Have you become radicalised in the last 3 years?

[TXlib]

I used to not care too terribly much whether my friends and coworkers were democrats or republicans.

Since Bush took over, I have become increasingly unable to see anybody who continues to identify as a republican as a decent human being. I feel the main motivations today for being a republican fall into one or more of the following categories:

1) greed/selfishness
2) gullibility or willfully-self-imposed ignorance
3) bigotry, xenophobia or general hatefulness/mean-spiritedness

Over the past 3 years, I have been accumulating more and more unfocused rage; I find myself wanting to engage in minor road rage just because the car in front of me has a Bush/Cheney '04 bumper sticker; I find myself fantasizing about beating republicans and conservatives with my bare hands until my fists are raw and bloody. (Don't worry; I have more than enough self-control not to act on these impulses.) The point is, I have been experiencing increasing bouts of raw fury/rage over republicans and conservatives, and it is taking a toll on me, personally.

I know I am not alone in this shift of view of republicans; the question is, does anybody feel differently? Do you feel there are any VALID reasons for voting republican that don't make somebody a waste of precious resources?

[DenverDem]

1. Republicans started it.

Newt Gengrich began the uncivil demonization of any opposition. A couple of decades of attempts to retain civility in defense of liberalism has gotten us to the absurd bizzaro world we now inhabit. Now we are forced to radical defense of our superior philosophies to merely survive. I am happy to call an idiot an idiot, now, and push back as hard or harder than the sociopaths in the wrong wing. That is true patriotism.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Hell yes!

I also used to understand people who were a-political. Now I can't, for the life of me, understand someone who just doesn't care.

Yeah, I make some immediate and unpositive judgements about people with republican stickers on their cars. I take an immediate dislike to them even if I never speak to them.

It's not healthy, long term, but hopefully we can be rid of the majority of our problem come November.

[rhino47]

3. I have been viewing not republicans but neo cons with more disdain.

If someone starts spouting off to me the neo con bullshit I just turn away.I really do not want that person in my life.It`s more about haters then politics though.I feel anyone that hateful has no place in my life.They feed themselves a daily diet of hate (rush olielly etc) willingly and knowingly.The dildoheads know deep down how hateful their views are .They are like addicts.They like to find someone to validate their known wrong behavior.Well they are voicing my hateful bigoted views on the tv radio etc then my views must not be sooo bad.Like the addict that see someone do a larger quantity of drug of choice the addict then thinks .. well hell im not addicted .. so and so does more drugs then I do ..hes the addict not me.I have a picker ( a person that I buy antiques off of,Im a dealer ) that I had dealt with for over 11 years.He came to my place once with a lot of very nice american art pottery .He started chatting politics.Saying how Rush is right about the poor ,, Rush is right about the blacks etc etc.Needless to say .I told him I wasnt interested in anything he had to sell me.He looked kind of stunned .He just couldnt understand why I would not choice to make money just because he said a few racist things.(which he didnt,couldnt ,wouldnt admit were racist)I told him never to come into my shop again.I so wanted to kick his hateful ass out of my shop.But then I didnt want to be brought to his level by hating him.
I loathe loathe loathe what bush did and is doing to this country .But I cant say that all republicans are bad.

[TXlib]

5. Great quote

Paraphrased, but I remember reading that conservatives rely on Fox News the way a drunk relies on a lamppost -- for support, rather than illumination.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

15. Ha!

I love that!

[PDittie]

4. Uh huh

But what has given me a tremendous amount of satisfaction and relief from the teeth-grinding animosity has been activism.

This past weekend we drove over to Austin for the Progressive Populist Caucus. Jim Hightower and Supreme Court Justice candidate Steve Van Os spoke. We met (again) with VelmaD and GOPisE as well as sonias and silverlib.

Now, just from attending your birthday party I can tell you that being in a room with 30 kindred spirits is enough good karma to keep me going for weeks, but to be in a room with a hundred Democratic activists chases the blues away better than a year's supply of Paxil.

On Saturday the 20th we're going to ride the bus to Crawford and participate in the Iraq War protest near *'s pig farm.

Mrs. Dittie's helping the March for Women fund-raise for the 4/25 March on Washington (can't be there in person but will be there in spirit).

And a whole host of other things on Meetup (Impeach Bush, Common Cause, and of course Kerry in 2004).

With two small children it can't be easy for you two to go and do things; I can only tell you that for us it has soothed the savage beast...somewhat.;)

[floridaguy]

9. Just wanted to agree that being among kindred spirits helps a lot,

because prior to this election, I was seriously afraid that there were just a few people saying, "What the f-ck is going on?" }(

Now I know there's thousands and even millions of us. :D

Check out furnitureforthepeople.com

[floridaguy]

6. You're not alone!

I can't say that I've had that vision of pummeling the morons til my fists are bloody, but I can tell you that the Bush administration has pushed many of us to become more radicalized. Here in Southwest Florida at a Democratic gala, Senator George McGovern told the paper this past weekend that shrub didn't fail on his promise to be a "uniter". He has united the Democrats!

In Carville's new book, "Had enough?" he says he likes to pull up beside people with B-C stickers and urges them to roll the window down. When they do he says, "Hey, did you know somebody put a Bush/Cheney sticker on your car?. Where I live, some rich old bastard might try to run you over if you did that, but I like the idea.

As far as giving any credibility to people who support Bush, unfortunately that's as democratic as this forum. But what's not Democratic is the fact that many Americans don't give a shit and don't bother to participate. We're not going to change someone like the girl I talked to yesterday who said she's against abortion and she thinks Bush is an honest and good man. For every person like that, there's 10 who don't like Bush, but don't participate for one reason or another.

You might try some yoga, meditation, or massage for that built up tension. We've got about 8 months before we send the idiot back to the village, but it will get worse before it gets better. With $140 million at their disposal, the corporate looters will not give up easily.

[TXlib]

10. I use exercise to work through the aggression

I crank up the angry music, pump the resistance on the elliptical machine to painful levels, and let my mind imagine a game of "Doom" where I am battling republicans, rather than demons.

[populistmom]

7. Not in the last three years

I think I grew up with the notions that these are the only reasons people are Republicans. I can't remember NOT thinking this way. I don't get too worked up about it like you do, but their behavior oftens sickens me nonetheless.

[TXlib]

8. Another trait of nearly all conservatives (especially fundies)

which drives me totally nucking futs:

Binary thinking.

Conservatives, for the most part, are unwilling or unable to think in terms other than right/wrong, on/off, with us/against us.

"Shades of grey", to a conservative, is a buzzword for trying to lawyer your way through a loophole, rather than an honest approach to trying to judge a complex situation.

The world is not binary. Not everything can be decided as definitely always right, and definitely always wrong.

I view this propensity for binary thinking as evidence of either not being very intelligent, or not having been taught critical thinking skills.

[TXlib]

11. Yet another conservative trait: the lying

What's up with that?

Whether you're arguing that literal Creationism is bunk, or that Bush lied to get us into a war, the conservative response is sadly predictable: trot out the same old lies over and over. When facing a particularly well-informed opponent, they back off each lie and try another. But once they've lost that debate, and have been educated, they trot the same lies out to the next crowd, hoping they can hornswaggle less educated people. There is no intellectual integrity among them!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. I've become radicalized within

the last 23 years, ever since Ronald Reagan won the presidency.

[republicansareevil]

13. Nope. I see the Republicans as the radicals.

"Conservative" has always seemed like a misnomer to me. Gutting the Constitution is not conservative. Starting wars all over the place is not conservative. Running up the deficit sky-high is not conservative.

I see myself as a conservative-progressive-liberal. Conservative in the sense of restrained, cautious, wishing to preserve things (like the Constitution, the environment, etc.). I am progressive in the sense that I think traditional concepts (like marriage) should grow and change with society. I am liberal in the sense that I think representative democratic government is a wonderful advancement in the long history of mankind; and if the People can use government to enact policies and programs that make life happier for everyone, we should certainly do so.

[Mrs. Venation]

14. No. I Became A Radical in 1968

The past 3 years have served to reinforce my point of view, though.

[pmbryant]

16. 1995, but the last 3 years have been horrid

Seeing the Gingrich/DeLay crowd take over Congress in 1995 is what "radicalized" me.

But then seeing the election stolen in 2000, and now our Constitution and country as well over the next three years, makes 1995 look like a romp in the park.

:grr: :grr: :grr:

There may be "valid" (in some sense) reasons for voting for certain Republican representatives. But there is not valid reason for voting to keep the current regime in office: Bush, DeLay, Frist, etc. And right now, every single other Republican in elected office is an enabler for that crowd. Even John McCain.

This is definitely a shift for me. Once upon a time, I actually voted for a Republican myself. Once. A long time ago.

Peter