re: Off Topic: Governor's race. Walt Maddox vs. Kay Ivey

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Being against government regulations is far left?

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This is the most insane argument for abortion that I've ever seen.

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Now you love you some government regulations, don't you?

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So, personally, a I'm very much for the idea that the government is a tool and not a necessary evil that we should limit as much as possible.

I am glad that you saw the humor in my joke. On a serious note though, the idea that supporting one side of social policy that isn't traditionally conservative makes you "far" on the other side of the spectrum is very narrow minded. First, being pro-choice is not anywhere near the far left, which is typically defined by worker's rights and the removal or corporate (or even all) property ownership. Secondly, we determine where politicians sit on the spectrum by their net sum of policy preferences, not by picking and choosing one. With the same vein of of logic that you used, I could point to his support of banking deregulation legislation and say that he is "far right".

I understand that a lot of voters in Alabama are single-issue voters that prioritize abortion, and while I may reject that method for choosing politicians, that is completely their right and I respect that. But this constant need that people seem to have to inaccurately portray political opponents as far-end wackos is harmful to our national discourse and, as a result, our democracy (especially when that portrayal is built off of a single issue). Doug Jones is clearly a moderate Dem. While he may be pro-choice, he is also very much pro-business and pro-second amendment. Everyone nowadays acts like every politician is radical, and while our country has witnessed massive polarization within the last 20 years, neither party has elected many radicals into prominent positions, and neither party has elected any radicals for the presidency. The people who make it theough general elections are almost always moderates, because the American people are largely moderates. Reagan largely contributed to centrist globalism. Bernie Sanders had to be an independent for 30 years, and ultimately lost the primary by several million votes. There are very few exceptions to this (some left wing politicians have advocated for nationalizing health care, just as some have advocated for the destruction of unions), but no one has come close in terms of having federal policies enacted in a radical vein.

We're increasingly losing our ability to talk to people who hold different opinions, and the disenginous labeling of everyone who disagrees with you as a "radical" is largely contributing to that.

If anybody can look at the disgraceful chaos the media and the left wingers in Washington are currently engaged in and still vote Democrat, you are out of your mind.

All these "moderate" Democrats you think so highly of, they have no power in the Democratic party and take their marching orders from the far left who now run things.

The Democratic party has radicalized fiercely in just the past 20 years.

The left wing in this country are essentially religious fanatics when it comes to their warped view of "social justice"

Every single issue to them boils down to racism, sexism, homophobia, whatever.

The media has completely gone of the deep end and doesn't even pretend to be objective anymore.

Supporting "moderate" Dems is just enabling the lunatics. You're voting for socialism, you're voting for open borders, you're voting for turning America in a third world shite hole in a generation or two.

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All these "moderate" Democrats you think so highly of, they have no power in the Democratic party and take their marching orders from the far left who now run things

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What makes you think that? The progressive sect lost miserably in the primaries and has esentially failed historically. Even Franky D had to bow down to centrist dems, which was evident when they forced him to select Truman over his previous VP, Wallace, in the '44 election.

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The Democratic party has radicalized fiercely in just the past 20 years

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How so? The only real significant progressive agenda that was even fought over, much less won, was gay marriage, which has a decent amount of support amongst republicans today. The ACA is often proclaimed by opponents as "socialist", but there is literally nothing socialist about penalizing people from not buying a product from private corporations.

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Every single issue to them boils down to racism, sexism, homophobia, whatever. 

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I see this a lot, and often it is right next to the idea that democrats are "elite globalist" and "socialists", which, while being inherently opposing ideas, certainly would imply a strong economic philosophy. You can't have it both ways there.

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The media has completely gone of the deep end and doesn't even pretend to be objective anymore. 

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I agree with you there, but I imagine that our analysis of that issue differs greatly.

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Supporting "moderate" Dems is just enabling the lunatics. You're voting for socialism

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I'd be interested to know of what significant policies democrats have made that are socialist.

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you're voting for open borders

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Democrats haven't been pushing significant changes to our immigration system. Obama ranked statistically high in terms of deportations. They have been fighting back against harsher immigration policies, but it isn't like we don't have strict policies in place already.

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you're voting for turning America in a third world shite hole in a generation or two.

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That is extremely disenginous and not bound by reason. This kind of extreme rhetoric is dangerous and further polarized our country. Our legistlative branch will never escape its dysfunction if we can't reasonably talk about our differences in opinions.

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a joke on the common perspective of what is "left" and "right".

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It's a joke that you think legalized abortion is comparable to removing government regulations. Roe v Wade implemented a government regulation on the states. Prior to that, states were allowed to decide if it was legal or not. Your joke isn't funny not because I don't have a sense of humor, but because I'm not a moron who doesn't know the history of the matter.

Never mind the fact that anyone who views abortion as murder, as I do, would certainly not be against laws against murder. Your "joke" nothing more than nonsense.

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I can't have a discussion about the merits of putting a 3 year old in a detention camp while her mother gets prosecuted for crossing the border illegally and is then deported

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Why didn’t it bother you in 2014?

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What makes you think that? The progressive sect lost miserably in the primaries and has esentially failed historically.

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Are you attempting to say the Democrats aren't becoming more progressive and socialist? I really need clarity here because I'm not sure how anyone could take you seriously if you truly believe that.

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The only real significant progressive agenda that was even fought over, much less won, was gay marriage, which has a decent amount of support amongst republicans today.

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Many Republicans never had a problem with gay unions. I believe people should be allowed to enter into any contracts they want. The problem is with calling it marriage. There was an easy way to fix this "problem," but we never took it because the fight wasn't really about helping people it was about destroying institutions. We could have fixed this issue and gotten rid of the marriage tax penalty all at once, but instead we did something authoritarian and nonsensical.

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The ACA is often proclaimed by opponents as "socialist", but there is literally nothing socialist about penalizing people from not buying a product from private corporations.

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Wow. Just astounding levels of ignorance on display here. Socialism is always highlighted by forcing people to pay for something. By your logic, food stamps aren't socialist because the money goes to private entities that sell food. Whether the money goes to the government or to private entities truly makes no difference. Thank goodness the individual mandate is gone.

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I see this a lot, and often it is right next to the idea that democrats are "elite globalist" and "socialists", which, while being inherently opposing ideas,

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You think globalism and socialism are at odds? Are you sure you have a decent grasp on current events? Globalism is what convinces our clueless socialist brethren in this country that we shouldn't have borders here and should just let anyone in at any time and support them with government benefits. It's as socialist as it gets. The same thing is happening with the EU, but they're farther along.

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I'd be interested to know of what significant policies democrats have made that are socialist.

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You don't think the ACA is socialist, so I'm sure you don't believe there are any.

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Democrats haven't been pushing significant changes to our immigration system.

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Every time they call to "stop separating children at the border" they are calling for a significant change to our immigration system. They know children can only be held for a certain number of days and adults can be held longer. They want the parents & children released.

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Obama ranked statistically high in terms of deportations.

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They changed the way deportations were counted during O's presidency, or this would not be the case. Your above quote can only be true if the full picture is presented. Without that full picture, your statement is incredibly misleading and can only be viewed as a lie.

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They have been fighting back against harsher immigration policies, but it isn't like we don't have strict policies in place already.

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We don't have strict immigration policies.

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That is extremely disenginous and not bound by reason. This kind of extreme rhetoric is dangerous and further polarized our country. Our legistlative branch will never escape its dysfunction if we can't reasonably talk about our differences in opinions.

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A vote for socialism is a vote to turn our country into a third world nation. No issue with his statement there. Democrats are becoming more and more unAmerican every day. The Kavanaugh nonsense woke many up to it.

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Why didn’t it bother you in 2014?

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Previous administrations, even Dubya, did not have a blanket, zero tolerance policy that resulted in family separations simply due to illegal entry. That's a Trump invention. Children would be separated from the adults they arrived with if no family relationship could be established (possible human trafficking situation) or the adults were suspected drug mules. When those circumstances were not present, families had been allowed to remain together while being detained or on monitored release while their case was pending.

Look up the opinion polling:

A HUGE % of Democrats, especially younger ones, now openly embrace socialism. This was not the case 20 years ago.

A HUGE % of Democrats say that safe spaces and feelings are more important than freedom of speech. This was not the case 20 eyars ago.

A HUGE % of Democrats support open borders. That is, no border restrictions at all, no deportations under any circumstances. This was not the case 20 years ago.

Just because thees people have not fully taken over yet, doesn't mean the radicalization is not happening. The Democratic party is light years more radical left now than it was a few decades ago and it's not slowing down.

Almost all the moderate Dems are older and white. These people are dying off and being replaced with younger folk and browner folk, both of whom are way more left wing.

Supporting "moderate" Dems, will just speed up the left's desired transformation of this country.