So much to unpack here. I'll try taking it as you wrote it and offer a counter perspective that hopefully you will consider since you do seem to want to be open-minded about things.
This is demonstrably false considering recent polling data and also with respect to election results.
Former President Trump's reelection hopes took another hit in a new New York Times/Siena College poll, which shows his support within the Republican base diminished
people.com
Those two individuals are clowns. They have participated in a sham designed to distract from very important issues we face today. For almost ALL of Congressional history, when a committee is formed there would be members nominated by each party to the committee. In this case (the only one I can remember) the Democrats would not allow the Republicans to select members to participate. Instead they picked who they wanted to call it "bi-partisan" and then went forward with a process designed to reach a pre-determined outcome. It's not a discovery process at all. It is entirely political. Both of those people participating have tainted what should be a fair process. As I always say, unless someone is afraid of the truth, there is no harm in searching for it. If your view point is the correct one; debate, scrutiny and analysis will only serve to bolster that. Never mind the reality that one of the leaders of this commission voted against certifying the 2016 election results...
Please show me where both sides don't engage in this behavior and not on equal terms because the bulk of the media doesn't parrot everything the right says to sway reality. The Democrats and the Media speak with one voice most of the time. Just look at what's going on now. Democrats say Trump and his ilk on the right are a threat to democracy in America. That if these people get power we could lose everything. Right?
Now let's go to the map and examine reality. All across the country they are running ads and turning out to vote for these extreme candidates to try and fix the elections in their favor. Here's a video about this very subject from recent days:
Now I ask you, if these people are such a threat and Democrats opine ad nauseum that they want a return to the GOP of old, why are they supporting these candidates? Talk about a zero sum game where winning is all that matters even at the expense of what is best for our country and the truth. How could any reasonable person defend such actions?
One more thing, both sides spew hatred all around us. It's everywhere. Trying to point the finger at Republicans isn't fair at all. You seem to have tilted every point you make in one direction and I don't understand that.
In the same way during football season I am more concerned about Clemson playing its best than I am what our opponents do, I follow my side of the political sphere very closely.
For example, you can listen to Bobert's speech here to maybe two or three dozen people.
There's a lot of good in things she says but she just can't help herself from running way off the tracks repeatedly. Marjorie Taylor Green is similar in many ways. God doesn't call us to be nationalists. This is not supposed to be a Christian nation. However, I do agree with President Washington when he said:
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?"
I believe this to be true, but it comes with warnings as in all cases. Moderation is an imperative because as we become more and more rigorous in the pursuit of our ideals, we can stray very easily into extremism. At this time in our nation, we see that on display with both sides. The only way this ends is by a universal condemnation of the rhetoric we see on display from all parties including the media. There is no good guy here. For those on my side, I would suggest that Christ was clear in His efforts to NOT wade into politics. He sought to change the world but not through the use of political power or control over others. Instead, He appealed to our souls and showed us how to nourish them through service and love toward others.
Bobert and Green have no real power. They do, however, represent a very angry and very dangerous part of the right in this country. Just as AOC and the rest of the squad represent an equally angry and dangerous part of the left in this country. In your post, you went all in on condemnation of your fears about the far right with no mention of the left. Given that the left is far more powerful because of institutional control at this time, we need to at least pay equal attention to each of these dangerous elements.
You're serious with this?
The court will hire an outside expert to draw a new map before this year's elections.
www.nbcnews.com
As Democrats across the country blast aggressive Republican gerrymanders as a blatant threat to America’s democratic order, party leaders in two blue states are playing hardball with their own cong…
thehill.com
I found January 6th to be abhorrent. It was a riot that got completely out of control. It was not an insurrection. It was far more insignificant than the riots of the summer of 2020 but we just brushed that under the carpet. Many lives were destroyed during that time but no one really cares.
We are strange how we politically filter everything that goes on. Kill 19 children and teacher in a school and it's a national outrage. But 53 people die in the trailer of a truck and there's no lasting outrage to do anything.
A distant cry led a worker Monday evening to a tractor-trailer abandoned on a desolate country road under the blazing Texas sun on the outskirts of the city.
www.cnn.com
Back to 1/6. It was a riot and the attempts to make it more are insane. Let me ask you this, if you were planning an insurrection to take over the United States government, wouldn't you go in armed? Wouldn't you have a plan to not stop until you have completely dismembered the current power apparatus? And wouldn't you go in looking a little more like a soldier on a mission than a member of the Water Buffaloes from "The Flintstones?"
This is such an important section of your post but perhaps not for reasons you intended. Only you can answer that. I too believe we have engaged in the practice of "by any means necessary" to gain political power. But I ask you who began the process of centralization of our government and the dangerous power struggle that has ensued? Hint: It isn't the GOP.
That's why we need a set of overriding standards that apply to both sides. It's why the power of the free press is so vital to the health of our nation. The loss of our media has been devastating. Every medium we have now in terms of reporting of the news is slanted one way or the other. There's no curiosity or pursuit of truth. There is no understanding that the legitimacy of our institutions and the place they hold in society is dependent upon functioning in the light of day with total transparency. There have to be guardrails. They must be moral boundaries. We have completely abandoned all of this. Until we start restoring these things, it will be a battle between angry extremes. A center left party won't solve this problem. For better or for worse, this is a two party country. We need to start by restoring the place of the two parties.
JFK is one of the most celebrated Democrat presidents. Here is his platform from 1960. Tell me how that compares to today's Democrat Party? It's a stunning difference.
www.presidency.ucsb.edu
Likewise, compare today's Republican party to the platform of one of its great leaders in Ronald Reagan.
www.presidency.ucsb.edu
These leaders are cited all the time but how much are we really adhering to the traditional viewpoints of each party? How can we do better?
NOTE: The 1960 platform was from a time of racial segregation. In no way do I advocate any views to that effect but it also must be noted that how we handled integration was egregious and robbed black Americans of the vast majority of their hard earned wealth and set our nation back generations.
This is already too long. We can pick up more as we discuss if you see fit to.
www.reuters.com
