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin talking points. When you discredit one thing they say, they immediately move on to the next subject. Anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a socialist, even though they can’t give you the actual definition of socialism. Many of them are on Medicare while protesting “socialism.” They have never met a socialist, so they have no idea what socialists believe. They think liberals are socialists and socialists are Nazis.
What to remember when debating them:
They have no idea what they’re talking about. Ask them to prove what they are saying. If you ask them a question and they respond with another question, refuse to answer their question until they answer yours. Don’t back down. Remind them that taxes have actually been lowered for 95 percent of working families. If debating them in public, be careful because they are known to carry guns in places they don’t need them, like public parks and bars and churches.
No shit!
Tea Party Republicans:
These Republicans are a dumbed-down combination of the previous two groups of Republicans. They think Sarah Palin is intelligent and it’s the media filter’s fault that she looks so stupid. They think Reagan was fiscally conservative even though he tripled the deficit. They watch Fox News religiously, and think Glenn Beck is credible. They don’t understand why people think they’re racist while they’re standing next to people holding racist signs. They protest higher taxes even though taxes have gone down for 95 percent of working families since President Obama took office.
The problem with this type of Republican’s views:
They parrot Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin talking points. When you discredit one thing they say, they immediately move on to the next subject. Anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a socialist, even though they can’t give you the actual definition of socialism. Many of them are on Medicare while protesting “socialism.” They have never met a socialist, so they have no idea what socialists believe. They think liberals are socialists and socialists are Nazis.
What to remember when debating them:
They have no idea what they’re talking about. Ask them to prove what they are saying. If you ask them a question and they respond with another question, refuse to answer their question until they answer yours. Don’t back down. Remind them that taxes have actually been lowered for 95 percent of working families. If debating them in public, be careful because they are known to carry guns in places they don’t need them, like public parks and bars and churches.
No shit!
Tales From the Open Microphone
Boy, are they going to be in for a rude awakening. I thought these guys were much more aware than this!
Senator Right Wing Blogger
If America wanted to know what it would be like to have a right wing blogger for a Senator, now they do...Ted Cruz from Texas. Let's make sure he has the basics first.
Massive hubris...check
Sole conviction=own vanity...check
Adolescent power fantasies....check
Temper tantrum...check
Compromise seen as weakness...check
Undeterred by facts and new information...check
Bullying and baiting...check
So, all the fundamentals are there. Adding in the core element of having no real goals or policy (other than to burn the house down in a full on teenage fit) and it's plain to see what life in this country would be like when bloviating buffoons are put in charge.
But there's one other characteristic that is needed for the complete picture: cowardice. That's right, these people are fucking cowards. They light fires and then run away laughing. That's exactly what Cruz has done here and the people that love and support him do the same thing in the media and the blogsphere.
The good news is that this will eventually come back to bite him on the ass as it did with Sarah Palin. In many ways, Cruz is now the Honey Boo Boo of Washington DC sort of like half term Governor Palin...ugly, uneducated and a relatively short shelf life.
Massive hubris...check
Sole conviction=own vanity...check
Adolescent power fantasies....check
Temper tantrum...check
Compromise seen as weakness...check
Undeterred by facts and new information...check
Bullying and baiting...check
So, all the fundamentals are there. Adding in the core element of having no real goals or policy (other than to burn the house down in a full on teenage fit) and it's plain to see what life in this country would be like when bloviating buffoons are put in charge.
But there's one other characteristic that is needed for the complete picture: cowardice. That's right, these people are fucking cowards. They light fires and then run away laughing. That's exactly what Cruz has done here and the people that love and support him do the same thing in the media and the blogsphere.
The good news is that this will eventually come back to bite him on the ass as it did with Sarah Palin. In many ways, Cruz is now the Honey Boo Boo of Washington DC sort of like half term Governor Palin...ugly, uneducated and a relatively short shelf life.
Good Words
“A man of abilities and character, of any sect whatever, may be admitted to any office or public trust under the United States. I am a friend to a variety of sects, because they keep one another in order. How many different sects are we composed of throughout the United States? How many different sects will be in congress? We cannot enumerate the sects that may be in congress. And there are so many now in the United States that they will prevent the establishment of any one sect in prejudice to the rest, and will forever oppose all attempts to infringe religious liberty. If such an attempt be made, will not the alarm be sounded throughout America? If congress be as wicked as we are foretold they will, they would not run the risk of exciting the resentment of all, or most of the religious sects in America.”
~Edmund Randolph, address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June
10, 1788
Wednesday, October 02, 2013
Seven Years
I wonder if Republicans will look back on this week and note that this was the beginning of the end of their party. It is truly something to behold as one of the two major parties in this country commits ritual suicide. They haven't gotten over the fact that the Affordable Care Act is law. They haven't gotten over the fact that they lost the election of 2012. They haven't gotten over the fact that Barack Obama is the president. In short, they are whiny babies throwing an all out temper tantrum.
The reaction has been swift.
Andrew Sullivan...
How does one party that has lost two presidential elections and a Supreme Court case – as well as two Senate elections - think it has the right to shut down the entire government and destroy the full faith and credit of the United States Treasury to get its way on universal healthcare now? I see no quid pro quo even. Just pure blackmail, resting on understandable and predictable public concern whenever a major reform is enacted. But what has to be resisted is any idea that this is government or politics as usual. It is an attack on the governance and the constitutional order of the United States.
An attack? Well, it is amusing that Republicans are behaving in a more obstinate fashion than the Iranian president. American Taliban indeed.
Thomas Friedman
“Give me the money and nobody gets hurt.” How did we get here? First, by taking gerrymandering to a new level. The political analyst Charlie Cook, writing in The National Journal on March 16, noted that the 2010 election gave Republican state legislatures around the country unprecedented power to redraw political boundaries, which they used to create even more “safe, lily-white” Republican strongholds that are, in effect, an “alternative universe” to the country’s diverse reality.
An alternate universe...hmm...like in a bubble? Well, they are going to have to learn the hard way, I guess. I don't think they realize what's going to happen in 2014 now that they have shut down the government. It might be even worse if they let the government default in a few weeks. Speaking of which, Henry Aaron has a great solution for that problem.
Obama should ignore the debt ceiling
The debt ceiling is the fiscal equivalent of the human appendix — a law with no discoverable purpose. It is one law too many. Once Congress has set tax rates and spending levels, it has effectively said what it wants the debt to be. If Congress leaves the debt ceiling at a level inconsistent with duly enacted spending and tax laws, the president has no choice but to ignore it.
Indeed. Our country functioned just fine without it up until 1917. If the moonbats want to fuck around over the debt ceiling again, I say the president should just ignore it and pay our bills. That's his job and Congress has already given him parameters with which to work. Further, the Constitution guarantees that "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." Not surprising that the Right has trouble remembering that there is a Fourteenth Amendment.
I'm setting the clock for today and predicitng that the GOP has seven years of life left in it. They are going to lose more seats in 2014, lose in a big way in 2016, lose more seats in 2018, and, when the new census is taken in 2020 and we get out of the gerrymandering boondoggle, it will all be over.
Unless, of course, they grow up and change. How likely is that?
Oh, and how many hits did healthcare.gov get yesterday?
The reaction has been swift.
Andrew Sullivan...
How does one party that has lost two presidential elections and a Supreme Court case – as well as two Senate elections - think it has the right to shut down the entire government and destroy the full faith and credit of the United States Treasury to get its way on universal healthcare now? I see no quid pro quo even. Just pure blackmail, resting on understandable and predictable public concern whenever a major reform is enacted. But what has to be resisted is any idea that this is government or politics as usual. It is an attack on the governance and the constitutional order of the United States.
An attack? Well, it is amusing that Republicans are behaving in a more obstinate fashion than the Iranian president. American Taliban indeed.
Thomas Friedman
“Give me the money and nobody gets hurt.” How did we get here? First, by taking gerrymandering to a new level. The political analyst Charlie Cook, writing in The National Journal on March 16, noted that the 2010 election gave Republican state legislatures around the country unprecedented power to redraw political boundaries, which they used to create even more “safe, lily-white” Republican strongholds that are, in effect, an “alternative universe” to the country’s diverse reality.
An alternate universe...hmm...like in a bubble? Well, they are going to have to learn the hard way, I guess. I don't think they realize what's going to happen in 2014 now that they have shut down the government. It might be even worse if they let the government default in a few weeks. Speaking of which, Henry Aaron has a great solution for that problem.
Obama should ignore the debt ceiling
The debt ceiling is the fiscal equivalent of the human appendix — a law with no discoverable purpose. It is one law too many. Once Congress has set tax rates and spending levels, it has effectively said what it wants the debt to be. If Congress leaves the debt ceiling at a level inconsistent with duly enacted spending and tax laws, the president has no choice but to ignore it.
Indeed. Our country functioned just fine without it up until 1917. If the moonbats want to fuck around over the debt ceiling again, I say the president should just ignore it and pay our bills. That's his job and Congress has already given him parameters with which to work. Further, the Constitution guarantees that "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned." Not surprising that the Right has trouble remembering that there is a Fourteenth Amendment.
I'm setting the clock for today and predicitng that the GOP has seven years of life left in it. They are going to lose more seats in 2014, lose in a big way in 2016, lose more seats in 2018, and, when the new census is taken in 2020 and we get out of the gerrymandering boondoggle, it will all be over.
Unless, of course, they grow up and change. How likely is that?
Oh, and how many hits did healthcare.gov get yesterday?
Good Words
“It is contrary to the principles of reason and justice that any should be compelled to contribute to the maintenance of a church with which their consciences will not permit them to join, and from which they can derive no benefit; for remedy whereof, and that equal liberty as well religious as civil, may be universally extended to all the good people of this commonwealth.”
~George Mason, Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
Tuesday, October 01, 2013
Republican Type #3
There's something very familiar about this type...hmm...
Christian Republicans:
These Republicans are hypocrites. They do everything in the name of Christ, while simultaneously acting as un-Christlike as humanly possible. They support the right to carry assault weapons, are pro-war, and completely ignore the fact that the Bible depicts Christ as a liberal who was opposed to capitalism and violence. They sincerely believe that this is God’s country and that God loves us Americans more than anyone else in the world. They think that anyone who is not 100 percent pro-Israel is anti-Semitic. They hate everyone who doesn’t agree with them and think the Bible tells them to… and they hate gay people because they think they are sinners.
The problem with this type of Republican’s views:
They do terrible things in the name of their Lord. They think that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is damned to hell or hates America. They believe that we are a Christian nation even though the Founding Fathers made sure they did not brand this country as a Christian nation. The Founding Fathers wanted a country of religious freedom, free from religious persecution, but these Republicans will never admit that.
What to remember when debating them:
There’s a list of all the quotes that prove our Founding Fathers wanted a country of religious freedom. The link is HERE. Another thing to remember is that the Christian Right is neither. Start asking them questions like “how would Jesus feel about war?” “how would Jesus feel about assault rifles?” or “do you REALLY think that America is God’s favorite country, in the ENTIRE universe?” And, of course, these questions should yield a response that thoroughly proves that they are hypocrites, and continuing to argue with them would be a waste of time.
Waste of time...hey! I resemble that remark!!
Christian Republicans:
These Republicans are hypocrites. They do everything in the name of Christ, while simultaneously acting as un-Christlike as humanly possible. They support the right to carry assault weapons, are pro-war, and completely ignore the fact that the Bible depicts Christ as a liberal who was opposed to capitalism and violence. They sincerely believe that this is God’s country and that God loves us Americans more than anyone else in the world. They think that anyone who is not 100 percent pro-Israel is anti-Semitic. They hate everyone who doesn’t agree with them and think the Bible tells them to… and they hate gay people because they think they are sinners.
The problem with this type of Republican’s views:
They do terrible things in the name of their Lord. They think that anyone who doesn’t agree with them is damned to hell or hates America. They believe that we are a Christian nation even though the Founding Fathers made sure they did not brand this country as a Christian nation. The Founding Fathers wanted a country of religious freedom, free from religious persecution, but these Republicans will never admit that.
What to remember when debating them:
There’s a list of all the quotes that prove our Founding Fathers wanted a country of religious freedom. The link is HERE. Another thing to remember is that the Christian Right is neither. Start asking them questions like “how would Jesus feel about war?” “how would Jesus feel about assault rifles?” or “do you REALLY think that America is God’s favorite country, in the ENTIRE universe?” And, of course, these questions should yield a response that thoroughly proves that they are hypocrites, and continuing to argue with them would be a waste of time.
Waste of time...hey! I resemble that remark!!
Good Words
“That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forebearance, love, and charity towards each other.”
~George Mason, Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776
Tea Party Republicans Hate Democracy
Last night the federal government shut down because Tea Party Republicans hate democracy. A small but vocal minority of Republicans has demanded that John Boehner prevent the Senate bill to temporarily fund the government (the "continuing resolution," or CR) from coming to the House floor for a vote.
After George Bush won reelection in 2004, Republicans crowed about it. People like John Bolton said that Bush had the right to do what he promised and complete what he had set into motion in his first term because he owed that to the people that voted for him. The people had spoken, Republicans say. That's how democracy works.
For all his faults, John McCain has admitted this. He said:
I’d remind my colleagues that, in the 2012 election, Obamacare, as it’s called — and I’ll be more polite, the ACA — was a subject that was a major issue in the campaign. I campaigned all over America for two months, everywhere I could. And in every single campaign rally I said “we had to repeal and replace Obamacare.” Well, the people spoke. They spoke, much to my dismay, but they spoke and they re-elected the President of the United States. No that doesn’t mean that we give up our efforts to try to replace and repair Obamacare. But it does mean elections have consequences and those elections were clear, in a significant majority, that the majority of the American people supported the President of the US and renewed his stewardship of this country. I don’t like it, it’s not something that I wanted the outcome to be. But I think all of us should respect the outcome of elections, which reflects the will of the people.In 2012 Democrats won the election fair and square, winning the presidency and the Senate outright. Democrats also received a majority of the popular vote in House elections, but due to the vagaries of gerrymandering, integer arithmetic and varying state sizes, Republicans won a sizable majority of seats. As McCain implies, the 2012 election was the closest thing to a referendum on Obamacare we've had, and Obama won.
But the Tea Party now rejects the same argument Republicans made in favor of moving Bush's agenda forward. For six weeks worth of government funding they produced a gigantic laundry list of demands in exchange for passing the CR. Then they demanded that Obama give up the Affordable Care Act. Now they're demanding Obamacare be delayed a year. Maybe they'll settle for a pony and a BB gun.
Now the government has shut down. Why? Because Tea Party Republicans hate democracy. They can't stand it when they don't get what they want, even when they're in the minority, and they'll hurt innocent people to get it, even when they know they can't win in the end. They're just hoping to rile up the troops for 2014 and 2016.
John Boehner could put the Senate's continuing resolution for an up-or-down vote this afternoon, and it could very well pass: it would only take 17 Republican votes (there are 233 Republicans and 200 Democrats in the House). But Boehner won't because Republicans -- not just the Tea Party -- don't believe in democracy.
Republicans even have a term for their hatred of democracy: the Hastert Rule, which says only bills that have the support of the majority of the majority will be brought to the floor. That means that it takes only 117 votes to prevent a bill from reaching the House floor. A minority -- 27% -- of the House dictates all the government's business.
Republicans like to pretend Obama is the one guy who's causing the shutdown to save his evil plan to reduce the number of Americans who die and go bankrupt because they have no health care.
But the one man responsible for the shutdown is John Boehner. He refuses to put the CR up for a vote because he's pretty sure it could pass. And that would anger Tea Party Republicans, who have threatened to ruin Boehner by primarying him out of his safe Ohio seat if he crosses them.
John Boehner is not just a coward for kowtowing to the doctrinaire and dictatorial Tea Party. He's also foolish: by letting these hooligans run roughshod over the political process he's given them the power to destroy him. A speaker with any brains would use this crisis to crush them and their petty blackmailing tactics. In the worst case he would find a way to enlist House Democrats to help him keep his position and get this country out of this endless bickering over the CR, next year's budget and the debt ceiling. After all, the speaker of the House is elected by a majority of the House, not each party.
But Boehner seems more concerned about his tan than stable financial markets and a government that efficiently provides needed services.
Shutdown A Go Go
The Republican adolescent temper tantrum has resulted in the first government shutdown in 18 years. It represents another nail in the coffin that is the conservative movement. They have been reduced to having one central ideology: be against anything and everything that the Democrats support. With this shutdown, that basically means the federal government...the same entity that employs them.
If the shutdown lasts more than a few weeks, it will likely erode our already fragile economic growth. Early estimates put .3 to .4 less GDP because of the shutdown. It makes sense given that 800,000 employees are being furloughed as of this morning. That's a hit to aggregate demand that will surely be felt in an extended shutdown.
I have to admit that part of me feels sorry for the Republicans. In reality, they had no choice.If they caved (which they will anyway), they would have seemed weak and the moonbats from their home districts and states would have primaried them. We don't have problems like that in the Democratic party. In fact, we like it when moderate Democrats win in red states:)
If the shutdown lasts more than a few weeks, it will likely erode our already fragile economic growth. Early estimates put .3 to .4 less GDP because of the shutdown. It makes sense given that 800,000 employees are being furloughed as of this morning. That's a hit to aggregate demand that will surely be felt in an extended shutdown.
I have to admit that part of me feels sorry for the Republicans. In reality, they had no choice.If they caved (which they will anyway), they would have seemed weak and the moonbats from their home districts and states would have primaried them. We don't have problems like that in the Democratic party. In fact, we like it when moderate Democrats win in red states:)
Hee Hee
ObamaCare ‘glitch’ watch: Exchange site posts error messages
It's going to be amusing to watch their adolescent "n'yah n'yah" here replaced by "oh shit" when they realize why people are having trouble accessing the health exchange sites.
It's going to be amusing to watch their adolescent "n'yah n'yah" here replaced by "oh shit" when they realize why people are having trouble accessing the health exchange sites.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Mailbag!
I've decided to start a regular feature here at Markadelphia in which I showcase a submission from the new contact form. I got this one last night.
Dear Markadelphia,
I live in Idaho and use your site in my class at the college where I teach as a shining example of the drivel peddled by the left. It's a private college so I can say whatever I want to in class without fear of the PC Cops banging down my door. I'm very active in the Tea Party and spend most of spare time volunteering to take our government back from the statists who have overtaken her.
I don't have time to comment on your site but I wanted to let the three morons who comment on every post you put up that they are being most effectively played by you. They could be using their time like I do and actually making a difference. Blog comments don't make any difference. No one reads them. No one cares. No one is going to change their mind by reading a blog comment. It's quite a little Venus Fly Trap you are running here. While they are wasting their time in comments, you are out teaching hundreds of children every year.
This will be my only contact with you as I will now turn back my attention to stopping you and your ilk in a more substantive format.
Fuck you.
Big Jim Slade
Obviously a Kentucky Fried Movie fan and I always love being called a statist and a shining example of blah blah blah but he does make a good point. This would be why I allow open comments:)
Dear Markadelphia,
I live in Idaho and use your site in my class at the college where I teach as a shining example of the drivel peddled by the left. It's a private college so I can say whatever I want to in class without fear of the PC Cops banging down my door. I'm very active in the Tea Party and spend most of spare time volunteering to take our government back from the statists who have overtaken her.
I don't have time to comment on your site but I wanted to let the three morons who comment on every post you put up that they are being most effectively played by you. They could be using their time like I do and actually making a difference. Blog comments don't make any difference. No one reads them. No one cares. No one is going to change their mind by reading a blog comment. It's quite a little Venus Fly Trap you are running here. While they are wasting their time in comments, you are out teaching hundreds of children every year.
This will be my only contact with you as I will now turn back my attention to stopping you and your ilk in a more substantive format.
Fuck you.
Big Jim Slade
Obviously a Kentucky Fried Movie fan and I always love being called a statist and a shining example of blah blah blah but he does make a good point. This would be why I allow open comments:)
Good Words
“In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.”
~Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)
You're Not The Boss Of Me!
I've had some pretty interesting emails since I put up the contact form at the right of the page. A common request of late has been for me to explain exactly what the "adolescent power fantasies" tag means. So, without further adieu, here it is.
Conservatives today can be easily explained if you imagine them as 8th grade boys (age 13-14). They hate the government in the same way a teenager hates their parents and the house rules. They are eternally in "You're Not The Boss Of Me!" mode on all the major issues of the day. Take a look at how they react to the budget (they are stealing my hard earned money!), health care (fuck everyone else, I only care about myself), climate change (I'm not going to change my life just because some adults made up some stupid lies to try to force me to do stuff), guns (don't take away my cool toys!), education (stupid liberal teachers telling me what I should and shouldn't do), or any other issue of the day and it's the same thing: I DON'T WANNA!!!
Like any teenager, they are very distrustful of authority and make overly emotional and ridiculous statements about the federal government....the same government that they are very likely receiving benefits from in more than one way. Again, just like a teenager that doesn't like the house rules and bloviates to his parents in a never ending goal to be contrary.
So, how do you deal with such a mentality? Well, you ignore the adolescent baiting and everything else falls into place after that. The primary goal of any teenager is to get the people they are rebelling against to stoop down to their level. Once that happens, they can play the Cult of Both Sides card and say, "See? Liberals are just as bad." They want the voting public to be confused and angry so they can get away with a bunch of bullshit. Up until the last few years, this has worked quite well. Unfortunately, the issues we face as a nation have become more serious and their solutions (if they even have any), are being revealed for exactly what they are: an ongoing temper tantrum with no concrete action items.
Ultimately, the only real response to the adolescent stomp down the hallway is to remind whomever you are talking to that if they want to stop being treated like a child, then they should stop acting like one.
Conservatives today can be easily explained if you imagine them as 8th grade boys (age 13-14). They hate the government in the same way a teenager hates their parents and the house rules. They are eternally in "You're Not The Boss Of Me!" mode on all the major issues of the day. Take a look at how they react to the budget (they are stealing my hard earned money!), health care (fuck everyone else, I only care about myself), climate change (I'm not going to change my life just because some adults made up some stupid lies to try to force me to do stuff), guns (don't take away my cool toys!), education (stupid liberal teachers telling me what I should and shouldn't do), or any other issue of the day and it's the same thing: I DON'T WANNA!!!
Like any teenager, they are very distrustful of authority and make overly emotional and ridiculous statements about the federal government....the same government that they are very likely receiving benefits from in more than one way. Again, just like a teenager that doesn't like the house rules and bloviates to his parents in a never ending goal to be contrary.
So, how do you deal with such a mentality? Well, you ignore the adolescent baiting and everything else falls into place after that. The primary goal of any teenager is to get the people they are rebelling against to stoop down to their level. Once that happens, they can play the Cult of Both Sides card and say, "See? Liberals are just as bad." They want the voting public to be confused and angry so they can get away with a bunch of bullshit. Up until the last few years, this has worked quite well. Unfortunately, the issues we face as a nation have become more serious and their solutions (if they even have any), are being revealed for exactly what they are: an ongoing temper tantrum with no concrete action items.
Ultimately, the only real response to the adolescent stomp down the hallway is to remind whomever you are talking to that if they want to stop being treated like a child, then they should stop acting like one.
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