Whatever happened to intellectual conservatives? Are they extinct, has their fire gone out of the universe? I remember watching Firing Line in high school government class and thinking this is the way politics should be debated. We've gone from this: Spoiler to this: Spoiler
"It's a shame that Republican party leaders don't want change and instead they want conformity...they want to conserve the past. Candidates are forced to sign a pledge that prevents them from evolving and adjusting to what Americans want...and this is why they will lose elections every time. He also said he 100% disagrees with most of the Republican party's social issues. There are two political parties now...the party of facts and the party of lies. It's that simple. The party of lies is also the party of vulgar clowns and phony corrupt Christian politicians...they are the Jesus party and they will lie, cheat and deceive in the name of greed and power. Screw the middle class...the GOP is the party of billionaires only and their corrupt politicians that sell the snake oil to the ignorant." -Mark Cuban
It is pretty amazing that so many poor people would vote against self interest based on social issues. At its core the Republican party is the party for the rich, but there are only so many rich people in the US, so to get the votes, they have to come up with other ways to get the poor to vote against their self interest, and they are doing a pretty good job of that.
Both parties are for the rich. Name one piece of legislation by the Democrats that have hurt the rich? The difference between the Republicans and Democrats is the Republicans choose to do nothing for the poor while the Democrats rob from the middle class and the poor. Give up the same old nonsense on how one party is better than the other. Judge by the candidate, not the party.
Hurting the rich is not the goal, the best case scenario would be helping every American. Democrat party have helped the middle class and the poor way more than the Republican party. SS, Medicare, minimum wage, Obama care, etc, the list goes on and on.
First, "hurting the rich" shouldn't really be the objective of any policy - but it is empirically true that the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts on the very highest earners - a move that the GOP tried to block, naturally have resulted in a higher effective tax rate on the rich. Still not high enough, but definitely higher. What is your counter to this? Probably none I'm guessing.
I am not a defender of either party. I have always stated there is very little difference between the two parties outside of social issues. They are both controlled by big money who are strongly swayed by these entities. Lets not be daft; Anytime the government helps any group, someone has to pay. Lets not pull out this fantasy utopia where nobody has to pay (or gets hurt). And you are correct, the goal is not to hurt the wealthy, its only the politicians soapbox that this is spoken from. Its always the middle class and the poor who ends up paying. This is what I despise about the mainstream democrat platform. Suckers like you get roped into the fanfare of how policies will help the poor, but completely ignore the damage that is created after these polices are passed. Obamacare is the shining example. While the Republicans certainly do not give a crap about anyone but themselves, they at least do not saddle the middle class with more burdens.
What do you want me to counter? That we should not have let the tax cuts expire? That trickle down economics works? Your issue is that you have your head so far up Donkeys ass that you have this assumption in which anyone who disagrees with you, they too must have their heads equally up the Elephants ass.
The democrats have helped the middle and poor much more the republicans. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, minimum wage etc. Keep voting for the republicans maybe one day you too will be a 1%. Its just unlikely.
It is of course all relative. Democrats help the rich plenty because the rich donate to Democrats as well. However, the Democrats at least keep the poor and middle class in mind some of the time, where as the Republicans for the most part could care less about them. So life before SS and Medicare as better? Where so many of the elderly lives in poverty? Obama care have many many flaws, but it is just the first step, if it continues, and I expect it will, there will be changes made to correct some of these flaws, are we ever going to get anything from the Republicans on health care reform?
Your counter should be "I was mistaken, there are policies enacted in the last 8 years that have had a substantial impact on the richest Americans in particular" You're simply wrong as a factual matter, has nothign to do with partisan affiliation. You're entitled to your opinion, you're not entitled to your own facts.
I was just thinking about this the other day. Though I wasn't thinking about William F Buckley (my oversight), but George Will. Though I guess I like Will as much for his love of baseball as his political writings. But it also seems that many conservative writers have been re-branded by the extreme right (Maureen O'Dowd and David Brooks).
This. Sure Obama's policies haven't been 100% anti-Reaganomics, free-market finance or dyed-in-the-wool red. But Obama and most democrats have tried to put ladders between classes, and, yes, required the wealthiest class to pay for it.
George Will was a stepping stone to what we see now. He has a tendency to be intellectually dishonest and shill for his tribe. The modern screamers are just not as erudite in making **** up as he in his bow tie.
I kind of am. I was holding out hope that he'd outlast Jeb, just for the lolz. Also a little surprised, considering he spent the $40K to get on the SC ballot.
