On that we agree completely.... The dems were playing chess and the republicans were playing checkers(badly)...
Where my perspective differs from some here is in regard to where to go from here..? I have no intention of rolling over. Yet, unfortunately, traditional methods of making our voices heard has been literally taken from us. Community activism on a local level is all well and good as long as your ideologies align with the majority of those in your local communities. Contacting Congressmen and Senators has proven to be little to no value. I recently got back the standard "form" reply from both Senators Scott and Rubio. They spent the first two paragraphs denouncing the violence, and the last sentence vowing to continue the fight for conservatives... They are more interested in public perception of their own accountability rather than actually standing up for conservative values. They too, are tone deaf to the bigger picture. It's pathetic....
As many here have pointed out, the conservative voice in America need a new leader. One who possesses the same America-first agenda without the negative Trump side effects. But, who is that going to be now? Only a handful of these representatives are willing to put their necks out there with the dems now exclusively wielding all of the swords.
In a span of less than a week, the social media monopolies have silenced a sitting POTUS. They have blacklisted conservative politicians, and not with same hyperbolic political rhetoric like before. They are literally shutting down companies, cancelling book deals, closing financial accounts, and taking livelihoods away from those who are guilty of nothing more than having different political opinions than they do. Airline union execs were threatening denying flights to anyone who attended the Washington rally last week. There are threats of putting these people on "no-fly" lists for Christ's sake..! Meanwhile, it's crickets from the republican side except for a handful like Cruz, Hawley, Jordan, Gaetz, etc.,. More sadly, for all of the barking they are willing to do, they have had their teeth pulled as a result of losing the Senate.
I appeal to the thoughtful, measured opinion of my friend
@Red Leg who I respect for having the most stoic analysis of current events. Given all that has happened and what continues to happen with the House introducing new impeachment charges and the POTUS-elect calling 74 million Americans domestic terrorists, I would be interested to know if you still believe that our best courses of action going forward are going to be passive domestic political diplomacy and a future reliance on the ballot box?
"Passive" or what? Exactly?
I started to type an angry retort, but that would be as counterproductive as too much of what we have done the last couple of months. So, let's unpack this a little bit.
First of all, we have people on this site espousing or intimating the whole "blood of patriots" thing in every third post. Many, if not most of whom, have never smelled a whiff of real combat. So I would ask where do those who shout this counter productive nonsense want to build their barricades? Against whom do they take up arms? Should they bayonet their registered democrat neighbor? Perhaps their child or grandchild's young idealistic school teacher? Burn down the nearest university? Maybe overrun the town courthouse or city hall - after all, that technique has certainly worked out well for us following the lunacy at the capitol. What specific violent actions would make a positive change?
And unlike 1860, it's not like a region can secede. "Red" Texas, for instance, is only red by about 8% on a really good day. Any actual conflict in this country would look far more like the Spanish Civil War than the American War Between the States. Most of my fellow travelers are relatively ignorant about history. I would urge all the chest thumpers to make an exception and to actually study how that worked out for the average Spaniard in the thirties.
Right now, if Gallup is to be believed, Trump still has 48% approval rating. Pelosi is currently 14%. AOC is around 25%. No one takes Biden very seriously. We still have a solid, deployable political base that can win congressional and presidential elections. What we need is good leadership to focus that base.
Trump was a flawed vessel for that task. The disruption he initially caused will likely pay real dividends if we don't throw it away in the near future. However, despite his accurate bureaucratic perceptions and broad national vision, he also demonstrated an unfathomable capacity for isolating political allies while making enemies of almost everyone else. Only Trump could stand by mutely while his followers called someone like Pense a traitor; a man who staunchly supported the President at every turn except when asked to violate his oath and understanding of the constitution. Like Sam Houston, I am confident history will judge the Vice President very favorably indeed. And only Trump could make the post election period so much about himself, that his own followers forgot, ignored, and most tragically, boycotted the GA elections.
But here we are. As we speak, House of Representative redistricting is about to kick off in many states. Republican down ballot success in statehouse races in November puts that opportunity squarely in Republican hands. Our first goal must be to expand that statehouse success and kick Nancy Pelosi's leadership to the curb in 2024 by winning the house. If the new administration oversteps its "mandate" as badly as I expect and it already indicates it will, there is every chance we can win back the senate as well. I mean only Democrats could be so stupid as to fundamentally and perhaps permanently antagonize nearly half the electorate.
Get back the House, and real election reform has a chance of being proposed. Hint, some smart men and women ought to run on the notion. We have a winning message in most corners of the country where a majority of Americans still believe in opportunity, free enterprise, fairness and capitalism. They love this country and want to be on our side.
What I fear, is that instead of committing ourselves to that hard work and effort, a relatively small minority on the right will do stupid things in the coming weeks. If it happens, that 48% approval will evaporate quickly, and our enemies will be emboldened to take even stronger measures to "fundamentally change" America.
We can either do that hard political work, or we can sit around and bitch while fantasizing about forcibly creating some right wing totalitarian state where no democrat will ever be allowed to vote or think or say "wrong" things again. After all, that sort of totalitarian solution has to be the end result doesn't it, if we are unwilling to win politically?
And I really don't want to hear, that winning elections is impossible because the democrats cheat. Of course they cheat. I have no doubt that fraud took place in this election. I also have no doubt there was insufficient fraud to be decisive with respect to the results. Trump's lawyers had no traction with those allegations and plenty of republican appointed or elected officials had opportunity to review them. And they weren't all "traitors." Either the evidence wasn't there - do some of your own research on this Dominion red herring - or the President's lawyers were incompetent.
What we need to do is rededicate ourselves to winning elections. What actually would be useful at this point would be a republican congressional election strategy that exploited mail-in voting.
) that one of the tech folks who was in the “Social Dilemma” docu-drama is saying this round of censorship will be the end of a couple of those companies because of section 230. I have some more learning to do there.
