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saljr1

(273 posts)
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 06:16 PM Jan 2019

Let's just face it folks

We have a faction of people in this country consisting of Americans, Russian Nationalist, members of Congress, law enforcement and elite millionaires who will do anything to hold on to their antiquated ideas and laws in this ever changing diversified great country. They will use every tactic legal or illegal including colluding with foreign powers to keep them in power. We must strengthen our voter rights, fight against gerrymandering and insist on all states having backup paper ballots. As a citizen we must do everything we can to fight this faction.

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Let's just face it folks (Original Post) saljr1 Jan 2019 OP
Bravo man, bravo! Glamrock Jan 2019 #1
True Brawndo Jan 2019 #2
Recommended, guillaumeb Jan 2019 #3
this faction has a lot of influence 0rganism Jan 2019 #4
you can't onethatcares Jan 2019 #5
so Republic of Gilead it is then, check 0rganism Jan 2019 #6
Republicans built a carefully crafted union of groups.... KY_EnviroGuy Jan 2019 #12
Not normal times DownriverDem Jan 2019 #18
We don't have to do a lot of that ProfessorPlum Jan 2019 #24
K&R, well said Professor. KY_EnviroGuy Jan 2019 #25
This message was self-deleted by its author The Mouth Jan 2019 #28
K&R smirkymonkey Jan 2019 #7
K&R defacto7 Jan 2019 #8
Addressing the Programmable Memory Cards in the Voting Machines Would Be a Good Start dlk Jan 2019 #9
hell yes Grasswire2 Jan 2019 #23
So true DownriverDem Jan 2019 #10
I call them the Crazy Third. rickyhall Jan 2019 #11
Psychopaths with lot of money is what you've described. KY_EnviroGuy Jan 2019 #15
Yeah, but some are just STUPID! rickyhall Jan 2019 #16
I just can't understand middleclass and poor Americans in Red States( Midwest and South) saljr1 Jan 2019 #17
If you can convince... DownriverDem Jan 2019 #19
Most that I know don't realize they're hurting themselves.... KY_EnviroGuy Jan 2019 #20
I have a lot of respect for these Americans in the Midwest and South saljr1 Jan 2019 #21
Yes, and thanks for those stats. KY_EnviroGuy Jan 2019 #22
Also; All election results must be audited. JoeOtterbein Jan 2019 #13
Faction fraction is what we need! Besides, that faction is only a fraction czarjak Jan 2019 #14
K&R 2naSalit Jan 2019 #26
A nation wide grass roots movement? Firestorm49 Jan 2019 #27

Brawndo

(535 posts)
2. True
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 06:30 PM
Jan 2019

We must do all that you've suggested, but we must also plan on those same people dropping all pretense of the law and becoming violent. They believe 60% of the country are their enemies, plan on them eventually acting on that belief in the face of defeat.

0rganism

(23,855 posts)
4. this faction has a lot of influence
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 07:11 PM
Jan 2019

around 2/5 of the population, if i read the polls correctly. let's say some of them are lukewarm and just participating by association or by default, there's still a core of 1/3 of the population who would willingly do their best to destroy the union and murder or enslave the other 2/3 if their cult leaders wish it. and they will insist they are patriots every inch of the way.

how can we get through to the faction's loyalists?

onethatcares

(16,130 posts)
5. you can't
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 07:22 PM
Jan 2019

they are convinced, and have agreement from their cohorts, that they, and they alone, can interpret the Constitution and determine who is holy, patriotic, and worth keeping alive.

Once they do their "civil war" thing, Who's going to work for them? They've spent all these years sitting in mom's basement waiting for the LGBT revolutionalists to break down their doors while patting each other on the back and they're going to have to do some heavy exercise to become rulers.

Then they'll become rivals. Like motorcycle gangs. It's gonna be crazy.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
12. Republicans built a carefully crafted union of groups....
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 09:06 PM
Jan 2019

consisting mainly of Wall Street factions, evangelical/prosperity gospel churches, Libertarians, and US and international right-wing extremists groups. Then, using bought and paid for right-leaning media, they've dragged millions of bubbas along for the ride.

The linkages to those primary groups must somehow be broken or else they will just rebound and came back for another round of damage. And, they have the money to do it.

I don't think America is ready to bring the stock market to it's knees for the shock effect, or to stop attending (or reforming) most churches. That's where most of their money comes from.

I feel we must focus on breaking their funding sources and their ability to buy elections for the Republican party or things will get worse over time.....

DownriverDem

(6,205 posts)
18. Not normal times
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 10:05 PM
Jan 2019

Some of those folks in those groups have left the repubs. Recent polls show trump is losing folks from his base.

ProfessorPlum

(11,252 posts)
24. We don't have to do a lot of that
Fri Jan 18, 2019, 02:35 PM
Jan 2019

What we do have to change is the golden rule - whoever has the gold makes the rules in America.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
25. K&R, well said Professor.
Fri Jan 18, 2019, 03:05 PM
Jan 2019

We need a whole new set of effective laws on political campaign and lobby spending and political ethics.

Response to 0rganism (Reply #4)

Grasswire2

(13,564 posts)
23. hell yes
Fri Jan 18, 2019, 01:16 PM
Jan 2019

Hand counted paper ballots ought to be tops on the Dem agenda once we control Congress.

DownriverDem

(6,205 posts)
10. So true
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 08:45 PM
Jan 2019

Michigan strengthened our voting rights with two proposals in the midterm. We will now have a committee draw our district lines. The other one authorizes automatic and Election Day voter registration, no-reason absentee voting, and straight ticket voting. Our governor, SOS and AG are not only Dems, but women!!!!!

rickyhall

(4,889 posts)
11. I call them the Crazy Third.
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 09:03 PM
Jan 2019

They've been there from the beginning when they were called Royalists or Loyalists, they rebelled against President Washington, they started the Civil War, they invented the Klan, they invented the Red Scare, they delayed our entrance into WWII and on and on. They'll always be there. We just have to deny them power over the majority, you know, "We, the People."

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
15. Psychopaths with lot of money is what you've described.
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 09:16 PM
Jan 2019

The psychiatric profession tells us there's something like 5-to-10 percent of any population born with psychopathic tendencies. Aside from the fact that many become society's worst criminals, the frightening part is that many others become the world's top business leaders. Most don't give a damn about their fellow man.

It's no wonder economic inequality has worsened and they've gained much more political power in the last 50 or so years. "We, the people" don't stand much of a chance in the long term until we figure out how to break that trend.

saljr1

(273 posts)
17. I just can't understand middleclass and poor Americans in Red States( Midwest and South)
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 09:30 PM
Jan 2019

voting against their own interest. Although I know not many poor people vote. They need to be informed and reached out to I guess.

DownriverDem

(6,205 posts)
19. If you can convince...
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 10:30 PM
Jan 2019

President Johnson said it best: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
20. Most that I know don't realize they're hurting themselves....
Thu Jan 17, 2019, 11:32 PM
Jan 2019

....because they live in a total void of rational, broad-based information in their media.

Most of these folks are working-class people living in an information bubble created by Faux News and right-wing talk radio, and most of their co-workers, friends and family listen to the same. Those sources paint a rosy picture of everything Republicans do, while telling them Democrats are evil and out to hurt them - the exact opposite of truth.

That right-wing bubble is reinforced by their church, local (low-tax) business people and in many cases their local politicians. That important factor helps to kill any interest some might have in expanding their learning outside the bubble.

In short, they never hear the truth and we have vast patches of the USA that live under those conditions. Many of those "patches" are low in population but carry unfair weight in our electoral college system.

saljr1

(273 posts)
21. I have a lot of respect for these Americans in the Midwest and South
Fri Jan 18, 2019, 12:00 AM
Jan 2019

I know they are hard working and have family values. It must be a combination of being out of touch, uninformed and the Democratic Party losing touch. We must try to reconnect with these Americans in rural America and tell them the hard truth.
He's a stat for ya 53 of the largest cities contain 62% of the population in the country covering only 3.5% of the land in the U.S. Since 2008 after the recession 72% of new jobs are in these 53 cities and automation is mostly in the Midwest and South taking 5 of 6 jobs away from workers. This has to be part of the problem.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
22. Yes, and thanks for those stats.
Fri Jan 18, 2019, 12:20 AM
Jan 2019

Most of my travels for many years in field service was in low-population areas all over the U.S. and it's easy to see how right-wing billionaires captured the majority of that audience. It started with lots of free talk radio programming offered to hundreds of small country stations, then expanded to Fox cable TV offerings. I recall that Fox initially gained a ton of audience with lots of goofy entertainment programming, which then captured that audience segment for their Faux News.

Therefore, a small handful of media billionaires managed to gain control of a sizable portion of America's brains on the cheap.

That, unfortunately is going to be difficult to reverse......

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