TimmyDeanSausage

Potentially losing your job would be part of the risk/sacrifice a potential candidate would have to accept. Yes, it would be difficult for someone living paycheck to paycheck to do this. Ideally, election reform like this would go hand in hand with economic reform that leads us to a society in which much less people are living paycheck to paycheck. This could happen easily if we start electing real people instead of rich people only.

One option is to publicly fund candidates equally. In such a system someone could apply to run for a position, the position would require a specified amount of people to nominate that person, if that person is nominated they get a grant that covers their campaign costs. The amount wouldn’t be excessive so campaigns would look very different than they do now in places like the US.

Another option is to limit campaign donations from any individual to $100 total. This would force politicians to put effort into building a grassroots campaign while keeping big moneyed interests out of the process.

When politicians get into a position of power, they should be paid enough that they’re firmly in the upper middle class, so they’re comfortable and less likely to accept bribes, and they should not be given any opportunity to accept bribes or profit off of their position in any way.

Did you read their entire comment?

The government income and pension should be enough to live on so that these issues can be avoided.

Yes, we are all responsible for using toxic products that we need to survive in the modern world. More responsible then the companies producing these toxic products, who should be required to research non-toxic alternatives. Let’s all band together and take a step back from the information age. Surely that will fix the problem.

I’m sorry my comment didn’t meet your standards. I’m tired of reading the same intellectually vapid nonsense every day. “Why can’t these evil/ignorant/despicable fools just see the world the way I see it!?” You treat them the same way they treat us and expect them to have some kind of coming-to-jesus moment as a result. IMO, thinking this way requires the same level of cognitive dissonance as being a Trumpster. You need to read the room and see that your method doesn’t solve the problem you want it to solve. It exacerbates it. Instead of crying out to the world, wishing everyone else would do the hard work of expanding their understanding of political theory, history, and philosophy, maybe do that work yourself first.

Can you look beyond the harshness in the tone of my paragraph and take the constructive criticism I’m offering? This is what you’re asking them to do.

Thank you. Good luck with your clinging to myopic views and expecting others not to cling to myopic views thing. Let me know how that works for you.

I’m a gay progressive that lives in Texas. I’ve lived my entire life surrounded by conservatives and I’m currently dating one. I know exactly what I’m talking about. Learn to examine the beliefs you hold before you criticize others for their inability to do the same.

We can hold them responsible for their actions and still recognize that they are victims of indoctrination. However, this would require the same intellectual honesty you chastise them for not having.

I considered myself a libertarian before I saw how the people on the right reacted to same-sex marriage being legalized. Their collective reaction broke the lie that they were the party of freedom/equality. I spent years deprogramming/re-educating myself. Now I’m very progressive and much more sensitive to biased info sources, but… I’m dating a “conservative”. He’s questioning his political beliefs now due to the right’s resurgence of anti-lgbtq and the conversations we’ve had surrounding that.

Thing is, all humans attach their beliefs/values/principles to the narrative they sell themselves about who they are. We settle into these narratives as we come of age, and constantly reinforce them through our perceptions of our lived experiences. For someone to be able to withstand the process of unraveling and reconstructing who they are on a fundamental level, an extreme event is necessary. Something that shocks them with enough force to break one of the core beliefs of whatever system they’re beholden to.

YOUR PROBLEM is that you lack understanding in this area of human nature. That lack of understanding leads to frustration, resentment, and ultimately the same tribalism you see in the people you choose to hate. You see them as sub-human, automatically elevating yourself above them because your confirmation bias tells you that your version of truth is the only real truth, but you’re too heavily steeped in your own soup to realize that you’re engaging with politics the exact same way they are.

Be better. Hate the swindlers, not the swindled. Don’t tolerate intolerance either. Just gently point out when they’re being intolerant and let them (hopefully) stubble into their own epiphanies.

TL:DR; Confirmation bias is a helluva drug. Your willful ignorance of your own confirmation bias is blinding you and limiting your ability to understand basic human nature. I hope this stimulates a little more thought, with a little more intellectual honesty on your part. Cheers.

You take that practicality back to whatever commie hell hole spawned you, you heathen!

That notion is hilarious to me as a Texan that used to travel up and down the west coast regularly for work. I’ve been to many areas of California that are just as red as any rural areas in Texas. It’s exactly the same as every other state(I’ve been to 48 of the 50 at least several times each state). Rural areas tend to be skewed red, urban tends to be skewed blue. I guess the simplicity of that is hard to see if all the online content you consume is propaganda…