We have to understand that party unity and party loyalty are not synonymous. Team members are supposed to help each other become better AND be accountable.
Is the Democratic Party fragmented?
It might feel counterintuitive to many right-leaning folks. Even downright ridiculous to some. In fact, a lot of left-leaning folks might think the same thing – as far as how they will perceive my words to be off the mark on this topic. But guess what? The U.S. Democratic party in average is actually very much to the right of the left. I know, I know – some red-meat eating Republicans would designate every last one of the Democrats as [insert epithet] Liberals, or many even Communists. And I find that very interesting, because these terms get tossed around very often in the American Political discourse, but sorry to be the person who has to say this… They don’t know what real extreme left can be like. I know, because I’ve lived through that. And it ain’t pretty, but this ain’t it.
With that said, the U.S. Democratic party is quite fragmented. Even though, at the time I’m writing this article circa mid-January 2023, not nearly as fragmented as the U.S. Republican party… but it is pretty fragmented, nonetheless.
Before I go any further, let me emphasize that I do not advocate for either Extreme Left nor Extreme Right – you probably heard this growing up, all extremes are not good. So, before we get into potential semantics of politics let’s quickly define the extremes in the context of this article. Both extremes are authoritarian in nature.
Extreme Right = Fascism. Normally follow atonement doctrines from a deity as their guiding “moral compass” and justification for their actions. Even if these actions are extremely violent in nature.
Extreme Left = Communism. Normally disguised as “secular” – but in this case either the state or the top leader becomes a representation of a deity. This deity will be providing direction of “moral compass” and justification for their actions. Even if these actions are extremely violent in nature.
Sound similar? It should, because they are nothing but mirror images of the same monster. The way people fall into either extreme starts from a particular bias that gest prostituted to the point that any other dissenting opinion is rejected, or even demonized.
If you’ve been following U.S. Politics, you might have heard about the “Squad” – which is what they call a group of US's Congress people, mostly ladies from a very wide swath of ethnicities and cultures. Also, they are all under the age of 50. Which is generally pretty young considering the average age of people elected for a Congressional seat.
I would argue that is a good thing, because America is the world’s ultimate melting pot. In fact, that’s what the Statue of Liberty is all about. For example, if you have a U.S. Passport, turn it to page 27 in and you’ll see that diversity is a very integral part of the American collective identity. I am very well aware that there are people out there who are beamingly opposed to diversity, that’s a different rant. And one I don’t agree with by the way, as you can see, I am a big proponent of diversity, and we’ll talk about why I support diversity in this article.
But getting back to the “Squad.” This term has also been used as a quasi-derogatory designation against this group of left-leaning people in the Congress House of Representatives by many Right-Wing supporters. Particularly, the members of this “Squad” group tend to be subjected to attacks from many right-wing groups in a variety of manners – some more provocative than others. And these attacking groups are inside and outside of Congress. Colleagues, pundits, bloggers, podcasters, anchors, commentators, other politicians, even some foreign figures, and many American people in the general public tend to demonize this “Squad” group. Especially the ladies in the group. And it has been widely reported that many of them have received death threats.
This “Squad” came to the American political discourse when the original four ladies were elected in 2018. There were U.S. Congress House of Representatives: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), NY-14; Ilhan Oman, MN-5; Ayanna Presley; MA-7, and Rashida Tlaib, MI-13. I remember seeing the many disparaging remarks these ladies endured for their first term in Office. Especially AOC. By the way, to my knowledge they all got re-elected in their district. However, at the time they got elected, they quickly became a break in the status quo, both for their own party, and most definitely a stark contrast to the opposing party and their respective supporters.
Unfortunately, even though our Nation as evolved a lot in the last several decades – it seemed that having women (especially of diverse backgrounds) with strong convictions in a position of power was not a welcoming sight to a lot of conservatives. And that even included some of the more conservative leaning people in their own Democratic party. And yes, there are very conservative leaning Democrats. And before anybody wants to accuse me of being extreme left, let me remind you that I do not lean left nor right. I do not support any extreme views one side or the other. I am dead center for what I can see… this gives me objectivity to praise or hold either side accountable without the need for mental gymnastics in order to align with a particular political party. It is very liberating. There is good and bad for both Democrats and Republicans.
The crazy part is that all these ladies are and the rest of the people who subsequently joined the Squad are not THAT far left at all. First off, they are all God-fearing one way or the other (even if from different religions), which is by the way God-fearing is often more traditionally aligned with right wing values. The extreme left, like it was the case in the old Soviet Union, actually outlawed religion – or made it at least very difficult for religious groups to coexist as the years went by with the Soviets in Power. As a matter of fact, that’s why the U.S. became ultra-religious during the times of the Cold War – to provide stark contrast against those heathens Soviets. Want an example? Sure, that’s when the U.S. Started adding “in God We Trust” in the American money bills and coins. During the cold war, the two superpowers wanted to get as diametrically opposed to one another as they could. And they did. That’s but one of the many examples.
That’s a lengthy topic on its own right, but for now I can tell you that this Squad group is nowhere near that far left. If you start seeing them turning the deity or a specific person as their deity or messiah, then you have something to indicate leaning that towards extremism. And this would be true for the extreme right also… if members of the Right-Wing start idolizing a leader as a God-Emissary, then we are getting into troubled times leaning towards authoritarianism. Any extreme left of right is authoritarian. And no, freedom of and from religion is not extreme left.
And why am I spending so much time speaking about the Squad? Because this is the metric most Right-Wing pundits will use to propagandize a narrative against the Left. Again, I have to emphasize, the majority of the Left-Democrat establishment is actually pretty aligned to the right of the left of the American political spectrum. Want examples? Sure… let’s start with the incumbent U.S. President, Joe Biden.
When the Democratic primaries were in full rage, a lot of Democrats were in the ballot… I mean a lot – I think ~30 or so. Some were more popular than others. Some were pretty sensible; some were pretty nuts. And they all went guns blazing (metaphorically speaking) against each other. But there was one thing in common… once Joe Biden got into the race, they all attacked him mercilessly. Need I tell you who won? Yes, it was Biden, because the country is mostly voting center left when it comes to doctrines – as we can see for the elections results in the last several elections.
Surely there are a bunch of extreme right, moderate right, centrist, and many swats of leftist. But communists are definitely in the smallest minority of the American political spectrum. And no, Socialist and Communist are not the same thing, when it comes to the actual doctrine. A lot of these do seem very much similar to the untrained eye, but they are not analogous. Besides, terms sometimes are misused in order to galvanize support one way or the other by a potentially uniformed political base.
Which brings me to the next part of this topic, and this is probably a good time as ever to express this reality to any highly progressive Democrats. Unfortunately, the term “Democratic Socialist” is not a good choice of words. It is just really bad branding – words matter.
Want another BeeZee (I am BeeZee) analogy? Let’s say if Social Democratic was a cologne (as a fragrance), it might as well be named “Flowery Poop.” Which part do you think people are going to laser beam upon? The later of course. And remember that right wing people already don’t like Democrats… even if they do believe in Democracy. Semantics, right? Well, words resonate in different ways to different people, and these become read meat for propagandists. And the actual concepts – no matter how benign or popular – will be hidden behind the tittle. It is quite frankly frustrating, but that’s the nature of this current political climate.
Does that mean that I agree with all their proposed policies, and doctrines from all progressive and left leaning groups? No, I do not. But I can say the same about any other part of the political spectrum. And yes, we are supposed to have dissenting opinions, because that’s how we can reach to a better collective solution. No one person holds the truth. However, the more people cling exclusively to one side or the other, the less informed they will be about the other side, that’s just how biases get enforced. And yes, that leads to extreme partisan views.
This extreme partisan divide is a phenomenon that exists in every major party spanning our country in the political spectrum at this time. This is not sustainable long term. The country continues to polarize over rhetoric – and interestingly enough some of that negative rhetoric is being attributed to the “other side” – even if this is not even an accurate representation of their (opposing) doctrines. When you realize the actual facts are in the noise that gets fed to each political side, this hindsight can be extremely frustrating to witness. The good news is that the information is available out there, for those who are willing to have an open mind and positive critical thinking chops.
What’s the Democrat’s Challenge?
Democrats at this time in our history are very bad, and I mean very, very bad at communicating policy in a way that can be assimilated by both friendly and dissenting political personalities.
And with this statement, I am not advocating about being disparaging or even vociferous about the Democratic political doctrine. Instead, I would argue that some of their doctrines are actually very popular with the American people – yes, even the Republicans (who usually don’t even realize that stuff they support are in fact Democratic party doctrines). But these doctrines are not properly articulated in a way that they can disambiguate their intentions. And yes, it is not lost in me that I am explain this with a few so called “big words.” But I do that for a reason, because “big words” have exact meanings in the English language. Everyday vernacular tends to get the actual meaning lost in the mix.
The collective systematic dumbing of the country’s mind is happening. Things that affect us directly seem so “boring” or disconnected that anything else (at all) seems more interesting in contrast. Being a TV show, a ball game, a video game, a bunch of funny videos in social media, etc.… this all contributes to this distraction. And Dumbing is not mean to be disparaging, “dumb” dictionary definition is: Unable to speak; temporarily unable to speak, for example because they are very surprised or shocked. In this instance, this inability to speak is because they are entertained with something else that precludes from properly focusing on what warrants actual focus.
And no, I am not expecting everybody to talk with big words. But for the purpose of this article, I don’t want somebody to misinterpret what I am saying. Even if by chance somebody needs to look up a word every now and then. The problem is that in the Democratic party they let their opposition to distort their words – and the opposition gets away with doing so. Which should not be the case, because some of the policies could very well be argued in the merits. But that’s not normally what we see in the political discourse.
If you every get a chance to scrutinize of red-wing propaganda, you might see memes or other type of disparaging depictions of a PERSON – Not normally the policy the person advocates for or against. Right Wing propaganda in America, for the most part right now does not argue on the merits of any issue. Instead, they will character assassinate somebody. And Democrats tend to be easy targets, especially if there is a Right-Wing base that already has a bias against them (Democrats).
These disparaging remarks towards somebody will be used to minimize or misinterpret a person’s credibility. Does it work? It does, but not always. Sometimes it backfires and people who were fervent right-wing leaning leave their party. Why? Because that tactic is dishonest, and Right-Wing people, much like Left-Wing people are primarily that – people. And most people want to be good and decent and make decision based on their best available information. Therefore, if there was misinformation deliberately planed in their team, and once they find out if they are intellectually honest – they will realize that the truth was misrepresented.
Given that dichotomy, they would have a decision to make. If they find out that they were fed a misrepresentation – they could either start seeking facts, or they can be hypocrites and ignore the merits of an issue and willfully bury their head in the sand. If you look at the voting results, then you will realize this shift is occurring in several segments of the American population. Especially as some far-right wing personalities have been put under the microscope due to controversy, to include justified legal actions against them. Is the communication flow perfect? Not by a long shot, but facts ultimately come to light on the merits, because the truth always has a multidimensional reach. Lies will talk themselves into a corner sooner or later. And this is happening. And in order to reach any extreme, lying or deception will be key ingredients.
Fortunately, the majority of American people are a lot smarter than taking things at face value without at least understanding the source’s motives. Even if this understanding takes genesis by being cynical in order to galvanize their opinion for or against something they deeply care about. But in order for this to happen, they need enough datapoints steaming from that they consider trustworthy in order to forge an educated decision.
At some point or another, the base who is been fed propaganda will have to come to terms about actual facts and doctrine. And guess what happens if they do? They leave the party because they realize that somebody was tarnishing the Republican or Democratic party principles by using cheap propaganda. Many of those who have, have been called RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) by the mores extreme right wing. And this latter segment is now even thinking about starting their own party. Which would inevitably destroy the Republican party. Not good news for the Grand Old Party (GOP).
However, this realization can take sometimes a very long time. And the more biased a person becomes, the more they are likely to scoff, say a disparaging remark about the person who’s pointing a dissenting fact, and likely double down on their erroneous point of view. We have seen ample evidence of that phenomenon in the last few years too.
And with that, we also have to understand that there is left-wing propaganda. Both sides have propaganda, the difference is that in the United States of America right as I type this, left side propaganda is a lot less prominent that right-wing propaganda. There is a lot of misinformation regarding the left-wing of the United States, but it normally comes from a skewed understanding of policies rather than a deliberated attempt to force a particular narrative.
I’ll give you a classic example. Obama care – many Republicans LOVED it when it was known as the “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) because they found it was a streamlined health-care system that was more affordable and gave them choice of doctors within a certain area, even if it needed co-pays to get a better level of care. And if you could not afford it based on your yearly income, then it was subsidized much like Medicaid. But the very same people hated it when the very same thing system was called “Obama Care” – not surprisingly this very same system was then disparaged – and even advocated against it. Which is very funny to me. And by the way this system and (and still has) a lot of flaws – but that’s an entirely different rant. Because Healthcare in the great US of A does have a lot of room for improvement. And I intend to do a full long-format article on that topic, in fact I could write an entire book on that topic alone.
In either case, the political spectrum has been polarized for a long time. And a lot of these are actually part of international propaganda that makes it to our national discourse. Which is funny and obvious to see when you draw parallels to other countries politics. Like it or not, politics from your or another country will affect you one way or the other. For example, even though Ecuador was not directly involved in World War II, my grandmother told me the economy and standard of living took a dive, because of the conflict that was happening in the other side of the world (either Europe or Asia) – neither of which is anywhere near South America. But even if the artillery as not reaching that region, the effects of political dissidence and support were affecting their very lives.
The Democratic Party in the U.S. has made a lot of glaring mistakes. Then again, nobody is perfect. However, self-inflicted wounds tend to happen more often when communication is not properly aligned within their same team.
Also, even though the right-wing media is not a fertile ground for left-wing people to speak out, it is also a risk that needs to happen more often – and normalize their points of view. For example, during the presidential election or other elections – Left Leaning candidates will likely not advertise at all in right-wing outlets. And of course, that is tactically smart – on the surface – because the return on investment will likely be null. In other words, very unlikely right-wing people will switch parties to vote for a left-wing liberal, progressive, heathen, or whatever epithet that they want to nail onto that left-leaning figure. And really, if you see it objectively – why would they even want to listen to them? If they only show up when they “need something” such as a vote. That already is a losing strategy.
However, if the investment is to actually put the message in a way that is not being condescending to the opposing base – and argue on the merits, then this air of polarization will eventually diminish. In fact, this has happened, when there have been townhalls or other venues that host left-wing leaning personalities in a right-wing controlled area – they have actually listened and even supported their otherwise opposing views. You know why? Because those are not “left” views – they are common-sense views.
In other words, if there is no representation in the opposing teams – in a way that is properly articulated – in a way THAT target audience consumes information, then it will keep falling flat. And that’s exactly what we have been seeing for many years. Politicians, and other personalities aligned with either side of the spectrum go only to their safe heavens to spread their message. This creates an echo chamber and when somebody with a distinct point of view shows up, then they will immediately be rejected without a second thought – even if they actually would agree in many points. That means that when the outreach starts, then this will likely be a messy process at first, but it needs to start sometime. I’m doing my part by writing this, hopefully speaks to both sides… sometime.
If Democrats, especially ultra-liberal or highly progressive people treat right-wingers of any stripe as a monolith and in a condescending manner, they will never win their affection. And let me emphasize that there is no shortage of phenomenal conservative and right leaning people out in America, they tend to be outstanding citizens and very considerate of others all things considered. And no, conservative does not equal racist, or homophobic – even if they don’t agree with everything they see as contrary to their upbringing. That’s a different rant, but many people in the right side of the spectrum are actually very nice people to everybody, I have no shortage of people I know and respect that are very conservative. I don’t have to agree with everything in their world view, but I don’t have too either.
Much like they don’t have to agree with me in everything. However, there is a common denominator we can all agree, and this common ground exists, and it is what really makes us a great country. One thing that will turn them off, is if you tell a person who has what they consider good conservative values that they are wrong about their world view. That will not work, not in a million years, so that’s not how you want to approach that. Even if you disagree with them. Attacking their integrity will stop the conversation before it even has a chance to start.
For this to work, the left wing needs to first be able to agree and articulate their message with their own party. Sure, they won’t agree on everything – but there is a common denominator. They need to figure that out, and then outreach to the other side. Unless they do this, the polarization will continue, and the only group that will win will be any group who wants to see America fall. And such groups do exist. Democratic leaders, think about this as you outreach outside party lines.
© 2023 Marcelo Baqueroalvarez / HLC | Page 26-27 US Passport and Immigration
The American Common Denominator
There is a reason why America remained as the world’s #1 superpower. It is the people. People from all walks of life who contributed to make it into what it is now. Have there been hurdles and horrible things along the way? Yes, a lot of them. American history has witnessed the good, the bad, the ugly and the very ugly. But in the end these terrible things were improved, and some instances solved by the very American people. Some still need improvement, but that’s up to us to accomplish. The people alive today.
Hiding the bad things that occurred in American history is not only dishonest, but counterproductive. People change, and generations have unique challenges that will be faced and resolved when it is “their turn” to be in the prime spot. And the reason why we want to be transparent with history, it is because that will actually bring a light into what is the truth, and how we can mitigate mistakes from occurring again.
I’ve said in a previous article that it is unfair to accuse people from this generation for anything bad a previous generation did. Everybody has to forge their own path, and we are all either in the right side or the wrong side of the history that is being written every day. Some people will leave a legacy of doing whatever they can – however small their platform, in order to improve the collective wellbeing of all involved. There will be those who will oppose any collective improvement, and of course there will be a large group of people with their head in the sand.
And this later group of people with their head in the sand is what I find as the most vulnerable of them all. First of all, because willful ignorance is tacit consent for somebody else to manipulate their lives in any way the manipulator wishes to do so. And second, because it contributes to the collective dummying of the collective culture, I was speaking of a few paragraphs ago in this article. And understand that when there is ignorance, there are many opportunistic vultures ready to snatch all they can from any unsuspecting vulnerable easy targets. And yes, that is happening.
And as I said a lot of so called “left wing” policies, are actually very popular. If you’re an avid consumer of right-wing media you’re likely not going to agree with that statement. But the fact is because all the actual content from left-wing does tend to get creatively edited and censored. In other words, the narrative is presented in a way that contrary to reality.
Want an example? Sure, the gas stoves memes nowadays – going on stating the falsehood that asserts Democrats want to ban your gas stoves. Not true, they only stated they found evidence that some gas stoves have contributed to causes of asthma in families. Which makes sense because you’re essentially burning stuff inside a home. What they are asking is to consider alternatives to cooking. This personally does not affect me because I do have electrical, gas and charcoal cooking capabilities at home. Sure, stuff tastes a bit different depending on what you use as the heat source under very specific circumstances – but for every day cooking it is just fine. For instance, I’ve prepared some mean steaks in my grill and my electric stove, or even my gas oven, and they were all delicious.
But if you read a lot of extreme right publications and memes, you could very well be told that the U.S. government is about to take your stove at gun point off your premises. And that narrative would be false.
Want another example? Sure, why not? Along electrical – there was narratives talking about phasing out gas-automobiles in the future. That means car manufacturers need to start working in electric cars. That does not mean you’re not allowed to drive your old fossil-fuel vehicle. And guess what? A lot of companies are moving towards the Electric Vehicles trend and expanding the industry. Improvements on the type of fuel source a car occurred from the beginning of the automotive industry. For example, did you know that earliest cars were steam-propelled? How many cars you see running around with a boiler nowadays? Why? Because then fossil fuels were the better alternative to that system. Fast forward and then electric will be to fossil fuel as what fossil fuel was to steam.
Industries improve. Look at your phone right now. What if we just stayed with the old flip phones from the 90’s and early 2000’s? But what happened? It opened a whole different industry, and the culture adapted to these changes. That’s what evolution is all about, adapt and overcome. The only permanent thing in life is change. However, this is not the narrative you’ll see on any outlet attacking left-wing narratives. And yes, a lot of right-wing people do own and prefer electric vehicles and non-gas-stoves against their fossil fuel counterparts. Why? They tend to be more convenient and cheaper to run.
One more example? Sure… I can do this all day – but this will be the last one for this article. Guns. Are these only right-wing sweetheart tools? Nope, in fact there is a very large group of left-wing people who are also very trigger happy. However, this has become one of those flash points in the political discourse because each side seems to find a need to demonize one another. So, let’s speak about this for a moment. As far as gun safety, a lot of right-wing people are actually very strict when it comes to the handling of their own firearms. In fact, they are almost super angry and stern whenever they are handling these things, even in the range. And that’s fine, if they don’t want people to get shot by accident. But guess what? So are left-wing people who like, collect, and shoot guns. Why? Because neither right nor left-wing people want to get shot by accident.
What the left is asking is the SAME thing from the right. Common sense gun laws. That does not mean confiscate your guns. It means make sure these are controlled much in the same way you control your vehicles. Why? Because cars, if misused can KILL a person. So pretty much the same with guns, except for the “small fact” (it is not a small fact at all) – they are in-fact designed to do exactly that – kill somebody swiftly. They are “tools” – tools for what? to kill or inflict severe bodily harm in an efficient manner. That’s what they are intended for. And yes, left- and right-wing people in America owns, and shoots a lot privately owned rounds of ammunition.
Unfortunately, extreme-right-leaning people were culpable for the majority of the gun violence in USA. Don’t get mad at me, I’m not out there shooting people. But whenever there was a mass shooting, there shooter tends to be right-wing sympathizer in the majority of the instances. Don’t take my word for it, look it up – all that is part of the public record. Review every court document if you want, it will tell you the same thing I’m saying here. However, Democrats cannot point at this and say ALL Right-wing people are this irresponsible when it comes to gun violence, because that is simply not true. And of course, if you paint an entire segment of the population in all absolutes, you’ll only foster more discord.
In other post I’ll talk about the challenges the right wing is facing. And there is plenty to talk about. But for this post I want to ensure we understand that there is a lot more that makes us similar than what makes us different. And why I am so adamant about this? Because America does have adversaries – and those adversaries around the world who do not want to see the shiny city upon the hill as the leader of the free world. And there is a big world out there that is not the USA. And if our current generations do not understand this important principle, then this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. And it will be a self-inflicted wound.
Are there obvious glaring problems in the right and left side of the political spectrum? Absolutely yes. But being Communist is not one of those. And again, I wanted to emphasize that Communist and Socialist are not the same thing. Communist nations throughout history are known for extremes levels of control over the population. And if anybody under their purview dissents, then that’s game over for them (those who disagree). People will be spied upon, or they will have other ways to “keep an eye on everybody” and their behavior. And if they act in any way contrary to the established status-quo, they will be punished or down right eliminated. It's horrible, but that happens and have happened in world’s history. In Communism, also the wealth of the nation (even if is impoverished), will be controlled by a few high-ranking members (who are disposable themselves, if the even higher echelons find them problematic for any reason).
And of course, it is unsustainable, because there will be flaws in the system. As obedience is the main catalyst, then even if there are mistakes those will be creating greater and greater challenges for everybody else. But – these problems won’t be fixed, because that would constitute de-fact disobedience against the leadership. In the next few days, I’ll write about the Soviet Union and how still has a strong hold on the minds of many people who survived it.
But as you can see, we do not have any of that danger in the US. And Democrats do not want that either. Do you think they would trade their pretty house and their education, and their lifestyle for a Soviet-style paradigm? That’s ridiculous. I’ve seen with my own eyes what post-Soviet era living is like, and I was alive when the Soviet Union was still in power. Things are a lot different in the USA. It is actually very insulting to insinuate that people who live in such a privileged way even come close to understand that this level of extreme regime is like. Our capitalist system alone would not be conducive to drag it down to Communism.
Let me give you an example to illustrate. Let’s say you say something disparaging to President Biden, or Vice President Harris in Twitter, or any social media of choice, or even on TV very publicly. I don’t advise this, but let’s say you feel emboldened to do so. What’s the worst that will happen? Well, it will depend on the laws you might be breaking regarding harassment, and or violation of social media platforms (which are privately owned by the way). What is NOT going to happen is having the U.S. Government come to your house and drag you, and your entire family and shoot them all in the back of the head for treason. And then take over your house and everything you ever loved. Can you point at ANY example of that happening in the Biden administration? No? Ok, good, so we ain’t a Communist nation yet. Did that happen during Obama? No? Ok, so we were not communists then either. Did that happen over Trump era? No? Ok, so we did not actually fall as a nation deep into a Stalinist authoritarian regime, even when the Democrats held the majority in the House of Representatives with Pelosi as the Speaker of The House.
Democratic-Socialism – although very unfortunately named is actually very different. The only big similarity is that there will be social programs that are intended to afford the bulk of the population with something that is deemed of first necessity. How you manage these? Well, that’s something you can debate about… and rightfully so.
What are these first necessities? Shelter, food, basic utilities, a living wage, health, and education. Wow!!! So, extreme huh? Well, not really – when you think about it, it is an investment on the PEOPLE, so they can then earn money and get enough of their lives back so they can SPEND money in the rest of society. That’s a good thing… It’s quite a simple concept. Though I will take time to write an entire article about it. Meanwhile, let’s explore it a bit.
It will become a matter of difficult choices – none of them are promising. If you don’t have anywhere to live, or you can’t afford to have a roof over your head, then you’ll struggle to even get food. If you don’t have a roof, then you won’t have running water, nor electricity, which means that you cannot contribute to the country’s infrastructure. And if you don’t earn a living wage, then the maximum you’ll be able to afford (hopefully) is food. But this might not be good quality food, which in turn will f–k up your health sooner or later. But chances are that people are not able to even have a home or even make a living because they are forever in debt with an exorbitant student loan. And if you know anything about the latter, the interest rates on these are insane. For example, if you got a 20K student loan, by the time it gest repaid it will likely be 120K figure you paid back. Not necessarily a good return on investment. And I am not even talking about “liberal arts degrees” – I am talking people getting law or medical degrees. I will write another article just about that.
The point is that when the Democrats try to explain this topics, they tend to talk down to their opposition. Therefore, even if these policies are actually popular and positive, they will keep falling in deaf ears. And yes, there are special interest groups that will attack those very benefits I mentioned. There are predatory industries forged on housing, nutrition, education, etc. Therefore, a lot of disparaging propaganda will be created in order to discredit anybody trying to fix those. Hey, I am sure that even my articles will be disparaged by somebody who finds me threatening in some way. They will likely make fun of my accent, my height, or any cheap shot they can find. I don’t mind, I don’t pretend to be anybody I’m not, and facts are facts. My intentions are constructive, not divisive.
That character assassination attempts are what happened to AOC. Like her or dislike her, she’s not perfect but she’s also a very smart lady. Her questions during committees and hearings are actually well researched and even if there are things I don’t agree with her doctrine, I could not say in good conscience she does not care about her constituents, or that she has no preparation on what’s she’s trying to articulate. And a lot of prominent right wings noticed that exact perception I have from AOC. So, what do they do? They attack her, they use memes or any other means to paint her as unintelligent, or oblivious or any other way to disparage her or discredit her as a person. What they don’t do is actually show what’s she’s actually saying – that’s not convenient for their narrative. They will put stuff out of context, or “tell you want she said” when that’s not actually words that came off her mouth. Has she made mistakes? Of course, she has, and who hasn’t? I can poke holes on every person in Congress saying something without needing to dig too deep. But what I cannot find is an actual variable case of AOC being a hypocrite. And that’s why all the memes and attacks towards her are not actually putting her doctrine in context… These attacks for lack of a better term are simply propaganda from special interest groups. And for all these groups AOC’s words in context are simply not convenient. It is simple as that.
But either if you’re a right- or left-wing person. I invite you to actually really understand what AOC stands for. I don’t say you’ll agree with her, but you’ll realize there is a though process and doctrine behind her actions. Again, you can agree or disagree with her, but one thing you’ll realize if you’re intellectually honest is that she’s in fact a very smart person. Don’t take my word for it, there is plenty of official information about her policy. I would advise you to first go to the official pages, not just take what somebody says about her at face value.
The same can be said for any other politician. From there decide if what is being put officially matches their VOTING record. Every politician in Congress has a voting record based on the legislation being discussed on the House of Representatives and the Senate Floor. Talk is cheap, a politician can tell you whatever they want during their campaign and the media outlet of choice. What counts is what they actually do in the floor when passing or voting for legislation. Plenty of politicians throughout history will gaslight their constituents saying they support something or the other and end up voting against that very same narrative when it comes the time to act. Go, and look at the voting record of whomever you supported with your vote and see if they are voting for what you voted them in for. If not, vote them out.
Democrats, realize that a lot of Republicans want a lot of the same things they’re advocating for. A safe country, free enterprise, respect of law and order, and freedom. Sure there are a lot of things people will disagree… but for instance, Democrats actually want safe borders – but just don’t be inhumane to people scaping a dangerous geographical location. Democrats also want freedom of worship; whatever deity is it that they chose. And no, not all right-wing are Judeo-Christian – even if a larger segment of them they think every Republican falls into that metric. Democrats want inclusion in diversity. A lot of Republicans do come in all colors and demographics… even though they do tend to advocate in contrasting manners to their Democrats counterparts. And all these I mention become more polarized because of intrinsic biases being exploited by somebody with an agenda. The question is, what are you – Democratic leadership – going to do about it?
Democracy is by definition giving power to majority of people’s desires. Find the common denominator, the win-win factors. Articulate that, and little by little the stern lines between right and left will blur out and then we’ll become a stronger country as a United America. Realize that in every district and state there are Democrats and Republicans, regardless of who’s wining an election. But the Representative, Senator or any other political leader is not only governing over their party – it is representing their constituents – all of them – regardless if they voted them in or not. They are to take care of ALL constituents, all their voices are important, even if they did not win the election. The best way to lose a majority is by silencing the minority, because that will likely rise against them in ways they did not imagine. And I don’t mean violence, but rhetoric.
Diversity is good, that’s what makes the USA the most influential country in the world. It is because we can speak in the language and culture of virtually every other nation in the world. We are all together representation of the entire planet – in our population we have people from all walks of life, and every corner of the world. THAT’S what keep us as #1. Lose this treasure of diversity and then we’ll be placing ourselves in the same place other nations lack the same level of diversity within their borders. It won’t be #1 anymore, but way further back. It is our decision together Thank you for reading this far, let’s continue the conversation. HLC