Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
I think it's quite fair to say that if you chose to vote for conservatives, you are saying you value other things above addressing racism. This is a different thing than saying if you vote conservative you are racist.
If you vote conservative you are probably also saying you value other things above the environment. This does not make you a polluter. The same can be said for sex issues. If you vote conservative, you value other things above workplace compensation parity. This does not make you a misogynist.
If you vote progressive, you value other things above the interests of nascent life (fertilized eggs through fetuses below the age of viability outside the womb). This does not make you "pro-abortion" (or as pro-lifers might say, in favor of killing the unborn). If you vote progressive, you value other things above our defense budget. This does not make you a pacifist.
You get the point. Using extreme terms (I fully recognize the irony in my writing this) warps the debate in such a way that compromise is impossible.
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Except perhaps abortion, all of these things are very different, because there are good-faith arguments to be made in favor of both ends of the policy side. We are not talking about "addressing racism," as if it's something that just exists out there in the world independent of what the government does. The government either does or does not subject blacks to searches and arrests at higher rates. It does or does not categorically discriminate against Muslims trying to enter the country. It does or does not send immigration agents to schools to detain and deport parents dropping off their kids. The Republican Party is running on these things. It's not just a question of devoting resources to undoing the effects of slavery in the nineteenth century.
Not every Republican is a racist, obviously. But those who have good intentions are casting their lot with a lot of people who doing racists things, and playing to racist voters. I absolutely believe that there are Republicans who are better and worse on these issues, but I don't see many will to take a real stand on their principles. The reason for that is depressing: Most conservative voters will punish them for it, because they like the racism.
