It’s a difficult topic to address in these times without making someone unreasonably angry – worse than talking politics at Thanksgiving dinner. Addressing it requires a fork in the answer:
- What do democrats think about republicans? (and)
- What do democrats think about the Republican Party?
Democrats’ thoughts about republicans: a republican is a perfectly nice and reasonable person… but the Republican Party has divided itself into far too many factions, many of which are… quite frankly… a bit crazy, paranoid, or overly-zealot about conspiracy theories. The problem with conspiracy theories is you can’t logically address them, thusly, the entire conspiracy theory wing of the Republican Party most democrats just write off as being hopeless.
The first point democrats would love to get through to republicans (the more extreme ones) in order to get some hope of unity again: believing in conspiracies does NOT make you smarter than the “average person” – it makes you more gullible and more out of touch with reality. A governing body founded on conspiracy theories is how witch hunts happened. I think we can all say that wasn’t the best time in human history.
However, most republicans are not very involved in politics… just like most democrats. Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Green Party… most of us are just trying to pay our bills and raise our kids so they smile a lot and come home for the holidays. We all get along fine. It’s the Party… then a political affiliation becomes capitalized that it’s all going to balderdash; money being the primary cause. If you want hope of unity: take money out of the equation. It is simple and a guaranteed answer… but of course, politicians would never vote for it, so the people wh normally sit have to stand up and actually DO something in the political realm in order to get any change. Complaining doesn’t create the change we all want.
The hyper-paranoid people who believe everything they’re told by über-right-wing radio are the scary ones. People who bomb clinics and send poisoned letters to the President… all that makes democrats say is, “See? THAT’S why we need universal background checks.” The paranoid people are brilliant at one thing: proving the point most democrats are usually trying to make. Blinded by hate and fear – the ones who are incapable of seeing the hypocrisy and contradiction of their own “beliefs”. Democrats are very, very sad that these crazy republicans, who constitue a tiny minority in the United States, are somehow in control of the larger Republican Party (mainly due to the gerrymandering of congressional districts in 2010).
Democrats like republican persons.
One of the “neatest” individuals I met in 2012 ended up being the daughter of a very conservative US senator. I had no idea of her “connections” until the third conversation we had about politics (at which point “foot in mouth” was a term that came to the forefront of my mind).
You’d probably be hard pressed to find someone who was more conservative socially and fiscally than she is – though fiscally I think there’s some leeway given she is a teacher at a public school. This person who is basically a paradigm of “The Republican”, unlike the Republican Party or people, she’s a deliberate and thinking Republican person. She’s willing to listen to the other side of the political argument, and rebut anything I would say with legitimate points. We could banter and make jokes about each other’s beliefs, and still make our onions on policy, and even faith-based influence on the government – all without offending each other of anyone in the room.
Democrats like to argue with republican persons, but not necessarily republican people.
Democrats LOVE to argue, spiritedly and without malice. I think that throws off a lot off Republican people (republican persons seem to feel more comfortable with it). And I mean argue as in a debate, a discussion, – not screaming at one another like pundits parroting talking points, but never addressing issues directly. Arguing is a good thing that all people who care about their community should do. Argue with respect and hopefully a levity that helps make difficult topics easier to discuss.
Debating with republican “people”, however, loses the levity. When people of a political party get together they tend to defend themselves more aggressively then they would one on one. When gathered in groups, then, debates get even less productive, and once people become a large group, all hope of productivity is lost. Republicans, I’m certain, think the same thing about democrats when they are in groups as well.
Democrats tend to believe that Republicans become less and less like persons or people, and more and more like a caricature of a mob as they mass together in groups. That’s true of all groups of people, Democrats and Ron Paul supporters included, it just seems… enhanced…. with Republicans since George W. Bush first won office.
Democrats think the Republican Party does not represent republican persons.
A common thought among democrats I know, read, and speak with is that everyday Republicans are not extreme, but the Republican Party has left a lot of that humanity in the dust. The Republican Party has left the station of rational and empathetic governance.
The Republican Party has created a trap for itself. The tools it used to win the 2000 election and get George W. Bush into the White House are now coming back to haunt its national viability. The GOP Party fed the horse of the pocketed Evangelical Right on anti-gay and anti-abortion issues to win that election… but now that pocket is wearing the pants of the Republican Party.
Democrats often take note of the handful of well-honors republicans who have announced their retirement because the Republican Party has become too unwilling to ever compromise.
Democrats think the Republican Party has taken religion too far into politics.
As mentioned above, the first election of George W. Bush played the evangelical card very heavily to win key states and get out the vote. That, coupled with the Republican Party’s other boss, Grover Norquist, has created a party that is stuck on a very narrow path: faith and money. That’s a very dangerous combination when it comes to deciding government policy. Extremely dangerous combination.
Again, though, they don’t see the hypocrisy: Christianity does not mean killing in prisions, killing abortion providers, and carrying weapons to shoot anyone you don’t like. You can’t pick and choose. The ONLY safe government is one that does not let religion dictate its policies. The more you’re injecting extreme Christianity into government, the less stable the government becomes. It doesn’t matter if the religion is Islam, Judaism or Christianity: religion running government causes war and ultimately a fall of the empire all together. It’s the story of humanity… and the story of the Bible.
Democrats are offended that republican people tend to think of them as being anti-religious.
We’re not. Our faith is just as strong as republican faith. Democrats hate that the republican people media exploits religion and claims it as being only something that is “true” if you are a die hard, evangelical republican partisan. Democrats find it sad that republican people are prone to think that way.
Democrats wonder why republican people seem so angry.
Anger and hatred of President Obama seems to have become a badge of honor for republican people and the Republican Party. That makes most democrats sad, confused, and angry. Democrats hope that the United States is not allowing a base of an entire party to be motivated by race-driven hatred – but cannot find any other legitimate reason why there is such universal hate within the Republican Party. Democrats tend to blame geography, Fox News, and right-wing radio for providing the kindling for spreading those kinds of beliefs. But it still makes us sad, confused, and angry.
Democrats would cheer if republican persons managed to reinvent compromise in the Republican Party.
Politics have always been dirty, but I miss the days when compromise was not a dirty word. Democrats hope that republican persons who have always been part of the party are realizing some of the same things we are; particularly that the Republican Party is not the same one with which you registered 10 or 20 years ago. If it’s not the same party… then why vote with it? You don’t have to be a democrat to not vote for a republican.
Democrats hope that republican persons are willing to be independents and vote their conscience, not just party lines, until their party gets a grip of itself gain.
