Political Memes

What happens when the bigots run amok? What happens when they run the local town, the state, the country? What happens when, say, the average individual is a total piece of shit? In our country the idea is to put our best minds forward. We fought a damn civil war for crying out loud; it wasn't like the North could just boycott plantations in the south and that would've resolved the issue of slavery. It wasn't like vast swaths of the country who actually evolved beyond segregation could boycott southern states like Alabama and prevent discrimination both at state level (schools such as in Brown v. Board of Education), or stop going to bars that were well-received locally. Such segregated establishments of the deep south were surely thriving. Such civil rights laws are used to provide a gateway of Protections and Change not just for issues that have been resolved but for future issues that violate the spirit of said laws.

My concern remains to be the contradictory argument that government should be small but yet large enough to enforce interpersonal conflicts and civil rights issues. If we open up the door to that, then you are probably getting closer to what the average Democrat is today. There really isn't a difference between sending your tax-dollars to a Democratic institution versus a charity; in fact the former can be stronger because they have the capacity to create and enforce laws, whereas charities can only really address symptoms as opposed to root causes. Moreover we must understand that there have been largely needless middle-men and our convoluted private health insurance system is chief among them as to why making a profit off of healthcare is both morally wrong and inefficient. So while I'm not opposed to having a regulated market system of trade and enterprise, there should certainly be industries off-limits and considered a public service -- hence why I'm more closely aligned with Social Democracies.

You're spot-on regarding manufacturing -- both in terms of addressing negative market externalities like pollution, as well as how much we've pivoted to building elsewhere. Though at the same time I don't think many Americans particularly want to do the kind of work China and Taiwan do; or at least not accept the price we'd have to pay upfront for it either. I remember my conservative Economics professor touting this as "comparative advantage," but really, let's call it what it really is: human rights exploitation.

Whether MAGA is being called out -- they still win elections and still sow terrible consequences for people across the country; their results have taken away rights from women, taken away rights from voters in axing the VRA. They are still a threat despite being out in the open because that's the nature of ignorant populism built on fearmongering and lies. In a perfect world they'd be shunned and explained why they're wrong, but that's not how rhetoric works -- especially when the largest megaphones are held by the conservatives. And due to the Electoral College, MAGA can still easily win despite never once attaining the popular vote of the country. So clearly more must be done beyond just calling them out; action must be taken for a group who knows no shame and a group who props itself up and enables their businesses to continue operating.