The Texas gop is dangerous and is indicative of the broader party

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

 

[marioandsonic]

Let them secede.  Fuck them.

[Nokra]

6 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Let them secede.  Fuck them.

 

Except that millions of others will be impacted in the crossfire, proverbial or literal.  

[Ghost_MH]

12 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Let them secede.  Fuck them.

 

Not sure how much I want Saudi Arabia on our southern border.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The Texas GOP proved itself to be downright terrifying with this weekend's convention.

 

Hell, even Abbott decided to mostly stay the hell away from the damned thing for practically the entire weekend.

 

 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

41 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Let them secede.  Fuck them.

Cmon man. More Biden voters were in Texas than any state other than CA and FL. 

[marioandsonic]

29 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Not sure how much I want Saudi Arabia on our southern border.

 

That's going to happen regardless.  Muh states rights and all that

[Ghost_MH]

Just now, marioandsonic said:

That's going to happen regardless.  Muh states rights and all that

 

I mean, it's not. The rest of the GOP would never allow it. The second Texas is gone, Democrats move on to solidly control the House and the Executive.

 

I'm just saying, the Texas GOP is terrifying and having a theocratic fascist state on our southern border sounds awful. You'd also be looking at a wild humanitarian crisis as millions look to flee and I doubt The red states surrounding Texas really want an influx of millions of solidly Democratic voters.

[Comet]

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 minutes ago, Comet said:

 

I imagine that your departure planning has taken on a greater sense of urgency lately.

[Comet]

Just now, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

I imagine that your departure planning has taken on a greater sense of urgency lately.

Oh most definitely. Planning out a trip to northern Colorado to scope out a few towns here in some months now. Other than that I have to wait out this housing market a bit or I’ll get bit in the ass. 
 

My younger brother is in the process of driving to Arlington, VA this weekend as he’s relocated from TX to DC. He will never be back. 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, Comet said:

My younger brother is in the process of driving to Arlington, VA this weekend as he’s relocated from TX to DC. He will never be back. 

 

Oh, he'll be my neighbor as I'm right next door in Alexandria.

[Comet]

4 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Oh, he'll be my neighbor as I'm right next door in Alexandria.

Tune to NBC4 and you’ll catch him on tv then!

[CayceG]

This is terrifying. 

 

I know my state isn't hardly as important, but Tennessee sure feels like it's heading in much the same direction. 

[marioandsonic]

And hey, I'm not one to talk.  PA may head this way if the QAnon wacko gets elected governor in November.

[CitizenVectron]

I wonder if, rather than Civil War II, the next few decades of the US more resembles the partition of India and Pakistan, with large populations moving to their desired "side" as the rupture of the union becomes more evident. Hopefully with less refugee crisis and violence.

[CastlevaniaNut18]

I used to think it would be nice to live in Austin. 
 

Nope, fuck Texas. 

[GeneticBlueprint]

2 hours ago, marioandsonic said:

Let them secede.  Fuck them.

 

You gotta remember that for every one wacko in Waco there are 0.89 @sblfilms and I'd hate to see them gone.

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, GeneticBlueprint said:

 

You gotta remember that for every one wacko in Waco there are 0.89 @sblfilms and I'd hate to see them gone.

I fully admit I’m borderline here

[Xbob42]

7 hours ago, Nokra said:

 

Except that millions of others will be impacted in the crossfire, proverbial or literal.  

Millions are already impacted by the current political crossfire so let's fucking cut to the chase and get the ball rolling on moving this nation or these potential nations into something that both sides don't hate living in. Although I don't know where a seceded Texas would go once it no longer had democrats to fuel their insane rhetoric. Maybe they'd just keep going further and further right until folks like Trump would be viewed as Marxist cocksuckers.

[Mr.Vic20]

Believe it or not, despite their wacky government, the majority of Texans I met were warm and decent people. Mind you, I haven't lived there since 2001. 

[CitizenVectron]

26 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Believe it or not, despite their wacky government, the majority of Texans I met were warm and decent people. Mind you, I haven't lived there since 2001. 

 

People can be warm and welcoming and also be apathetic to persecution of the other.

[Mr.Vic20]

Just now, CitizenVectron said:

 

People can be warm and welcoming and also be apathetic to persecution of the other.

Well of course they can, I'm just pointing out that nothings as simple as Florida Handsaw.gif in terms of addressing this nation's ills. 

[CitizenVectron]

Just now, Mr.Vic20 said:

Well of course they can, I'm just pointing out that nothings as simple as Florida Handsaw.gif in terms of addressing this nation's ills. 

 

Right, but my point is that an American visiting Germany in 1936 might have found the people very welcoming as well, but that has no bearing on the gigantic problems beneath the surface, and what the people will let the government get away with because they don't care enough to stop it.

[Mr.Vic20]

8 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Right, but my point is that an American visiting Germany in 1936 might have found the people very welcoming as well, but that has no bearing on the gigantic problems beneath the surface, and what the people will let the government get away with because they don't care enough to stop it.

Right, I don't think we're saying different things. Things in this country are rotten, but its not as simple as "there's the cancer, cut it out". 

[CitizenVectron]

Just now, Mr.Vic20 said:

Right, I don't think we're saying different things. Things in this country are rotten, but its not as simple as "there's the cancer, cut it out". 

 

Perhaps...but if the majority of people in a state either support or condone through inaction the persecution of LGBTQ people (among other things like racism, sexism, etc) then the state is rotten.

[erpg]

10 hours ago, Nokra said:

 

Except that millions of others will be impacted in the crossfire, proverbial or literal.  

Their tax dollars and business fuel the hate, whether they like it or not.

[Keyser_Soze]

50 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Perhaps...but if the majority of people in a state either support or condone through inaction the persecution of LGBTQ people (among other things like racism, sexism, etc) then the state is rotten.

 

All @Mr.Vic20 is saying is save the good apples and throw the rotten ones to the pigs.

[PaladinSolo]

1 hour ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Perhaps...but if the majority of people in a state either support or condone through inaction the persecution of LGBTQ people (among other things like racism, sexism, etc) then the state is rotten.

The crazy part is, TX only goes R by a slim margin statewide anymore, TX GOP might be shitlords, and at the very least the people that go to these conventions, but overall this is not a deep red GOP state.  Theres also a lot of tension within the GOP over this stuff as well, as the more harsh language was rejected, and even their favorite son saying its pointless to turn away the Log Cabin GOP.

[Mr.Vic20]

Yup. We here sometimes act like places like Texas aren't just as fucked by gerrymandering as any other place in the union. This has made it really hard if not impossible to seem, at a distance, as anything other than apathetic toward important causes. The MAJORITY of this country (in people, not land) are held prisoner to the interests of a rich few who bend the rules past breaking. Old white assholes with dubious religious convictions still hold all the cards.  Example, people want gun control, by the numbers, they want it and they won't really get it. Congress is gridlock theatre, the Judicial branch, without reform, is now a repeal factory, and the executive branch is mostly now reserved for fund raising and red meat generation. 

[CastletonSnob]

Just a reminder that Texas is closer to purple than it is red.  The cities are solid blue. You know, the places where people actually live.

 

 

[CitizenVectron]

To be clear, I am not advocating abandoning Texas or red states, only that we can't say that people are "good" in an area just because they are nice to some people.

 

In terms of what should be done...I don't know. Honestly, while I get the argument that it's important to keep states like Texas and Florida in the US to better protect the vulnerable/progressive people in those states...at what point does the damage done to people in other states become more important? If these batshit GOP governments are able to make life worse for tens or hundreds of millions in other parts of the US, then cutting those states loose might be better for everyone, even if the people inside those states suffer. On the other hand, the best solution would be to change the US governmental system so that they can't ruin lives all over the country. But that won't happen either. So, like usual, I will default to my normal position and say that this entire argument is entirely pointless because at this point nothing can save the US. All that can be done should be done in those places (and in the US) to make lives better for people (small victories are still victories), but the decline and breakup (or turn to authoritarian rule) of the US at this point is inevitable.

[CastletonSnob]

At this point, the US falling to fascism is a matter of WHEN, not IF.

 

Why aren't the Democrats doing more to win, when the Republicans are telegraphing their plans worse than a Punch-Out boss?

[BloodyHell]

8 minutes ago, CastletonSnob said:

At this point, the US falling to fascism is a matter of WHEN, not IF.

 

Why aren't the Democrats doing more to win, when the Republicans are telegraphing their plans worse than a Punch-Out boss?

The democrats won't prosecute actual crimes because they are afraid of being charged with hypothetical fake ones if they lose, and they seem to prefer propriety to winning. 

[CitizenVectron]

9 minutes ago, CastletonSnob said:

At this point, the US falling to fascism is a matter of WHEN, not IF.

 

Why aren't the Democrats doing more to win, when the Republicans are telegraphing their plans worse than a Punch-Out boss?

 

I am not blaming the current conditions of the US on this (since it's the GOP's fault), but the Democrats certainly have an internal culture of "all or nothing." An example is a recently Hillary Clinton interview where they were talking about the potential fall of American democracy. The interview threw in a curveball about protecting trans rights, and Clinton responded with something like (paraphrasing) 'That's absolutely important, but it won't matter if we don't have a democracy, so let's focus on that as the primary thing to protect in 2024, and ways and on which issues we can win.' There was a big backlash online among the leftist camp of the party over this comment, most saying things like "what's the point of democracy if we aren't protecting the vulnerable," etc. And that's absolutely true! But if you want to save trans rights you don't run on saving trans rights (nationally, at least), or any specific issue, you run on the big things (and targeted things in individual places) and then you implement all these things when you win. You don't need to make each issue the front-and-centre of the campaign.

 

So the left goes to war with the centre of the party over this, and this division then helps the GOP win by making some Democrat supports more apathetic.

 

A great comparison is in Canada with the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP. The NDP are the most progressive major party, generally, but also have little chance of winning because they focus entirely on those issues at the lack of "mainstream" voter issues (cost of living, jobs, etc). The Liberals win the majority of elections because they focus on the mainstream issues...but when they win, they implement many of the things the NDP supports (often with the support of the NDP). In a democracy, winning matters more than what you want, because you can't do what you want if you can't win.

 

Now, the whole issue of the Democrats actually being able to win is an entirely different story because they obviously suck at messaging nationally, etc. There's a good argument to be made that they should focus more on these progressive issues in some parts of the country.