Republicans are selling their soul to win elections. Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. The government won't work without it. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.
~Barry Goldwater.
...
We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
~Ronald Reagan
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Never again war! Never again hatred and intolerance! ~Pope John Paul, Address on arrival at the Sarajevo Airport on 12 April 1997, during the pope's apostolic journey to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Just sayin' Roger, Communism hasn't been a thing since 1989.
I know, I was there. I saw it fall live on CNN. I've literally written about what I was doing on that day.
And I've said, many times, that in this day and age it's Republicans who'd gladly put the Berlin Wall back up if they could and divide the world again, just because they've never been all that good at navigating the world without the duality and the closed systems of the original Cold War.
The trouble is, now, that Republicans, including *Checks Notes* Roger Stone, have gleefully hopped into bed with the Russians, who are ruled by a literal KGB Agent.
It's like I keep saying, I can't even talk the way these fucking people talk anymore.
We've got to take the neighborhood back. We've got to go in there. Just forget telling your child to go to the Peace Corps. It's right around the corner. It's standing on the corner. It can't speak English. It doesn't want to speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk. "Why you ain't where you is go." I don't know who these people are. And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. Then I heard the father talk. This is all in the house. You used to talk a certain way on the corner and you got into the house and switched to English. Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. You can't land a plane with "why you ain't…". You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth. There is no Bible that has that kind of language. Where did these people get the idea that they're moving ahead on this? Well, they know they're not, they're just hanging out in the same place, five or six generations sitting in the projects when you're just supposed to stay there long enough to get a job and move out. ~Bill Cosby, the "Pound Cake" speech.
And the truth is it's not about Christ, it's not about conservatism in any recognizable form. It's about Power and Wealth and the protection of what a lot of people are calling the Epstein Class.
You know, the people that can afford to buy and sell kids to abuse, and shit like that, and who basically regard every other human being as pretty much cattle or toys for their pleasure.
So, really, the Baal-worshiping sex-cult is par for the course, pretty much.
And the absolute truth is that conservatism and Christianity (including Catholicism) as I was taught and remember those things, stood up for human dignity and peace and rights.
They might've disagreed with "The Left" on how to get to that goal, but it was the goal just the same.
The world that Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, Popes John Paul II and later Benedict, and a whole hell of a lot of the conservatives leaders of the past fought for....even Richard Nixon did things that measurably made the world a better place for somebody other than himself...is not the world these people want to live in today!
Which really pisses off those of us who believed in this stuff for ethical and moral reasons.
In America these days, belief in this stuff (or anything else!) for ethical or moral reasons by itself damned near automatically makes one a Democrat in this day and age no matter how Hard Right one was before.
And yes, that includes old-school small-c 'conservatives' like me and my partner. Neither far-Left nor far-Right likes us very much.
If all these far-Leftists don't like it, well, they can kiss my ass. Maybe they should have voted on a consistent basis then? As for the far-Right? Well, I hated those people when I was a Republican too.
I don't make the rules, but that's how it seems to be. See also people like Tea Party Joe Walsh. Or for that matter Alex Jones, Ann Coulter, Joe Rogan, MTG, Tucker Carlson, and I'm sure the list goes on.
When men stop believing in God, it isn't that they then believe in nothing: they believe in everything. ~Umberto Eco
Meanwhile, what "Republicans" are still in good standing keep doubling down on Trump and keep blaming imaginary Communists.
While the Republican Party itself grows more Authoritarian and Soviet every day. You know, when I first saw that 2000 Election electoral map that codified the current Blue State/Red State dynamic I was like "Hey! WTF!"
But the Truth is these days if there's "Reds" in the American system, they're the Republicans and you know it. They claim it's for "Christian Nationalism." Just like they'll say it's not the Mark Of The Beast when they do it. Yes, yes it is and don't you forget it.
The Truth is that people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Roger Stone about can't do anything without fucking it up, because there's always dumb motherfuckers out there who are willing to give them money and shit. There's a reason Roger Stone is still plugging away at the same bullshit he was in 1968. (Meanwhile Donald Trump has flip-flopped on alleged beliefs and Parties many times.)
Maybe we as a people ought to stop tolerating this garbage??
Having a soul requires drawing a line in the sand, sometimes, and sticking to it.
And right now I'm warning you, people like MTG and Tucker are fast becoming darlings of the "Left." Which is fine if they're genuinely penitent and work to make amends, but the kind of Reaganite vaguely libertarian conservative (small letters in both cases) that I was taught to be is rightly skeptical of Power.
And of those who would wield it. Cuz I suspect some of them won't really change very much.
I have a right to think that.
Again, you either believe in Freedom or you don't.
And you're either willing to fight for it...by any means necessary...or you're not.
Слава Україна!
Cassian Andor: What? To steal from the Empire, what do you need? A uniform, some dirty hands, and an Imperial toolkit. They’re so proud of themselves, they don’t even care. They’re so fat and satisfied, they can’t imagine it…
And you never once looked back
And the flag you flew was a pirate cross
On a field of velvet black
And those landsmen who you but lately knew
Were left stranded on the lea
Don't call on them when the storm clouds rise
On the dark and the rolling sea
Oh I have no need of a chart or creed
You told your waiting crew
For the winds of chance, they will bear us straight
And you spoke as though you knew
So you paid no mind to the warning signs
As you gave your words so free
Don't change your tack when the timbers crack
On the dark and the rolling sea
Now the thunder rails in the great mainsails
And the stars desert the skies
And the rigging strains as the hands of rain
Reach down to wash your eyes
And your oarsmen stands with his knife in hand
And his eyes spell mutiny
Don't call my name when your ship goes down
On the dark and the rolling sea.
~Al Stewart,
On the dark and rolling sea.
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We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. ~Malcolm X.
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