Drop the letter "C".

DemocRATS, is fitting.

It’s not. This is who they are, and they’re proud of it

@Edgework So, what can break their pride? A fall?

@dmatic what can break their pride? It will take mobilization of the part of the population who so far have NOT participated in the form of voting on election day. I have been saying and I repeat here, this impeachment is a direct result of the Repubes losing the house in the mid-term election and I blame that on the fact that voter turn out was woefully short. I am not implying that those who failed to vote ALL would have voted republican but I think a good argument can be made that the very same people who successfully elected Trump would in all probability have voted Republican if they had gotten off their collective asses and voted - period. Whoever it was that said it (I think it was someone in the Obama administration) was exactly right - "elections have consequences"

@iThink Not sure that I think simply losing another election will break their delusional pride. It may cause some to re-examine themselves, but, it seems they are so convinced they are right about everything and their arrogance has proven to be a learning disability.

@dmatic good point - it might not break their pride but it will prevent them doing things like this impeachment debacle. It would be wrong (and fascistic really) to beat them back with violence. The only effective weapon we have is our vote. If we don't vote - they win. we lose.

@dmatic Nothing will change them. They must be soundly defeated. Sen. Joe McCarthy forced them to go underground for 60-70 years. They must be dealt with harshly and soundly and our children must be taught of their evils.

@dmatic @iThink @Facci

These are not rational perspectives we are dealing with. Otherwise, you’d have expected 2016 to be a cause for reflection and self-examination, perhaps explore where they’d gone wrong, maybe do a little trim-tabbing.

The religious world view is impervious to any influence outside it’s own closed system. Failure simply affirms that stronger effort is required. The possibility that they are mistaken, or that value can be found in opposing viewpoints, is inconceivable to them and will never be considered.

They won’t stop. They will never permit the Democratic Party to return to the days of consensual government and collegial opposition. The resistance is permanent. That’s what Obama gave the left: justification for crawling out from the shadows of the think tanks and stepping into the stage.

It will definitely take winning elections, as long as that structure remains sufficiently in place to hold them in check, but the lessons of the past three years show that without a mutual commitment to the ideals of the Founders and the principles enshrined in the Constitution, that structure is frail and vulnerable.

They’ve already begun the process of moving the argument to the streets. We’re going to have to decide if we’re prepared to meet them there.

@Edgework @iThink @Facci, Reprobates seem destined to die in their ignorance. But, I was a bit hopeful, after the 2016 election, when the East Coast libs actually flew out to fly-over country to try to understand how they could have been so wrong. NatGeo, Slate magazine, and the Atlantic came out to interview many of us to see if they could discover how they missed our sentiments as was obvious by their disbelief in the results of the election. Nice people, even Katie Curic, but underneath their niceties, they were, of course, convinced they were better, that their world view was enlightened, and that we, in the sticks, were simply rubes. Yet, I was hopeful that they would actually listen and learn. Maybe two or three rounds of defeat will awaken them, but, there may be a more sinister conspiracy at work.

Who seeks division, but someone who desires for the house to fall? Who would want the house to fall? Those who hate the house? It could be that those who think they are actually running the show desire for all the division and conflict to continue, so that our eyes are not focused on them as the true enemies of the structure. Who is fomenting this?

@dmatic
Excellent observation; as for your rhetorical query "who is fomenting this".

I say it is in the heart and the foundation of human frailty and it has always been there. It begins with what I always thought of as the definition of "original sin" - that would be Human Pride.
Today such virtues as self restraint, postponement of pleasure and reward, patience, charity and humility are suppressed - Shoved into the closet that holds all those quaint old concepts and they will remain locked away for the foreseeable future.

Today every self indulgent impulse is explicitly encouraged. We have evolved (arguably de-vovled) and changed from a society that was easily shocked by the use of profane language and explicit sexual content as well as violence in the presence of women and children. We as a society have unburdened our collective conscience of the virtue of shame - shame upon the self as well as shame upon others.

Any kind of behavior is at least implicitly "ok" because after all, it's just individuals expressing their individual and cultural selves. Right? Right - nothing is wrong, or bad or shocking or least of all immoral.
The only embarrassment possible is to be caught on camera and You tube speaking politically incorrect "dogma".

I believe it all grows from the basic human impulse of Pride. Indulged pride opens the door to envy which leads to resentment, which leads to entitlement and then theft (which comes in a number of different forms) and then inevitably leads to violence.

Self indulgence has supplanted humility and patience and charity on the pallet of human virtue. Self indulgence and aggrandizement are encouraged - celebrated even. That infamous nihilistic and cynical man Andy Warhol hit the nail on the head when he said (sic) "everyone in the future will have their 15 minutes of fame".
The creation of social media platforms has amplified the pursuit of everyones "15 minutes of fame" on a magnitude of the nth power.

That demon of human pride has only just begun to express its dominance and power and it will not subside until every good virtue and every worthy civilized institution is torn down to the ground.
What will be left and what will rise up after that no one can tell.

@iThink I'd say we need someone to rescue us from this body politic of death. I am a bit more hopeful, however, with our ultimate destiny! Love wins!

@dmatic

"love wins" - bumper sticker stuff and only to be experienced in the afterlife - we hope.

To paraphrase Henry James:
Evil is insolent and strong; beauty enchanting, but rare; goodness very apt to be weak; folly very apt to be defiant; wickedness to carry the day; imbeciles to be in great places, people of sense in small, and mankind generally unhappy

@iThink Sometimes, bumper stickers say what needs to be said. I actually believe we are near the beginning of a very huge event....here, on earth. Not in some after life....The Beast systems have been authorized to prevail and 'rule' for 2520 years, but their authority has come to an end. The Kingdom is being given to the saints (Overcomers) of the Most High God, the Ancient of Days, who will then have opportunity to produce the righteous fruit that the Creator is looking for. You know, all those qualities that counter all the bad ones you referred to. Like, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, Godliness...etc. Love NEVER fails. God is love. It's in His plan. Someday, ALL will be keeping His instructions, too, you know.

@dmatic

Yes bumper sticker aphorisms often do express some elements of wisdom and truth - however shallow they may be. Sometimes a bumper sticker will give me a smile and a very brief moment of comfort. Some bumper stickers make me shake my head in utter disgust and contempt.

Thanks for expressing your beliefs regarding Gods plan etc. Although I do believe in God as the perfect and incomprehensible source of all things I personally do not subscribe to the narrative of "end times" rapture etc.

If there is a "Plan" then that plan is as much a mystery to us as is God/The Creator Himself. This is where "Faith" comes in. I always loved Pauls answer to the Corinthians; when asked "what is faith" Paul says: "Faith is the belief in things unseen and the hope for things to come" - volumes are spoken in that short simple sentence. We can only hope and believe here in the real world and in the meantime we are faced daily with the realities of self preservation.