Respectfully, I think it's perhaps something more challenging than just being “ugh”. (But yes, perhaps that.) Perhaps significantly more, if I may have a moment or two of your time to try to explain, with what weak tools I have available to me. (And I gladly and (mostly) cheerfully welcome corrections and/or clarifications. And most assuredly comments. And if I had the proper heart emoji I’d certainly use it!)
Thank you.
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Repubs will primarily vote for Frump the Plump Grump for one (or two) reasons:
Sadly, they are greed-based losers and suckers, blinded by desire for money and/or power, with a general disinterest for humanity and any universally shared good, or concept of a global future,
and/or
They are tragically self-loathing racist haters, incapable of seeing anything outside their personal idea of pleasure. (And clearly, they take great, almost orgasmic pleasure from their hate. And their hate is not only for people of color, but liberals, “race traitors” and non-white foreigners as well.) And I dare say that even white "so-called" Christians fall into these categories, since both motivations are ultimately based on shortsighted ignorance, and the somewhat desperate desire for control over anyone not exactly as they are.)
But Dems seem very different. They are generally nuanced and diverse, not only racially, but emotionally, historically and socially (unlike repubs) , and that makes it harder to appeal specifically. Free-thinkers (which is ultimately what I think we would all prefer Americans to be) have so many interests, all hopefully based around degrees of justice and equality.
Health care? Repubs simply see "KILL OBAMACARE!" as the solution, despite the tens of millions of hard working Americans it currently covers. Dems however, see a range of detailed programs going back to the 1970s, with preexisting conditions and single payer as strong considerations. (Repubs often don't even realize Obamacare and the ACA are the same thing, and many may still believe in “death panels”, Politifact’s 2009 “Lie of the Year”.)
Immigration? Repubs simply see "WALL! Mexico will pay!" Dems see various opportunities, largely based on promises America has made (and largely broken) over the past two centuries. (But repubs, like tRump, see no problem when they can profit from exploited immigrant labor.)
Climate change to repubs is simply a Democrat(sic) hoax. To Dems it involves a multitude of possible opportunities involving divestiture in fossil fuels, investing in renewable energy, banning drilling on public land and banning dangerous pipelines, controlling fracking, and countless other ideas. (Repubs actually want the government to endorse and subsidize fossil fuels and ignore renewable energy (except for the cancer-causing windmill noise, which must be eliminated! Or whatever silliness tRump wants today.))
Repubs see America's racial issues as "All lives matter, but especially WHITE people! The first (and 2nd) amendments ONLY matter to WHITE people!" Dems see it as a complex combination of options including REfunding/DEfunding police, considering reparations, educating America’s youth more honestly and appropriately, and hundreds of other ideas. Repubs see ONLY, “Dominate the streets to control freedom, with ARMED Robert E. Lee statues in every state!”
And the examples are endless and complex...but only for Dems. For repubs, EVERYTHING is simple: bow down and worship tRump! To Dems, nothing is simple. (And I suspect nearly everyone reading this will agree…nothing is simple when every free thinker has ideas of their own. And for repubs, everything is simple when they really just want to be told everything to think.)
While Dems fall in perhaps 180 degrees of a 360 degree "motivation wheel”, I only see Repubs within about 10 degrees of the opposite side of that wheel; the 10 degrees that tRump occupies. And to vastly oversimplify, THAT is why it’s so much harder to appeal to every Democrat equally. Democrats simply don’t think equally, or have identically matching ideas. Unlike repubs, they think too broadly to ever be so pigeonholed in such tiny categories.
Repubs can be told how to feel (and as we've seen, very successfully.) We no longer hear of "moderate" or "centrist" repubs. (At least not seriously, considering the Senate impeachment vote, the packing of the courts with unqualified white, male, young, lifetime judges, and now the Supreme Court hypocrisy.)
Dems simply cannot be TOLD. They already know how they feel. (Fortunately, this time around "Dump tRump" has gone far toward narrowing that range for Dems. Let's hope it's enough.)
Allison (and others), thank you deeply and sincerely for being patient and generous enough to read all (or some) of my raving and ranting. It’s late and I’m tired, but my respect for those of you I already know is immense, and I wanted all of you who think Dems have fallen short to to see another, perhaps slightly different aspect of “us” Democrats. And if nothing else, we Dems can be very welcoming and inclusive, given a chance (from someone who has been one for a really long time. The blue heart was a wonderfully caring touch, Allison. Thanks!)
