When was the last time you changed your mind about something politically important and admitted it?

[Edgetho]

Think back.

Not just something minor or trendy. Something you genuinely believed until you didn’t.

If that hasn’t happened in a long time, maybe you’ve stopped thinking. Most people don’t grow. They just settle into a political costume and call it wisdom.

They pick a side, inherit the script, memorize the heroes, and build their identity around never questioning it again, but if your views never evolve, maybe your values aren’t values; they’re habits.

If you can’t remember the last time you were wrong, then you’re probably still wrong about something right now.

I voted against Trump in the R Primary.

I was concerned he was gonna pull another Ross The Insane Pirogi of he didn't win the Primary.

I'm glad he did because once I listened, actually LISTENED, to him, he made a lot of sense.

dimocrap scum seldom change their minds becaue their minds are closed to information and change.

I was wrong to vote for The Peanut over Ford. But I was extremely pissed at Ford. He had the NVA in the open, on the road, in Cambodia. An Invasion of 17 Divisions and a thousand Tanks. Bigger than our D-Day invasion.

He could have vaporized them with Arc Light Missions, hour after hour, day after day. But he didn't. Because he was a coward. I hate cowards. He WOULD have been impeached and VERY LIKELY removed from Office. If so, he would have been an Historic Hero in the process. He would have been remembered as long as Leonidas.

But he was a coward. Cowards are forgotten by History.

So then I voted for an even bigger piece of shit and an even bigger coward in The Peanut. We're paying for his cowardice today, re: Iran. And South Africa. Among many other fuckups. And yes, I vovted for the piece of shit.

I let my anger get the best of me. My bad

That's about the extent of my biggest Mea Culpas in Politics. There have been others I was mistaken about but minor players.

You?

 

[Edgetho]

You're not describing wisdom. You're describing the comfort of certainty in a world you don't trust. You claim conservatives “simplify” to solve problems, but what you’re really describing is the refusal to think past the first explanation that feels safe. Complexity isn’t a flaw. It’s reality. The world is messy. People are different. History doesn’t hand us clean answers, and trying to reduce it all to a binary of “our way vs. the purple-haired chaos” isn’t clarity. It’s panic management.

You say I’m “becoming prophetic” as if that’s a flaw. Maybe that’s just your reaction when someone challenges your worldview with more depth than slogans can defend against. You mock people who “manufacture complexity” but no one is manufacturing anything. You just don't want to face how much of what you believe rests on assumptions you’ve never examined. You teach your kids to hold onto convictions without questioning them. That’s not strength. That’s pre-loading ideology before they even know how to ask why.

Then you give a list: God-loving, law-abiding, heterosexual. As if those are the only markers of a life well lived. You’re not describing a moral code. You’re describing a mold, and anyone who doesn’t fit into it becomes a threat, not because they’re dangerous, but because their existence bothers you, and here’s the real giveaway: you said “we want a do-over.” A mulligan. That’s not about protecting values. That’s about undoing visibility. Diversity, tolerance, inclusion, these didn’t break the country. They just revealed parts of it you never had to see before. Now you want to put the lid back on the box, not because truth failed, but because control slipped.

That’s not moral certainty. That’s nostalgic authoritarianism, so no, I don’t see your worldview as ignorance. I see it as fear with tradition for camouflage. You can raise your kids to believe the world is simple, but reality isn’t going to accommodate that illusion forever, and when it doesn’t, they won’t thank you for protecting them from truth. They’ll resent you for hiding it.

That was ******* pathetic. I have no words for that Psychopathic babble.

Good is bad and Bad is Good? So tell us, O'Brien, is 2 + 2 now 5?

 

[Foxfyre]

You morons didn’t even know the word insurrection existed until the Dems and their media told you .

They still don't know what it is. It's just a word they like to use.

Speaking of being stuck on something and being unable to see something any different.

One thing that President Trump has done for me is to significantly hone my critical thinking skills. Two people that have also done that for me over the years is Thomas Sowell and the late Walter E. Williams who have helped me see some things differently than I otherwise likely would have seen them.

Example. After Hurricane Andrew devastated the southern tip of Florida, there was condemnation of those jacking up the price of gallons of bottled water for the victims who weren't able to get out until debris and roads were cleared. But Thomas Sowell mused that the supplies were not unlimited. Higher prices meant that folks would buy only what they needed for drinking and cooking leaving supplies for others. Otherwise they might buy up a whole lot more to use for non essential things leaving many without any. Same with motel rooms. Instead of renting several rooms, high prices would encourage people to put the whole family into one room leaving space for others instead of renting several rooms.

I might or might not agree with price gouging based on those observations, but he did make me think about it somewhat differently.

Walter Williams helped me evaluate the effects of slavery on modern day black Americans. Not only has he had brilliant arguments against the concept of reparations for modern day black people, but he said as terrible and indefensible as slavery was, he himself has been blessed and greatly benefitted because somebody captured and dragged his ancestors over here. Despite the worst of Jim Crow laws he grew up under, he personally has been able to enjoy liberty, a great education, the ability to do pretty much anything he wanted to do and he has profited economically enormously instead of the very likely impoverished life with little opportunity he would most likely be living in Africa had his ancestors been left there.

I cringe sometimes or raise my eyebrows at the way President Trump says some things. But I have come to appreciate how he baits the gullible leftists and their surrogate media in the way he says things. He gets them to go off on silly tangents and draw absurd conclusions when they take the bait and then wind up with egg on their faces.

I still think he's annoying in that way a lot of times. But I can also appreciate the genius in it.

All us old dogs can obviously learn some new tricks if we want to.

 

[Anathema]

You say no one will remember anyone, but that’s not humility. That’s despair masquerading as wisdom. You’re not warning me about the end. You’re retreating from responsibility. You witnessed harm, called it legacy, and now that legacy has hardened into fatalism. The fact that you believe the world is ending doesn’t absolve you from what you’ve built within it. If anything, it reveals why it’s ending

I didn’t say it was humility; it’s simply reality. I believe the human race is far closer to the end of its existence than its birth. It simply is what it is… the consequences of a species ignoring Whst was always right in front of heir faces because doing what’s RIGHT may not be what’s fun or easy.

The next world doesn’t appear by accident. It is shaped, by what we preserve, what we question, and what we refuse to erase. You say you live your way and I’ll live mine, but your way redrew a family tree to remove a human being for daring to differ. That isn’t just “your way.” That’s harm given ceremony. That’s generational pain hiding behind pride. If no one will remember us, then the only thing that ever mattered was how we treated each other, and you’ve shown exactly what you do when someone asks the wrong question

We have no idea what the next world will be. I would guess it will take the world millions of years to reset itself before the next iteration of major life form appears. Who knows, they might not even be sentient.

The only thing that ever mattered was following the rules, living on properly, and hoping there’s something better in the other side of that last heartbeat.

 

[BrokeLoser]

You're not describing wisdom. You're describing the comfort of certainty in a world you don't trust. You claim conservatives “simplify” to solve problems, but what you’re really describing is the refusal to think past the first explanation that feels safe. Complexity isn’t a flaw. It’s reality. The world is messy. People are different. History doesn’t hand us clean answers, and trying to reduce it all to a binary of “our way vs. the purple-haired chaos” isn’t clarity. It’s panic management.

You say I’m “becoming prophetic” as if that’s a flaw. Maybe that’s just your reaction when someone challenges your worldview with more depth than slogans can defend against. You mock people who “manufacture complexity” but no one is manufacturing anything. You just don't want to face how much of what you believe rests on assumptions you’ve never examined. You teach your kids to hold onto convictions without questioning them. That’s not strength. That’s pre-loading ideology before they even know how to ask why.

Then you give a list: God-loving, law-abiding, heterosexual. As if those are the only markers of a life well lived. You’re not describing a moral code. You’re describing a mold, and anyone who doesn’t fit into it becomes a threat, not because they’re dangerous, but because their existence bothers you, and here’s the real giveaway: you said “we want a do-over.” A mulligan. That’s not about protecting values. That’s about undoing visibility. Diversity, tolerance, inclusion, these didn’t break the country. They just revealed parts of it you never had to see before. Now you want to put the lid back on the box, not because truth failed, but because control slipped.

That’s not moral certainty. That’s nostalgic authoritarianism, so no, I don’t see your worldview as ignorance. I see it as fear with tradition for camouflage. You can raise your kids to believe the world is simple, but reality isn’t going to accommodate that illusion forever, and when it doesn’t, they won’t thank you for protecting them from truth. They’ll resent you for hiding it.

More really cool feel-good words….Thanks.
Have you ever challenged your complex worldview by simplifying things and asking yourself….
“Why/how was America so united, so law-abiding, so likeminded, so prosperous, so moral, before the emergence of unconventional wisdom/leftism?”
“Why was the quality of life so much better in America before leftism?”
“Why was public education so much more effective before the left seized control of academia?”
“How was America debt free before leftism?”
“Why were there fewer homeless before leftism?”
“Why was nobody confused by gender before leftism?”
“Why weren’t kids on depression and anxiety meds before leftism?”
“Why weren’t kids shooting up schools and suicidal as hell before leftism?”
“Why weren’t we living among tens of millions of unknown unvetted thirdworlders before leftism?”
“Where were all the homosexuals and trannies before leftism?”
“Why was everyone at church on Sundays before leftism?”

 

[Anomalism]

More really cool feel-good words….Thanks.
Have you ever challenged your complex worldview by simplifying things and asking yourself….
“Why/how was America so united, so law-abiding, so likeminded, so prosperous, so moral, before the emergence of unconventional wisdom/leftism?”
“Why was the quality of life so much better in America before leftism?”
“Why was public education so much more effective before the left seized control of academia?”
“How was America debt free before leftism?”
“Why were there fewer homeless before leftism?”
“Why was nobody confused by gender before leftism?”
“Why weren’t kids on depression and anxiety meds before leftism?”
“Why weren’t kids shooting up schools and suicidal as hell before leftism?”
“Why weren’t we living among tens of millions of unknown unvetted thirdworlders before leftism?”
“Where were all the homosexuals and trannies before leftism?”
“Why was everyone at church on Sundays before leftism?”

You didn’t ask those questions to get answers. You asked them to build a wall, to retreat into nostalgia and call it evidence, but let’s do it anyway.

You asked why America seemed more united, law-abiding, prosperous, and moral before “leftism.” What you call unity was often just enforced silence. What you call law-abiding was often compliance under fear. What you call morality was often conformity, with entire groups erased from the picture so people like you could pretend complexity didn’t exist.

There weren’t fewer gay people, trans people, immigrants, or mental health issues before leftism. There was just less permission to speak about them, less protection when they did, and a whole lot more punishment when they didn’t fit your mold.

You say kids weren’t anxious or suicidal. Maybe because the ones who were didn’t have a language to express it. Maybe because parents didn’t listen. Maybe because schools didn’t care. Maybe because it was easier for everyone to pretend they were “just fine” until someone ended up dead and no one talked about why.

You say church attendance was higher. Yes, because people feared being ostracized if they didn’t show up. Fear can fill pews. It cannot fill hearts. You long for a time when everyone “knew their place.” That’s not a golden age. That’s a cage with good lighting for people who already fit the picture. Your questions aren’t simple. They’re sanitized. They skip the cost. They skip the casualties. They skip the people erased from your version of history.

So here’s the real question...

If your worldview only works by erasing everyone who complicates it, what exactly are you preserving? A culture, or just your comfort?

 

[Correll]

This response is exactly what happens when someone confuses emotional shielding with discernment. You're not answering my question. You're dodging it by framing all critique as an attack, so you never have to confront the substance.

I have answered your question. I pointed out, correctly, that my side just being right, is a real possiblity.

You seem to be dismissing that, without considering it. As though you are afraid to look at an idea that challenges YOUR world view.

How do you tell the difference between bad faith criticism and uncomfortable truth?

By judging whether it is a reasonable criticism or an unreasonable one.

HOw do YOU judge that? Or do you just assume all criticism of America is valid adn just?

If your filter labels every challenge as an attack, how would you ever know if you were the one who got it wrong? This isn’t about hating America. It’s about loving it enough to ask what version we’re actually defending, and whether that version holds up to the values we claim.

You act as though anti-Americanism isn't a real thing. Yet, that is clearly false.

If your only standard for listening is whether it feels good or aligns with your team, you’re not protecting America. You’re protecting your feelings and calling it patriotism.

I like that you are able to read minds across time and space. Very impressive.

What number am I thinking of?

So I ask again. If your side lied, if your comfort was built on a false story, would you even want to know, or have you already decided that anyone asking that question must be the enemy?

Give me a more concrete example.

 

[Foxfyre]

This response is exactly what happens when someone confuses emotional shielding with discernment. You're not answering my question. You're dodging it by framing all critique as an attack, so you never have to confront the substance.

How do you tell the difference between bad faith criticism and uncomfortable truth? If your filter labels every challenge as an attack, how would you ever know if you were the one who got it wrong? This isn’t about hating America. It’s about loving it enough to ask what version we’re actually defending, and whether that version holds up to the values we claim.

If your only standard for listening is whether it feels good or aligns with your team, you’re not protecting America. You’re protecting your feelings and calling it patriotism.

So I ask again. If your side lied, if your comfort was built on a false story, would you even want to know, or have you already decided that anyone asking that question must be the enemy?

So Correll I got tired of being told what I think, etc. and that I think so wrongly but the 'critique' was not an 'attack' and should be accepted graciously regardless of how I was characerized.

I asked for specific comments I made--in their full context--that would justify that characterization, but the request has been ignored.

The member seems to think a "When did you stop beating your wife" question should be accepted graciously instead of being seen as an attack.

I think a lot of us have learned to see such things as what they are. I think it isn't us who are rigid or stuck in our thinking.

The MAGA movement embraces all the values, concepts, principles that the Founders used to create the Constitution and found this great country. History and experience and common sense keep us embracing all that. That is not unwillingness to 'think differently.' That is being intelligent enough to know that you don't change what works, what is good, what is beneficial just because those things have been around for centuries. We embrace the good even as we reject what doesn't work, what isn't good, what isn't beneficial.

People really shouldn't give up the truth that two marbles plus two marbles = four marbles.

 

[dblack]

So here’s a the real question...

If your worldview only works by erasing everyone who complicates it, what exactly are you preserving? A culture, or just your comfort?

Well said

 

[Dr. Phosphorous]

I just started ignoring his miserable trolling.

Waste of time.

It's a badge of honor that a disgusting, Sandy Hook denier like you is ignoring my posts.

Go **** yourself, deranged MAGA ****.

 

[ColonelAngus]

46% of Hispanic men who voted, voted for Trump.

NAZIS?

 

[dblack]

46% of Hispanic men who voted, voted for Trump.

That's not surprising at all. Hispanics tend to be more conservative, and those who jumped through all hoops to get here legally (and can vote) have little patience with those trying to cut the line.

 

[Dr. Phosphorous]

46% of Hispanic men who voted, voted for Trump.

NAZIS?

Nope....just stupid for actually believing Trump would do something to help them financially. The Big Ugly Bill is further proof that Trump only cares about the rich.

And it's partially the Democratic Party's fault....they have become a party of the educated, upper middle class. Which is what the Republican Party used to be 20 years ago....before they became a party of uneducated bumpkin MAGA simps like you.

There need to be more Democrats like Bernie Sanders and AOC that try to address the suffering of the poor.

 

[ColonelAngus]

Nope....just stupid for actually believing Trump would do something to help them. The Big Ugly Bill is further proof that Trump only cares about the rich.

And it's partially the Democratic Party's fault....they have become a party of the educated, upper middle class. Which is what the Republican Party used to be 20 years ago....before they became a party of uneducated bumpkin MAGA simps like you.

There need to be more Democrats like Bernie Sanders and AOC that try to address the suffering of the poor.

Hispanics are stupid?

Wow

 

[Dr. Phosphorous]

Hispanics are stupid?

Wow

No....just the ones that voted for Trump.

Stupid and very naive......like 99.99% of the Trump voters that aren't billionaires.

 

[toobfreak]

Never. I was taught very well from my youth that compromise and changed viewpoints were the hallmarks of someone who never really believed in anything to begin with.

Really? Have you ever thought to kick the ass of whoever taught you that? Because change is the essential element of seeking the truth. Change is part of the scientific process. As you hone in on an idea or topic and gain more information and perspective, change is the one inescapable element of truth and learning.

The most highly suspect people whether they are scientists or politicians are those whose views on things never change no matter how much time, info or events pass by them.

Someone who never changes their position is the sure sign of someone who never had their foot on reality, truth, nor facts in the first place.

Everything in the universe changes except one thing: stupidity. Just as a plane or ship makes numerous small course corrections as they near their target and get closer to their destination seeing it more clearly and in better detail, so does a person's viewpoints change as they grow older, more experienced and more informed.

Comparing change to "compromise" is an ignorant assertion, as staying aligned with the truth and facts as you best know them is the hallmark of intellectual honestly, not compromise.

 

[Anathema]

Really? Have you ever thought to kick the ass of whoever taught you that? Because change is the essential element of seeking the truth. Change is part of the scientific process. As you hone in on an idea or topic and gain more information and perspective, change is the one inescapable element of truth and learning

Thought about it?… probably at some point. Then I remembered that he wouldn’t have had any trouble with the idea or his capacity to put me in a hole in the ground in my backyard as a reminder to my two younger brothers about what stupidity gets you.

 

[buttercup]

We don’t need to grow. We learned RIGHT and WRONG at the beginning so there’s nothing else to be learned. We do not challenge or examine these beliefs… they are as they are.

If you don't think we need to grow and continually learn, then it sounds like you think we're all perfect humans and everything we have ever believed since birth has been the objective truth, and our perceptions or understanding on all ideas are always 100% correct. I mean, come on... that is beyond absurd. I don't want to put words in your mouth but only a perfect person doesn't need to grow, learn anything new or be introspective. Are you perfect?

 

[Anathema]

If you don't think we need to grow and continually learn, then it sounds like you think we're all perfect humans and everything we have ever believed since birth has been the objective truth, and our perceptions or understanding on all ideas are always 100% correct. I mean, come on... that is beyond absurd. I don't want to put words in your mouth but only a perfect person doesn't need to grow, learn anything new or be introspective. Are you perfect?

Ideologically, yes. Unfortunately the flesh often fails the mind, and I won’t even consider the idea of claiming any sort of perfection in the physical world.

 

[SweetSue92]

There weren’t fewer gay people, trans people, immigrants, or mental health issues before leftism. There was just less permission to speak about them, less protection when they did, and a whole lot more punishment when they didn’t fit your mold.

You say kids weren’t anxious or suicidal. Maybe because the ones who were didn’t have a language to express it.

Oh.

So you don't believe in Moral Panics?

You completely believe that everyone before the Moral Panic just "didn't have permission to speak about" what was true?

Like, say, in Witch Trials?

That's first. Second: maybe in the past, kids who were "anxious" were mostly told: HEY! You can build a beautiful life! You can, you are worthy, you are capable....instead of being fed how limiting their anxiety was.

Can YOU confront your former beliefs about this?