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Why Conservatives Are Obsessed With Cultural Issues

Seeing that Democrats are supporting, and are part of, that Wokeism cult, dare I say.
You all care more about "wokeism" then the vast majority of Democrats do.

It's a right wing boogie man mostly.
 
Seems like more than ever conservatives are hyper focused on cultural debates and far less focused on economic issues. While I consider many cultural and societal issues to be important, they are often used as a distraction from our economic problems. I think a big reason why conservatives are so focused on culture is because they dont know where they stand on economics. Are they free market or protectionist? Pro big corporation or anti big corporation? They dont know. It seems like the American conservative movement is stuck in limbo and so they direct their ire towards non issues like Mr Potato Head or publication of Dr. Seuss books no one has ever read.
Imo it is pretty obvious that the R Party has no ideas that resonate with enough people to win elections. The 2020 R Party platform was effectively 'whatever the guy with the orange hair says is good with us'.
 
Agreed, where would we be without government food inspectors?

Here's a restaurant in one of the most highly regulated cities in the country. It's just another success of the progressive regulatory state:


The store closed by the progressive regulatory state. But obviously, this rat thing proves that the entire regulatory system from Upton Sinclair's meat packing time to the present has been a failure. And let's not get started on the pizza rat in the subway.
 
Imo it is pretty obvious that the R Party has no ideas that resonate with enough people to win elections. The 2020 R Party platform was effectively 'whatever the guy with the orange hair says is good with us'.
To me, that was the scariest thing about the entire election year. It reminded me of reading about Germans taking an oath of loyalty not to their country, but personally to Adolf. (Did anything like this happen before with a major party?) The GOP will recover, however, as the indictments come down and Trump influence fades.
 
Imo it is pretty obvious that the R Party has no ideas that resonate with enough people to win elections. The 2020 R Party platform was effectively 'whatever the guy with the orange hair says is good with us'.
The Republican party seeks power for its own sake......policy is whatever gets them power.
 
I know you have a paranoid, borderline pathological obsession with Donald Trump, but this thread really isn't about him.
You do not get to pick and choose which Republicans are relevant. The one term mistake is the de facto leader of the GOP so yes this thread is about him and those who follow him.
 
To me, that was the scariest thing about the entire election year. It reminded me of reading about Germans taking an oath of loyalty not to their country, but personally to Adolf. (Did anything like this happen before with a major party?) The GOP will recover, however, as the indictments come down and Trump influence fades.
If they do, they may need to change their party name. They could use this one, they have some of the same ideologies...

"Know-Nothing party, byname of American Party, U.S. political party that flourished in the 1850s. It was an outgrowth of the strong anti-immigrant and especially anti-Roman Catholic sentiment that started to manifest itself during the 1840s. A rising tide of immigrants, primarily Germans in the Midwest and Irish in the East, seemed to pose a threat to the economic and political security of native-born Protestant Americans. In 1849 the secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner formed in New York City, and soon after lodges formed in nearly every other major American city."
 
First, love the last line, hadn't heard it.
It's an old German saying that my grandfather taught me when I was a boy while visiting him there. Rather not surprising that you've not heard it, but there it is. :)
But I agree that the left often tends to get focused on cultural issues as well, when - in my view - they would do better on economic issues. ("Conservatives marched on the White House," went the saying, "while liberals marched on the English Department").
Well, I've not heard that one either, so I guess we are even? ;)
But a lot of the left's focus on language is confined to academia, tho it trickles out to democrats.
What is 'downstream' from the other? I've heard it said that:
Culture is downstream from Academia and politics is downstream from culture. So:
Academia => Culture => Politics
Rather disconcerting as we are now seeing Marxists marching on the streets, pushing their 'Marxist culture' into politics, and we appear to have been seeing a resurgence of Marxism in higher education for quite some time now.

The left will still talk about economic issues as they should since they they are winners there in public opinion.
It is hard to resist receiving other people's money from the government, sure, but it is hardly the best thing for you in the long run, as this dependency inexorably builds.
The right gives the impression, however, that cultural issues are all they've got, when they can act usefully with cautionary tales concerning liberal ideas and proposed policies. DeSantis's pilgrimage to the border and attacking critical race theory seem obviously a prelude to a run in 2024, not innovative policy prop.
I'd be fine with the pre-pandemic economy, when the economic tide was raising all boats.
 
You all care more about "wokeism" then the vast majority of Democrats do.

It's a right wing boogie man mostly.
As we watch the culture spinning wildly out of control and to rediculous extremes. OK, sure.
 
To me, that was the scariest thing about the entire election year. It reminded me of reading about Germans taking an oath of loyalty not to their country, but personally to Adolf. (Did anything like this happen before with a major party?) The GOP will recover, however, as the indictments come down and Trump influence fades.
I trust you're not holding your breath. We'd hate to lose you over your obsession with President Trump.
 
The store closed by the progressive regulatory state.

Only because of the news story, and it's probably been full of rats for years.

But obviously, this rat thing proves that the entire regulatory system from Upton Sinclair's meat packing time to the present has been a failure. And let's not get started on the pizza rat in the subway.

Sinclair routinely criticized government inspectors as corrupt and worthless.

So no rats proves that the progressive regulatory state works, and a rat-filled restaurant which is eventually shut down also proves that the progressive regulatory state works.

Tell me, if a rat filled restaurant is it evidence of failure, then what would be?
 
Seems like more than ever conservatives are hyper focused on cultural debates and far less focused on economic issues. While I consider many cultural and societal issues to be important, they are often used as a distraction from our economic problems. I think a big reason why conservatives are so focused on culture is because they dont know where they stand on economics. Are they free market or protectionist? Pro big corporation or anti big corporation? They dont know. It seems like the American conservative movement is stuck in limbo and so they direct their ire towards non issues like Mr Potato Head or publication of Dr. Seuss books no one has ever read.
Apparently you missed conservatives fighting off guargantuan spending bills loaded with LW pork. Spending and defiicits aren’t really “cultural” issues, right? Pro- or anti-corporation are cultural issues and the bailiwick of the left.
Conservatives are working on issues like voting integrity, defense strengthening, international relations. Lefties are worried about pronouns, woke military, and CRT.
 
Seems like more than ever conservatives are hyper focused on cultural debates and far less focused on economic issues. While I consider many cultural and societal issues to be important, they are often used as a distraction from our economic problems. I think a big reason why conservatives are so focused on culture is because they dont know where they stand on economics. Are they free market or protectionist? Pro big corporation or anti big corporation? They dont know. It seems like the American conservative movement is stuck in limbo and so they direct their ire towards non issues like Mr Potato Head or publication of Dr. Seuss books no one has ever read.
It's not just economics.

The Republican Party has long relied on culture wars to gin up the base, while delivering policy after policy to the plutocrats who have basically bought out the elected officials.

Most of the policies those plutocrats want are deeply unpopular (especially tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, or cutting Social Security). As a result, Republicans rely on racist dog-whistles, partisan identities, and culture wars to keep the base engaged.

As a result, they've abandoned almost every single issue, except:

• Tax cuts for the rich
• Opposing abortion
• Disliking or hating minorities and LGBT individuals
• Disliking or hating democracy

Trump's reign of error poured gasoline on the fire, and accelerated the shift away from policies, and towards identity politics, culture wars, cults of personality. His violation of almost every previous Republican policy has left them with little more than culture wars and The Big Lie.
 
Actually, a huge reason why I moved from the right to the left was because conservatives always seemed obsessed with stupid ass culture wars that age poorly. Remember 'freedom fries?' Or that PoS Kim Davis and her refusal to marry a gay couple?

And I'm not saying there aren't leftists out there with cringey takes on cultural issues. Some do actually take 'cancel culture' too far (just as the right do on their end). But conservatives are mostly just raging at Twitter warriors and woke teenagers. They are nobodies. The somebodies in leftwing media typically focus on economic issues. I'm talking ACTUAL leftwing media like Democracy Now, David Pakman, Majority Report, etc.

It was interesting that you say you moved from right to left due to whatever.

I realized at some point that while i thought i was a Democrat, it turned out that my thoughts more in harmony with Conservative thought.

My parents, dyed in the wool Democrats, were as conservative as anyone you could ever imagine. FDR, JFK and HHH were all accorded Sainthood status in my home growing up.

The whackadoodles on BOTH ends of the spectrum are pretty scary.

The best place for government is at the border defending against the enemy and far away from me. That is pretty much what conservatism promotes.

Liberalism seems to promote the exact opposite. Leave the border open and regulate every damn thing I do.

Liberalism seems like an odd political system as practiced in America today.
 
It's not just economics.

The Republican Party has long relied on culture wars to gin up the base, while delivering policy after policy to the plutocrats who have basically bought out the elected officials.

Most of the policies those plutocrats want are deeply unpopular (especially tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, or cutting Social Security). As a result, Republicans rely on racist dog-whistles, partisan identities, and culture wars to keep the base engaged.

As a result, they've abandoned almost every single issue, except:

• Tax cuts for the rich
• Opposing abortion
• Disliking or hating minorities and LGBT individuals
• Disliking or hating democracy

Trump's reign of error poured gasoline on the fire, and accelerated the shift away from policies, and towards identity politics, culture wars, cults of personality. His violation of almost every previous Republican policy has left them with little more than culture wars and The Big Lie.
“Tax cut for the rich”? - 90% of Americans who ACTUALLY PAY income taxes got a cut, and some that didn’t saw their credits increase.
“Disliking or hating Democracy” - pure none.
“Disliking minorities” - During Trump’s time minority unemployment hit new recordd lows. He increased spending to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and fixed laws that FauxJoe supported that resulted in unjust incarceration.
 
As we watch the culture spinning wildly out of control and to rediculous extremes. OK, sure.
Jeeze.

The culture isnt spinning wildly out of control. Lol.


Turn off the right wing propaganda. They are frightening you on purpose. Leading you around by the nose.

Don't be a coward. Turn off the right wing manipulation. Embrace the world as it is.

It is no better or worse than it has ever beeen.
 
Seems like more than ever conservatives are hyper focused on cultural debates and far less focused on economic issues. While I consider many cultural and societal issues to be important, they are often used as a distraction from our economic problems. I think a big reason why conservatives are so focused on culture is because they dont know where they stand on economics. Are they free market or protectionist? Pro big corporation or anti big corporation? They dont know. It seems like the American conservative movement is stuck in limbo and so they direct their ire towards non issues like Mr Potato Head or publication of Dr. Seuss books no one has ever read.

Right-wing economics are the biggest scam ever put on this country. If poor, conservative whites ever figured that out, the power of the ruling class would be in real trouble.

To prevent that from happening, the ruling class keeps poor, conservative whites mentally enslaved with all sorts of conspiracy theories about how it's people of color, not the mostly-white ruling class, who's keeping them down.
 
If they do, they may need to change their party name. They could use this one, they have some of the same ideologies...

"Know-Nothing party, byname of American Party, U.S. political party that flourished in the 1850s. It was an outgrowth of the strong anti-immigrant and especially anti-Roman Catholic sentiment that started to manifest itself during the 1840s. A rising tide of immigrants, primarily Germans in the Midwest and Irish in the East, seemed to pose a threat to the economic and political security of native-born Protestant Americans. In 1849 the secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner formed in New York City, and soon after lodges formed in nearly every other major American city."
I read in some book on immigration that a New York newspaper editorialized that "if it weren't for Germans and Irish, a policeman's job would be a sinecure." The more things change...

I highly recommend that book, "A Nation of Strangers" by Ellis Cose. Well written account of both how US has welcomed and resented immigrants.

 
It's an old German saying that my grandfather taught me when I was a boy while visiting him there. Rather not surprising that you've not heard it, but there it is. :)

Well, I've not heard that one either, so I guess we are even? ;)

What is 'downstream' from the other? I've heard it said that:
Culture is downstream from Academia and politics is downstream from culture. So:
Academia => Culture => Politics
Rather disconcerting as we are now seeing Marxists marching on the streets, pushing their 'Marxist culture' into politics, and we appear to have been seeing a resurgence of Marxism in higher education for quite some time now.
++ I don't understand your use of Marxist. One can express concern about our skewed distribution of wealth and power, probably the worst in the developed world, without believing in inevitable class struggle. I was taught about Marx while in a Catholic seminary. He was a brilliant philosopher who got a lot right - workers of the world did unite and lose most of their chains - and a lot wrong, that this would lead to dictatorship of the proletariat. He wrote at a time when conditions for workers were slave-like, indeed the South countered criticism of slavery by pointing to conditions in US factories. And what is "Marxist culture"?

It is hard to resist receiving other people's money from the government, sure, but it is hardly the best thing for you in the long run, as this dependency inexorably builds.

I'd be fine with the pre-pandemic economy, when the economic tide was raising all boats.
++ We all get other people's money from the government. I get SS and Medicare benefits far in excess of my contributions, corporations get the right to incorporate plus other subsidies, poor folks get food stamps, rich folks get lower tax rates on much of their income. Everybody feeds at the trough, and we all get dependent on it. I worked years ago with the farmworkers union, and was amazed how marginal or risky agriculture could be, but also amazed at how growers didn't recognize the subsidies they got, thinking it was all about them struggling with the land on their own.
 
Jeeze.

The culture isnt spinning wildly out of control. Lol.


Turn off the right wing propaganda. They are frightening you on purpose. Leading you around by the nose.

Don't be a coward. Turn off the right wing manipulation. Embrace the world as it is.

It is no better or worse than it has ever beeen.
Weeelll, looks like we'll disagreeing on that then.
 
It's an old German saying that my grandfather taught me when I was a boy while visiting him there. Rather not surprising that you've not heard it, but there it is. :)

Well, I've not heard that one either, so I guess we are even? ;)

What is 'downstream' from the other? I've heard it said that:
Culture is downstream from Academia and politics is downstream from culture. So:
Academia => Culture => Politics
Rather disconcerting as we are now seeing Marxists marching on the streets, pushing their 'Marxist culture' into politics, and we appear to have been seeing a resurgence of Marxism in higher education for quite some time now.
I don't understand your use of Marxist. One can express concern about our skewed distribution of wealth and power, probably the worst in the developed world, without believing in inevitable class struggle. I was taught about Marx while in a Catholic seminary. He was a brilliant philosopher who got a lot right - workers of the world did unite and lose most of their chains - and a lot wrong, that this would lead to dictatorship of the proletariat. He wrote at a time when conditions for workers were slave-like, indeed the South countered criticism of slavery by pointing to conditions in US factories. And what is "Marxist culture"?
BLM are self-proclaimed Marxists, and are marching the in the streets, that's one reference to Marxism that I posted.

Marxism​

(ˈmɑːksɪzəm) n
(Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the economic and political theory and practice originated by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that holds that actions and human institutions are economically determined, that the class struggle is the basic agency of historical change, and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism
The Marxism being indoctrinated in the US education system exceeds the expression of 'concern about our skewed distribution of wealth and power'. They are promoting that the US is inherently evil, and that all US institutions need be burned to the ground, utterly destroyed, and reformed along Marxist lines. This is 'the basic agency of historical change' they are using to achieve this reformation of society, and we've seen throughout history how these societies utterly fail.

Better to promote the rewards of hard work and making careful and thoughtful decisions.
We all get other people's money from the government. I get SS and Medicare benefits far in excess of my contributions, corporations get the right to incorporate plus other subsidies, poor folks get food stamps, rich folks get lower tax rates on much of their income.
Best to check the facts on that one. The higher in the income scale, the larger the bite taxes takes, it's already a very progressive system of taxation.
Everybody feeds at the trough, and we all get dependent on it. I worked years ago with the farmworkers union, and was amazed how marginal or risky agriculture could be, but also amazed at how growers didn't recognize the subsidies they got, thinking it was all about them struggling with the land on their own.
 
BLM are self-proclaimed Marxists, and are marching the in the streets, that's one reference to Marxism that I posted.
++ Googled the notion. A NY Post column, Heritage and other righty sources repeat that one (1) of the three founders/leaders of the movement referred to herself as a "trained Marxist." She may be gone. This is just red-baiting.
The Marxism being indoctrinated in the US education system exceeds the expression of 'concern about our skewed distribution of wealth and power'. They are promoting that the US is inherently evil, and that all US institutions need be burned to the ground, utterly destroyed, and reformed along Marxist lines. This is 'the basic agency of historical change' they are using to achieve this reformation of society, and we've seen throughout history how these societies utterly fail.
++ You've audited such courses? Can you refer me to a few so that I can observe.
Better to promote the rewards of hard work and making careful and thoughtful decisions.

Best to check the facts on that one. The higher in the income scale, the larger the bite taxes takes, it's already a very progressive system of taxation.
++ My comment was on wealth distribution in the US, not on progressive taxation. And states like Texas have regressive taxes, gaining funds from sales taxes.
 
++ My comment was on wealth distribution in the US, not on progressive taxation. And states like Texas have regressive taxes, gaining funds from sales taxes.
Even sales taxes are progressive, since those who have more money buy more expensive things and are paying more in taxes for them as well.
 
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