Patient Zero in the Overton Window shift was probably Goldwater, but Reagan is the airline flight attendant who spread it worldwide.
Digging waaaaaay back:
Robert Ingersoll was a Republican. From Art and Morality, 1888.
Quote:
Art cultivates and kindles the imagination, and quickens the conscience. It is by imagination that we put ourselves in the place of another. When the whigs of that faculty are folded, the master does not put himself in the place of the slave; the tyrant is not locked in the dungeon, chained with his victim. The inquisitor did not feel the flames that devoured the martyr. The imaginative man, giving to the beggar, gives to himself. Those who feel indignant at the perpetration of wrong, feel for the instant that they are the victims; and when they attack the aggressor they feel that they are defending themselves. Love and pity are the children of the imagination.
I hope this helps bring back that loathing!
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Peering from the top of Mount Stupid
I mean, Reagan was pretty happy-go-lucky when it came to trading in dog whistles and occasionally overt racism, but it was mostly directed at black Americans. That's the cool trick Reagan Republicans use to get white workers to vote against their own economic interests - the idea that it's probably worth it if it might hurt a black person somewhere.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lisarea
It is absolutely horrifying what's happened to the Overton window, and just to my personal version of it.
Yep, this. The corollary has been pretty interesting in not insignificant ways for me.
In 2016, it was all ugh we should get married sometime I guess, for taxes probably, lol breederz. In 2017 I was kinda like hmm let's not get married and just create an administrative record that we are ghey because that list is the first thing they'll weaponize to round us up. Then in 2018 I realized that they will not even need a list after 2020, so
It's the retweet I find most interesting there. Kim Campbell was the last conservative Prime Minister before the wingnuttery began. She's been largely consistent, and that's just a hint on much that Overton window moved.
Compare to the current Conservative Party leader:
Conversion therapy is child abuse.
The Conservatives dumped a candidate in 2015, because he promoted the use of conversion therapy. At the time, they said it didn’t reflect the values of their party.
To the question in the title. I do! I remember when the republicans weren’t nazi supporting racists, back as a kid my step grandpa was really into the fiscal conservative bits and even moved to Nevada because of their lack of taxes. He was smart, a surgeon and worked at a secret nevada test site on the aliens. Clearly he knows things and is republican, and a big fan of this Newt Gingrich guy among others. He was pretty hard of hearing and would watch political TV with headphones or turned up really loud and since his hearing Aids were out, would shout at the screen and get excited over some panel of similar looking old dudes. If you, the hearing person had any questions at this time you kinda had to choose which ear to face forward and go deaf in as yelling loud was just his volume setting. Both him and my grandma would have these hilarious shouting at each other fights across rooms that were mostly because neither had their hearing aids in and both were too proud to go to the effort of putting them in and be the one that now can hear fine so they would just shout at top volume. Anyway, he was republican and not blatantly racist.
(Ok fine, not aliens but probably nuclear bombs, or related. He was a surgeon in california and a general doctor in nevada for a military facility that didn’t exist on any map, required him to learn about varieties of radiation poisoning and carry a radiation exposure badge.)
Then I got old enough to vote, registered as republican and the flyers started appearing during election season, the angry xenophobic flyers, and it wasn’t just flyers but in general there was a growing ‘now that you’ve joined, we can let you in on the secret’ sentiment that quickly pushed me away. That sentiment was of course the undercurrent racism, sexism and hypocrisy that we see out flopping around on display these days.
My Dad was a moderate Republican for many, many years. I would say that he was more libertarian in inclinations. Big on civil liberties, liked lower taxes and fiscal responsibility. I doubt he worried himself much about the dog whistles until he abandoned the GOP.
The Republicans really lost him when GWB came on board. He was a big fan of science, and disliked the anti-intellectual nature of Bush. He was a Christian - went to church most of his adult life, but really disliked the right-wing evangelicals.
Basically, when Republicans turned more authoritarian, he turned away. I don't think he voted for a national-level Republican after that, but he might have split his vote for local candidates.
He fucking hated Trump, as most reasonable people do.
I am trying to understand the connection between Trumpism and global neoliberalist fascism. Where did it come from; who’s funding it; who’s leading and who’s being paid to shill; and what are the immediate goals and is there a vision for the longer term? I’m hoping to inspire some helpful input from ’s finest.
It's interesting that this thread pops up around the same time as the news about Mark Robinson, GOP candidate for North Carolina Governor, and self-described "black NAZI".
The Mark Robinson thing is absolutely fucking incredible. As one person put it:
Quote:
let this Mark Robinson story be a cautionary tale about freedom of speech. you, too, could be unjustly canceled in the prime of your life just for some youthful posts about [scrolls] oh, uh, well [scrolls faster] oh god [frantically tapping Page Down] what the fuck, man
I think this is the point at which I admit that North Carolina could genuinely be in play. If he's the Republican candidate for Governor, I could see this genuinely affecting turnout for both sides.
And sure, Trump's pretty awful, but Trump's managed to space the reveals out and exploit sunk cost fallacy; for any given reveal, it's not that big a deal given all the previous stuff the supporters have excused. Robinson, this showed up all at once.
__________________ Hear me / and if I close my mind in fear / please pry it open See me / and if my face becomes sincere / beware Hold me / and when I start to come undone / stitch me together Save me / and when you see me strut / remind me of what left this outlaw torn
It's interesting that this thread pops up around the same time as the news about Mark Robinson, GOP candidate for North Carolina Governor, and self-described "black NAZI".
"Martin Lucifer Koon"
Charming. But hey, this is the contemporary GOP. Ups to the dipshit morons who spent decades inviting every violent racist sociopath and religion-addled maniac they could find into the "big tent," thinking it would have no effect other than increasing numbers.
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"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis D. Brandeis
"Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are." ~ S. Gecko
I think this is the point at which I admit that North Carolina could genuinely be in play. If he's the Republican candidate for Governor, I could see this genuinely affecting turnout for both sides.
And sure, Trump's pretty awful, but Trump's managed to space the reveals out and exploit sunk cost fallacy; for any given reveal, it's not that big a deal given all the previous stuff the supporters have excused. Robinson, this showed up all at once.
To be fair to Mark Robinson, it isn't entirely accurate to say this all showed up all at once.
He has quite an extensive section on his Wikipedia page for his controversial statements and actions, and you'll notice quite a few things that do not come from that CNN story. There's a reason that he was already polling 10 pts behind Trump (tbf, the reasons that some people decide that Trump is acceptable while Robinson is beyond the pale are quite mysterious to me, but such people evidently exist in non-trivial numbers).
Some of his greatest hits, all of which were revealed prior to this CNN story:
while he basically advocates a total abortion ban, he paid for his wife to have an abortion
he got sued for stiffing the Girl Scouts on payment for thousands of dollars of cookies
his charity has been ordered to pay back the state over $100k for various malfeasance
"this foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash"
various other anti-Semitic remarks
gay people are worse than maggots, because at least maggots have a purpose
trans people should just go to the bathroom in the bushes
claims Michelle Obama is a man
wishes we could go back to before women could vote
black people were better off under Jim Crow
defended the Kent State massacre
the entire reason he ended up being able to win a GOP primary for Lt Gov previously is that he attacked the Parkland survivors as "spoiled little bastards" and "prosti-tots"
All of which, of course, is going to make it difficult for him to claim that the Nazi stuff is bullshit. It sounds exactly like him.
Expanding on the bit about how there are quite a few voters who distinguish Trump and Robinson, I'm not sure he can really throw the state to Harris. I'm sure she will try, and if more similar stories come out about other Republicans like Matt Gaetz, it could maybe help paint the entire party as a bunch of deranged freaks and perverts, which might help in NC and beyond.
Probably what the Republicans were panicking about is that Robinson could damage downballot Republicans, all of whom are more closely associated with Robinson than Trump is. And while, as I said, it's mysterious why Robinson's behavior is seen as so much worse than Trump's (after all, he's not been found liable for rape in court!), it does make sense to think that other NC Republicans are more like Robinson than Trump - he is the guy that NC Republicans and only NC Republicans nominated. It makes sense to think if I like Trump but don't like Robinson, maybe I shouldn't vote for the NCGOP Supreme Court or AG nominees either. And given how close the race is, they only need a portion of the Trump-Stein voters to vote for downballot Democrats to cost them a lot of other races.
And this story probably only makes it worse. Maybe Robinson is going to end up losing by 15 pts or more, given that he was already polling quite far behind.
Remember when Republicans weren't Nazis?
before, but it's need now more than ever so I'm (re)postifying anyway.
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