There used to be a saying...

[Ramone45]

"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it."
Not so much anymore.

 

[jaF0]

... 'as long as what you say doesn't promote harm to others'.

 

[Ramone45]

" Gender Dysphoria is a mental disorder."

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

There used to be a saying... Do unto others as you'd want them to do unto you.

I changed it to ........Do unto others-------------- then run like hell!

 

[Ramone45]

There used to be a saying... Do unto others as you'd want them to do unto you.

I changed it to ........Do unto others-------------- then run like hell!

That is true. It's considered foolish anymore to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

 

[SimonDoom]

That is true. It's considered foolish anymore to put yourself in the other person's shoes.

I agree with this, and it is disturbing. We've become very polarized, and each side believes that the other is a mortal threat to everything it values. In that setting, people are much less likely to be tolerant and to believe that we all have legitimate common goals and interests. Nobody wants to take the time of imagining themselves in another's shoes when they think everything the other person is doing is an existential threat.

Our political leaders, unfortunately, promote this attitude. Hillary Clinton did it when she referred to Trump supporters as "deplorables." Trump does it constantly, stirring up exaggerated fears of immigrants and Muslims and personally insulting anyone who gets on his bad side.

 

[sr71plt]

In Hillary's case, she was just pointing what continues to be obvious--and true. Anyone with half a brain could have seen the real Donald Schickligruber Trump coming decades down the road.

 

[phrodeau]

And we now have a Deplorable In Chief.

 

[SimonDoom]

In Hillary's case, she was just pointing what continues to be obvious--and true. Anyone with half a brain could have seen the real Donald Schickligruber Trump coming decades down the road.

I think this simplifies things. There are people who voted for Trump who have repellent, racist views. But there are many people who voted for Trump who did not -- I know them.

But even if there is truth to what she said, it was a foolish and divisive thing to say. Obviously, it hurt her, in the same way that Mitt Romney's comment about 47% of the population hurt him in 2012. Political leaders need to avoid verbally carving up the electorate into acceptable and unacceptable groups. It makes the problem worse.

 

[LIVINRFANTASIES]

Denny

There used to be a saying... stay on topic.

 

[Ramone45]

I think this simplifies things. There are people who voted for Trump who have repellent, racist views. But there are many people who voted for Trump who did not -- I know them.

But even if there is truth to what she said, it was a foolish and divisive thing to say. Obviously, it hurt her, in the same way that Mitt Romney's comment about 47% of the population hurt him in 2012. Political leaders need to avoid verbally carving up the electorate into acceptable and unacceptable groups. It makes the problem worse.

I feel that ideally, once elected, the President should become apolitical. The President is still the representative of those who voted against him or her. Being a unifier as President is an essential quality. Mr. Obama was not. Valerie Jarrett's statement, "Elections have consequences." was heartbreaking to me in that it set the exact wrong tone. I wanted to support Mr. Obama, even though I didn't vote for him, but he gave me the impression that I was part of the problem. We are ignorant, so why would we expect our leaders to not be ignorant and classless also?

 

[sr71plt]

I think this simplifies things. There are people who voted for Trump who have repellent, racist views. But there are many people who voted for Trump who did not -- I know them.

Anyone who voted for him learned enough--from what came out of his own mouth--to know what he was. And they still voted for him. Sorry, no pass for any of them. And there was no reason not to point out to them the choice they were making before they voted.

 

[SimonDoom]

I feel that ideally, once elected, the President should become apolitical. The President is still the representative of those who voted against him or her. Being a unifier as President is an essential quality. Mr. Obama was not. Valerie Jarrett's statement, "Elections have consequences." was heartbreaking to me in that it set the exact wrong tone. I wanted to support Mr. Obama, even though I didn't vote for him, but he gave me the impression that I was part of the problem. We are ignorant, so why would we expect our leaders to not be ignorant and classless also?

You can never expect politicians to be apolitical. They never have been, and they never will be. The President needs to work with his party to get anything done.

That said, things have changed. When Reagan was President, although he was very conservative he worked with Democrats to get his tax cuts passed, and he did. It's difficult to imagine anything like that happening now. Obama got almost no support at any point from Republicans, and Trump is getting no support from Democrats.

 

[Hypoxia]

TUTBAS -- rules of politics of Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-IL)

1. Get elected.
2. Stay elected.
3. Don't get mad, get even.

Current POTUS stays mad a lot.