Fuck your "pro-life" anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-white privilege arguments.

[hfojvt]

25. I have this thing about "core principles"

When I interact with somebody who disagrees with me about some principle I have, I usually attempt to persuade them to my point of view as best I can, using stories, facts, logic, and compassion.

What you seem to have stated here, in simplest terms, is set of dogmas.

I believe X. PERIOD.
I believe Y. PERIOD.
I believe Z. PERIOD.

And note to those who disagree with me.

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! and GO AWAY!

Is that, then, another one of your core principles? "Intolerance for other points of view?"

Now, I know, of course, that I am probably on some people's "ten most wanted" list. I am constantly arguing unpopular opinions and points of view.

But the fact remains that I have been a registered Democrat since I turned 26 in 1988.

The other fact remains, that many ELECTED Democrats are even to the right of ME, at least on some issues. Some Democrats voted to authorize the invasion of Iraq. I drove to Lawrence to protest it.

If you read my journal you'd see me calling out Governor Cuomo for cutting taxes for rich people, and calling out Obama for the same thing.

And then there are the Republicans. There are a lot of them in this country, and especially in my state, my district and my county.

If we want to win elections, we have to be able to reach people, to persuade people, to reason with people who are NOT part of the choir. We have to push back against the rightwing noise machine.

But we need to push back with facts, not with hate and intolerance.

When I joined DU in 2004, Bush had just been re-elected. I was devastated. I really thought my country was better than that. That my fellow Americans would reject Bush, his policies and his attitude and his wars, in no uncertain terms. I saw Kerry bumperstickers all over town and we could not keep yard signs in stock at headquarters. I naively, and hopefully, thought Bush was even gonna lose in Kansas.

The reality was brutal.

I needed some way to cope. I needed some friends. Some allies who would fight with me to take back our country. I hoped I would find those at DU.

And to some degree I did.

But to another degree, probably a much larger degree, I didn't. We seem to be at cross purposes rather than united. I would like to be part of a Left Wing Noise Machine, pushing back against the lies of the right. Like so http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3004566

Instead, often our message is only of hate and intolerance for those who disagree. Our noise machine only spreads this message to the non-choir - "hey voters, you are a bunch of racist, morons, and we hate your guts" "p.s. I hope you vote for our candidate"

As such, we might as well be part of the rightwing noise machine. All we do is help divide the bottom 80% so that the top 20% continues to win.