RE: Thoughts on American politics right now.. Hindsight is...
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I don't think Democrats lack respect for authority. They are deeply authoritarian, too. They want a cradle-to-grave welfare state, after all, with a micromanaged economy and moralistic busybodies running surveillance on everyone.
Meanwhile, Republicans love to talk about free markets and individual rights, but they also love imposing corporate cartels, prohibitions, and a parasitic military-industrial complex.
As both sides further polarize over the concentration of power and who should wield it, is it any wonder tensions continually rise?
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Interesting thoughts that definitely make me think I appreciate your input. In a way I feel like the Democrats are authoritarian I agree, they want to make sweeping changes in the country all in the name of feelings and progressivism. Republicans are not perfect but I feel they have slightly more logic and are slightly less evil.
I became politically aware in the 1990s. Clondon's gun ban and the rhetoric surrounding the welfare state led me to lean Republican. In the early 2000s, Bush may have been ineloquent, but he at least seemed to mostly be saying the right things. Then 9/11 happened, and I was swept up in the jingoism of the day like pretty much everyone else.
Over time, I started questioning the Republican narrative, too. I could still respect the Ron Paul libertarian-leaning side of the party, but the war hawks and police State crowd rubbed me the wrong way by 2008.
I never fell for the Obama hype, and any small hopes that he would earn his peace prize retroactively were swiftly dashed. I'm no fan of government monopoly medicine, but Obamacare wasn't even that, just a mandate handing more power to the corporate cartels that would make the left's stereotype of Republicans blush.
When Trump was elected, I still hoped he would act on his rhetoric to end wars overseas, but he did poorly on that front. He also did more to ban guns than anyone since Clinton with the regulatory rewrites on bump stocks and 80% receivers. His spending has also been completely out of control.
I don't think there is a political solution. The country is too deeply divided, petty partisanship trumps principles, and trying to choose the lesser of two evils is still definitely choosing evil, while the "lesser" aspect remains conjecture.