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NanceGreggs

(27,814 posts)
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 11:22 PM Dec 2016

How Do You Get There?

Some questions for Republicans:

How do you become so uncaring about your fellow citizens that you actually look for ways to make them suffer?

How do you become so hardened to that suffering that your first thought upon being in power is to take affordable healthcare away from those who finally have it?

How do you become so heartless as to champion the idea of cutting our seniors’ social security payments?

How do you become so devoid of feeling that you constantly seek to destroy the safety nets that are often the only thing between eating and hunger, between shelter and living on the street - literally between life and death for the most vulnerable among us?

How do you put aside any semblance of humanity while you gut funding for social programs in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthy?

How do you totally dismiss the well-being of your country as you devise ways to keep your fellow citizens from having their voices heard via their votes?

How do you ignore your self-touted “Christian values” while bringing as much hardship to bear on those struggling to survive as possible?

How do you become so lacking in decency that you vilify those who attempt to make things better while you do everything in your power to make things worse?

How do you look at your children and lovingly assure them they’ll have full stomachs and a warm place to sleep – knowing that you are finding ways to ensure that other people’s children won’t have either?

How do you blindly walk past panhandling veterans on the street begging for a scrap of food, knowing your party and its policies led to them being in such dire straits after serving in the wars you sent them to fight?

How do you become so bereft of patriotism you are willing to put our country’s leadership into the hands of a man who has proven beyond all doubt that he is incapable of leadership?

How do you become so oblivious to any chance at peace in this world you would support the presidency of a man who continually demonstrates his pettiness, his bullying, and complete disdain for diplomacy or global cooperation?

How do you become so inhumane you are willing to put all of humanity in jeopardy in order to score a political “win”?

Above all else, how do you sleep at night? How do you live with everything you’ve done, and everything you are about to do? How do you justify every action you have taken to destroy the lives of your fellow citizens, and ultimately your country?

Those of us who have a conscience, who understand that patriotism goes beyond wearing a flag-pin on our lapels, who want a better world for everyone and not just the few, and who appreciate what it means to truly be “our brother’s keeper”, would really like to know.

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How Do You Get There? (Original Post) NanceGreggs Dec 2016 OP
I do not understand it at all mcar Dec 2016 #1
if you ever find the answers, please let us know. I, for one, do not understand them at all. niyad Dec 2016 #2
They're predators for now. The Wizard Dec 2016 #3
My theory, for what it's worth, The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2016 #4
interesting. of course, paul ryan DesertFlower Dec 2016 #8
Paul Ryan who is spearheading ... NanceGreggs Dec 2016 #11
Yeah, I know... I'm just trying to figure out what kind of mental gymnastics The Velveteen Ocelot Dec 2016 #12
I know. NanceGreggs Dec 2016 #15
Good cadence in your style. The Wizard Dec 2016 #5
How do I become so black-hearted that I look forward to deep-red-state cataclysms and disasters? NBachers Dec 2016 #6
"Welcome to the light." madamesilverspurs Dec 2016 #7
Hey, America, one simple fact about the GOP: they DON'T want to help you. calimary Dec 2016 #9
Nance nails it again! I have HAD IT with fake Christians and fake Patriots. joanbarnes Dec 2016 #10
How indeed. Clear-eyed questions... for doll-eyed dolts. FailureToCommunicate Dec 2016 #13
I don't get it either. I try and try to imagine what it would feel like BlancheSplanchnik Dec 2016 #14
The light is behind us and only darkness ahead. sheshe2 Dec 2016 #16
Ayn f'ing Rand. resistance2016 Dec 2016 #17
You're Whistling In the Wind brooklynboy49 Dec 2016 #18
We seem to have become a very selfish nation. MineralMan Dec 2016 #19
It's because 30 years of hate has spewed out of their tv's, radios, and pulpits NightWatcher Dec 2016 #20

mcar

(42,311 posts)
1. I do not understand it at all
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 11:25 PM
Dec 2016

Most of my neighbors are Republican and Trump voters. They are also decent, caring people.

I'm having such a hard time wrapping my head around this. It's hypocrisy of the highest order, to say the least.

The Wizard

(12,545 posts)
3. They're predators for now.
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 11:41 PM
Dec 2016

When the roles are reversed they become whining punks and professional victims. It's easier to give the finger than it is to give a helping hand.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,686 posts)
4. My theory, for what it's worth,
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 11:41 PM
Dec 2016

is that the ideas that support this behavior - objectivism, supply-side economics and the like - are quite literally, for many conservatives, matters of faith in the religious sense. And by "religion" I mean any belief system that involves accepting certain things as true without any objective proof that they actually are true. Paul Ryan, for example, apparently believes that taking away government-supplied health insurance and replacing it with private insurance and vouchers is a good thing - notwithstanding the fact that an objective analysis of the costs and benefits shows that this would actually harm people.

Of course supply-side economics has been proved over and over not to work, but conservatives are convinced it does, or that it will if it's tried often enough and for long enough. Likewise, Marxists, Maoists and Stalinists believed communism would work, and for decades kept trying to make it work even though it clearly wasn't working at all. And Ryan believes absolutely in his health insurance program in much the same way Christians believe Jesus was resurrected on Easter. Unless we accept the possibility that all Republicans are truly evil so they promote legislation that hurts people because they like hurting people (which may be true in some cases), the only explanation is that they believe their own bullshit and think that eventually the implementation of their theories will actually improve society.

DesertFlower

(11,649 posts)
8. interesting. of course, paul ryan
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 12:02 AM
Dec 2016

is supposed to be a good "catholic". i wonder what pope francis would think of his ideas.

NanceGreggs

(27,814 posts)
11. Paul Ryan who is spearheading ...
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 12:38 AM
Dec 2016

... the push to cut $23 billion from the food stamp program over the next ten years? Paul Ryan who showed up, uninvited and unanncounced, at a soup kitchen to "scrub" already-cleaned pots for a photo-op to demonstrate his "charity work"?

Sorry, I ain't buying the idea that someone like that has ANY interest in anyone's welfare, other than his own.

The Velveteen Ocelot

(115,686 posts)
12. Yeah, I know... I'm just trying to figure out what kind of mental gymnastics
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 12:47 AM
Dec 2016

makes this sort of thinking even possible.

NanceGreggs

(27,814 posts)
15. I know.
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 01:03 AM
Dec 2016

We all are.

The thing is they're so blatant about their disregard for anyone, especially the most vulnerable, they don't even try to tart things up anymore. The first thing out of their mouths was "now we get to un-do Obamacare". They could have said, "We're working on a better, more efficient system that will help more people." It would have been a lie, of course, but it would have allayed a lot of fears.

But they didn't even do that much. Instead they've got even their own constituents living in fear of losing the only health insurance they've ever had. When Republicans can't even be bothered to lie to cover-up their heartlessness, you know they just don't give a shit - and they don't care who knows it.


The Wizard

(12,545 posts)
5. Good cadence in your style.
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 11:50 PM
Dec 2016

It keeps the reader wanting to continue. Very economic and effective writing. As usual, you get an A for style and content.

madamesilverspurs

(15,801 posts)
7. "Welcome to the light."
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 11:57 PM
Dec 2016

That was the comment from the precinct committeeperson at my first caucus after formalizing my switch to the Democratic Party. Years later, that comment has proved true time and again. If it's getting dark, turn around and get the hell out of there. Been there, don't EVER want to go back.


.

calimary

(81,239 posts)
9. Hey, America, one simple fact about the GOP: they DON'T want to help you.
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 12:28 AM
Dec 2016

They DO NOT want to help you. They do not think they should have to. Hey, screw that "my brother's keeper" crap or the Golden Rule or that bearded guy from long ago who talked about whatever you do to the least of these, you do to Him. It's not their job anyway.

BlancheSplanchnik

(20,219 posts)
14. I don't get it either. I try and try to imagine what it would feel like
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 12:56 AM
Dec 2016

To think that way, and I can't ..... it's just so alien to me.

 

resistance2016

(86 posts)
17. Ayn f'ing Rand.
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 05:39 AM
Dec 2016

She's responsible for 99% of this horse shit. She's the most evil person to have ever lived.

 

brooklynboy49

(287 posts)
18. You're Whistling In the Wind
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 12:19 PM
Dec 2016

The group you're addressing isn't reading this, and even if they did, they wouldn't give a damn. You're preaching to the choir.

MineralMan

(146,288 posts)
19. We seem to have become a very selfish nation.
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 01:02 PM
Dec 2016

It seems as though a majority of our population has narrowed its focus down to a very small group of others they care about. Women, people of color, the aged, the disabled, the poor and LGBTQ people, among many others don't seem to enter most people's minds any longer. They are the "others," and are not worthy of concern for many people.

That is not a new thing, but it seems to have grown far more common over time. We think primarily of ourselves, our immediate families, a few friends and pretty much nobody else these days. We've insulated ourselves from "others," and don't even notice them when we encounter them, unless it's out of fear.

I do not know how this will be fixed, frankly. It's a very sad thing to observe.

NightWatcher

(39,343 posts)
20. It's because 30 years of hate has spewed out of their tv's, radios, and pulpits
Fri Dec 16, 2016, 01:07 PM
Dec 2016

Their heroes on those the worship hate all the same people that they do.

They've been raised to follow avaricious psychopaths and lack the critical thinking skills to even recognize the disconnect.

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