BREACHING THE MAINSTREAM A NATIONAL SURVEY OF FAR-RIGHT MEMBERSHIP IN STATE LEGISLATURES

What we are witnessing is an attempted take down of this country by the far-right. This is not a joke, it’s not a drill. It’s real

the GOP is the home for racists, Confederate lovers, Nazi’s, and conspiracy theorists…they hate America and want to shape it in their image

 

Not really arguing the premise, but I'm not sure that a politician joining a Facebook group indicates that they agree with the precepts of the group. The politician wants their votes. That might be just as bad, but I'd say it's a messy signal.

 

Isn't it sort of more scary that politicians think their political future survival depends on courting far right white nationalist groups directly? I've always said Trump is just someone who had no problem letting the tail wag the dog. He just looked out into that crowd and said I'm an entertainer... I'm just going to give these people exactly what they want.... of course then he won, started believing he was appointed by a higher power to be supreme leader, etc. etc. Point is, he opened the door for the far far right to completely dominate the Republican party, and beat it into submission to be what they want it to be.

 

Since they aren't bothering to be more tolerant to minorities or trans, does that mean they didn't shift violently in the past 8 years?

Sound about right, @Os Trigonum?

 

sorry, I’m not following this thread. What’s the question again?

 

Just giving you grief for that cartoon Elon also reposted where Righties supposedly haven't ran far to their side.

Maybe they already completed their 100m dash.

 

still think that cartoon is pretty accurate

 

I'm fine that it sparks discussion, but the cartoon nature of the message squashes nuance. Many among the left shifted further towards action when talk didn't change civil rights abuses for minorities (blacks/hispanics) and the poor. Even MeToo could be considered backlash for structural corruption (which then sparked its own backlash when it violently pivoted too far).

The overt zero-sum nature of the last president also catalyzed a survival reflex that understandably looks extreme when you aren't the target or collateral damage of Orange's policies.

Elon reposted it because he's a typical tech "liberal" libertarian who wants tax breaks and "moral tailwinds" until they Make It. Then they want Big Government to leave them alone and not spend frivolous handouts on the opposition or even their own workers...

 

I think that cartoon is accurate for people like me (and by extension, for Colin Wright, Musk, et al if they believe it fits them too), because at nearly 60 years old, I think my positions are pretty much the same positions I held in 1980 when I first voted. But I am now accused of being "far-right" . . . .

So either the far-right has moved (numbers-wise) much closer to the left, and thus I'm now much closer to the right; or else the left has moved (numbers-wise) in the way the cartoon suggests. The first explanation doesn't make much sense. The second explanation makes sense in terms of how I perceive my politics.

 

Which is fair. The focal point isn't that the right has shifted, rather from the perspective of people like you who feel "alienated" or shifted.

The optics of the cartoon, when reposted by the likes of breitbart readers on social media, is troubling when viewed as a truth.

Trumpism further shook all the bad apples from the Right's tree, but the Bush years were already disastrous for moderate cons.

What a day we live in when someone like Liz Cheney is considered an apostate...and when going back full circle on OP, makes the Right's pivot scarier for me than the Crazy Left's.

 

don't know if you saw Colin Wright's essay about creating the cartoon, it has been reposted without the WSJ paywall:

My Political ‘Journey’
Commentators on the left set about debunking my ‘lived experience’ with charts and abstractions.

https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/my-political-journey?s=r

 

When one doesn’t want the world to change/progress then obviously the right seems to not have moved…

 

I actually read it before, and he says he wasn't focused on what I addressed earlier about the right's hard pivot.

A cartoon is a cartoon...once it's reposted not many bother to look deeply into the creator's intended meaning (unless upon discovery it's revealed as some veiled warped agenda like puppy kicking)

 

exactly:

It is important to keep these shifts in mind when evaluating the “accuracy” of my cartoon, because the most common criticism is that it portrays the right as remaining stationary since 2008. A similar drawing depicting specific issues such as abortion, climate change or immigration might tell a different story. But with respect to the important cultural values I have in mind—free speech, individual rights and women’s rights—my cartoon is consistent with the lived experience of many liberals and centrists.​

fair enough. but Wright's experience is my experience as well. It's pretty annoying to get thrown in with the so-called "far right," e.g., in this forum (on a near daily basis).

Wright again:

I hope many on the left will resist the urge to debunk or dismiss my cartoon and instead use it as an opportunity to understand why so many people feel it describes their experience. Something has happened over the past decade to make many liberals feel politically homeless, and a lack of curiosity about why is a recipe for not only political failure but social strife. It contributes to our increasing inability to have reasonable and compassionate discussions on issues of great importance.
​

I agree with him here

 

I don't think the right has moved far on the racism/bigotry/misogyny stuff, except that some moderates have left them and allowed the center of gravity to shift further to the pole. I think the big shift has been their abandonment of democratic ideals (like divided government, governance process, and nonpolitical electoral oversight).

 

I don't think you're far right. You're far too clever for your own good.

I agree that free speech, individual rights and women’s rights has shifted a lot. Ideological Liberalism has suffered in the wake of ideological equity enforced by social media snitching.

As for women's rights, I think trans rights has stolen some of their power, but I don't mind a healthy dialogue over the extent women's power has risen and how far it still needs to go. It doesn't have to be zero sum, but we are all still figuring out how to split/categorize the trans hydra.

Individual rights has been taken hostage by 9/11 (terrists won). It's mainly left hand washing the right hand when they argue who gets to be in the driver's seat. This will amplify as social media caters to the mob and their unending crusade to satiate their impotent digital outrage.

Yeah, I didn't want to directly accuse that the remaining righties have and always been racists. If I were to describe it in person, it's that many of them had unconscious or passive biases they were comfortable with while also being happy of not being an overt racist.

Now that that cohort feels threatened (wall hoppers, looters, shooters, crazy libbers,...oh my), they're more open to Trumpist wink-wink slogans that more self respecting cons would immediately disavow and not even attempt to gaslight.

That big tent that started deflating this century had room for open racists and ideological libertarians to share space in "not wanting the government telling them what to do" (such as private entities being forced by the government to not be discriminatory).

It's a lot more blatant now.

 

Why be extreme left or extreme right when you can be in the rational middle where everyone hates you.