Where do Republicans go from here?

[mahagonny]

Well, honest question, what counts as suppression, and when was there a consensus on whatever answer you would give me? If no registration to vote were required, we could have more voters in my state. If we didn't require buying insurance, we could have more legal automobile operators. But we choose driver suppression laws, and people drive anyway.

on edit:

How can Democrats possible engage in a "good faith" argument with a party that has shown that they don't respect the results of a free and fair election?

Trump, Gaetz, Cruz and a few others claims the results were definitely invalid. McConnell did not. Lindsey did not. Die hard Trump supporting journalists like Mike Goodwin did not. None of that means maintaining voting accuracy doesn't require regular effort or risk being neglected.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Well, honest question, what counts as suppression, and when was there a consensus on whatever answer you would give me? If no registration to vote were required, we could have more voters in my state. If we didn't require buying insurance, we could have more legal automobile operators. But we choose driver suppression laws, and people drive anyway.

on edit:

How can Democrats possible engage in a "good faith" argument with a party that has shown that they don't respect the results of a free and fair election?

Trump, Gaetz, Cruz and a few others claims the results were definitely invalid. McConnell did not. Lindsey did not. Die hard Trump supporting journalists like Mike Goodwin did not. None of that means maintaining voting accuracy doesn't require regular effort or risk being neglected.

Trump, the leader of the party, claimed there was widespread fraud and that the election result was invalid. 147 Republican congress people voted to overturn the results of a free and fair elation. Graham and McConnell admitted this was nonsense only after the capital attack egged on by Trump and other members of the Republican party. If you want to have a "good faith" argument, then you have to actually acknowledge what happened instead of pretending that this was just a few bad apples in the party.

And if you want to convince me that there is a need for new rules to make voting accurate, then start by demonstrating that there is currently a problem of voting inaccuracy. Otherwise it is a solution in search of a problem, and that solution has the accompanying effect of making it more difficult for certain segments of the electorate to vote (which is of course the intent of all of this).

[mahagonny]

Intriguing thought: the people who whose voting rights are suppressed by a few changes in the laws are being relied on to either file their own income taxes accurately or hire someone reputable to do it for them and provide that person with all of the necessary documents and information.
In order for an election to work there is work and expense involved. Who does the work and bears the expense? Is it shared, or is it the sole responsibility of the state? I suppose if having a government that represents the will of all of the people were really taken seriously we could hire drivers to go pick people up, help them put away the video games, pornography and junk food, find their shoes, and go to a voting center. I am reminded of the ending of 'Horton Hears a Who' by Dr. Seuss where they discover that the reason the Who's in Whoville can't be heard is there is one Who who is flipping a yo-yo instead of doing his part by yelling. Why is never explained. Does he not understand the importance of his contribution, or does he just not care?
Yes, there has been some hysteria among republicans about the recent election. I can't justify it, but I can understand it and I can explain it. The next time someone characterizes the republican party as evil and racist, substitute the words 'scared half to death' for the words evil and racist, and things will make a lot more sense.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Intriguing thought: the people who whose voting rights are suppressed by a few changes in the laws are being relied on to either file their own income taxes accurately or hire someone reputable to do it for them and provide that person with all of the necessary documents and information.
In order for an election to work there is work and expense involved. Who does the work and bears the expense? Is it shared, or is it the sole responsibility of the state? I suppose if having a government that represents the will of all of the people were really taken seriously we could hire drivers to go pick people up, help them put away the video games, pornography and junk food, find their shoes, and go to a voting center. I am reminded of the ending of 'Horton Hears a Who' by Dr. Seuss where they discover that the reason the Who's in Whoville can't be heard is there is one Who who is flipping a yo-yo instead of doing his part by yelling. Why is never explained. Does he not understand the importance of his contribution, or does he just not care?
Yes, there has been some hysteria among republicans about the recent election. I can't justify it, but I can understand it and I can explain it. The next time someone characterizes the republican party as evil and racist, substitute the words 'scared half to death' for the words evil and racist, and things will make a lot more sense.

Most of this rant reads like an incoherent word salad, but you do have one thing right: Republican politicians specialize in scaring their voters and ginning them up on idiotic conspiracy theories, which in turn makes them believe that there is massive voting fraud (among other false things).

[mahagonny]

Intriguing thought: the people who whose voting rights are suppressed by a few changes in the laws are being relied on to either file their own income taxes accurately or hire someone reputable to do it for them and provide that person with all of the necessary documents and information.
In order for an election to work there is work and expense involved. Who does the work and bears the expense? Is it shared, or is it the sole responsibility of the state? I suppose if having a government that represents the will of all of the people were really taken seriously we could hire drivers to go pick people up, help them put away the video games, pornography and junk food, find their shoes, and go to a voting center. I am reminded of the ending of 'Horton Hears a Who' by Dr. Seuss where they discover that the reason the Who's in Whoville can't be heard is there is one Who who is flipping a yo-yo instead of doing his part by yelling. Why is never explained. Does he not understand the importance of his contribution, or does he just not care?

Yes, there has been some hysteria among republicans about the recent election. I can't justify it, but I can understand it and I can explain it. The next time someone characterizes the republican party as evil and racist, substitute the words 'scared half to death' for the words evil and racist, and things will make a lot more sense.

Most of this rant reads like an incoherent word salad, but you do have one thing right: Republican politicians specialize in scaring their voters and ginning them up on idiotic conspiracy theories, which in turn makes them believe that there is massive voting fraud (among other false things).

I wasn't talking to you. You can respond of course. I can't stop you. But, FYI, if I'm talking to you, I'll put your post in quotation. Otherwise, it might be better to assume I could be talking about you. Sorry to have to do it that way, in a way.

[nebo113]

Intriguing thought: the people who whose voting rights are suppressed by a few changes in the laws are being relied on to either file their own income taxes accurately or hire someone reputable to do it for them and provide that person with all of the necessary documents and information.
In order for an election to work there is work and expense involved. Who does the work and bears the expense? Is it shared, or is it the sole responsibility of the state? I suppose if having a government that represents the will of all of the people were really taken seriously we could hire drivers to go pick people up, help them put away the video games, pornography and junk food, find their shoes, and go to a voting center. I am reminded of the ending of 'Horton Hears a Who' by Dr. Seuss where they discover that the reason the Who's in Whoville can't be heard is there is one Who who is flipping a yo-yo instead of doing his part by yelling. Why is never explained. Does he not understand the importance of his contribution, or does he just not care?

Yes, there has been some hysteria among republicans about the recent election. I can't justify it, but I can understand it and I can explain it. The next time someone characterizes the republican party as evil and racist, substitute the words 'scared half to death' for the words evil and racist, and things will make a lot more sense.

Most of this rant reads like an incoherent word salad, but you do have one thing right: Republican politicians specialize in scaring their voters and ginning them up on idiotic conspiracy theories, which in turn makes them believe that there is massive voting fraud (among other false things).

I wasn't talking to you. You can respond of course. I can't stop you. But, FYI, if I'm talking to you, I'll put your post in quotation. Otherwise, it might be better to assume I could be talking about you. Sorry to have to do it that way, in a way.

You're not sorry, MAGAhoganny.  You're loving this opportunity to spew and spout and drivel.

[spork]

Looks like some are still going the statutory rape route: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/politics/anthony-bouchard-14-year-old.html.

[mahagonny]

Looks like some are still going the statutory rape route: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/politics/anthony-bouchard-14-year-old.html.

Of course, when you don't choose abortion, you increase the chances that more people will find out about it.

[ciao_yall]

Looks like some are still going the statutory rape route: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/21/us/politics/anthony-bouchard-14-year-old.html.

Of course, when you don't choose abortion, you increase the chances that more people will find out about it.

And when you teach kids about contraception and consent, it tends to not happen.

[mamselle]

^Unrelated...but worrisome:

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/30/republicans-trump-election-fight-to-vote

"It's only unfair if our party doesn't win" seems to be the mantra here...

M.

[secundem_artem]

My take is that the R's have basically achieved their policy agenda that has been active since Reagan. 

They have cut taxes down to the point where nothing in this country works anymore.  They've deregulated pretty much anything that can be deregulated.  They have stuffed the courts with sympathetic judges and gerrymandered enough districts to remain in power despite consistently losing the popular vote.

All that is left are hot button social issues they can use to keep their base at a fever pitch and coming back to the polls to vote for solutions to non-existent problems (e.g. voter fraud, open carry, and my personal favorite - "losing our way of life"). 

Gotta give the buggers credit - it's pretty much working for them.

[mahagonny]

All that is left are hot button social issues they can use to keep their base at a fever pitch and coming back to the polls to vote for solutions to non-existent problems (e.g. voter fraud, open carry, and my personal favorite - "losing our way of life"). 

...(sigh)...

The 'fever pitch' (when there is one) would be something that left media and academia willfully contribute to. When you call everyone who doesn't prefer your candidate a racist, you want enemies. And you can't declare that children need to be taught completely differently about our history and our present, and with race in every paragraph, pretend Latino people want to be called 'Latinx', ask children to think about which gender they want to choose, declare black students have successfully done math when they haven't, and then say the other party has an unrealistic fear of its way of life being changed. The changes are dramatic, already underway, and led by a president who's on board with anything that gives him a name and a legacy.
The Guardian, what I've seen of it, has a little interest in what republicans think about and feel, and more interest in controlling what you think of them and their motives.

Gotta give the buggers credit - it's pretty much working for them.

No. Republicans do not believe thinks have worked out. They are scared.

[kaysixteen]

mahagonny is right, but so is secundem_artem.   That perhaps is at least partially because 'The Republicans' are nowadays largely made up of two distinct groups of people, the rich and usually secular elites, and the mostly religious but often working class values voters.   The former has indeed gotten more or less all it wants since Reagan, and many of those things are distinctly contrary to the interests of the latter, but the latter also certainly can say that it has *not* gotten what it wants, and seems to increasingly be living in a country that is alien to its values.   Perhaps if they stopped getting snookered by that first group...

[mahagonny]

On the other side (democrats) the blacks are shamelessly used by the elite left who claims it has a plan for lifting blacks' standard of living, prosperity, fulfillment and are mostly too smart to believe they have any such knowledge. Used to think they were arrogant. Now I just think they are dishonest.
'You don't make people prosperous by giving them money.'  P. J. O'Rourke

Over your lifetime, your most important asset is your income.

[mahagonny]

con't

And as long as I've totally outed myself, I might as well show you this. It has the ring of truth for me. Of course another reason not to like Jason Riley, other than his being an 'Uncle Tom' - his wife is Naomi Schaeffer Riley, and you know...*

https://www.wsj.com/articles/liberals-choose-racial-catharsis-over-progress-for-blacks-11622588510?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

ETA: from wikipedia - " [Naomi Schaeffer] Riley was a blogger for the Chronicle of Higher Education until she was fired in 2012 after writing a blog arguing for the elimination of Black Studies at university departments,[6] which resulted in a social media backlash, kicked off by an essay by Tressie McMillan Cottom[7][8] and a petition demanding her firing, which contained roughly 6,500 names.[9]

Free speech?