The thing is this, that for over a century the core of the Republican party (the party, not their voter base) has been the upper end of the economic spectrum, from the upper middle class to the obscenely rich. And their only immutable policies are those which benefit them, namely tax cuts and deregula…
The thing is this, that for over a century the core of the Republican party (the party, not their voter base) has been the upper end of the economic spectrum, from the upper middle class to the obscenely rich. And their only immutable policies are those which benefit them, namely tax cuts and deregulation for them and their business interests. Everything else is negotiable. But it is hard to win elections when that is your only platform. So their strategy is, as Scott Walker told one of his megadonors, to “divide and conquer.” To split off enough of the voters from the middle and working classes to put them over the top by waging culture wars.
For a long time that was “God, Guns, and Gays!” But times change, and that is losing its zest. The country is becoming less religious, people are appalled by the constant shootings, parents fear for the safety of their children in schools, and homophobia has subsided as gays have become visible and they have found out that their children and relatives they love are among them. Abortion was another culture war weapon until the dog caught the car and it all blew up in their faces. The party core (again, the establishment, not the voter base) was never interested in banning abortion. They just wanted to run on it as a wedge issue.
They still have the issue of the day… Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, M&M’s, Roald Dahl, and such. But they need a real gut issue. So they turn to the old practice of picking on a minority. The smaller the better. One that people can’t identify with and which can be easily demonized. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist” as Pastor Niemoeller wrote. Enter the transgender controversies.
A long time ago I did a lot of work alongside an engineer at one of my customers. He was a great guy, a mensch. Always sunny and pleasant. Bailed me out of a hard spot on one occasion. Good family man with a nice wife and kids. He used to like to go to strip joints when we did startups at plants where we were installing the equipment sold by the company he worked for. That division folded when everything went to hell in the 2008 housing collapse , he moved on to another job, and I lost contact. So I was much surprised to hear some few years ago that he had transitioned and now identifies as a woman, that his wife divorced him, and I hear she won custody of the kids. I don’t pretend to understand. And I can only imagine the difficulty that was for everyone involved, both husband and wife as well as the kids.
I can only say that it fills me with unending anger that their lives are being used by mean spirited (and let us be honest, some truly evil) people as a political football in a bad faith effort to gain a political advantage.
Re: Roald Dahl and transgender issues
The thing is this, that for over a century the core of the Republican party (the party, not their voter base) has been the upper end of the economic spectrum, from the upper middle class to the obscenely rich. And their only immutable policies are those which benefit them, namely tax cuts and deregulation for them and their business interests. Everything else is negotiable. But it is hard to win elections when that is your only platform. So their strategy is, as Scott Walker told one of his megadonors, to “divide and conquer.” To split off enough of the voters from the middle and working classes to put them over the top by waging culture wars.
For a long time that was “God, Guns, and Gays!” But times change, and that is losing its zest. The country is becoming less religious, people are appalled by the constant shootings, parents fear for the safety of their children in schools, and homophobia has subsided as gays have become visible and they have found out that their children and relatives they love are among them. Abortion was another culture war weapon until the dog caught the car and it all blew up in their faces. The party core (again, the establishment, not the voter base) was never interested in banning abortion. They just wanted to run on it as a wedge issue.
They still have the issue of the day… Mr. Potato Head, Dr. Seuss, M&M’s, Roald Dahl, and such. But they need a real gut issue. So they turn to the old practice of picking on a minority. The smaller the better. One that people can’t identify with and which can be easily demonized. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist” as Pastor Niemoeller wrote. Enter the transgender controversies.
A long time ago I did a lot of work alongside an engineer at one of my customers. He was a great guy, a mensch. Always sunny and pleasant. Bailed me out of a hard spot on one occasion. Good family man with a nice wife and kids. He used to like to go to strip joints when we did startups at plants where we were installing the equipment sold by the company he worked for. That division folded when everything went to hell in the 2008 housing collapse , he moved on to another job, and I lost contact. So I was much surprised to hear some few years ago that he had transitioned and now identifies as a woman, that his wife divorced him, and I hear she won custody of the kids. I don’t pretend to understand. And I can only imagine the difficulty that was for everyone involved, both husband and wife as well as the kids.
I can only say that it fills me with unending anger that their lives are being used by mean spirited (and let us be honest, some truly evil) people as a political football in a bad faith effort to gain a political advantage.
It's endless. There will be a new culture war issue tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that... It's a perpetual outrage machine.