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In reply to the discussion: For once, focus your bloodlust on Republicans --instead of the DLC/Firebaggers/ANYONE WITHOUT AN (R) [View all]chknltl
(10,558 posts)Chknltl here...
Thought this thread was long dead so imagine my surprise when I get the notification in my posts.
On the assumption that you were addressing my response. Am I correct in thinking you agree that the bloodless civil war between supporters of both parties needs to come to and end if Democracy in America is to survive?
If so, thank you! I have long danced around this notion here in the DU and out in the real world while debating my republican friends. Here in the DU my notions on this get at best ignored and at worst I get screamed at, called stupid and placed on ignore.
As I post this, an example related to this philosophy goes on here in the DU. The example was triggered by the shootings in Aurora Colorado. On one side here, we have extremist anti-gun advocates, on the other, extreme pro-gun advocates. In the middle is the rest of us. Over the past several days there has been a 'civil war' between these two with many of us lining up to some degree on one side or the other. I would hazard to guess that at its peak, 50% of our threads devoted some time to this civil war.
Think about it, we are the Democratic Underground, our democracy is hanging in the balance this upcoming election and yet we who should be fighting together here are doing what? Spending an incredible amount of our precious time, wasting it imho, tearing into each other and in some cases creating divisions here that may never get healed!
Only yesterday did I see some reaching out, it came (unexpectedly but with hindsight I should have expected it) from those who favored guns, not the anti-gun crowd. I am sure the pro gun extremists hardly approved of moderates within their ranks reaching out like this but for our own civil war to end, this sort of common sense needed to happen.
Eventually the extremists from both sides of our DU war will retreat to their separate corners and we can all focus on the real WAR that needs our attention, but our own extremists will always be there, ever ready for the opportunity to lead us to distraction.
THAT is how I see my country right now. The bulk of the electorate is moderate, most citizens having both right and left leaning notions on a whole host of issues. We have on the fringes, the extremists, ever ready to lead us off to battle. When the election cycle comes around these extremists pull some moderates their way and push some moderates to the other side by engaging in battle with them. I am of the opinion, that we who are watching, need to be aware that it is these extremist firebrands who are pushing potential allies away from the progressive cause. Most of the electorate,when polled lean left when it comes to what we as progressives would identify as common sense solutions to the issues which we face. If We the people expect to win this in this war on our democracy, we will need each and every vote we can get on our side. Somehow, we need to awaken the extremists on our side to this concept in order to get them to stop pushing some of our citizenry over to the corporatists camp.