Here is a politician I could behind…

Small government dogma is not a cafeteria plan – you can’t advocate for the small government you like and then resort to big government tyranny and overreach to prohibit that which you don’t – hence the hypocrisy of the right.

An actual conservative will pursue a consistent application of small government dogma: small government means less government regulation, no government interference – no government interference in a woman’s right to privacy, no government interference in the equal protection rights of gay and transgender Americans, no government interference in citizens’ right to vote, and no government interference in private social media, meaning opposing the use of government to regulate, restrict, or silence private social media.
Again you are a lying piece of shit.
 
Here's the opinion piece, reposted in its entirety, for non-commercial purposes of education and public information, in accordance with 17 USC § 107. I claim "fair use"...

Opinion: Will Hurd: If the GOP wants a future, it must look in the mirror​

By Will Hurd

January 22, 2021

Will Hurd, a Republican, is a former member of Congress from Texas.
Joe Biden is president in large part because Republicans have been incapable of growing the GOP to better reflect the changing demographics in the United States. We won’t be able to change that without addressing the epidemic of misinformation that has infected the party and realigning our party’s actions based on our values.

Republicans have lost seven of the last eight national popular votes, and it only took four years for us to lose the House, Senate and the White House. Republicans aren’t going to achieve electoral success by being seen as the party that defends QAnon extremists who advocate the murder of the former vice president. Nor will we see success by supporting white supremacists who call a Black police officer the n-word while that police officer puts his life on the line to protect democracy. Every Republican on the ballot in 2022 will face campaign attack ads that affiliate them with the domestic terrorists who charged the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

If the party wants a future, the elected officials, pundits and activists who claim to be its members must stop peddling conspiracy theories and drive out those who continue to do so. Republicans must be honest and do the right thing based on conservative values, not the thing that leads to more clicks, comments or shares on social media.

Those of us who were old enough on 9/11 will always remember the image of the second plane slamming into the World Trade Center, just like all of us will remember the images of thousands of people at the Capitol attempting an insurrection on Jan. 6. Both were acts of terrorism conducted by fanatics. If Islamist terrorism was the existential challenge of the early 2000s, then the environment of disinformation, misinformation and lies fueling domestic terrorism is the challenge of our current generation. This “infodemic" is getting worse, and it is radicalizing elements of our society.

“Big Tech” enforcing their terms of service isn’t the problem either. Don’t get me wrong, Big Tech has given conspiracy theorists, duplicitous politicians and violent extremism the tools to make a message go viral, but in the absence of political action to define the appropriate role of technology in our society, these platforms have become the only ones taking real steps to prevent content that further incites violence.

I accept that many of the people who stormed the Capitol believed the lies they were fed. They were lied to not only about the validity of the election, which was the most secure in our history, but also on a host of issues for years. They were radicalized through multiple platforms that sought to advance elected officials’ ambitions or the goals of foreign adversaries. Every person who went from peacefully protesting to joining the insurrection should be found and fully prosecuted, but conservatives need to wake up to a few realities.

The truth is, President Donald Trump lost big time. Many Republicans on the ballot across the country in 2020 outperformed the president by significant margins. He was an anchor around our necks at the voting booth.

If you believe that there was widespread fraud in the election, then you haven’t reviewed the right data, or you are listening to manipulative voices who wish to make money off you or to hawk merchandise. The state and local officials responsible for conducting elections are Republicans and Democrats who faithfully executed their duty to conduct a free and fair election.

Furthermore, if you elevate a flag that has someone’s name on it to the same level that you elevate your national flag, then you are not a patriot; you are part of a cult. When we put our hands on our hearts, we pledge allegiance to a flag, not an individual. The flag represents a nation founded on a perpetual goal to form a more perfect union, not a commitment to any one person.

The events of the past weeks show that we are far from perfect. We have given our enemies around the world fewer reasons to fear us and our allies fewer reasons to love us. If Republicans want to change their persistent popular vote losses at the national level, then we must realign our actions with our values.

Lawmakers should draw two lessons from the election: Don’t be a jerk, and don’t be a socialist. The GOP has a real opportunity to grow the party as Democrats lurch toward a far-left agenda that is out of touch with most Americans. The new GOP must reassert an old formula: Freedom enables opportunity. Opportunity allows for growth. Growth leads to progress.

Using these values to guide our decisions and being honest about the tough choices our country must make to keep this century the American Century will translate to electoral success. A new GOP starts with us looking in the mirror and being honest with ourselves about what we believe.
That is an excellent opinion piec!
 
to be fair, stopping it. not supporting or advocating it.
Stopping what exactly…our Republican legislature, pushing this through, even admitted they couldn’t come up with a single instance of it in our K12 schools (and I suspect it is as sparse elsewhere). It is a higher Ed law school concept yet Republican legislatures are even trying to ban it in higher and those same (pardon my French) dumbfucks who yelled about rightwing free speech in Higher Ed being under attack, applaud it.

As for Transgender issues…who is actually advocating kids become transgender? You might come up with a few freak occurrences, just like anything, but as a policy? Trend? Same with supporting it..what exactly does that mean? You support the person, who most likely is and has been for some time going through a lot of upheaval. What would be the alternative, the “not supporting it”? Throw the kid to the wolves? Let him continue to be ostracized, bullied, etc? Make medical treatment illegal? Well that is what some are doing Isn’t It? This isn’t fad medical treatment nor is it done lightly. puberty blockers for kids are prescribed rarely, surgery almost never for minors if at all. And all of this for a tiny number of kids. I was astonished to read that in the entire state of Utah, there were only five transgender kids in the school system.

It is stuff like this that is designed to gin up anger and hate and plays to the social fears of the political base to get out the vote. Are these the really important issues facing us?
 
No path to citizenship even for the Dreamers

because if they are citizens their whole extended family can become citizens
Not that easily. You can stipulate they have to go through the normal immigration process if you want.
 
That is an excellent opinion piec!
aolre.gif
 
Stopping what exactly…our Republican legislature, pushing this through, even admitted they couldn’t come up with a single instance of it in our K12 schools (and I suspect it is as sparse elsewhere)
I doubt that's what they said. You're obviously lying about it like you always do.
 
From the link:

“The moderates are the ones who behave the same way regardless of whether their party is in power or not. The moderates are critical to crafting and passing legislation that actually gets signed into law. The moderates are the ones who work the hardest,” Hurd writes in his book. “And we are the ones who get shit done. Extremists do the most bitching and get the least accomplished.”

Hurd will be labeled a RINO or mugwump for expressing this opinion….
Yes. His opinion sucks. :p

Why do I have to sacrifice my morality for China?

I don't think so...
 
Not that easily. You can stipulate they have to go through the normal immigration process if you want.
I dont think thats going to work for trump voters

Dreamers do not want to be sent back

but they cant expect Trumpsters to get nothing in return
 
I was astonished to read that in the entire state of Utah, there were only five transgender kids in the school system.

It is stuff like this that is designed to gin up anger and hate and plays to the social fears of the political base to get out the vote. Are these the really important issues facing us?

The number of LGBTQ children has increased exponentially in recent years and shows no signs of abatement. Do we really want to wait until it gets out of hand?

If an adult man wants to spend his evenings and weekends hanging out on a corner or at a gay highway reststop wearing a dress or pursuing romance with other fellows wearing a dress, that's his own affair.

But these are children.
 
The number of LGBTQ children has increased exponentially in recent years and shows no signs of abatement. Do we really want to wait until it gets out of hand?

If an adult man wants to spend his evenings and weekends hanging out on a corner or at a gay highway reststop wearing a dress or pursuing romance with other fellows wearing a dress, that's his own affair.

But these are children.
I don't think there's any denying the faddish element. And while it's sad what people with real gender dysphoria have to go through, it's arguably worse to see so many confused kids (and their parents) latching onto it as a way to feel special.
 
Last edited:
The guy seems ok. Logical and reasonable. Which is a big change. We disagree on many things, but my ideology is a dying breed. So that is to be expected.
One of the things we disagree on, is getting stuff done. The more washington does, the more it fucks everything up.
Gridlock is a damn good thing.
 
One of the things we disagree on, is getting stuff done. The more washington does, the more it fucks everything up.
Gridlock is a damn good thing.
I agree to a point. I've often said the same thing. Gridlock is good in that it filters out proposed laws and policies that don't have real consensus. But the two-party pissing match has created an atmosphere were consensus is seen as failure, and that's ridiculous.

I'd prefer to see a two-thirds, supermajority required for all legislation. This would accomplish the same thing, but wouldn't rely on the partisan nonsense.
 
I agree to a point. I've often said the same thing. Gridlock is good in that it filters out proposed laws and policies that don't have real consensus. But the two-party pissing match has created an atmosphere were consensus is seen as failure, and that's ridiculous.

I'd prefer to see a two-thirds, supermajority required for all legislation. This would accomplish the same thing, but wouldn't rely on the partisan nonsense.
I could totally get behind that!
 
I think Hurd is right. Some Republicans are or act like racists, mysogonists etc. It doesn’t help their image when members cozy up to white nationalists at fund raisers for example. If they don’t want those labels why do they vote in those members?
I don't think we care anymore. I know I don't. Well, excepting for misogyny, I guess. I don't like that.
 
Last edited:
Stopping what exactly…our Republican legislature, pushing this through, even admitted they couldn’t come up with a single instance of it in our K12 schools (and I suspect it is as sparse elsewhere). It is a higher Ed law school concept yet Republican legislatures are even trying to ban it in higher and those same (pardon my French) dumbfucks who yelled about rightwing free speech in Higher Ed being under attack, applaud it.
no instance of CRT anywhere through K12? please cite that example of who said that statement.


"During the conference, Weingarten argued that “Critical Race Theory is not taught in elementary schools or middle schools or high schools.” Calling detractors “culture warriors,” Weingarten added that they are “bullying teachers and trying to stop us from teaching accurate history.”

how do we define "accurate" history?

later in this article:

"The Broward County School Board has included Critical Race Theory resources on its website, sharing that it is "in the courage of our young people to seek truth and justice in our country and take on our most pressing duties such as reforming our criminal justice system and changing the mindsets of bias, racism, and oppression." The site concludes that "change is never easy, but always necessary.”"

several examples are in here and point to videos. while they don't always call it CRT, the message is there. white people are the core issue in many of the videos and statements found throughout the websites you see linked from this article.


are you saying all these states are banning something that simply doesn't exist?


would seem odd to say something doesn't exist when the website itself says it does.

The private schools below are the Top 50 Elite Private K-12 Schools in the country, as ranked by Niche.com for 2022. As with our higher education database, some have embraced CRT explicitly, while others have a continuum of programming, such as "antiracism", "equity", and "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" that does not easily fit into a Yes/No construct. We provide information from which you can make the most informed decision possible.

do you still wish to maintain it isn't being taught through K12? if so you'll need to take it up with criticalrace.org because they seem to disagree with you.

As for Transgender issues…who is actually advocating kids become transgender? You might come up with a few freak occurrences, just like anything, but as a policy? Trend? Same with supporting it..what exactly does that mean? You support the person, who most likely is and has been for some time going through a lot of upheaval. What would be the alternative, the “not supporting it”? Throw the kid to the wolves? Let him continue to be ostracized, bullied, etc? Make medical treatment illegal? Well that is what some are doing Isn’t It? This isn’t fad medical treatment nor is it done lightly. puberty blockers for kids are prescribed rarely, surgery almost never for minors if at all. And all of this for a tiny number of kids. I was astonished to read that in the entire state of Utah, there were only five transgender kids in the school system.

It is stuff like this that is designed to gin up anger and hate and plays to the social fears of the political base to get out the vote. Are these the really important issues facing us?
seems funny to me you trivialize transgender as a "few freak issues" of it being pushed then cite some rare examples, such as medical treatment illegal, as standard. you can't go both ways with this. dismiss the extreme of the other "as extreme" while you take your own extremes and say they're commonplace.

as for being shocked at what you read, do you choose to believe only 5 transgenders are in Utah or did you research it?


seems they say 7200. so do you believe what supports your views or do you challenge your own views and continue to dig when something "Doesn't seem right'?

now, for it being uncommon and not pushed on kids.


disney is pushing it hard and many of their themes are pushing it. sorry, while i do agree it's an important topic for kids, this is for the family to determine and discuss. not put these next to mickey mouse and fantasia.


From the HRC blog:

On February 27, thousands of parents, educators, elected officials and allies will join in solidarity with transgender and gender-expansive students by hosting school and community readings of I Am Jazz, a children’s book by transgender teen trailblazer Jazz Jennings, as well as additional titles. The fifth annual Jazz and Friends National Day of School and Community Readings is sponsored by the Welcoming Schools Program at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, and the National Educational Association (NEA), the country’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3 million educators across the U.S.

interesting now however, the blog has been removed. but thousands of parents and allies coming together for this topic isn't a rare occurrence to be dismissed.

more "rare" instances.





so, no. i don't believe these are rare occurrences that we can dismiss as fruitcakes mad about nothing.

now, to your question of "is this the most important issue we face"? it would seem so if you look at all the people pushing it. so it must be important to at least THEM and that's fine. but no one single view should overtake all.

people who are different have challenges. now, i also believe we're all "different" in some way. does someone with more challenges according to society come in as more important than my own challenges? not usually. knowing someone else has it worse seldom is known to make a person feel better about their own lot in life.

as for surgery and the like - if that's what someone wants to spend their money on, have at it. if insurance wants to cover it and offer a policy, have at it. but the gov should not be funding this or spending collective resources on needs that according to the article above, represent a small minority of our overall population.

so you can say as loudly as you wish that these topics simply do not exist, but i've shown they in fact, do. you say CRT isn't being taught cause some random GOP person said it can't be found and this means more than criticalrace.org.

look, we will never fix our issues if we think the other side is always overreacting to our needs. you dismiss the claims of the right by trying to minimize them to non existence. how would you respond if i did the same to your beliefs and needs and said not important?

from past history, you'll get mad. rightfully so. we all do.

but it's what we do after that which has us all fucked up. now, how do we fix that?
 
no instance of CRT anywhere through K12? please cite that example of who said that statement.

Long response, and while you’ll find I disagree with parts, I appreciate the effort and will try to reply in kind.

For this part, I was referring to WV, where we just passed an anti-CRT law, and it was discussed in a regular radio broadcast Our Legislature Today, that covers what the WV legislature is doing. When asked if he knew of any instances where CRT was being taught in WV K12 he was forced to admit there weren’t any he knew of. Fortunately Higher Ed was removed from the final bill but still it is a bad bill.


"During the conference, Weingarten argued that “Critical Race Theory is not taught in elementary schools or middle schools or high schools.” Calling detractors “culture warriors,” Weingarten added that they are “bullying teachers and trying to stop us from teaching accurate history.”

how do we define "accurate" history?

A couple of issues here…first, with source. I did read the article but was disturbed by a few things. One is that for some of it’s strongest claims it offered no links or links that looped back to it’s own articles. That makes it difficult to evaluate It’s accuracy.

On “accurate history”…how do we define it (and who defines it)? That is good question that unfortunately today is largely being answered by politicians not historians. There is a lot to be said for history being written by the victors and that is apparent in the way our history has long been taught, from the viewpoint and achievements of white, male Americans. Traditionally, the voices, tragedies and contributions of blacks, women, Hispanics and others have been marginalized or omitted. Now that have found some political strength tbey want their stories to be included in history.

Gotta go, out of time, will address more later.

later in this article:

"The Broward County School Board has included Critical Race Theory resources on its website, sharing that it is "in the courage of our young people to seek truth and justice in our country and take on our most pressing duties such as reforming our criminal justice system and changing the mindsets of bias, racism, and oppression." The site concludes that "change is never easy, but always necessary.”"

several examples are in here and point to videos. while they don't always call it CRT, the message is there. white people are the core issue in many of the videos and statements found throughout the websites you see linked from this article.


are you saying all these states are banning something that simply doesn't exist?


would seem odd to say something doesn't exist when the website itself says it does.

The private schools below are the Top 50 Elite Private K-12 Schools in the country, as ranked by Niche.com for 2022. As with our higher education database, some have embraced CRT explicitly, while others have a continuum of programming, such as "antiracism", "equity", and "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" that does not easily fit into a Yes/No construct. We provide information from which you can make the most informed decision possible.

do you still wish to maintain it isn't being taught through K12? if so you'll need to take it up with criticalrace.org because they seem to disagree with you.


seems funny to me you trivialize transgender as a "few freak issues" of it being pushed then cite some rare examples, such as medical treatment illegal, as standard. you can't go both ways with this. dismiss the extreme of the other "as extreme" while you take your own extremes and say they're commonplace.

as for being shocked at what you read, do you choose to believe only 5 transgenders are in Utah or did you research it?


seems they say 7200. so do you believe what supports your views or do you challenge your own views and continue to dig when something "Doesn't seem right'?

now, for it being uncommon and not pushed on kids.


disney is pushing it hard and many of their themes are pushing it. sorry, while i do agree it's an important topic for kids, this is for the family to determine and discuss. not put these next to mickey mouse and fantasia.


From the HRC blog:



interesting now however, the blog has been removed. but thousands of parents and allies coming together for this topic isn't a rare occurrence to be dismissed.

more "rare" instances.





so, no. i don't believe these are rare occurrences that we can dismiss as fruitcakes mad about nothing.

now, to your question of "is this the most important issue we face"? it would seem so if you look at all the people pushing it. so it must be important to at least THEM and that's fine. but no one single view should overtake all.

people who are different have challenges. now, i also believe we're all "different" in some way. does someone with more challenges according to society come in as more important than my own challenges? not usually. knowing someone else has it worse seldom is known to make a person feel better about their own lot in life.

as for surgery and the like - if that's what someone wants to spend their money on, have at it. if insurance wants to cover it and offer a policy, have at it. but the gov should not be funding this or spending collective resources on needs that according to the article above, represent a small minority of our overall population.

so you can say as loudly as you wish that these topics simply do not exist, but i've shown they in fact, do. you say CRT isn't being taught cause some random GOP person said it can't be found and this means more than criticalrace.org.

look, we will never fix our issues if we think the other side is always overreacting to our needs. you dismiss the claims of the right by trying to minimize them to non existence. how would you respond if i did the same to your beliefs and needs and said not important?

from past history, you'll get mad. rightfully so. we all do.

but it's what we do after that which has us all fucked up. now, how do we fix that?
 
Long response, and while you’ll find I disagree with parts, I appreciate the effort and will try to reply in kind.

For this part, I was referring to WV, where we just passed an anti-CRT law, and it was discussed in a regular radio broadcast Our Legislature Today, that covers what the WV legislature is doing. When asked if he knew of any instances where CRT was being taught in WV K12 he was forced to admit there weren’t any he knew of. Fortunately Higher Ed was removed from the final bill but still it is a bad bill.

im not sure something must be "actively done" to oppose it coming into your system. you seem to be saying that since no one was yet teaching it in their state, there's no need to make it illegal. on the flip side, maybe they caught it early and kept it out vs. having to try and get it out later.

now maybe this link will work better.


Critical race theories combine progressive political struggles for racial justice with critiques of the conventional legal and scholarly norms which are themselves viewed as part of the illegitimate hierarchies that need to be changed. Scholars, most of whom are themselves persons of color, challenge the ways that race and racial power are constructed by law and culture. One key focus of critical race theorists is a regime of white supremacy and privilege maintained despite the rule of law and the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws. Agreeing with critical theorists and many feminists that law itself is not a neutral tool but instead part of the problem, critical race scholars identify inadequacies of conventional civil rights litigation. Critical race theorists nonetheless fault critical legal scholars as failing to develop much to attract people of color and for neglecting the transformative potential of rights discourse in social movements, regardless of the internal incoherence or indeterminacy of rights themselves.

coyote, this isn't history, this is a political agenda. it combines as Harvard says, progressive political struggles for what they feel is important to THEM.

not the country. not us all, but them. lets see what else harvard says about this.

Critical race theorists reject the idea that "race" has a natural referent. Instead, it is a product of social processes of power. People do not have a race, writes Kendall Thomas; they are "race-d." Unveiling the legal, social, and cultural operations by which people are assigned and invested with races is one central project of critical race theory. They urge re-cognizing race not as an inherent characteristic of people but instead a product of social practices. Because unconscious as well as intentional practices construct racial status, stereotypes, and practices, legal reforms must address unconscious practices as well as intentional ones.

so race is not real, it's a man made construction to keep non white races down. well, if races are not real but a construct then how can we have "white" people TO keep non white people down? you say something doesn't exist but then divide us up by it.

as you read through what harvard says, you can see this is a political movement, not a history lesson. get it out of schools and let people who wish to take it do so as an elective of their own choosing. if you can show that this is in fact history, not politics, then it's a valid discussion. but everything im reading on the harvard site is screaming POLITICAL.

and their actions of hiding/denying/redefining terms is why you see actions of people cutting it off before it can spread.

do you feel it's ok to be proactive in addressing issues, or simply wait until your house is on fire before you buy a fire extinguisher? while you may not agree with that analogy, to me your saying "they couldn't find an example of it anywhere" doesn't mean you can't say "don't do that here".

A couple of issues here…first, with source. I did read the article but was disturbed by a few things. One is that for some of it’s strongest claims it offered no links or links that looped back to it’s own articles. That makes it difficult to evaluate It’s accuracy.
but it is a link and i do provide those to source where i am getting my information from so i don't have you guessing my intent or purpose behind what i am saying. as for looping back to their own articles, welcome to journalism of today. if that is a qualification to throw out references, fine. then please cite your references for the things you point out (like only 4 transgender people in Utah - i showed a site saying 7200. at least i showed where i got the number for reference and research) and if it does any questionable linking, we'll simply throw it out of the discussion because it can't be believed.

if we do it to one side for XYZ reason, we do it to all. demanding "news" say what we feel is how we got into this mess. or at least a huge contributing factor. im willing to accept things i don't like as factual and true as long as you don't try to hide sources and play shell games.

On “accurate history”…how do we define it (and who defines it)? That is good question that unfortunately today is largely being answered by politicians not historians. There is a lot to be said for history being written by the victors and that is apparent in the way our history has long been taught, from the viewpoint and achievements of white, male Americans. Traditionally, the voices, tragedies and contributions of blacks, women, Hispanics and others have been marginalized or omitted. Now that have found some political strength tbey want their stories to be included in history.

Gotta go, out of time, will address more later.
why? are they in favor of teaching sex education to children? children want to be anything they see and live in their own fairy tale worlds, which can be an amazing thing. so if you show kids transgenders, how many will want to "dress up" simply because they see it? when it is an appropriate age to bring up complex sexual and gender situations to a child? can't we just let them be kids? if they have questions, fine. talk to them and have counselors and staff there for them to discuss this with. but what is the point of forcing the topic on kids?

and why is disney doing it in full force and lying about what is in the florida bill by calling it "don't say gay"? is that a fair summation when it never says that in the bill? are you representing the conservative views or mocking them with this?

again, when you intentionally mischaracterize something, why should i take you seriously when in my mind, you're not taking yourself seriously much less the topic. these statements are to mock and discredit, not understand and deal with a problem someone actually has. if you want people to address your views and "problems" seriously, then you need to do that to their views and problems as well.

our sheer and utter refusal to do that across the board today is why we're at such odds and fight at the drop of a hat, regardless of the topic.
 

Forum List

Back
Top