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Why do Republicans hate America?
| Original contribution. Somebody left it here. I know, it should be on the opinion page... |
| Yeah. Better complain to the site owner. Line forms over there to the left. |
| Don't waste your time, he never listens |
Republicans must hate this country. What else would explain their blatent disregard for all the things which make the United States of America so great. These things include the garunteed rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
| There are no guarantees of result. The Declaration of Independence finds that we're endowed by our Creator with "certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Those are things God gives us, in Jefferson's words. What we do with them is up to us. We can make our lives things of beauty, inspirations to others. We can make our lives a living hell for ourselves and those around us, until someone can't take it anymore and bumps us off. Most people manage something somewhere between the two extremes, with most of us trying for the thing of beauty ideal and falling short. But it's up to us as individuals, not up to the government to ensure the outcome. That's the difference between Dems of all stripes and Republicans — conservatives, neo-conservatives, and libertarians. |
This great country of ours stands above the rest because we have tolerance and freedom of speech and religion. It is these freedoms which the Republicans seem to despise the most.
| Cite a few examples. While you're doing it, keep in mind that you're on a blog that pokes fun at every group we can find, to include Republicans, run by an agnostic who's never faced a moment's religious discrimination. |
These Republicans seem to think that this is "Their" country.
| We live here. We live by our values. It's our country. Feel free to live here with us, and adhere to your values. (Cue Woody Guthrie...) But don't try to force the rest of us to conform to your values. Your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. |
They also seem to think that those whose opinions differ with theirs should leave the country.
| Stay or go. It's your choice. |
There is no reason for this, as this country has survived for over 200 years with diversity of opinions.
| And continues to somehow muddle along... |
An example of the symptom is the Conservative media, including FOX and Rush Limbaugh who thrive on conflict and name-calling tactics. Bill O'Riellys shouting "Shut Up, Shut Up!" is a prime example. He did not want to hear any oposing opinions.
| He also has the habit of referring to his guests as "pinheads" to their faces when they're particularly egregious. I'd never do that, preferring as I do to go behind their backs. Have you ever read The Nation? Have you ever listened to Air America? Have you ever been at a function where Chevy Chase or Whoopie Goldberg was the master/mistress of ceremonies? Fox News presents news, and most of its presenters have opinions. So does See BS news, ABC, NBC, CNN, and MSNBC. These presenters' opinions range from mildly liberal to stupidly liberal. National Public Radio, supported with our tax dollars, is usually stupefyingly liberal.The gripe that liberals have with Fox, as well as Limbaugh, Hannity, Laura Ingraham and all the others is that people listen to them. Limbaugh puts on an ego show, but he takes facts and discusses them, interprets them, and is usually right in how things are going to turn out. Such liberals as I've had the misfortune to listen to put on their own ego shows, take positions, discuss them, and usually turn out to be wrong. If your analysis isn't consistently predictive, then it's probably wrong. So maybe you should listen to our side of the spectrum now and then. I'd suggest starting with Jonah Goldberg, at National Review, or Mark Steyn at the Independent, or David Warren's website. Or reading Rantburg on a daily basis. Amazing, how predictable some things are. |
It is obvious that the radical right hates the freedoms of this great nation.
| As I've just explained, it's not in the least obvious. What's obvious is that we've got a free press and that every end of the political spectrum is free to use it. Complaining because nobody agrees with you — or that 52 percent of the country doesn't agree with you — isn't going to help things. But then, I always thought Spock made more sense than McCoy. |
They are attempting a Jihad against the Constitution of the USA.
| By demanding it's strict interpretation? Come now! |
These 'nut-jobs' are trying to add hate-speech into the constition.
| First I've heard of it... |
They are supportive of policies which encourage torture and disinformation.
Ahhh... You're referring, no doubt, to the horrors of Guantanamo. Y'see, Guantanamo is chock full of Bad Guys nabbed on the battlefield in Afghanistan. What we tried to do was sort out which ones were Taliban cannon fodder and which ones were al-Qaeda hard boyz. Under the Geneva Conventions, which I'm guessing you've never read, they could have been shot on the spot since they were conducting military operations out of uniform. They are not entitled to the same treatment as prisoners of war. The Germans, Russians, and yes, even the Americans, shot partisans — that's the technical term for them — in the Second World War. They really aren't entitled to the same treatment as POWs. You'll notice that we didn't ship uniformed soldiers captured in Iraq to Guantanamo for internment.
There is a difference between "torture" and mere "rough" or even "harsh" treatment. Since these beauzeaux killed 3000 of my countrymen in an unprovoked sneak attack it doesn't tug at my heartstrings that their treatment might occasionally be "harsh."
As for your complaint about disinformation, that's a valid tool to be used in conducting warfare. As the most famous example, I'd point to Patton's phantom army prior to the Normandy invasion. You have no "right" to know military secrets, or to access to sensitive information. There are declassification rules and procedures in effect so that 30 years from now you can look over the archives — but not while the information is militarily or diplomatically useful. |
These vile creatures are trying to usurp the power of the people.
| The people spoke in the last election. Your guy lost. Have they changed their mind? |
The Constitution of the USA was written to provide a stable and pragmatic government, not a power-hungry king, yet these modern day Fascists are determined to undermine these goals.
| Fascism, as I've pointed out here before, is a coherent political system. Its prime tenet is that of the corporate state. It accepts the existence of fairly rigid social classes — something that doesn't loom large in the United States — which are controlled and guided by an all-powerful Leader. Street violence, roving bands of fascisti, was integral to making Fascism work; those were the Blackshirts in Italy and the Brownshirts in Germany. There were also other colors of shirts in other countries of Europe, until they ran out of colors. None of these things are to be found in the U.S.A. right now, though they are characteristic of Baathism. We're fighting against those roving bands of fascisti right this moment, as they kill people to enforce the will of their Fearless Leader. Formerly Fearless Leader was Saddam, nowadays it's Zarqawi. They don't sing the Horst Wessel Song or the Inno dei Fascisti anymore, but they'll be willing to quote you a few verses of the Koran before cutting off your head. |
Why do Republicans hate America so much? They must hate our freedoms. Freedom is a concept that the Republicans hate.
| You've proceeded from "they must" — a conditional statement — to "they do" without offering any proof... |
Diversity and Freedom are looked down upon, and ultimately the Republicans would like to destroy those freedoms.
| Republicans enjoy their freedoms quite as much and possibly more than anybody else. |
These hate-filled Republicans are the first to claim that the Democrats hate America. I am a Democrat, and I am a patriot.
| Ahah. Do you have a definition of "patriot"? Does it include fighting wars to preserve our society? |
I will not bend down nor stop talking no matter what. I have a natural right to express my opinions, and those who would like to shut me up can leave this great country.
| But you just said it was the Republicans who were trying to run people out? I'm so confused... |
I am American and proud, but I am so sorry that the country has a plurality of hate-filled bigots and imbeciles who didn't spend the time in school to learn that America is great because of its diversity and freedom, not in spite of them.
I'm not too sure how much time you spent in school. Most of us here spent the requisite amount of time to earn a diploma, then a bachelor's degree, and probably a master's degree in some subject or another. I suspect there are a few doctorates, though nobody's come right out and 'fessed up. Some of us are lawyers and engineers or in the medical field. Most of us have lived in foreign climes and many of us are multilingual. So most of us aren't ignorant, and the ones who are move on to some other site after awhile. They can't take the witty repartee — too many jokes go over their heads or PD calls them names until they look for greener pastures. You seem to be having difficulty believing that there are people with 3-digit IQs who could disagree with what you see as self-evident truths.
I'm a linguist by training, not an engineer, but I'd suggest that if the facts don't match your theory, then your theory's probably wrong. (Frank, you can check me on that...) Assuming you're still in school, I'd first sign up for a course in modern European political theory, if you can find one that's not taught by a Marxist. That'll at least teach you something about Fascism. I'd take some social psych classes, especially the ones that deal in Groupthink, and a mass communications class. And I'd sign up for a course in logic, if you can find one. I'm not even sure they teach it anymore. Buy yourself a copy of David Hackett Fischer's Historians' Fallacies and read it from cover to cover — you don't have to remember all the terms, you'll recognize the situations when they arise in discourse. Keep the book, never throw it away, and reread it again in six months. And keep in mind that Fischer makes some of the same errors he describes when he's writing as an historian.
Then — but only after I'd done the things I just suggested — I'd go on a reading binge. Read The Nation. Read National Review. Read The New Republic and the Weekly Standards. Apply what you've learned about fallacious thought to the articles as you read them. Read the daily press — lots of hard news articles — and try to fit what's happening into any patterns you might see emerging. Try to guess what's going to happen next. Make sure you get lots of foreign news sources in there, so you're not getting a purely American perspective. Expand your horizons from Daily Kos to include other web sites, like this one but also many, many others.
Keep in mind that mere disagreement with your opinion doesn't mean that the other person is evil or even stoopid. They may be misinformed, or they may be better informed than you and have arrived at their opinions legitimately. The wider your own field of knowledge is, the easier it becomes to decide which applies. It's only when you're willing to change your opinion when proven wrong that the opinions you hold become legitimate. |
Posted by: Proud Democrat 2005-01-05 |
