Why Democrats should vote for Republicans this midterm

[Ninurta]

Okay, there's a lot to unpack here. First, why do you assume that just because someone is a democrat/liberal that they hate America? I don't hate America. I love America. There are times that I really don't like America, but one is able to not like but still love something if that makes any sense. I love America, but hate what's going on politically. At times I'm ashamed of America, but I still love it, and I absolutely will not move out of this country, no matter how bad things get.

And I'm very careful who I vote for. If I think someone is too far left/progressive, I will figure out what to do. I don't see myself voting for any republicans, as I think they are what's causing the horrible divide in this country. Having said that, I won't vote for Biden again. I hope he does not run again, as I feel he's just getting too old. I would slit my wrists before voting for Trump. At times, I think Trump is the antichrist. I'm sick of voting for the lesser of two evils. I will not do that again. I will vote with my brains and my conscience. 

There are many different kinds of democrats too. So I feel there is equal or more political range of democrats than republicans. As irritated as I get with Senator Manchin at times, I think he's the kind of democrat that would make a good President. He's more moderate and common sense driven. I don't know if he's planning to run, but I probably would vote for him. 

But I am not willing to compromise my principles and vote for a republican. I feel there are many more radical right wing than radical leftists. It is the right wing that spreads a significant percentage of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Many of them are rude.

I think you are making a terrible mistake by voting "straight party line", but it is your mistake to make, so have at it.

I normally vote as far right as is available, but I'm not inflexible in the matter - I have also been known to vote for democrats instead of republicans, because I don't vote for the party, I vote for whomever I think is the best candidate for the job, regardless of what letter is beside their name.

Voting a straight party line is an indication of an inflexibility of independent thought, and while not "the reason" for our current political divide, it is most certainly a result of it. It does, however, bespeak an ability to unquestioningly follow orders from on high, so there IS that positive aspect to it, I suppose.

I also think it is a mistake to blame the political divide on one side or the other. That just makes one a cheerleader for the destroyers, whichever direction they are coming from. NO division can happen if WE do not allow it, if we do not "take the bait". and all too many of us are doing just that. I believe, and I think I have demonstrated more than once, that it is entirely possible to maintain civility and even a friendship while also disagreeing on a thing. When we sink to the level of demonizing our opponents, we open the doors for hatred and division. We create within ourselves the demons we are projecting upon the "enemy" by rising to the fight and assisting in the division we profess to be against. As a matter of fact, it is that very thing which entrenches out opposition on the other side of the divide and widens it. No one will provoke thought in another by personally attacking them - that just shuts thought down altogether as a defense response, and forces them to hug the party line even more tightly.

To paraphrase an old comic strip called "Pogo", "We have met the enemy, and he is us".

When King George Bush I was elected, I was so disgusted that I stopped voting at all for decades - and he was supposed to be "Our boy" for my side of the divide. I didn't vote again until 2016, when the nation was in extreme peril of being lost forever to The dark Side with Hillary as their front man. It was not because she professes to be a democrat, it was because she is the embodiment of totalitarian evil incarnate. One can be a democrat and still not be a totalitarian, but we have had precious few examples of that concept in recent years. Joe Manchin is one such example, but he is in a minority, which makes him stand out in that field. I think that is because he is from West Virginia, a state that is heavily democrat dominated, yet still maintains a stubborn streak of freedom in their mindset. Manchin is responsive to his constituency, a lesson a number of other congress critters could stand to learn and exercise at times other than election seasons.

Regarding King George Bush I and II both, neither off them are republican, despite the letters beside their names - at least not the sort of republican I grew up knowing. neither is Liz Cheney or Adam Kitzinger, among others.  On the other side of the divide, I cannot name but one or two alleged democrats who are actual democrats as I grew up knowing them, either. Back then, the democrat party was "the party of the working man", but they are not any more, judging by most of their office holders, at least. They have become the party of the big corporations, and to hell with getting anything done for the working people. The republicans used to be "the party of small government", but that is no more, either - they are growing government just as much as the democrats are, and in that respect I see nary a sliver of difference between the two.

Neither side gives much of  a damn for the people who vote them into office other than for those few brief months when they need to pander for votes. The rest of the time, we are on our own, and none of them are working for us, or doing what we sent them to do. AND they will keep that going for as long as they are able to pull the wool over our eyes and keep us convinced that "it's all the other guy's fault" so that we remain divided.

And they will keep laughing at us all the way to the bank, with OUR money, for as long as we swallow their bullshit and keep on toeing their party line.

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