Post election common sense (I hope)

[dedeman]

Ok, I haven't posted much here in a while. I was getting tired of the rigid polarization and party adherence which would result in the basest of comments, and outlandish accusation.

I was kind of hoping that the mood would change when we had definitive results from the election. I was wrong. It seems that the environment here is more charged then it was before. The only thing that has changed in the nature of the "arguments".

If you look at this little board of a microcosm of the current political spectrum, you can see why people are so polarized. I would like to ad a few observations (as I have earlier) that I would like to sound objective in tone.

1 Political elections are not a damn team sport

2 Don't gloat/mock/insult/antagonize people that have different political ideologies or objectives

3 If you spend more time insulting someone with different ideas, rather then searching for facts, you have no worthwhile input in larger political discussion

4 In an election, although there is only one winner, everyone should be the beneficiary of the elected candidate

5 If you thought yourself a patriot before the election because you supported the president, you damn sure should do the same now. Don't be a fair weather supporter of the good ol' USA. That's not being patriotic.

6 Don't mock an elected candidate until you have a some current/coherent experience with which to mock him.*

Now, I have also though about what would happen in this post election atmosphere, and not surprising, a lot of it has come to fruition. These are things to remember to avoid:

1 Remember what backlash is. Also remember that it goes both ways, like a pendulum. In 2004, there were a lot of Bush supporters that were more then smug that Kerry didn't win. Unless we Obama supporters take care not to mock ardent Republicans, the same will hold true for us, no matter how good (or bad) a job Obama does.

2 There's lots of easily mislead people. Either side could argue that.

Finally, there are some things I personally think about this election

1 Exclusivity. Republicans, remember this, people get tired of the "you're either with us, or against us" mentality (an idea verbalized so well by GWB). I would like the think the Democrats are more "We hope you're with us, but you don't have to be". Not everyone is a white, hard working blue collar, southern/midwestern, gun owning, small town Christian (evangelical). Lots of people are 1st or 2nd generation immigrants, not white, not Christian, live in large cities, are from the northeast or west coast. They are just as "American".

2 I don't remember Africans, Japanese, Chinese, Australians, English, German, Dutch, etc celebrating when GWB was elected/reelected. Actually, I don't remember any president receiving such world wide support, particularly from Iran.

3 Times change. I was speaking to my rural Virginian girlfriend, who didn't want Virginia to become a "blue" state. I asked her why, and she said "because it's always been a red state". I told her that sometimes things change, and she didn't like that answer. Well, the times did change, and North Carolina joined the fray.

4 This is what an abundance of negative campaigning will get you. I saw Obama and McCain talk about the same thing, over and over, all the time; Obama's plans. During the debates, I think Obama spoke to the issues, McCain spoke about Obama speaking about the issues.

5 Over the long term, Americans get smart. They figured out that playing fear politics gets tired. I genuinely think a lot of decisions were made over the last 8 years assuming the ambivalence of the American people. Well, it worked, but only for so long. Remember Lincoln's "You can fool some of the people....." quote. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/27074.html

6 You may not agree with my views, or the views of Obama, but the reality is that he scored twice as many votes in the electoral college, and roughly 6 million more of the popular vote (6 mil is a lot). Those numbers do not lie, and remember that this is the same voting population that gave us the last guy for 8 years. There are no other factors aside from the popularity of the elected candidate to explain otherwise.

7 Don't pick an unqualified running mate trying to garner the vote of your perceived constituencies. Just because she has an overdone midwestern accent, shoot guns, is good looking (I guess), winks at the camera, has kids, and says "life, life, life" does not mean that you're automatically going to get female votes, or gain the conservative Christian vote. Her being unqualified is not a result of exposure to the media.

Now these are my observations. You may agree if you like, but I'm not lodging any accusations or blatant insult at anyone on this board. I would really ****ing hope that everyone else could do the same here in the future.


*I didn't know what sort of guy GWB was going to be, so I didn't worry much about it in 2000. Actually, I was hoping that McCain was going to get the primary, but he didn't. I at least waited until he started giving away gov't money (rebates of 2000/2001) and started giving government dollars to "faith based" organizations before I had an idea it was going downhill. I had no idea how far things would go.

PS Sorry it's so long

[That-TSX-Kid]

Thank you.

[HondaMan]

Originally Posted by That-TSX-Kid

Thank you.

[Age]

I agree. The election is over. Can't we all just get along?

[SinisterR6]

I think we can get along as long as we don't mention politics...

for instance...i think that deep down in inside, acid is a cool dude...but his politic views and opinions, make me think that he is a complete 4 letter word that starts with C and ends with a T...

[dedeman]

That's exactly the problem I'm seeing here. Instead, let's reverse that, and try this

"I think we can get along as long as we don't mention that he is a complete 4 letter word that starts with C and ends with a T..."

I know what you were saying was an insult, even thought you prefaced it with a "i think that deep down in inside, acid is a cool dude". Do you really think that?

Why not talk about politics if you purposely post to a political section of a car board? Of course, the conversations always veer away from politics, and I'm not calling anyone out, because it seems to be something everyone (to different degrees) does.

Too much , not enough

[AcidLotus]

Originally Posted by SinisterR6

I think we can get along as long as we don't mention politics...

for instance...i think that deep down in inside, acid is a cool dude...but his politic views and opinions, make me think that he is a complete 4 letter word that starts with C and ends with a T...

Thanks. I just try and take after your mother

[SinisterR6]

Originally Posted by dedeman

That's exactly the problem I'm seeing here. Instead, let's reverse that, and try this

"I think we can get along as long as we don't mention that he is a complete 4 letter word that starts with C and ends with a T..."

I know what you were saying was an insult, even thought you prefaced it with a "i think that deep down in inside, acid is a cool dude". Do you really think that?

Why not talk about politics if you purposely post to a political section of a car board? Of course, the conversations always veer away from politics, and I'm not calling anyone out, because it seems to be something everyone (to different degrees) does.

Too much , not enough

i did no such thing...me and him are best of friends...

Originally Posted by AcidLotus

Thanks. I just try and take after your mother

oh u r so sweet...

[SinisterR6]

Me personally...I don't think that we can get along...I don't think that there could be a thread where two parties won't bicker over something...Just look at the past history here...it is down right impossible...I mean how can i sit back and respond in a non-defensive manner when a dude who never served a day of his life talking about how he don't support my co-workers just because he don't agree with conflicts that we are involved in...And another thing...This is pet peeve is what usually gets me furious with others, democrats telling us how dumb we are cause we stand behind our beliefs...Oh lord forbid we don't change our minds after those awesome speeches that Baraka gave...I am sorry but Ron Paul was my man till his last day in the race, after that i just gave up...I was rep, still and always will be...I might not agree with whoever is in the office but i WILL NEVER vote for the other party...No matter how bad things are...thats the bottom line

[AcidLotus]

Originally Posted by SinisterR6

Me personally...I don't think that we can get along...I don't think that there could be a thread where two parties won't bicker over something...Just look at the past history here...it is down right impossible...I mean how can i sit back and respond in a non-defensive manner when a dude who never served a day of his life talking about how he don't support my co-workers just because he don't agree with conflicts that we are involved in...And another thing...This is pet peeve is what usually gets me furious with others, democrats telling us how dumb we are cause we stand behind our beliefs...Oh lord forbid we don't change our minds after those awesome speeches that Baraka gave...I am sorry but Ron Paul was my man till his last day in the race, after that i just gave up...I was rep, still and always will be...I might not agree with whoever is in the office but i WILL NEVER vote for the other party...No matter how bad things are...thats the bottom line

I know you don't care, but that is why democrats call you dumb - because you vote along party lines just because, and for no other reason. You said it yourself, you may not agree with whomever is in office (and I take it running for office), and I'm not saying that Obama is a saint that should sway your vote, but to me that sounds completely short-sided, closed minded, and... well... dumb. I at least closely look at both candidates before attacking the opposition, and would even vote republican if they had my best interests in mind... you have no excuse, other than "just because."

[SinisterR6]

Originally Posted by AcidLotus

I know you don't care, but that is why democrats call you dumb - because you vote along party lines just because, and for no other reason. You said it yourself, you may not agree with whomever is in office (and I take it running for office), and I'm not saying that Obama is a saint that should sway your vote, but to me that sounds completely short-sided, closed minded, and... well... dumb. I at least closely look at both candidates before attacking the opposition, and would even vote republican if they had my best interests in mind... you have no excuse, other than "just because."

believe me...if i agreed with him, i would give him more of my attention...I knew what he was all about, he read up on him and debated on R6 forum since spring time...He has nothing attractive to offer me, neither really did MickeyC...So thats why i didn't vote this time around...

[tradsf]

Originally Posted by SinisterR6

believe me...if i agreed with him, i would give him more of my attention...I knew what he was all about, he read up on him and debated on R6 forum since spring time...He has nothing attractive to offer me, neither really did MickeyC...So thats why i didn't vote this time around...

That doesn't make sense. In the previous post, you state that you'll never vote for a Democrat, regardless, that you'll vote GOP no matter who's on the ticket.

[robert_tg]

Just close down "Politics and Religion" for a while - problem solved.
And we all live happily to-gay-ther everafter .

In other news --- DHL is eliminating shit load of jobs in the part of "old" Ohio that voted overwhelmingly for McSenile - I say : Karma time !

[robert_tg]

Originally Posted by dedeman

Ok, I haven't posted much here in a while. ........PS Sorry it's so long

oh the irony hahaha

but:

[Jays98cobra]

well when threads get too hot and the bickering gets out of hand im just gonna close the threads because everyone has there views and if we cant all play nice than im just gonna have to stick everyone in the corner for time out--Deal?!?!