It’s a cost/benefit calculation. Listening to a bad-faith conservative costs me too much:
- They’re telling me stuff I already know. Wasted time.
- I already know they’re lying. Wasted time and annoying as shit.
- They say something I don’t know. Crud. Now I have a choice:
- Research the truth of it.
- Leave their unproven claim to influence me later.
And forget about that last one. I don’t want to fill my mind with rubbish. I still want to know what other people think and value, but when the ‘value to crap’ ratio stinks, reading the next conservative ‘opinion’ is a questionable choice.
Kari called Republicans the party of bad faith, and I agreed. It’s been a problem most of my life. Some (many?) conservatives have lovingly crafted disingenuous arguments to hide their actual goals. They mask voting suppression as law and order (disturbingly capitalized), racism as colorblindness, plutocracy as populism, and all the rest. Lies, more lies, Swift-boating and welfare queens.
True conservative opinion
There used to be more honest conservatives, sincere people with factual arguments who stood apart (and above) the bad-faith conservative horde. That’s why I keep looking and hoping. Diversity is a great strength; the breadth of America is part of why we’re a powerful nation. And there’s a ton I don’t know about. I want to hear people’s real concerns, including when I disagree and especially when I don’t understand. Unless I’m super careful, I might accidentally learn something.
Needle in a haystack
When “honest conservative” becomes a punchline, we’ve hit a cost/benefit problem. Each time I read another bad-faith conservative argument, my good intentions just landed me more homework. I hate that. Bad enough to listen to claptrap, derp, and zombie lies. But the worst is when I don’t know the answer and have to research it. Because I have to. I can pretend it doesn’t matter, but each allegation I leave untested settles in, subtly shaping any adjacent ideas. Your mind is tricksy that way. Hewing to the truth is already hard enough; I’m not making my already-squishy mind any less dependable. So, even when a conservative says something right and proper, proving it still costs me at least double what any natural understanding costs. Trading with liars is bad business and a crapload of work.
The endless search for truth
The truth matters. Forget ethics and morality of a second; being reality-based matters in practical ways. If I accept a lie as truth, or if I just don’t refute it, my understanding of the world becomes less reliable. Suppose I believed that Republicans nominate conservative judges who won’t legislate from the bench because they revere the Constitution. I know it’s hogwash, but pretend I bought it. After that, anything I did or thought about the judiciary would be much more likely to be wrong. My actions wouldn’t match the real world. I’d be ineffectual.
Suppose I believed that Republican politicians and pundits were speaking honestly and acting from the principles they described: freedom, fairness, hard work, and all that horseshit. If I believed that, I’d offer them counterarguments. I’d present new facts. I’d examine their ideas and show them where they might be making mistakes. And the same time, I’d look at the places they criticize to see what mistakes I’ve made. That’s the goal, isn’t it?
Honestly, that’s my only explanation for the Democratic Party.
Stooges, saps, patsies and chumps
The Trump-Putin Axis joined with QAnon to subsume the Republican Party. The MAGA crowd already declared they’re all-in on a violent insurrection during the 2022 elections. Their candidates campaigned on the slogan that they’d overturn any election they didn’t like. “Attacked the Capitol to stop the election” is a plus on your résumé for elected office.
And Democrats? They’re still trying to convince MAGA seditionists that… I don’t know. They’re mistaken about voter fraud? Crime is down, not up? Immigrants and refugees aren’t ‘illegal?’ Trans people aren’t getting beaten and killed just to ogle your (cisgender) sons and daughters? Elections have been honest?
All Democrats do is complain, then go home. Democratic politicians and pundits spend cumulative lifetimes whining on the chat shows about how Republicans are intellectually inconsistent. “If they say <X>, then they’d have to include <Y>. Because they don’t, they’re wrong, and we’re right!” “Thank you, Congressman. Coming up after the break….”
Democrats are pitiful that way.
Stop whining and move forward
Republicans say things that aren’t true. Bad-faith Republicans tell us lies. So what? We got that part already; stop all your goddamn whining. Tell me what you think comes next. That’s all that matters. Fucking do something about it and tell me what I can do to help. And no, “Donate money” and “Join my campaign for office” aren’t the right answer.
