My 18 yr old son asked, what do repubs stand for...

[fumsm]

My answer:

1. Cowards. Never take responsibility for anything wrong, blame someone else, take credit for anything right, even if you don't deserve it.
2. Liars: Lie about everything
3. Obstructionist: Never cooperate is the motto. Keep changing the subject and point fingers at someone else, then exploit it.
4. Enablers: Enable your supporters to do their wrongs, even if it means destroying the country
5. Did I mention cowards?
6. Fake outrage: Create a "fake outrage" to reflect any responsibility on their end. Then scream at the top of your lungs over and over again.
7. Power, money and material things; Live for it!
8. Screw the poor, enable the rich.
9. Insanity: Lead the crazy people, or elect them.
10. Never co-operate. My way or the highway.
11. Kidnap a hot button issue, like religion or abortion, or guns and exploit the people by fear to follow them. Fear is a very powerful tool for republicans.
12. Did I mention, COWARDS.

How do you deal with them? Never let them have an inch. There is no way to work with these people in a logical environment. Either take control or be controlled.

[rateyes]

1. You have excellent parenting skills. nt

[notadmblnd]

2. In one word.... Themselves

their attitude is.. as long as they have theirs... screw everyone else by any means necessary.

[burythehatchet]

5. my 10 y.o. asked me and that was my answer. Themselves and their money. That's all.

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. The fact that I'm of two minds about this is inherently ironic.

I'm uncomfortable with the black and white absolutist frame, but it's also apparent that absolutism and demonizing worked really well for Republicans for a long time.

Depends on your son, I guess. If he's like most 18 year olds I know then Republicans = poopyheads is probably the right approach.

[bdamomma]

4. your list pretty much covers it.

I remember asking my parents what the difference was between Republicans and Democrats and my father said the Republicans always think about the businessmen and the Democrats support the working class, and damn was my father right about that.

[No.23]

6. You teach...

broadly brushed categorization well.

Let's hope that it's a skill that will serve him well in his later years.

[T Wolf]

7. I think you were far too generous in your description of the pukes. They are nowhere as

good as you paint them.

And don't forget hypocrisy. Or irrationality/insanity. Or just plain heartlessness.

[Tommy_J]

8. It would make more sense rearranged slightly

#7 Power, money and material things; Live for it! should be #1. It is the motivation - what they stand for. The others are characteristics and how they go about achieving their objectives.

Anyway, great points.


;-)

[cboy4]

9. You left out homophobes!

And that's with a capital "H"

[burythehatchet]

10. Here's the problem with your answer (which is also my answer)

It feeds into the Republican/Democratic dichotomy. That is what the uber-class wants to maintain - the illusion that its about Repubs and Dems. But the reality is that the real dichotomy is between labor and capital. Between the haves and have-nots. Between the AIG's of the world and the UAW's of the world. But it is so easy to buy into the Repub/Dem narrative because that is what we are fed. Scratch the surface and you will find that Repubs and Dems have 90% in common. But both Repubs and Dems have nothing in common with those that own us.

[No.23]

13. Bullseye.

Remind me to never compete with you in archery.

Nicely done.

[burythehatchet]

15. Thank you. :-) n/t

[BuyingThyme]

11. Welcome to DU, Fumsm!

:hi:

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[damonm]

17. The problem is..

They stopped standing for anything during the last 8 years. They have instead proven by their actions that they don't mean a word they say.

They want to stop illegal immigration? Why didn't they do anything about it when they had BOTH houses of Congress AND the Presidency?
They want to stop abortion? Same question.
They believe in fiscal responsibility and small government? Why, then, did they double the national debt in 8 years and expand the government more than at any time since the depression?
They say they're pro-life, yet favor expansion of the death penalty.
They say they're tough on terror, yet Al-Qaeda is STRONGER than it was in 2001 when they killed 3000 innocents - on the REPUBLICAN watch.
They say they support the troops, but send them to the rat-infested Walter Reed Hospital when they're wounded while at the same time they oppose a new GI bill for being "too generous".

They stand for NOTHING save a blind lust for power.

The OP nailed it.

Deal.
(edited for grammar)

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pnutbutr]

21. idiocy

is something passed down by parents who fail to provide their children with information and instead choose to flood them with hate filled ramblings based on their personal ideology.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pnutbutr]

24. yeah, thanks

instead of actually addressing what I said go ahead and assume. I didn't defend republican ideology. I pointed out the problem with the way you handled the question. What I said is valid and no better then freeper indoctrination of their own children.

[fumsm]

25. You make my point.

Just like a repuke, change the subject, reflect the issue, insult the opinion, and compare to something totally non related.

[pnutbutr]

27. call me

a repuke and it will magically invalidate everything I said and restore your self esteem.

[fumsm]

29. Go away

your annoying me....ohh, I'm sorry, that's what you guys do.

[Tommy_J]

20. My initial gut response was similar to yours

but after more reflection I think the last 8 years justify those points. It is now hard to be over critical of republicans. They have done immense damage.

[DireStrike]

28. I agree, however the presentation is important.

Calm reasoned evidence will do a kid much better than anger.

I don't know if this was calmly presented, or if there were sharply pronounced words and perhaps a bit of spittle flying. I find it really hard to not get angry when discussing certain things, hopefully this was not one of them for the OP.

I probably would have said something like "Yeah, that's a really good question. I've been wondering myself lately. They seem to just be drones working for the super rich. Oh yeah and some of them are religious crazies."

[Tommy_J]

33. Right on

[fumsm]

34. No anger involved, just my opinion

He is free to do what he wants, but I felt he should know how I saw things. He sees it. He voted for BO last election (his first). I didn't force anything. For what it is worth, my wife is a repub, and for the most part doesn't have any of these traits, other than she was raised to believe the president will do the right thing (by dems no less) but she does succumb to the fear tactics too often.

My point was more directed to th Congress critters, and th people who put them there. That being said, there are some dems that I don't trust as well. They are easy to spot, and should be purged. I am a strong believer in term limits, mostly for that reason.

[BuyingThyme]

22. Torture, war, corruption, hate. All Republicans stand in support of these things.

Children should know.

[butterfly77]

30. No one has to push this on children..

they can see it for themselves as many have asked me why they do what they do and I give them the same answer. A lot of them are INSANE,IGNORANT,UNIFORMED,RACIST,RICH or just plain evil...I have explained the ideology and my children said to me that it was CRAZY which =INSANE...

[Arugula Latte]

31. You'd have more of a point if this were still 1978.

[Laelth]

14. Generally speaking, you nailed them!

I rather like your solution too, though it goes against my better instincts.

:dem:

-Laelth

[chrisa]

16. Not what the party as a whole stands for.

Just the crooked, Theocratic mess that the Republican Party became in the "religious revival" of America.

[Echo In Light]

18. One word response: authoritarianism

[nichomachus]

26. I would have said that there were no Republicans

They died off years ago. Rather, they were murdered and their identity was stolen by fascists and fools.

[Festivito]

32. Individualism over collectivism.

1. Always be afraid of having to depend on someone else, especially since you must amass enough money to keep others at away and fearful of you even while you are sick and someday old and have to have the same people you did deceive, deny, blame, and take credit for good their stuff to take care of you while they might think you are not able, not able to keep them in fear of you. (That takes a lot of money.)
2. Lie about everything that will get you above the next person.
3. Obstruct other from achieving anything, then when they don't figure out why their idea is not catching, steal the idea and exploit it.
4. Enable others to do wrong so they will feel as badly as you do and worse, they will feel complicit with very own actions.
5. Did I mention fear enough?
6. Create "fake outrage" to keep them busy.
7. You need more money and its power!
8. Screw the poor they need too much, enable the rich and keep those rich wary of the poor so they don't spend time stealing from you.
9. Deal with democracy by putting in crazy people.
10. Assert your power over them so they get used to it. Never co-operate. My way or the highway.
11. Keep them chasing smoky issues like lies about religion or lies about abortions, or lies about gun control and exploit the fear.
12. Did I mention, fear being unpowerful and in need of others to help you. Speak disparagingly of people who help others as weak, call them names and repeat those names with menacingly derisive tones.
13. Make the words of collectivism, socialism, communism, et. al. as evil, not even to be considered in so much as a minute form. Even change the meaning of words such as liberalism to mean something bad.
14. Did I mention, fear not having power?

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

35. This post and thread of comments is bookmarked for my 12year old son to read..

Thank you all, for the discussion.

K&R!