I'm fine with Mac Mathias being called a "liberal", and indeed he was such on the spectrum of R's.jhu72 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 6:49 pmYou realize of course that Mac Mathias was a liberal. I voted for him.MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 6:38 pmcradleandshoot wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 5:57 pmI'm a lifelong R, a fiscal conservative, someone who believes in checks and balances, individual rights, etc. I favor slow, careful progress not populism and 'revolution'.MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 10:50 amPeter Brown wrote: ↑Tue Jan 07, 2020 9:56 am Humans are wired to survive (thrive even).
As liberals decide to have fewer babies (science supports this theory) and conservatives keep producing, there will be a natural darwinian devolution of liberals' impact on society writ large (not either-or, but a slow-at-first reduction then a tsunami in about 50 years).
The tipping point is today, hence the daily histrionics (free speech suppression, physically assaulting conservatives, etc...) and societal hail-mary's (the rise of socialism by the Democratic Party). The America election in 2020 is so critical to the continued greatness of America and helps explain why some embrace Trump who would ordinarily not care for the man. There can be no doubt how critical this election is to your children and grandchildren; it has zero to do with Trump and everything to do with whether you get to live in a free country or not with them. They will be fine; darwinism assures that. It's the next 20 years that's at stake.
Please provide the 'science' behind that claim.
Birth rate is driven by economics.
Poor people with high early death rates have more children. When economies, standards of living, and educational opportunities improve, birth rates decline.
The demographics in the US, a very wealthy nation, will continue to rapidly move from those identifying as "White Christian" to a far more diverse population than when we were kids. Likewise, this population will have more and more access to education, and educational attainment will continue to be disproportionately rewarded.
If "conservatives" want to compete ideologically it needs to be on the basis of the attractiveness of their ideas, not their demographic fears and bigotries.
Right now, the Trumpist GOP is competing on the latter, a death rattle IMO.
The only path for them to maintain a dominant, demographic position in the US is some form of authoritarian fascism. The opposite of what you profess as a goal "a free country".
I'm a lifelong R, a fiscal conservative, someone who believes in checks and balances, individual rights, etc. I favor slow, careful progress not populism and 'revolution'. But I don't buy for a moment that we need to hate Dems and be knee jerk afraid of 'socialism' (Social Security, Medicare, free public education, etc).
I want to see Trumpism thoroughly, even ignominiously, defeated, so that actual "conservatives" can again compete rationally on the basis of their ideas, not their fears and bigotries. Sooner the better.
Ya know for a lifelong republican you have never once ever mentioned any of your idols in the republican party. I would hazard a guess that a lifelong Rockefeller RINO such as yourself would have SOME actual republican that you may have supported at some time in your life. Since you never speak of any such admiration for any republican I can only guess that outside of Abe Lincoln you have no republicans you admire. I am disgusted by all republicans but I can think of 3 that I respect... Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and Jack Kemp. What say you there our resident RINO suckup? Be honest now, some of your suckup friends here might even hurt your feelings and criticize you for being honest.
Funny, those 3: Reagan, Kemp, Dole, were certainly among those who I, on net, admired and supported. Certainly HW Bush as well.
Here in my state, Senator Mac Mathias would fit my definition of someone I was very enthusiastic about in his day.
None were "idols". I'm just not the idolatry sort.
I was in the stands for Reagan's two Inaugurations, right across from them...pretty cool. I didn't vote for either major party's candidate in '80 (like '16), Reagan's rhetoric worried me, but I warmed up to him with time. Personality was a big plus, his love and respect of his wife was palpable, his love of country unquestionable. But not an idol, not someone to be put on a pedestal.
I never met Dole or Reagan in person, but Jack Kemp's son was a fraternity brother, QB of our college team, and I met Jack a bunch of times. I liked his policy views a lot, felt he was willing to think outside of the standard box, a more cerebral guy than one might expect from the typical ex football star. On the other hand, he had the way of some politicians of seeming to always being looking past you to the next person who might be more important. That was unsettling, but I liked his policy ideas. And his son.
I hear from friends who know W that he was quite the opposite in small groups, you felt you had his undivided attention. Smarter guy than many gave him credit for being, they say. Certainly not perfect, though. I did very much like his instinct around "compassionate conservatism" and I liked very much how he handled 9-11, but I think he over-trusted his VP...
I was an enthusiastic supporter of Mitt Romney's '12 campaign as he and my wife worked at Bain in the same era and I'd followed his career closely as a result. I'm frustrated with him right now.
Today, I strongly support our GOP Governor, Larry Hogan, who enjoys a 75% approval rating in very blue Maryland (Trump is at 37%). I've met him a few times, but can't say that I know him well...but he's hired significantly better than his predecessors and they've done a good job. I don't agree with every policy position, but I do think he's done a good job of managing the state restraining a very D legislature, yet managing to keep the population enthusiastic. A lot of that is personal style, just not being a jerk. His dad, btw, was the first GOP Congressman on the Judiciary Committee who called for impeachment of Nixon.
I know our prior GOP Governor and former Congressman Bob Ehrlich better as he was a class ahead of me in HS. I've always enjoyed Bobby, haven't always 100% agreed with his policy views, but fundamentally a good guy. Unlike Hogan, however, Bobby was more directly confrontational, and as result, actually accomplished less.
Of the current GOP crew in Congress I hold out some hope for a few souls, but most of those who I felt were first class folks have been pushed out of the party by Trumpism, or in McCain's case, deceased. Same for those who were less 'politicians' than public servants ala Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice or intellectuals like George Will, etc.
Some (like some Dems, IMO) are 'deplorable' in their degree of partisanship, putting their partisan interest over country. And a few are flat out evil folks, period. I'd have said the same for some of the southern Dems in my youth.
I wouldn't put him the same box as George McGovern, though, would you?
In 1968, Republican Mathias defeated Brewster who had doubled down on support for the Vietnam War and then was caught up in a campaign bribery charge that ultimately led to his being fined.
Small world, Brewster's son Gerry (a liberal Dem) and Bob Ehrlich were in the same class in my HS, a year ahead of me. Both went on to Princeton. Gerry actually went to work for Mac Mathias, who had defeated his dad. He and Ehrlich faced off for the Congressional seat that Bobby won.