Maybe you grew tired of being called a racist, sexist, xenophobic asshole?

Not that Republicans are that much better; especially with some social issues and the religious nonsense you mention.

The priviledged white male with less than 1k in the bank.

Right, this is me. My wife is dying right now, she is curable, but she is dying right this second. Sometimes she is so still I just look to make sure her chest is moving. I could save her with 1500 bucks and some mail from India, but I don't have it. I do pay 600 a month for health insurance though. She has been too sick to work for at least 2 years, and I don't make a ton of money. Where is this privilege I keep hearing about? I am not against medicaid or welfare fyi. But sometimes I get a little frustrated with how benefits work. We had a friend who has the same thing as my wife, just not as advanced. When he got diagnosed, his doc wrote the script for the medication, he got it a week later, and was cured several months ago. I pay for insurance. My wife has been trying to get this medication for 3 years. Our insurance just denied our claim again. We will win the appeal, but that is an estimated 2 month process.

I do not begrudge my friend's ability to get treated, or anyone else. I really think dire health care services should be paid for by taxes for everyone. It is just when I hear about this privilege I supposedly enjoy, I really want to punch someone in the face. And somehow I can't get past the possibility that this whole thing is working exactly as intended.

sorry rant

She contracted hep C from a blood transfusion when she was 4. Back then, they didn't know what it was, much less how to screen for it. And I have to say all that every time I bring this up because it is a stigmatized disease. So not only is she very sick, but she gets treated like she has AIDS, it's great.

The medication is called Harvoni. When it came out a few years ago, it was $1000 a pill. It might have come down a bit since I checked, but the insurance costs are still 10's of thousands of dollars and you gotta drag them kicking and screaming to pay for it. But kind of a cool thing that happened is there is a situation that allows India to make low cost generics to service 3rd world countries and the like, without having to wait for the patent to expire.

I really think dire health care services should be paid for by taxes for everyone.

This is my belief too. Regular healthcare (anything that isn't both time sensitive and potentially deadly) should be completely capitalist, but this type of thing should be paid for by everyone.

Capitalism is good at many things, but providing something with completely inelastic demand at a reasonable price point within a timeline is not really one of them

Why do you even view anything as republican vs democrat is the question? How does that obvious bullshit still resonate with you?

Based on your comments alone, you sound like you'd identify with Republican politics anyway. I used to be Republican and realized I actually disagree with them on every issue. Maybe you're having the same epiphany.

You disagree with Republicans on every issue? The current republican platform is smaller government,a temporary halt to immigration, 2A rights, and anti-abortion.

The current Democratic platform is that of unfettered immigration, sanctuary cities, large government, gun control, and anyone who wants an abortion for any reason gets one. Basically, the exact opposite of the Republican platform if you really think about it.

So, you are saying that you identify with Democratic politics?

Even further, do you understand that by "Republican", I'm not referring to Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, John McCain, etc.?

The republican party has been co-opted.

People in this thread are liable to attack you for buying into the false dichotomy of blue vs red. And they are quite right to do so.

He's talking about people, not political platforms. It's more obtuse than you are making it.

Like this?

yes precisely.

He said not just politically but socially as well. Which means he identifies with "them" politically. I hold some conservative views so it's fine but the viewpoint of Republican vs Democrat is simply playing into the game of fake acting bullshit.

No, he was speaking about interacting with these people who identify with these politics. I may disagree with both sides, but I still have to interact with people who might be D or R. That was his point - you can think it's stupid but it doesn't mean you laugh at people in your life and expect to get anywhere with them.

Interacting with them how? I could have sworn he said not just politically but socially as well. It's not even a big deal because he or she is one of the 100+ million Americans that things in this way. He clearly said politically as well it's not really debatable.

How about both? i don't think it is that compartmentalized. my point is he was talking about the human side of things and relating to his community, which might feel more political minded than he does.

You tell us? What issues do you see yourself shredding with Republicans more than Democrats on?

99% of elected democrats are Christian big guy.

Which democrats convinced the voters that Christians are dumb fucks?

Well now I definitely believe you dont hang out with any Democrats.

Falling for the left vs right meme lololol

I was just thinking yesterday there is really no place for a lot of us to go. I don't really know anyone that thinks for themselves that still legitimately feels aligned with any party. Except people like my dad, who is 70 and still reads the whole paper every day, and believes he is being responsible about staying informed for doing so. But people my age? Nope. They have created a situation where the parties are so insane most normal people can't tolerate them. Leaves a huge chunk of people feeling alone and lost in the wilderness. Maybe that was the plan the whole time? Make everyone feel alone. It is suicide to bring up politics in polite conversation. I don't think anyone really knows what they like anymore, but we all sure know what we hate.

Total mindfuck

Most people do that. Why be ignorant of it and why can't people discuss it? Just because you are jaded with politics doesn't mean it's not impactful on society as a whole. Discussion and debate is the best way forward.

What are you even saying tbh

i'm saying that you being too smart to fall for the tricks of partisan politics doesn't mean that the rest of society is as 'woke' as you are. Laughing and deriding them for their ignorance isn't productive or constructive. The person you were responding to was speaking about interacting with these folks - not whether politics is worth putting energy into or not. People DO put energy into it and base their identity off of it, even if you don't.

you can live in the real world, or you can invent a world of your own. I prefer to live in reality and to try to get something done.

When I was growing up not so long ago, 'the left' was primarily about working class rights: unions, 40-hr work weeks, living wages, benefits, social safety nets, anti-discrimination (from a labor perspective) etc. With the rise of 'the sharing economy' it seems like the bent towards workers rights has been purged from both parties, with the left picking up identity politics in it's place. Unfortunately, this leaves the working class without someone to champion them, so they've flocked towards the person that speaks to them, which in this instance unfortunately was a con-man who could give a fuck less about poor people. The support for Sanders represented the true left base, but the democratic party had other plans.

Sad, interesting times we're living in.

Or they had something on him and he was controlled....

I mean, it's not like we have emails with Hilary's campaign talking about having compromised him or anything... /S

I'm not arguing Sanders was legit, I'm just saying the support for him and his message was indicative of the true left base, which traditionally has been labor-rights.

Bernie and Trump were closer to each other than the establishment of the parties they ran with. Both are corrupt in different ways.

Identity politics my good man. Assuming you are male and or white, the DNC does not care about you anymore.

Sure, if you think 3 is too many flavors of ice cream.

Back up a second, because the Democratic Party stopped being liberal when it started taking its money from Wall Street and the Military Complex.

The fact that some voters stuck with the Democratic Party speaks well for propaganda and brain washing. Liberal and progressive values have taken a real beating, partly by the failure of "socialism" in a lot of places, partly because even the Democratic Party abandoned liberal and progressive values, partly because the social justice warriors are so damn repulsive, partly because the feminists and the LGBT (especially the transgender agenda) are often also repulsive, and partly because workers have been equally screwed by both parties supporting Nafta, the TPP, endless war, etc. etc.

A decade ago the Repugs were in terrible shape, and really still are, now the Dems are in bad shape, but the country is stuck, the ideologies that supported either are kind of dead and nothing better has really come along, except libertarianism which is really infantile.

Civilization, culture, a society that functions, values, are in a state of flux with changes to technology that will not leave the education, prison or other institutions the way they were. The work that needs to be done is being resisted. Vested money. Old generations stuck in their ways. Fear of a million horrible things that are paraded in front of us including manufactured enemies and global climate collapse, etc. etc. So people are intellectually paralized and don't even appreciate the incredible benefits of civilization that they do in fact enjoy, a virtually miraculously fantastic set of infrastructure is horribly discounted, just as clean air, healthy earth, good water are also disastrously discounted and unprotected compared to how they should be treated. Even our food is not protected, or we eat and drink shit compared to what we could eat. And then we also are killing ourselves with bad drugs, legal and otherwise. So, its a mess alright. At this point, both the Dems and Repubs and the whole damn political process is so damn corrupt, unless the way corporations etc are allowed to buy off the politicians is ended, then so called democracy and so called free markets is over.

Regressive.

It's just identity politics, my friend. Corporate media push stereotypes to divide the people with assumptions about others:

-EWW you're a liberal, you must be a feminist, "white privilege", drug addict. -EWW you're a conservative, you must be a racist, gun nut, religious zealot retard.

It's propaganda. I'm not the only one who is:

-Economically center left and socially moderately left libertarian (but "liberal" is a vague nonsense word that many ideologies claim, so I don't use it, causes major confusion)

-Not a feminist, (humanist is less biased, with less of an agenda to screw up family units and causing men/women competitive division crap)

-Not pushing LGBT propaganda on children (I respect LGBT people like anyone else, but children shouldn't be confused like this, let them decide their feelings when they're older, otherwise it could affect their mental/physical development)

-Bathroom debate: it's a distraction. If you look like a man, go to the mens' room. Simple. They're bullshitting us. Angering traditional GOP/DNC worshippers to fight each other. It's stupid. The risk of trans people raping others in toilets is about as likely as anyone else raping someone in the toilet....they treat us like morons. TV makes us morons. :D

-Not a "white privilige" anti-racist type racist (essentially hypocrisy). The problem isn't "we're ruled by a white man patriarchy", the problem is we're ruled by zionist (NOT Jew) PSYCHOPATH ELITE BANKERS who control corporations and many politicians.

-Prefer some traditional gender roles (feminine women, masculine men, none of this "men and women should be the exact same/switch gender roles" weird shit. If someone biologically can't help themselves but deviate from their natural gender behavior, ok, I can't/shouldn't force them. But the establishment artifiicially pushing it, is suspicious and unnatural). Humanism is closer to equality than the ideology known as feminism. Both genders have their uses, removing the differences would be a shame.

-Think that mass immigration can become a potential problem in the future (it's not logical to squash people into one land mass) and that it already increases worker competition (Evil $$ corporation: "1000 out-of-work workers in this city instead of 500? With this demand, I can lower the wages mwhahaha!") Also....how come the political zionists (NOT Jews) want us to like mass immigration but not for Israel? Double standards? Agenda? Mass immigration is also a side effect of the warmongers invading countries for oil, military-industrial complex profits, and installing a Rothschild owned central bank. (Only Cuba, North korea and Iran are left on Earth. SHIT!!!)

Mass immigration is also a side effect of the real agenda: transnational corporations moving jobs to poorer countries (more desperate workers there, therefore even lower wages, thus slavery, then they move to richer countries, and people get mad at immigrants instead of the elite pulling the strings behind the curtain, more divide/conquer crap) Globalist fascist slavery. Corporate filth: "Hey -insert poor country- workers, work and sweat hard for the corporations for super low wages or I'll take it back to the west and you'll have no job!" It's disgusting how they exploit workers worldwide.

-I don't do drugs. But I don't judge others that do. Are drugs a useful tool in the right hands? Or a destructive body function disrupter? If it's destructive "drug abuse", I don't want to lock them up, I want to help them wean themselves off the substance abuse. Locking people up for drugs is literally a CIA scam. Fucked neighborhoods. Hence "so many people growing up without a father". Nixon administration official admitted they smuggled drugs into black neighborhoods and hippie/or anti-war neighborhoods because "they're our enemies/opponents" (probably Vietnam related....those fucking warmonger parasites.)

-Political correctness is a distraction. ANTI-PC and EXTREME PC are both extremes. Most people are in the middle somewhere. Sensitive, not judgemental, truthful, and not hypocritical. No one's perfect. Everyone's brainwashed in some way. Like alt right people who think Bernie is a dictator socialist or communist or whatever. Like the Clinton supporters who voted for her just because she's a woman, or because Obama said so.

-I hate what guns do, but I sort of, sympathize with people paranoid about a tyrannical government take over. Then again, how can rifles and shit compete with tanks, drones, nukes, chemical weapons, etc. that the establishment has access to? But then again, it's a complex theoretical scenario (humans are difficult to predict let alone psychopath elites). Would the military/police be brainwashed enough to kill their own people? The more military/police people that know the truth, the less likely such an event would occur. That said, the police brutality issue is insane. Police training, I feel, is deliberately making some officers shoot first and ask questions later. The drug fueled gang wars don't help either. Blame the CIA, poverty, education and prison system. :/

-I believe Bernie was NOT a shill, he's been on our side (mostly or fully) for decades. I would say he's restrained. It's very easy for the establishment to threaten physically/force contractually/legally for Bernie to endorse the winner (rigged primaries too lol).

I'm not saying "take Bernie's words as gospel" because anyone can be compromized/threatened. But I do believe he's a good guy and I believe in his politics generally. But I would be careful with what he says now, not necessarily, but just in case. If the elite inject propaganda into his twitter account or whatever, it might be too suspicious, but then again, people already know the endorsement of Clinton goes against everything Bernie has been fighting for.

Bernie is a real left-ish centrist or left winger at heart at least, and not a NEOliberal. I think it would be unwise to tarnish his legacy. What he has done, is more than anyone in the 21st century, in terms of waking America up. Trump didn't reveal much. "The system's rigged, folks" is nothing compared to all the shit Bernie has spilled about the establishment/wallstreet/economics/taxes/military-industrial complex. Bernie also spilled the truth before Trump. Trump/Clinton are shills. Trump may have been a shill recently, for a decade or all along...I don't know. But I speculate the Rothschilds bailed him out of his bankrupticies.

Either way, the two party system is a scam. Proven over and over again. Both parties are NEOliberal and NEOconservative (both, far right authoritarians, getting closer to globalist fascism/NWO). There's too few good politicians in the the Democrat party, and virtually NONE in the Republican party (even Ron Paul is probably a shill, unless he's bluffing his far right libertarian crap just for appearances, until someone can end the damn FED. But I don't trust him. He pushes appearances too hard.)

The only way to fix the U.S. and the rest of the world, is by waking people up. The less people that trust the government, the less power the elites will have.

We need an independent. Even independents are not 100% trustworthy. Gary Johnson is a pro-TPP far right libertarian shill. Dr. Jill Stein (green party) seems waaay more credible. Her policies, definitely. She's slightly more left libertarian than Bernie.

On top of having a third party candidate, it would be helpful to have "MSM replacements" like truther TV channels with untraceable/anonymous organizers and presenters to avoid infiltration?

Online campaigning is also important. Too many people still stuck in the "Trump VS Clinton" trap.

Are you me? That is almost exactly how I would describe myself.

bruh :D There will be more people who express these sort of red pills (I hope). It just takes time for people to see what we've seen. Or someone to explain to them what they haven't noticed all along. If people calmed down and looked around them, they'd see how we're manipulated to hate the poor, hate each other, etc. A better world exists. We just live under the thumb of unworthy psychopath elite bankers. I hope more people see the truth that we've come to see. :)

Maybe this occurred after they showed their true colors after the dem candidate was defeated..

Because the modern day left has turned into militant SJWs more than anything else.