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Is the GOP racist? Is it classist?

CriticalThought

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It's never been more obvious than it's been since the black man took office. Every Republican in America is envious and pissed off that the voters had the audacity to elect a black man not once but twice. The Republicans have blocked or tried to block everything the president has tried to do for middle America. Get used to having your greedy asses kicked because that's exactly what the future holds for you and yours.

A few years ago I would have vehemently disagreed with what this poster said, but I am considerably less convinced now that the GOP isn't motivated by an unconscious prejudice.

It just seems so odd how many unprecedented actions the GOP has taken. They have shut down political appointments on a huge scale in both the judicial and executive branches and every old school politician who is retiring, whether Democrat or Republican, is lamenting at the extraordinary amount of animosity that exists at the Capital. It is hard to say what the GOP represents anymore, or even WHO they represent. Are they are just about doing everything they can to shut down Obama, even during those times when what he is aiming for is something that everyone wants?

So many middle class folk seem to feel abandoned by the GOP and I don't hear anything from the GOP that would disprove that they aren't the Grand Old Millionaires and Billionaires Party that they are portrayed by the media to be. Even Republican posters on this forum seem to jump at the chance to declare anyone who disagrees with the GOP's economic policies to be "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc."

Is it racism? Is it classism? What is the source of this great animosity?
 
Well, Paula Deen plans southern plantation-style weddings where the servers are niggers with white shirts and bow ties like they were before the Civil War.
 
The whole essence of conservatism is to enrich the rich, mostly by policies that suppress wages. There is no there there besides that when it comes to this bankrupt ideology. Since the GOP is essentially in the thrall of conservative ideologues, it follows that the GOP is focused on class warfare.

Racism is a more subtle component of GOP politics. To get elected Republican politicians can't be overtly racist (it will turn off too many normal Americans), yet they have to send coded messages to their white reactionary base that they really are racist. They do this by dog whistling -- using code that is directed to those who harbor racist sensibilities, but doesn't register much with normal Americans.

The Willy Horton ad is the classic case. But Reagan did similar dog whistling by talking about "welfare queens". When tea baggers talk about "taking back their country" or "the culture of entitlement or the 47 percent", it's all code. What the racist base hears is "take back the country from blacks and Hispanics" and "minorities live off us hardworking white folk". Never mind that this has no basis in reality -- it feeds the tea party meme.
 
The term "GOP" is to generic. There really are a lot of sub-groups within the overall category.

I have friends who claim to be "Conservative" or "republican" but they really just have fiscal responsibility issues and they aren't anti-gay or anti-legit welfare. So, they aren't claasist or rich.

I do think it's stupid to continue the Obama bashing. After all, he is already elected so wasting time with repeated anti-abortion bills instead of productive actions is pathetic. But it's a minority that does this and then they all get painted with the same brush. Regrettably, this vocal minority repeatedly over-shadows the topics on which the GOP could be contributing.

The animosity game has become the new normal. But America keeps functioning in spite of, not because of our loony politicians.


A few years ago I would have vehemently disagreed with what this poster said, but I am considerably less convinced now that the GOP isn't motivated by an unconscious prejudice.

It just seems so odd how many unprecedented actions the GOP has taken. They have shut down political appointments on a huge scale in both the judicial and executive branches and every old school politician who is retiring, whether Democrat or Republican, is lamenting at the extraordinary amount of animosity that exists at the Capital. It is hard to say what the GOP represents anymore, or even WHO they represent. Are they are just about doing everything they can to shut down Obama, even during those times when what he is aiming for is something that everyone wants?

So many middle class folk seem to feel abandoned by the GOP and I don't hear anything from the GOP that would disprove that they aren't the Grand Old Millionaires and Billionaires Party that they are portrayed by the media to be. Even Republican posters on this forum seem to jump at the chance to declare anyone who disagrees with the GOP's economic policies to be "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc."

Is it racism? Is it classism? What is the source of this great animosity?
 
Well, Paula Deen plans southern plantation-style weddings where the servers are niggers with white shirts and bow ties like they were before the Civil War.

Now, who is the racist? Someone who used the term nigger in 1965 or you, using it today?

Just saying....
 
A few years ago I would have vehemently disagreed with what this poster said, but I am considerably less convinced now that the GOP isn't motivated by an unconscious prejudice.

It just seems so odd how many unprecedented actions the GOP has taken. They have shut down political appointments on a huge scale in both the judicial and executive branches and every old school politician who is retiring, whether Democrat or Republican, is lamenting at the extraordinary amount of animosity that exists at the Capital. It is hard to say what the GOP represents anymore, or even WHO they represent. Are they are just about doing everything they can to shut down Obama, even during those times when what he is aiming for is something that everyone wants?

So many middle class folk seem to feel abandoned by the GOP and I don't hear anything from the GOP that would disprove that they aren't the Grand Old Millionaires and Billionaires Party that they are portrayed by the media to be. Even Republican posters on this forum seem to jump at the chance to declare anyone who disagrees with the GOP's economic policies to be "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc."

Is it racism? Is it classism?
What is the source of this great animosity?

Extremism of ideology.
 
The term "GOP" is to generic. There really are a lot of sub-groups within the overall category.

I have friends who claim to be "Conservative" or "republican" but they really just have fiscal responsibility issues and they aren't anti-gay or anti-legit welfare. So, they aren't claasist or rich.

I do think it's stupid to continue the Obama bashing. After all, he is already elected so wasting time with repeated anti-abortion bills instead of productive actions is pathetic. But it's a minority that does this and then they all get painted with the same brush. Regrettably, this vocal minority repeatedly over-shadows the topics on which the GOP could be contributing.

The animosity game has become the new normal. But America keeps functioning in spite of, not because of our loony politicians.
Yet people actually vote for these nincompoops.
 
Yes, the GOP is racist and classist. And when I say, "the GOP", I do not mean every single official or constituent of the GOP is racist or classist. I mean that there is a pervasive enough pattern of racism and classism among Republicans to warrant generalized language in discussing the problem.

That said, my belief that GOP fits those labels is not necessarily rooted in how their refusal to compromise with Obama. It's rooted more in how they tend to speak about blacks and poor people. If you notice - even here on DP - Republicans tend to describe blacks as "brainwashed", more interested in collecting welfare checks than working, lacking "personal responsibility", having a culture that is inferior to "white culture", irresponsible and everything else negative. The primary way in which Republicans speak about black Americans seems to be in a negative way. Moreover, they say things that invoke stereotypes of black people far too often for them to be "coincidence" while also dismissing black concerns of racism as "the race card" or "race baiting".

It's the same for poor people. They imply that poor people are just not working hard enough, that they lack personal responsibility and so on while dismissing their concerns as "class warfare" and calling them "leeches" or "jealous".

In sum, the way that Republicans tend to speak about blacks and the poor indicate to me that racism and classism are pervasive within their ranks.

*Racism and classism exist in the Democratic Party as well, but this thread is about Republicans, so nobody reply to my post with the "they do it too" deflection. I'm not interested.
 
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Have you ever heard the expression, "Every "X" has it's 10%"?

Like when you hear about some 'roided up cop pulling his gun on a five-year-old girl or something like that your cop friends are like, "Not all cops are like that, every profession has it's 10%".

Well kinda like that most every demographic has it's 10% that are just lowlifes.

Guess what percentage of Republicans vote in primaries?

Right, about 10%.

So the quality of folks standing for election, and more importanly reelection from the Republican Party is decided by the far-right-wing 10% that controls a candidate's primary electoral destiny.

The idea is, "We put you into office, and we can get you out by running a more "conservative" candidate against you in the next primary if you don't toe the line".

In thoroughly Red states, those where a Democrat hasn't won a race since the realignment, the general election is more or less determined by who wins the primary.

You can pretty much rest assured that the folks talking about anyone who isn't a multimillionaire as being "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc." arte Republican primary voters.

It doesn't matter what the actual politicians think, the bottom line is that they have to cater to the ignorant, uneducated, inbred 10% that votes in the primary.
 
Extremism of ideology.

But where did it come from? Obama was a pragmatist. He was a moderate Democrat when he was first elected. During that election he was painted as a socialist. That rhetoric and his choice to push through a conservative plan to fix the health care system by subsidizing private health insurance led to a revolt among the conservative base that I have a hard time believing would have occurred with any other politician. They have subsequently impeded everything he has tried to do and argued that he is the uncompromising one. Now I think that Obama really has become a Socialist because he just doesn't care anymore about trying to be pragmatic. That or he has to push the agenda so far to the left that through the subsequent concessions to the GOP it falls where he actually wants it.
 
The term "GOP" is to generic. There really are a lot of sub-groups within the overall category.

I have friends who claim to be "Conservative" or "republican" but they really just have fiscal responsibility issues and they aren't anti-gay or anti-legit welfare. So, they aren't claasist or rich.

I do think it's stupid to continue the Obama bashing. After all, he is already elected so wasting time with repeated anti-abortion bills instead of productive actions is pathetic. But it's a minority that does this and then they all get painted with the same brush. Regrettably, this vocal minority repeatedly over-shadows the topics on which the GOP could be contributing.

The animosity game has become the new normal. But America keeps functioning in spite of, not because of our loony politicians.

The GOP isn't any more "classist" or "racist" than the democrats, as you mentioned there are pockets of each, but they do not represent the party as a whole.

The current Obama bashing is par for the course for a last term POTUS by the opposing party. The nastiness/animosity involved is not any greater than what has taken place on and off over the course of our history. It's just more immediate and in your face considering the state of modern communications and the modern press.
 
Have you ever heard the expression, "Every "X" has it's 10%"?

Like when you hear about some 'roided up cop pulling his gun on a five-year-old girl or something like that your cop friends are like, "Not all cops are like that, every profession has it's 10%".

Well kinda like that most every demographic has it's 10% that are just lowlifes.

Guess what percentage of Republicans vote in primaries?

Right, about 10%.

So the quality of folks standing for election, and more importanly reelection from the Republican Party is decided by the far-right-wing 10% that controls a candidate's primary electoral destiny.

The idea is, "We put you into office, and we can get you out by running a more "conservative" candidate against you in the next primary if you don't toe the line".

In thoroughly Red states, those where a Democrat hasn't won a race since the realignment, the general election is more or less determined by who wins the primary.

You can pretty much rest assured that the folks talking about anyone who isn't a multimillionaire as being "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc." arte Republican primary voters.

It doesn't matter what the actual politicians think, the bottom line is that they have to cater to the ignorant, uneducated, inbred 10% that votes in the primary.

Good lord! Why would the rest of the Republican Party even tolerate it? At a certain point, you would think they would start showing up to vote. Are they just that lazy?
 
But where did it come from? Obama was a pragmatist. He was a moderate Democrat when he was first elected. During that election he was painted as a socialist. That rhetoric and his choice to push through a conservative plan to fix the health care system by subsidizing private health insurance led to a revolt among the conservative base that I have a hard time believing would have occurred with any other politician. They have subsequently impeded everything he has tried to do and argued that he is the uncompromising one. Now I think that Obama really has become a Socialist because he just doesn't care anymore about trying to be pragmatic. That or he has to push the agenda so far to the left that through the subsequent concessions to the GOP it falls where he actually wants it.

Because it's a reactionary group of individuals that are homogeneous. The majority of GOP voters share race/age/locations/cultural background. It's not a political party it's large demographic group called a political party. It's identity politics which is the worst kind of politics. It's beyond just not agreeing with people with different view points...it's some damn battle for the face of America for them. It's winner take all scorched earth warfare.
 
A few years ago I would have vehemently disagreed with what this poster said, but I am considerably less convinced now that the GOP isn't motivated by an unconscious prejudice.

It just seems so odd how many unprecedented actions the GOP has taken. They have shut down political appointments on a huge scale in both the judicial and executive branches and every old school politician who is retiring, whether Democrat or Republican, is lamenting at the extraordinary amount of animosity that exists at the Capital. It is hard to say what the GOP represents anymore, or even WHO they represent. Are they are just about doing everything they can to shut down Obama, even during those times when what he is aiming for is something that everyone wants?

So many middle class folk seem to feel abandoned by the GOP and I don't hear anything from the GOP that would disprove that they aren't the Grand Old Millionaires and Billionaires Party that they are portrayed by the media to be. Even Republican posters on this forum seem to jump at the chance to declare anyone who disagrees with the GOP's economic policies to be "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc."

Is it racism? Is it classism? What is the source of this great animosity?

I'll put that question somewhat in reverse. If your objection is to policies that boil down to "from each according to their ability (to pay taxes), to each according to their need (for free stuff)" are you therefore against the "common man" and for the "rich man"?

The idea of using the gov't power of taxation to force "proper" income redistribution to achieve "social justice" or economic "fairness" requires treating individual economic success as a bad thing that must be taxed more and economic "need" as something that deserves rewarding (fixing?). Generally the rich do not get rich by taking from the poor but by providing goods and/or services that people willingly buy.

The idea that any individual's lack of personal income is really the fault of society and thus must be "fixed" by a gov't handout, taken from the "excess" that was attained by another's honest efforts is not in keeping with a free society. The percentage of federal spending that is purely for income redistribution is already alarming, yet growing rapidly. We now, at the federal level, "must" spend 43% more than that we are willing to collect by direct taxation. Saying "no" to continuing or expanding that borrow and redistribute scheme is not racism or classism - it is simply logical.
 
Good lord! Why would the rest of the Republican Party even tolerate it? At a certain point, you would think they would start showing up to vote. Are they just that lazy?

The Democrat Party is much the same.

Fewer Democrats than Republicans turned out for the last primary.

And it's not like Democrat primary voters have a better head on their shoulders than their Republican counterparts, they're just as stupid, only not as..malevolent.

That's why Democrats in Washington wanna spend money like drunken sailors on shore leave in the Philippines.

Deomcrat primary voters wanna save the children, the flowers, the rainforest, American jobs, the right of people in the third-world to take American jobs, etc...
 
But where did it come from? Obama was a pragmatist. He was a moderate Democrat when he was first elected. During that election he was painted as a socialist. That rhetoric and his choice to push through a conservative plan to fix the health care system by subsidizing private health insurance led to a revolt among the conservative base that I have a hard time believing would have occurred with any other politician. They have subsequently impeded everything he has tried to do and argued that he is the uncompromising one. Now I think that Obama really has become a Socialist because he just doesn't care anymore about trying to be pragmatic. That or he has to push the agenda so far to the left that through the subsequent concessions to the GOP it falls where he actually wants it.

It's about money, which blinds people to reason more than anything. It has nothing to do with racism, except for the few dumb enough to mention it.

He's actually being smart by helping the disproportionate amount of people without fair and equal opportunities. The world is becoming lost because reason and fairness have been subsidized by greed/ego, superficiality and immaturity.
 
The GOP isn't any more "classist" or "racist" than the democrats, as you mentioned there are pockets of each, but they do not represent the party as a whole.

The current Obama bashing is par for the course for a last term POTUS by the opposing party. The nastiness/animosity involved is not any greater than what has taken place on and off over the course of our history. It's just more immediate and in your face considering the state of modern communications and the modern press.

I disagree. The math does not add up.

Daily Kos: Yes, GOP obstruction of Obama nominees is unprecedented

When HALF A YEAR is the average waiting period for a nominee, you know there are problems.
 
A few years ago I would have vehemently disagreed with what this poster said, but I am considerably less convinced now that the GOP isn't motivated by an unconscious prejudice.

It just seems so odd how many unprecedented actions the GOP has taken. They have shut down political appointments on a huge scale in both the judicial and executive branches and every old school politician who is retiring, whether Democrat or Republican, is lamenting at the extraordinary amount of animosity that exists at the Capital. It is hard to say what the GOP represents anymore, or even WHO they represent. Are they are just about doing everything they can to shut down Obama, even during those times when what he is aiming for is something that everyone wants?

So many middle class folk seem to feel abandoned by the GOP and I don't hear anything from the GOP that would disprove that they aren't the Grand Old Millionaires and Billionaires Party that they are portrayed by the media to be. Even Republican posters on this forum seem to jump at the chance to declare anyone who disagrees with the GOP's economic policies to be "moochers, parasites, envious, jealous, etc."

Is it racism? Is it classism? What is the source of this great animosity?

Don't you think this particular race card has been quite thoroughly worn out?

Believe it or not, there are many of us who identify as Republicans, who don't give a rat's ass about the color of the President's skin, but who believe that his policies are the very worst that any President has inflicted on this nation, and that they would not be any more acceptable to us if he were a light-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired Caucasian. It is only his supporters who resort to playing the race card, and that is only because they know that they cannot defend the content of his policies or of his character.
 
The GOP isn't any more "classist" or "racist" than the democrats, as you mentioned there are pockets of each, but they do not represent the party as a whole.

The current Obama bashing is par for the course for a last term POTUS by the opposing party. The nastiness/animosity involved is not any greater than what has taken place on and off over the course of our history. It's just more immediate and in your face considering the state of modern communications and the modern press.

Who ran the Willy Horton ad? Who has a Southern Strategy? Who used code like "take back the country" and "the culture of entitlement"? Who bashes immigrants?

More ostriching by anothing conservative.
 
I'll put that question somewhat in reverse. If your objection is to policies that boil down to "from each according to their ability (to pay taxes), to each according to their need (for free stuff)" are you therefore against the "common man" and for the "rich man"?

The idea of using the gov't power of taxation to force "proper" income redistribution to achieve "social justice" or economic "fairness" requires treating individual economic success as a bad thing that must be taxed more and economic "need" as something that deserves rewarding (fixing?). Generally the rich do not get rich by taking from the poor but by providing goods and/or services that people willingly buy.

The idea that any individual's lack of personal income is really the fault of society and thus must be "fixed" by a gov't handout, taken from the "excess" that was attained by another's honest efforts is not in keeping with a free society. The percentage of federal spending that is purely for income redistribution is already alarming, yet growing rapidly. We now, at the federal level, "must" spend 43% more than that we are willing to collect by direct taxation. Saying "no" to continuing or expanding that borrow and redistribute scheme is not racism or classism - it is simply logical.

Hey, kids, the reverso-meme!

I guess the OP touched a nerve.
 
Well, Paula Deen plans southern plantation-style weddings where the servers are niggers with white shirts and bow ties like they were before the Civil War.

When your only tool is a hammer then you must address all problems as if they were nails. ;)
 
Don't you think this particular race card has been quite thoroughly worn out?

Believe it or not, there are many of us who identify as Republicans, who don't give a rat's ass about the color of the President's skin, but who believe that his policies are the very worst that any President has inflicted on this nation, and that they would not be any more acceptable to us if he were a light-skinned, blue-eyed, blond-haired Caucasian. It is only his supporters who resort to playing the race card, and that is only because they know that they cannot defend the content of his policies or of his character.
The constant use of "playing the race card" as a response to discussions of racism by Republicans is one of the reasons Republicans are perceived as hostile to black people. It's dismissive and treats racism as nothing more than a political tool instead of an actual thing that people perceive and experience.

One thing that is always amazing to me in threads that question racism in the GOP is how many Republicans defend themselves against the accusations by doing the very things that cause people to view them as racist or racially insensitive in the first place.
 
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