14 Comments

Liberals already have guns.

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The last gunfight in the streets (not that it actually makes any dents in the thesis): 2020 during the BLM protests in Portland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killings_of_Aaron_Danielson_and_Michael_Reinoehl

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The civil war comes when some Blue State notices that we are funding the fundies. And decides to withhold federal taxes.

Until then, the Red State elite knows that they rely on Blue State money for their Fundie Preacher lifestyle.

Speaking of which , fundie preachers are completely about the civil war and killing the sinners and all that. Quiverful is first and foremost about the coming war between us and them.

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“Folks who believe jihadists are radical leftists” do so because jihadists aren’t white. In the US, the left-right divide is as much about white supremacy as it is about male supremacy, whereas jihadism is fundamentally the latter.

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AND WHEN THE CONSERVATIVES START SHOOTING, WHAT THEN?

You really think some 'tosteroned-up yahoo is gona fucking listen to Sammy the Diner Owner, Josiah the Preacher Man, or even the local constabulary? When the guns come out, all that shit is out the broken-ass, shot up window.

And "foot up their ass" progressives like me are gonna be shooting back.

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There are 535 members of Congress, not 435.

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You’re absolutely right. And I knew that, too. I goofed. Thanks for the spot!

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If the conservatives are so big on individualism, why don’t they take personal responsibility?

They preach about that constantly.

If the conservatives are so big on individualism, why do they gather like lemmings and follow each other off their righteous cliff?

Gathering as a mob at the drop of a woke hat?

No, your axiom is only skin deep and doesn’t look far enough inside to see the true reason for either sides knee jerk reactions; fear, specifically the fear of change and loss of certainty.

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“Personal responsibility” is the conservative dog whistle for the lie about Black laziness, and more generally about the broader lie of an inherently just world.

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Dan, thanks for commenting!

(1) Conservatives generally believe they are the people of personal responsibility -- they just make an exception for Trump and some of his political allies because they're more afraid of liberals than they are of Trump and them.

(2) I've written on what both sides fear and why in

Combat Theology: How to Weaponize and De-Weaponize a Religion https://combattheology.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/combat-theology-by-cassidy-s.-dale-1.pdf

and

The Knight and The Gardener: Worldviews Make Worlds https://knightandgardener.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/the-knight-and-the-gardener-by-cassidy-s-dale.pdf .

Both are free and are where I've parked some ideas that are longer than a newsletter.

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Cass, in simplicity, and using the opposite poles of liberal and conservative, I believe your post is correct. I am not sure I agree that liberals as systems and conservatives as individuals ought to be only identified with the polar opposites. I consider myself a "high values centrist" and also a person who believes in approaching issues looking at the "integrative systems". (I think your father would have been seen as the same.) For example, my high values and centrist approach tells me that Hamas and Israel are both wrong. I "go to the balcony" and say two things: 1. The killing and maiming of children as innocents in Israel and Gaza is a war crime and a religious sin by both sides. 2. Both sides are teaching the children who survive to hate the other side, and thus have extended the post-World War II Middle East conflict by another 75 years--at least. George

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George, (1) I completely agree with all of that. (2) Yes, the polar opposites are artificial -- and artificially extreme -- to illustrate and clarify the contrast. (3) Yes, like you, Daddy certainly was both a high centrist and an integrative systems thinker. And he would see no good guys in that whole thing.

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Good stuff, as usual!

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From your mouth to God's ears.

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