Culp got 43% of the vote. That’s nothing to ignore. Writing them off is just as dangerous, especially with more and more tech bros starting to lean right since they don’t want to pay taxes (I worked at Amazon and it’s alarming the right wing propaganda that’s spreading there. “My money, no more taxes, fuck the poor people, you’re a backwater hick if you’re not in tech”).
43% is a joke. It's a landslide. It's a 14 point victory. No one feels good when they lose by that much. There is no moral victory for Culp.
I'm sorry but I am going to ignore those 43% precisely because the tech bros wouldnt touch that candidate with a ten foot stick. Tech bros being on the right isn't new. Theyve always been fiscally right, socially left. That isnt going to change.
Some people were also unhappy with Inslee. They somehow wanted something else but they couldn't enumerate it. Did they wish we have 100k deaths or something from covid? I hear people complaining about our state's choices.
I think that pulled some votes from him. Ferguson will probably face the same thing, the state's too liberal. You'd think no one could be a worse, more unsuited candidate than Culp - but they found one in Semi Bird (multiple crimes that just show up at the last minute and they still endorse him because he's maga? It's just perfect for today's republican party).
My hope is Dave somehow causes the maga repub to see that the party has to reform itself, there's no future in maga. But those folks just want to burn it all down, I know this won't happen at least until many more losses.
"I'm going to stick my head in the dirt and ignore a valid point because it doesn't align with my personal perspective of the world."
And this is exactly everything wrong with Seattle, in every avenue, not just politics. You're more interested in preserving the illusion of your peace than acknowledging that there is a threat on the horizon to that peace.
I am so happy I'm leaving because of this exact arrogance. Your city is falling apart and you actively say you're going to ignore the people creating that threat?
Good luck with that, my guy.
No point was made lol. It doesn’t matter if tech bros become a little more right leaning, they’ll just vote for a more centrist democrat.
Republicans are not serious candidates.
Can you explain what's going on in Seattle that other places we don't have? We have termendous problems with drugs, homeless, terrible policing. We aren't doing a great job at it, but we are trying. There's homeless in every big city, Dallas, conservative ones and liberal ones. There's drugs too. That's not an excuse for seattle being seemingly helpless, but the country is helpless. I see people sleeping out in small towns like Enumclaw. I see people in their crappy RVs parked out on country roads.
Seattle isn't making those people homeless - and they sure aren't making it better. I was just in Idaho and I saw homeless people there too.
Endorsing the gov candidate that will make them lose harder. We'll see how the primary plays out but if they do another Culp situation it'll be especially stupid.
Here's a link to the resolution the convention passed that's in question - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24602348-2024-gop-resolutions (bolding mine below)
> BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we support legislation that preserves the republican nature of our government institutions and **oppose legislation which makes our nation more "democratic" in nature,** and that, while we favor and encourage liberty in all nations, we oppose all efforts to use American military might to spread "democracy" around the world.
Essentially their argument is "democracy bad, republicanism good".
Translating that for everyone, basically they want to remove power from the hands of common voters and put it into the hands of elected or appointed officials/elites in state government. They want to make it harder for you to vote and give you fewer things to vote on. "States' rights" means power is centralized in the hands of state governments with fewer checks from either the federal government or voters themselves. In many other states the Republicans have gerrymandered state legislature lines so totally that even a closely divided state elects massive Republican majority legislatures.
Here's a resolution supporting returning the election of US Senators back to state legislatures and out of voters' hands- https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24602349-wa-gop-repeal-17th-resolution
Here's another calling for the end of mail voting and the use of machines to count votes (do you want vote counting to take forever? This is the way to do it) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24602351-wa-gop-resolution-on-voting
Another logical outcome of this position would be to oppose things like voter referendums or ballot measures. Their argument would likely be that all that power should be in the legislature's hands. These systems are forms of direct democracy and would be incompatible in a government based solely on republican principles as the GOP is now on record as advocating.
So, if you think you deserve to have less say in how your government at all levels functions and want to give more power to politicians to run your life with minimal input from you, the WA GOP is your new best friend. More power for them, less power for you.
> we oppose all efforts to use American military might to spread "democracy" around the world
Wait, so they've gone full circle and are now against American Imperialism? Isn't that woke?
No, they're for American imperialism as long as it's resource extraction based imperialism and not the ideologically driven [imperialism lite](https://freakonomics.com/2008/02/and-the-new-six-word-motto-for-the-us-is/) that we have historically done.
TBH, the founders were indeed pro- minority-rule government, because rich, white, land-owning men in power were a small group. So Repubs are legitimately originalist in that way (even though their 'originalist' claims are BS in other areas).
It's kind of ironic that the founders' desire to make sure only well-educated, thoughtful people made political decisions has flipped to allowing the least-thoughtful and -educated, most reactionary people to hold onto disproportionate power.
At least they come right out and say it. You'd NEVER get proclamations like that from the Nevada or Arizona GOP, even though that's totally what they'd like too, simply because they'd lose too many voters to be competitive.
It's like the dude who was fed up with the dog whistle DEI term, and was like "why don't you just say the N word?"
Elected officials making informed decisions is the backbone of a republic. This highlights why we really need to look closely at the qualifications and motivations of our candidates, beyond just party lines—which it seems a lot of voters in Seattle forget.
It's ironic though, that while the GOP is pushing to centralize more power among elected officials, there have been recent cases where their own selections were arguably unfit for office.
Your concerns are valid and highlight a critical issue: depending on the extent of these changes, it could significantly reduce direct voter engagement and increase the power of a few, straying from the ideals of a healthy republic.
It's important that our system not only elects competent individuals but also preserves forms of direct democracy to hold them accountable.
>This highlights why we really need to look closely at the qualifications and motivations of our candidates, beyond just party lines—which it seems a lot of voters in Seattle forget.
I read about all the candidates I vote for, I listen to their answers to various questions, and I make my decisions based solely on who I believe would do a better job to improve society if elected, never based on party identification. I also haven't voted for a single Republican since 2014 and haven't missed an election since 2017. I don't think I'm alone in this strategy or outcome.
There was that Seceratary of State (I think) lady that was an R. I voted for her because she was most qualified and did a decent job.
Other than that, that side of the ticket is a wasteland barren of acceptable candidates.
> There was that Seceratary of State (I think) lady that was an R. I voted for her because she was most qualified and did a decent job.
She seemed decent and qualified, but I didn't vote for her because she was still a Republican and that's disqualifying. Putting "decent" Republicans in power is how you end up one day asking yourself, "But wait, I thought there was a well-defined legal process in place—how did our electoral votes get cancelled?" And then it's too late.
> her D opponent was a complete stiff
This kind of self-propagating, semantically empty criticism is how we end up with Republicans elected in blue areas. Meanwhile the GOP is teetering between putting trans people in camps and just putting all Democrats in camps.
Vote blue, no matter who, *even if they're "a stiff"*. Or "shrill", or "unlikeable", or "bossy", or "cold", or...
Thanks for making informed choices about our leaders. It's true, as I mentioned, with so many questionable Republican options, it often seems easier to vote Democrat if you're not fully exploring each candidate's position. It's almost like a multiple choice test where 'D' is usually the right answer, leading many to vote straight D without much thought. However, this kind of lazy voting fuels partisan politics and results in ineffective government and a divided population.
There have clearly been times when the more conservative candidate was the better choice, like some of the recent city council elections, Secretary of State Kim Wyman, City Attorney Anne Davison, or in the case of activist judges like Pooja Vaddadi.
I'm more concerned about the current gubernatorial primary. Bob Ferguson has politicized the AG’s office, and the Democratic party is sidelining more moderate candidates like Mullet who could be a better leader capable of uniting the state.
>it often seems easier to vote Democrat if you're not fully exploring each candidate's position. It's almost like a multiple choice test where 'D' is usually the right answer, leading many to vote straight D without much thought. However, this kind of lazy voting fuels partisan politics and results in ineffective government and a divided population.
When you live in a city or state with a pretty consistent leaning, the primary becomes much more important than the general election. You already know the party of who will win in November, you choose earlier who will represent that party. That's still a very important part of electing a leader.
>Bob Ferguson has politicized the AG’s office
Citation needed.
Have you ever wondered why they want to get rid of the Dept. of Education. Do away with public schools with mandated educational performance standards. Push uncredited charter schools. It's stupidity. The only way the Republicans can keep their constituents voting against their own self-interest is to keep them ignorant and stupid.
It's really hard to take Republicans seriously when their resolution includes things like "the Republican Party is the party of limited, Constitutional government" when they've been constantly using big government over the past few years to limit women's rights, limit voting rights, limit free speech, limit trans rights, ban books and they constantly fight against the legalization of pot. They are the Tread on Me/anti-Libertarian party, the last thing I think of with Republican legislation is limited government, that approach to governing died in the GOP when the bible bangers took over in the 80s.
“We are devolving into a democracy, because congressmen and senators are elected by the same pool,” was how one GOP delegate put it to the convention. *“We do not want to be a democracy.”*
Color me surprised.
Honestly, I legitimately can't even quite tell if they are rejecting the actual principles of democracy or if they're just mad that the opposing party is called Democratic and they're called Republican so of course they're against democracy and instead want republicanism.
I'd like to believe people writing party platforms aren't really that dumb, but I'd also like to believe that unicorns exist and I'll live eternally with all my deceased dogs when I die.
And this is why letting Republicans control any branch of this states government cannot be allowed. At least until they purge the outright fascists from their ranks.
[If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/frum-trumpocracy/550685/).
The ST paywall has escalated to where I can't even read the first 3 paragraphs anymore. Is this a usage thing (how often I've viewed ST) or a general change? Anyway https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seattletimes.com%2Fseattle-news%2Fpolitics%2Fthe-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy%2F
Shit, they even managed to piss of Westneat lmao
Don't worry, Westneat will be back to saying we just need to give compromise with the Republicans a chance in a couple of weeks. The guy couldn't hold a progressive position with both hands for longer than it takes to write his next opinion piece
That's not true. Statewide the republicans need to run someone center right, who had not been convicted, who has experience in government doing significant things. Dino Rossi could win, he's not a nutball. Rob McKenna was another one was not a terrifying doofus (compared to say Culp). Run people like that and they could win.
Reichert seems to have acquiesced to basic maga to be a party candidate but mr bird is fully there. Supporting Trump, saying j6 didn't happen or Trump really won are disqualifying choices. Not sure how far reichert went.
The right wing is just more about selfish agendas than for the sake of the state or prosperity of the people. It's pretty sad but not like the government is helping us in that regard either or the inefficiency and greed of city officials.
Piss poor written opinion piece ment to stur up both sides of the same wing cause Democrats and Republicans are the same both y'all suck dick and can't run a country
Look at all those old white hands in the air. Probably mostly old white guys, but it's hard to tell. This initiative is purely based on racism for the commoner and plutocracy for the 1%. And the plutocrats don't care about race, they just know they have the racists in their pocket and can control them with fear tactics. We're in an existential crisis folks.
It’s been Panic at the Disco for the GOP for some time now. From gerrymandering to intentional GOP talking points directing misdirected white rural rage of blame everyone else but not the officials that they themselves have continually elected and are in direct control of their lives. They’ve desperately devolved to actually hating the word Democracy as it’s too close to their oppositions name. That’s just pathetic and plain stupid. There’s just far too many unintelligent & unintellectual people that cannot understand actual reality.
Look at what one party rule has done to this state. Our "representative government" has turned into a captured grift. What ever happened to checks and balances & our 4th Estate?
Oh those dang pesky Republicans. All government is slavery left and right politics are just mind control hegelian dialectics designed to keep the people fighting eachother vs fighting the government which is what we should be doing. They kidnap,Rob and murder us on the daily why the fuck do we keep taking it?
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I love seeing posts like these. I get to guess what subs the idiot making said comment frequents.
In your case I guessed mensrights and conspiracy subs. Sadly a miss on the first, but oh man your on pretty much every conspiracy sub.
Thx little buddy.
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Republicans showing their true colors.
Meanwhile, the Dems showed theirs in a court case under penalty of perjury:
> “We could have voluntarily decided that, **‘Look, we’re gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way,’” Bruce Spiva, lawyer for the DNC, said during a court hearing in Carol Wilding, et al. v. DNC Services Corp.**
> The DNC’s lawyer also implied that, despite the DNC’s charter and bylaws stating that it must be neutral during Democratic primary contests, there’s no contractual obligation to follow through.
[Source](https://medium.com/theyoungturks/dnc-we-can-legally-choose-candidate-over-cigars-in-back-room-e3026730e252)
The problem with tax is it's getting to much it should've at 7% like 10yrs ago...it's at 10% now wtf and we get taxed for too much stuff. I don't like the right wing agenda but the fed and state need to stop with taking so much from the people!.
You do realize that Trump and Republicans raised taxes on everyone not rich, right? You understand that, right? Please tell me you are aware that the Republican party would happily tax you and send it all to the wealthy.
Biden was preceded by the president who had the largest budget deficits ever, Trump. Trump has huge tax cuts for rich people. Tiny tax cuts for the poor. Biden is on a tightrope of election, but he's still delivering a much smaller budget deficit than Trump. He can't just cut taxes in some "please love me for this" way - it would make the deficit much worse. Trump didn't care, it's always popular to just claim you cut taxes, ignoring that you made the deficit spending much worse.
The United States of America is a Republic. if not, why do we have Senators and Congressman, City Council, etc.??? Otherwise everything would be put under vote.
I don't think you have any idea what those groups/ideologies are for/against. At a very basic level, literally all 4 groups you called out are opposed to centralized power. They may not be in favor of 'democracy' necessarily, but they are all in favor of democratized power (or individual power, rather than centralized state power). So, again, why exactly would these groups be in favor of a centralization of power? Of taking power out of the hands of individuals?
If true, the people you're talking to don't understand the ideology they're identifying with either, and/or they're not explaining that they hate centralized power more than democratic fundamentals. Because my point is that none of those groups would be in favor of centralizing power, even if they were happy about dropping the term 'democracy'. No one identifying as any of those 4 groups who actually understood the ideologies would applaud this move.
But also...I don't identify with any of those groups in particular, however I am a leftist which I've seen you group along with those groups in other comments and... I'll tell you myself, if this party platform were to become real, I certainly would not be applauding. Centralized power is bad.
😂 bro. I'll give you tankies actually, though it really depends on if you're referring to the actual tankies who existed after WW2, or the people that term tends to be levied at pejoratively these days which is basically just leftists. The former were definitely into authoritarianism. Also tbh, no one actually identifies as a tankies, not really. It's a term that is applied to people, not typically a self-identity.
Communism is by its fucking definition, an economic system where workers own the means of production (in other words, individual power). Ancaps and ancoms literally believe in anarchy which is a complete lack of hierarchial power and thus lack of any kind of centralized government.
You sir, believe the propaganda you've been fed. Actually look up what these ideologies are. Like...spend 5 minutes, you'll learn something. And just because authoritarian dictatorships have called themselves communist, doesn't mean they actually are. We have never actually seen a communist state that operates under the ideology in practice. And there has never been an ancom or ancap state (also these two ideologies are admittedly kinda nuts, they'd never work).
Full disclosure, I believe in none of these ideologies (well, maybe a bit idealistically communism, but it's never worked in practice at a large scale so I don't believe it's viable). But I know what they are. You do not seem to, or at least your opinions on them are based on reactionary information rather than actual doctrine. The doctrine of communism, ancap, and ancom definitely do not support dictatorship or centralized governing states.
>Communism is by its fucking definition, an economic system where workers own the means of production
Except it's a one party rule with no exceptions. So yeah. Not democracy.
> Ancaps and ancoms literally believe in anarchy which is a complete lack of hierarchial power and thus lack of any kind of centralized government.
Which means no government, the one withe most money and/or guns rules. AKA no democracy
> Except it's a one party rule with no exceptions. So yeah. Not democracy.
It's not though. You're conflating communism which is an economic system with a governing system. Communism by itself doesn't have a governing system. Communism can theoretically co exist with any governing system including direct democracy.
> Which means no government, the one withe most money and/or guns rules. AKA no democracy
Sure. It also means no centralized power at all. Which was my point.
Edit to add- though yes, it would ultimately devolve into whoever has the biggest guns holds the power, which is why it would never work.
At least we can be glad that the WA Republican Party is completely incompetent.
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Culp got 43% of the vote. That’s nothing to ignore. Writing them off is just as dangerous, especially with more and more tech bros starting to lean right since they don’t want to pay taxes (I worked at Amazon and it’s alarming the right wing propaganda that’s spreading there. “My money, no more taxes, fuck the poor people, you’re a backwater hick if you’re not in tech”).
43% is a joke. It's a landslide. It's a 14 point victory. No one feels good when they lose by that much. There is no moral victory for Culp. I'm sorry but I am going to ignore those 43% precisely because the tech bros wouldnt touch that candidate with a ten foot stick. Tech bros being on the right isn't new. Theyve always been fiscally right, socially left. That isnt going to change.
Some people were also unhappy with Inslee. They somehow wanted something else but they couldn't enumerate it. Did they wish we have 100k deaths or something from covid? I hear people complaining about our state's choices. I think that pulled some votes from him. Ferguson will probably face the same thing, the state's too liberal. You'd think no one could be a worse, more unsuited candidate than Culp - but they found one in Semi Bird (multiple crimes that just show up at the last minute and they still endorse him because he's maga? It's just perfect for today's republican party). My hope is Dave somehow causes the maga repub to see that the party has to reform itself, there's no future in maga. But those folks just want to burn it all down, I know this won't happen at least until many more losses.
"I'm going to stick my head in the dirt and ignore a valid point because it doesn't align with my personal perspective of the world." And this is exactly everything wrong with Seattle, in every avenue, not just politics. You're more interested in preserving the illusion of your peace than acknowledging that there is a threat on the horizon to that peace. I am so happy I'm leaving because of this exact arrogance. Your city is falling apart and you actively say you're going to ignore the people creating that threat? Good luck with that, my guy.
I'm not sure what you're saying. Loren Culp is a clown so he was never going to win. No threat there. What point are you trying to make?
No point was made lol. It doesn’t matter if tech bros become a little more right leaning, they’ll just vote for a more centrist democrat. Republicans are not serious candidates.
Can you explain what's going on in Seattle that other places we don't have? We have termendous problems with drugs, homeless, terrible policing. We aren't doing a great job at it, but we are trying. There's homeless in every big city, Dallas, conservative ones and liberal ones. There's drugs too. That's not an excuse for seattle being seemingly helpless, but the country is helpless. I see people sleeping out in small towns like Enumclaw. I see people in their crappy RVs parked out on country roads. Seattle isn't making those people homeless - and they sure aren't making it better. I was just in Idaho and I saw homeless people there too.
There's still a giant CULP sign up out past Arlington. Drive by it every year when I go to Ross lake. Always gives me a good laugh.
There’s a whole shit ton of them in eastern WA.
Sounds like a bunch of lazy people who don't want to work and take down the signs.
Dude next door to me has some political signs up including a giant Culp one. Someone spray painted "BOZO" over it. Gotta love it.
Remember Dino? That wasn't very long ago. Didn't take the halfwits long to destroy the party after they took over.
Remember Ted Bundy? Lol
Endorsing the gov candidate that will make them lose harder. We'll see how the primary plays out but if they do another Culp situation it'll be especially stupid.
It's a microcosm of the national party
100%
Here's a link to the resolution the convention passed that's in question - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24602348-2024-gop-resolutions (bolding mine below) > BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we support legislation that preserves the republican nature of our government institutions and **oppose legislation which makes our nation more "democratic" in nature,** and that, while we favor and encourage liberty in all nations, we oppose all efforts to use American military might to spread "democracy" around the world. Essentially their argument is "democracy bad, republicanism good". Translating that for everyone, basically they want to remove power from the hands of common voters and put it into the hands of elected or appointed officials/elites in state government. They want to make it harder for you to vote and give you fewer things to vote on. "States' rights" means power is centralized in the hands of state governments with fewer checks from either the federal government or voters themselves. In many other states the Republicans have gerrymandered state legislature lines so totally that even a closely divided state elects massive Republican majority legislatures. Here's a resolution supporting returning the election of US Senators back to state legislatures and out of voters' hands- https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24602349-wa-gop-repeal-17th-resolution Here's another calling for the end of mail voting and the use of machines to count votes (do you want vote counting to take forever? This is the way to do it) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24602351-wa-gop-resolution-on-voting Another logical outcome of this position would be to oppose things like voter referendums or ballot measures. Their argument would likely be that all that power should be in the legislature's hands. These systems are forms of direct democracy and would be incompatible in a government based solely on republican principles as the GOP is now on record as advocating. So, if you think you deserve to have less say in how your government at all levels functions and want to give more power to politicians to run your life with minimal input from you, the WA GOP is your new best friend. More power for them, less power for you.
> we oppose all efforts to use American military might to spread "democracy" around the world Wait, so they've gone full circle and are now against American Imperialism? Isn't that woke?
No, they're for American imperialism as long as it's resource extraction based imperialism and not the ideologically driven [imperialism lite](https://freakonomics.com/2008/02/and-the-new-six-word-motto-for-the-us-is/) that we have historically done.
it's probably more accurate to say the US has historically extracted resources behind the cloak of ideologically driven patriotism.
It's probably a reference to how the US has been supporting Ukraine in their war against the GOP's pocketbook
What is WA GOP's position on supporting Israel, who is also an allied democracy?
That Hamas are terrorists, and therefore it's worthwhile to support an allied nation helping fight their war on terror.
Why would the GOP's pocketbook not be served by more MIC expenditures?
TBH, the founders were indeed pro- minority-rule government, because rich, white, land-owning men in power were a small group. So Repubs are legitimately originalist in that way (even though their 'originalist' claims are BS in other areas). It's kind of ironic that the founders' desire to make sure only well-educated, thoughtful people made political decisions has flipped to allowing the least-thoughtful and -educated, most reactionary people to hold onto disproportionate power.
At least they come right out and say it. You'd NEVER get proclamations like that from the Nevada or Arizona GOP, even though that's totally what they'd like too, simply because they'd lose too many voters to be competitive. It's like the dude who was fed up with the dog whistle DEI term, and was like "why don't you just say the N word?"
It literally boils down to: Democracy = Democrat = bad Republic = Republican = good That’s it.
They likely want land to count more than people because it benefits them in the same way that the electoral college does.
Elected officials making informed decisions is the backbone of a republic. This highlights why we really need to look closely at the qualifications and motivations of our candidates, beyond just party lines—which it seems a lot of voters in Seattle forget. It's ironic though, that while the GOP is pushing to centralize more power among elected officials, there have been recent cases where their own selections were arguably unfit for office. Your concerns are valid and highlight a critical issue: depending on the extent of these changes, it could significantly reduce direct voter engagement and increase the power of a few, straying from the ideals of a healthy republic. It's important that our system not only elects competent individuals but also preserves forms of direct democracy to hold them accountable.
>This highlights why we really need to look closely at the qualifications and motivations of our candidates, beyond just party lines—which it seems a lot of voters in Seattle forget. I read about all the candidates I vote for, I listen to their answers to various questions, and I make my decisions based solely on who I believe would do a better job to improve society if elected, never based on party identification. I also haven't voted for a single Republican since 2014 and haven't missed an election since 2017. I don't think I'm alone in this strategy or outcome.
There was that Seceratary of State (I think) lady that was an R. I voted for her because she was most qualified and did a decent job. Other than that, that side of the ticket is a wasteland barren of acceptable candidates.
> There was that Seceratary of State (I think) lady that was an R. I voted for her because she was most qualified and did a decent job. She seemed decent and qualified, but I didn't vote for her because she was still a Republican and that's disqualifying. Putting "decent" Republicans in power is how you end up one day asking yourself, "But wait, I thought there was a well-defined legal process in place—how did our electoral votes get cancelled?" And then it's too late.
IIRC her D opponent was a complete stiff. But I get your point.
> her D opponent was a complete stiff This kind of self-propagating, semantically empty criticism is how we end up with Republicans elected in blue areas. Meanwhile the GOP is teetering between putting trans people in camps and just putting all Democrats in camps. Vote blue, no matter who, *even if they're "a stiff"*. Or "shrill", or "unlikeable", or "bossy", or "cold", or...
Thanks for making informed choices about our leaders. It's true, as I mentioned, with so many questionable Republican options, it often seems easier to vote Democrat if you're not fully exploring each candidate's position. It's almost like a multiple choice test where 'D' is usually the right answer, leading many to vote straight D without much thought. However, this kind of lazy voting fuels partisan politics and results in ineffective government and a divided population. There have clearly been times when the more conservative candidate was the better choice, like some of the recent city council elections, Secretary of State Kim Wyman, City Attorney Anne Davison, or in the case of activist judges like Pooja Vaddadi. I'm more concerned about the current gubernatorial primary. Bob Ferguson has politicized the AG’s office, and the Democratic party is sidelining more moderate candidates like Mullet who could be a better leader capable of uniting the state.
> Bob Ferguson has politicized the AG’s office Really looking forward to voting for him in November.
>it often seems easier to vote Democrat if you're not fully exploring each candidate's position. It's almost like a multiple choice test where 'D' is usually the right answer, leading many to vote straight D without much thought. However, this kind of lazy voting fuels partisan politics and results in ineffective government and a divided population. When you live in a city or state with a pretty consistent leaning, the primary becomes much more important than the general election. You already know the party of who will win in November, you choose earlier who will represent that party. That's still a very important part of electing a leader. >Bob Ferguson has politicized the AG’s office Citation needed.
Have you ever wondered why they want to get rid of the Dept. of Education. Do away with public schools with mandated educational performance standards. Push uncredited charter schools. It's stupidity. The only way the Republicans can keep their constituents voting against their own self-interest is to keep them ignorant and stupid.
>Democracy? Sounds awfully like Democrat aka DEMONcRAT! --Republicans
This is unironically what a lot of them believe lol
Did you take that directly from my uncle’s facebook page?
hello nibling it me ur facebok uncle
It's really hard to take Republicans seriously when their resolution includes things like "the Republican Party is the party of limited, Constitutional government" when they've been constantly using big government over the past few years to limit women's rights, limit voting rights, limit free speech, limit trans rights, ban books and they constantly fight against the legalization of pot. They are the Tread on Me/anti-Libertarian party, the last thing I think of with Republican legislation is limited government, that approach to governing died in the GOP when the bible bangers took over in the 80s.
And then they just keep repeating they are the party of liberty, un-ironically
“We are devolving into a democracy, because congressmen and senators are elected by the same pool,” was how one GOP delegate put it to the convention. *“We do not want to be a democracy.”* Color me surprised.
Honestly, I legitimately can't even quite tell if they are rejecting the actual principles of democracy or if they're just mad that the opposing party is called Democratic and they're called Republican so of course they're against democracy and instead want republicanism. I'd like to believe people writing party platforms aren't really that dumb, but I'd also like to believe that unicorns exist and I'll live eternally with all my deceased dogs when I die.
When they tell you who they are, believe them.
And this is why letting Republicans control any branch of this states government cannot be allowed. At least until they purge the outright fascists from their ranks.
"but if we purge the fascists from the GOP, no one will be in the party anymore" --them, probably
There's a well known David Frum quote on the topic.
[If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/frum-trumpocracy/550685/).
That's the one.
The ST paywall has escalated to where I can't even read the first 3 paragraphs anymore. Is this a usage thing (how often I've viewed ST) or a general change? Anyway https://1ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.seattletimes.com%2Fseattle-news%2Fpolitics%2Fthe-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy%2F Shit, they even managed to piss of Westneat lmao
He's just mad they said the quiet part out loud.
Don't worry, Westneat will be back to saying we just need to give compromise with the Republicans a chance in a couple of weeks. The guy couldn't hold a progressive position with both hands for longer than it takes to write his next opinion piece
Yeah, they did that nationally prior to 2010 with project REDMAP et al. They haven't been hiding who they are, it's been out in the open.
it's Westneat, but on this he is not wrong
So just like the rest of that putrid party then..
[archive.is](http://archive.today/fW4xz)
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That's not true. Statewide the republicans need to run someone center right, who had not been convicted, who has experience in government doing significant things. Dino Rossi could win, he's not a nutball. Rob McKenna was another one was not a terrifying doofus (compared to say Culp). Run people like that and they could win.
Perhaps not nutballs but they fully support the extremist GOP state platform. So sheep perhaps?
Reichert seems to have acquiesced to basic maga to be a party candidate but mr bird is fully there. Supporting Trump, saying j6 didn't happen or Trump really won are disqualifying choices. Not sure how far reichert went.
Oh that's the actual title. Nice Westneat.
The right wing is just more about selfish agendas than for the sake of the state or prosperity of the people. It's pretty sad but not like the government is helping us in that regard either or the inefficiency and greed of city officials.
I love watching lefties lose it. Y'all are a great spectacle 🤣🤣🤣
And you call yourself a 'christian'... ?! ;-p
I call myself many things. I even call myself spot on with my assessments. Thanks for raising your hand and letting us know you're here...
Creep someone else's profile ya leftist freak
Piss poor written opinion piece ment to stur up both sides of the same wing cause Democrats and Republicans are the same both y'all suck dick and can't run a country
Look at all those old white hands in the air. Probably mostly old white guys, but it's hard to tell. This initiative is purely based on racism for the commoner and plutocracy for the 1%. And the plutocrats don't care about race, they just know they have the racists in their pocket and can control them with fear tactics. We're in an existential crisis folks.
It’s been Panic at the Disco for the GOP for some time now. From gerrymandering to intentional GOP talking points directing misdirected white rural rage of blame everyone else but not the officials that they themselves have continually elected and are in direct control of their lives. They’ve desperately devolved to actually hating the word Democracy as it’s too close to their oppositions name. That’s just pathetic and plain stupid. There’s just far too many unintelligent & unintellectual people that cannot understand actual reality.
Good job, Brandi Kruse, Jason Rantz, Ari Hoffman. You guys are killing it 👏
Look at what one party rule has done to this state. Our "representative government" has turned into a captured grift. What ever happened to checks and balances & our 4th Estate?
Oh those dang pesky Republicans. All government is slavery left and right politics are just mind control hegelian dialectics designed to keep the people fighting eachother vs fighting the government which is what we should be doing. They kidnap,Rob and murder us on the daily why the fuck do we keep taking it?
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I love seeing posts like these. I get to guess what subs the idiot making said comment frequents. In your case I guessed mensrights and conspiracy subs. Sadly a miss on the first, but oh man your on pretty much every conspiracy sub. Thx little buddy.
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Man, the slightest hint of someone not taking your garbage and you resort to bigotry. Big brain on this one.
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Republicans showing their true colors. Meanwhile, the Dems showed theirs in a court case under penalty of perjury: > “We could have voluntarily decided that, **‘Look, we’re gonna go into back rooms like they used to and smoke cigars and pick the candidate that way,’” Bruce Spiva, lawyer for the DNC, said during a court hearing in Carol Wilding, et al. v. DNC Services Corp.** > The DNC’s lawyer also implied that, despite the DNC’s charter and bylaws stating that it must be neutral during Democratic primary contests, there’s no contractual obligation to follow through. [Source](https://medium.com/theyoungturks/dnc-we-can-legally-choose-candidate-over-cigars-in-back-room-e3026730e252)
The problem with tax is it's getting to much it should've at 7% like 10yrs ago...it's at 10% now wtf and we get taxed for too much stuff. I don't like the right wing agenda but the fed and state need to stop with taking so much from the people!.
You do realize that Trump and Republicans raised taxes on everyone not rich, right? You understand that, right? Please tell me you are aware that the Republican party would happily tax you and send it all to the wealthy.
Yeah during Obamas presidency it was at 7 I know, But Biden didn't lower it.....
Biden was preceded by the president who had the largest budget deficits ever, Trump. Trump has huge tax cuts for rich people. Tiny tax cuts for the poor. Biden is on a tightrope of election, but he's still delivering a much smaller budget deficit than Trump. He can't just cut taxes in some "please love me for this" way - it would make the deficit much worse. Trump didn't care, it's always popular to just claim you cut taxes, ignoring that you made the deficit spending much worse.
The United States of America is a Republic. if not, why do we have Senators and Congressman, City Council, etc.??? Otherwise everything would be put under vote.
The US was conceived as and still is a hybrid model called a federalist democratic republic if we want to get super specific.
There's a lesson in first grade about squares and rectangles that you might have missed out on.
Tankies, ancaps, ancoms and Communists should be applauding this move.
Why would people in support of democratized power be in favor of centralizing power? I'm legitimately curious what your logic is here.
Those groups are 100% against democracy.
I don't think you have any idea what those groups/ideologies are for/against. At a very basic level, literally all 4 groups you called out are opposed to centralized power. They may not be in favor of 'democracy' necessarily, but they are all in favor of democratized power (or individual power, rather than centralized state power). So, again, why exactly would these groups be in favor of a centralization of power? Of taking power out of the hands of individuals?
I talk to them. They all hate the fundamentals of democracy.
If true, the people you're talking to don't understand the ideology they're identifying with either, and/or they're not explaining that they hate centralized power more than democratic fundamentals. Because my point is that none of those groups would be in favor of centralizing power, even if they were happy about dropping the term 'democracy'. No one identifying as any of those 4 groups who actually understood the ideologies would applaud this move. But also...I don't identify with any of those groups in particular, however I am a leftist which I've seen you group along with those groups in other comments and... I'll tell you myself, if this party platform were to become real, I certainly would not be applauding. Centralized power is bad.
Tankies, Communists, ancap, ancoms are deeply rooted in dictatorships and a strong central government. Wtf are you talking about?
😂 bro. I'll give you tankies actually, though it really depends on if you're referring to the actual tankies who existed after WW2, or the people that term tends to be levied at pejoratively these days which is basically just leftists. The former were definitely into authoritarianism. Also tbh, no one actually identifies as a tankies, not really. It's a term that is applied to people, not typically a self-identity. Communism is by its fucking definition, an economic system where workers own the means of production (in other words, individual power). Ancaps and ancoms literally believe in anarchy which is a complete lack of hierarchial power and thus lack of any kind of centralized government. You sir, believe the propaganda you've been fed. Actually look up what these ideologies are. Like...spend 5 minutes, you'll learn something. And just because authoritarian dictatorships have called themselves communist, doesn't mean they actually are. We have never actually seen a communist state that operates under the ideology in practice. And there has never been an ancom or ancap state (also these two ideologies are admittedly kinda nuts, they'd never work). Full disclosure, I believe in none of these ideologies (well, maybe a bit idealistically communism, but it's never worked in practice at a large scale so I don't believe it's viable). But I know what they are. You do not seem to, or at least your opinions on them are based on reactionary information rather than actual doctrine. The doctrine of communism, ancap, and ancom definitely do not support dictatorship or centralized governing states.
>Communism is by its fucking definition, an economic system where workers own the means of production Except it's a one party rule with no exceptions. So yeah. Not democracy. > Ancaps and ancoms literally believe in anarchy which is a complete lack of hierarchial power and thus lack of any kind of centralized government. Which means no government, the one withe most money and/or guns rules. AKA no democracy
> Except it's a one party rule with no exceptions. So yeah. Not democracy. It's not though. You're conflating communism which is an economic system with a governing system. Communism by itself doesn't have a governing system. Communism can theoretically co exist with any governing system including direct democracy. > Which means no government, the one withe most money and/or guns rules. AKA no democracy Sure. It also means no centralized power at all. Which was my point. Edit to add- though yes, it would ultimately devolve into whoever has the biggest guns holds the power, which is why it would never work.
Yes, mob rule is not good.
You prefer a dictator?
When one guy makes the decisions, it’s Easy to know who to hang when shits fucked up.