republicans jane i don't speak or write much about politics - mostly because i feel undereducated about many issues, though the process is so polarized now that it's easy to choose one platform (i.e. women's rights) and your choices are narrowed down to the liberals (and what the fuck, why does it have to be this way? why couldn't there be a republican who is an actual feminist?) i digress... so i don't comment about it because i generally don't enjoy discussing things about which i don't have all the information, or at least a reasonable amount...but that doesn't seem to stop the trump supporters from keeping their mouths open and spewing racist, violent, xenophobic, misogynist malarkey. red's always been an outlet, somewhere mostly anonymous and devoid of people i speak with on a regular basis, so it feels safe to rage here for a tick. 1. the electoral college. why the fuck don't we question this system vigorously? if you do your research (i did too much today), it makes sense why the electoral college was in place. it encouraged those who were more educated on the issues to come out and vote for their registered party, thus narrowing it down for the more widespread population. now? it seems like the only purpose of this archaic system is to radically polarize the populace into red-tards and blue-tards (not gonna complain about the liberals today, at least they believe i can make choices for my own body). neither seems to EVER sway away from their steadfast dogma; the two parties puppet each other, i find it sickening, and goddamn south park you had it right on with the whole douche versus shit sandwich situation. putting that one on the deck for tonight. 2. everybody i have seen who supports trump cannot seem to put a goddamn sentence together. i can dig a typo here and there, or english being your second language, but i'm talking halfway incoherent VEHEMENT defiance, denial, blind support and outrage. "make america great again" - the irony SLAYS me...um, you mean great like back when fucks like you could own another human being? 3. in my process of research i repeatedly come across references to southern_strategy which also makes me ill, seeing as how it seems so pervasive in the republican platform. it's like the whole confederate flag issue, just take the fucking thing down and celebrate your historical defeat alone at home with your tiny dick in hand. 4. it absolutely appalls me to the bone that any minority or woman would even consider supporting a party that is staunchly embedded in their worst interest. or that people who so enthusiastically endorse "freedom" cannot even fathom that the legislation they support would take away the freedoms of others (e.g. marriage equality). 5. i consider myself a reasonable human being, open-minded, willing to listen to common sense and educated viewpoints in order to compile my own (which, ironically, i keep to myself). that's not really a rant topic, but more to say WHY is it that i seem to be one of the only ones? the disappearing centrist platform, perhaps. possibly to be cont'd. 160315 ... unhinged republicans win and govern on: fear fear is part of our animal brain that still drives humans way more than reason, even after the supposed enlightenment of reason of hundreds of years ago. it is a fact of the way our brains are wired that is being confirmed by modern neuroscience. the southern strategy was/is based on fear. the southern strategy has created the monster of donald trump. it may be hard for someone born and raised on the west coast to comprehend, but the south is still embedded in institutional racism. my roommate was born and raised in south carolina and even in the past 30 years, civil rights for minorities in the south has been very slow moving. partially because of the republicans' southern strategy of stoking the fear of the majority and suppressing the vote of the minority. also, trump supporters are overwhelmingly uneducated (i.e. no college degree) white men the establishment choice of ted cruz is just as scary to me as donald trump. they are both extremists. it's time for democrats to stop playing the centrist game because i think the centrist platform in dc has been destroyed by the tea party. it's time to stop appeasing extremists. the history of the 20th century should make the course of appeasement very clear to all of us. i am tired of democrats staying in the center as republicans at all levels all across the country become more extreme and attack more of our rights as puppets of their fundamentalist christian billionaires. republicans have kept us at war for over a decade by saying america does not negotiate with terrorists, but yet there is obama sitting squarely in the middle negotiating with republican terrorists (and yes i will go that far as i watch my rights as a woman eroded, as i watch the billionaires become richer while paying a lower effective tax rate than i do, as i still cannot afford health insurance because i think the middle man of insurance companies is the actual problem with health care costs in this country.) there is no longer common sense in government on any level in this country. the corporations and billionaires have hijacked this country on both sides. the working class will be just as screwed with hillary as we would be with donald trump. i have been amped up on politics since the summer and i'm shamelessly liberal, in fact i am shamelessly socialist 160316 ... jane just saw your response, darlin'. thank you and i do agree. as a socialist and a damn human being. re: southern strategy... i'm grasping for a word here, because i can comprehend the fear-based model, but that doesn't mean i necessarily understand it, in the sense that i wouldn't be able to put myself in someone's shoes who is so susceptible to it. this article was very helpful towards my comprehension. http://www.liberalamerica.org/2015/05/18/what-poor-vote-republican/ marinating on your thoughts regarding centrist liberals. do you think public demonstrations are a feasible vehicle for social change? we are no longer living in the sixties but goddamn i applaud some of the more radical social anarchists...if i felt better with spoken word i would be out there with a megaphone lighting shit on fire. (the permanence of blather may come back to haunt me here) 160322 ... unhinged centrist liberal is an oxymoron i grew up in a much more conservative place and let me tell you a secret...poor whites vote republican because the elite class has fooled them for centuries into believing there is more solidarity in race than in class. for humans that make decisions with their lizard fear brains the color of someones skin is the easiest thing to target. to a liberal compassionate mind and heart these things dont make sense but i never underestimate the human capacity for cruelty and greed 160322 ... unhinged maybe public internet demonstrations would be a feasible way to get something started, because the young ones in this country are eager and progressive, so if the revolution is televised a la le internet, the young pups will take it and run with it 160322 ... unhinged (it is at the point that we can no longer remain silent, complacent. i stump for bernie everywhere i go. i was preaching the gospel of bernie sanders to two ethiopians that can't even vote the other night. their views on trump were damning...i really wish the south would have stayed its own damn country) 160322 what's it to you? who go blather from