tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8264148977155820969.post5280233283289458694..comments2024-01-28T15:51:01.643-05:00Comments on Spirit of a Progressive: Politics is NOT the Problem, It's the SolutionPeter Feganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10949239024795435039noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8264148977155820969.post-1397180193010902632016-07-12T11:11:46.556-04:002016-07-12T11:11:46.556-04:00I'm sorry but I disagree somewhat with the bas...I'm sorry but I disagree somewhat with the basic premise here. It is one that has been dragged out and rehashed so many times as well as disproved mostly, you'd think that it's message is surely diminished and mostly rejected by now. The good old False Equivalence never seems to want to go to its justified end as a valid political idea. <br />Of course, oh so moderates like Brooks and the few others holding dearly to the idea of moderate (read: sane) republicans, always trudge out this canard that both sides are as bad as the other. They do this because they are continually and persistently burdened with having to defend their horrific party's doings. Since they have long since moved past the point where they can credibly defend their party's actions, they move to the only thing left to them that is available. That is, "both sides do it". Peter, seriously try to recall the multitude (hundreds) of times you here this defense and recall how many times it's a republican saying it. If your memory is true you'll realize that it's about 98% of the time. <br />I agree somewhat regarding the comments about Bernie being a "pure" type of candidate and how that influences SOME of his followers to be the same, and how that can detract from the "political discourse". However, it is not comparable to the intractability displayed on the right for many years (Merrick Garland and literally a thousand other examples). We know that a large percentage of Bernie's supporters are young and thus new to the process. I believe this fact should allow us to cut them a little slack as they are jist getting the "feel" of politics. They are already coming around to Hillary which proves they are not quite so single minded. The very nature of progressives includes being thoughtful, deliberative, open minded, attemptedly objective, and within all of that open to compromise. Not so much with conservatives. Yes both sides have both the yin and the yang, but it's about degrees. One side has way more yin ( or is it the yang) than the other. It's just the way it is - the parties are not equivalent in the way they act. <br />Further the example that you site - pro BLM, must hate cops, and pro cops, must hate blacks is a fantasy. Just as Trump's claim of thousands of Muslims shown celebrating after 9/11 is absurd, so to is this former claim. Yes, obviously there are a few on either side that comport to your theory, but they are the fringe not the majority. EVEN on the conservative side, I'm not willing to concede that a majority of police supporters also hate black people. Some, but not a majority do. I'm certain that percentage is even way smaller when it comes to BLM supporters who hate cops. <br />The theories here are old and outdated. That entirety of public, or nearly so, is stupid. Also that both sides are equal.<br />The "bend over backwards" contingent as I call them should just quit it already. That is those that never allow the idea that they need to maintain their neutral bonafides leave their mindset as they write or speak. <br />The two parties and their constituencies are not equally objective right now and have not been for a long time. Right wing radio, and then Fox News made sure of this. There is no equivalent ( there goes that word again) on the left. Never has been. And, oh yeah, for those that tried to equate MSNBC with Fox, what do you say now that the former has made a concerted shift to the right recently. They were never analogous anyway (MSNBC never was as ideologically pure as Fox (not even close), and certainly never engaged in the misinformation campaigns that Fox did). Hence we don't see poll after poll on their viewers misbeliefs (Obama's a Muslim, ad infinitum)<br />I'm sorry to see your still attached to David Brooks, but at least your not quoting that other pathetic at that paper, Dowd. Stick to Krugman.<br />And, oh yeah, TRUMP!<br /><br />Slbe11004https://www.blogger.com/profile/11988561333597589942noreply@blogger.com