Can anybody here show both-siderism isn't bullsh*t?

[goaded]

Do

• Both sides try to overturn elections?
• Both sides foment hate towards minorities?
• Both sides deny global warming?
• Both sides increase the deficit when times are good (and the economy can stand to reduce it)?
• Both sides claim every one of the other side is an extremist?
• Both sides' journalists outright lie to their viewers?

Updates

1 y

First time deleting an opinion unrequested. If you're going to come in, lie, then refuse to discuss it, what's the point?

"Unlike Republicans who held a peaceful protest" my ass. We all saw it in real time. There was also a concerted effort to steal the presidency, so much so that lawmakers requested pardons from Trump for their crimes. They should have been investigated starting Jan 21 2021, along with their leader Trump.

[Danzigdawson]

There are people who pretend that neutrality and cynism is necessarily a sign of coolheadedness and intelligence, primarily because they don't see themselves as falling victim to the passion and bias which often characterize partisan politics.

But that's a one-size-fits-all solution. Black and white thinking. It's more the personal statement of a contrarian than the result of a genuine, deep reflexion about the pertinence and usefulness of politics.

Of course, it may be appropriate or inconsequential to think that way in times of peace and prosperity, when most political parties and voters will avoid and discredit extremism of any kind, often resulting in obvious similarities between platforms. There are times when choosing one party over another one doesn't really matter that much, even if, in my opinion, it always does.

However, I think that it's important that people learn to be aware that things change constantly. Not all parties remain the same forever. Some elections are more important than others. The context is never exactly the same. Some issues are more crucial than others and some politicians are way more evil/incompetent/dangerous than others.

That kind of thinking doesn't apply everytime. Sometimes, we do need to pick a side and we all need to stay informed about the current state of politics, because, sooner or later, one may learn that he/she'll have to suffer the consequences of his/her "I-don't-care"icanism. And it'll be too late to do anything about it.

[goaded]

Not taking a stance between truth and lies is supporting the lies. It's really not that difficult to understand.

[Danzigdawson]

@goaded That's right!

[FutanariEnjoyer]

It very much is a plague on our country. This apathetic, fatalistic view towards our politics and the things we can do to slow the increasing expanse of bigoted tyrants contributes a lot to why the U. S is the way it is today. My heart bleeds for the trans people of our country, and I hope one day they'll find justice for what's been done to them.

[Gwendoline]

Not American but

•Both sides try to overturn elections?

-Were the Democrats not seeking to stop Trump from taking office despite the election?

•Both sides foment hate towards minorities?

- are white conservatives not a minority in America?

•Both sides deny global warming?

- the recent fire in california the most liberal state in America shows that many liberals they are deluding themselves about how they are fighting climate change with electric cars while ignoring the impact they have on the local climate. Global warming has been changed to climate change, because there is no certainty as to what exactly the knock on effects are going to be.

•Both sides increase the deficit when times are good (and the economy can stand to reduce it)?

-Both Democrats and Republicans have continued to borrow, the deregulation in the early 90s that lead to the Global recession is an example, caused by bad bank loans.

•Both sides claim every one of the other side is an extremist?

-The pot often calls the kettle black

•Both sides' journalists outright lie to their viewers?

-mainstream media lies, nobody trusts it anymore. It's a propaganda device for governments or corporations or both.

Most people are neither left or right.

[goaded]

No, they weren't. If you put enough qualifiers on it, you can turn any group into a minority; you know what everybody means. Global warming was renamed climate change by a Republican wordsmith because it sounds less scary (and the physics behind it was worked out closer to the invention of the steam engine than today). Democratic administrations have consistently reduced the deficit, while Republican ones have increased it. Democrats are not communists, by any definition of either. The media on the left may leave out inconvenient truths, on the right they outright make stuff up.

[Gwendoline]

Think climate change was the term they started using became of the history of the climate changing, probably because the earth gets warmer every 100,000 years or so and then plummets into an ice age and we are overdue.
Aa for the deficit. The data is there. It went through the roof with Obama, lowered a bit when trump took power in 2016 and rose a bit but still lower than Obama, went through the roof in 2019& 2020 and though lowering is still higher under Biden than trump.
fiscaldata.treasury.gov/.../

[goaded]

No, the name change was definitely because of Frank Luntz, who also came up with "death tax" (instead of inheritance tax), and a couple of other misleading terms. He even claims to regret the climate change one. You can look him up.

You have to bear in mind what year's policy a deficit is the result of. From your link: "Since 2001, the federal government’s budget has run a deficit each year." (Clinton handed Bush a surplus (all things being equal it would have resulted in the national debt having been paid off by now), which he instantly squandered on tax cuts.

2018 would have been the first year Trump could have affected, with his 2017 tax cuts.

While we're at it, Obama and Biden were handed recessions, Bush and Trump (both times) were handed healthy and improving economies.

[Gwendoline]

I'm just going by the bar graph

[goaded]

eu.usatoday.com/.../ "The claim: 'Every GOP administration since Reagan has overseen a recession while every Democratic administration since then has overseen a strong recovery and economic boom.'" "Our rating: True"

[Dargil]

You, my brother, are coming around. Its why I RECOMMENDED to the DNC that Jeh Johnson should have been called and groomed to run against Trump. If he had won, we all would have won. We need rational opposing views not emotion soaked rants. Good ones are the debates on H1b visas and tariffs.

[dustybiker2]

It's politics. It's goal is to keep hold of power. People in it will say and do almost anything.

[goaded]

Shouldn't there also be a goal of doing something good with that power.

[dustybiker2]

Of course. But they won't. For differing reasons depending on party.

[DryGermanGuy]

I wouldn't even want to try, it's inherent to the American two-party political system. As is the desperate sane-washing of MAGA statements by their press lackeys.

[slatyb]

Let's just take the first four, which can be verified. We know the Republicans have done all these things. When have Democrats done any of those things in the past 50 years?

[In_Trance]

Both sides will make you pay more taxes
Both sides will not stop inflation
Both sides are pro war
Both sides are pro drugs
Both sides are total support for Israel

[NathanDavis]

yes, they do...

[goaded]

Go on then.