The lesson I learned in middle school is that you should always punch people who fuck with you.

Pack the supreme court. Eliminate the filibuster. Get power, use it. Fascism will not be defeated by setting a good example. The failure to do this should be infuriating to more people.

And that is also totalitarianism works.

By ensuring the democratic will of the majority in enacted, and improves people's lives?

The wannabe aristocrats who founded this country, their anti-majoritarian tendencies, and the ideological heritage of this have done a number on Americans' worldview. We tend to focus on process over outcomes, and the processes we like heavily favor an entrenched, elite minority. We think of this as ensuring freedom and democracy.

The difference between imposing your will on those above you (punching up) and imposing it on those below you (punching down) is that punching down is easy - and extremely addictive. So no, getting tough against the right won't automatically turn the left into totalitarianx.

There seems to be some confusion and maybe I didn't communicate my point as well as I should have, so let me clarify now.

I'm not talking so much about political parties as I am... let's call them "factions."

One faction uses microaggressions and stochastic terrorism until they goad a reaction out of their victims. If the victim expresses displeasure, the aggressors will smirk and ask, "You mad, bro?" If the victim reacts more strongly, the aggressors will clutch their pearls and claim victimhood.

For example, many people, mostly men, literally threaten to injure and/or murder anyone they see entering the "wrong" public restroom.

And yet, when a trans woman went on social media to announce she would be carrying her gun to prevent people from harming anyone trying to use the restroom, the same people who threatened violence towards her are appalled and demand she be arrested for making violent threats.

While the GOP allies itself with the bullies, the Democrats aren't allying themselves with their victims.

The Democrats are the people who should be punishing the bullies, but choose instead to blame the victims for fighting back.

(didn't watch the video)

>>>This is the situation our nation finds itself in now.

The situation the Republican party finds itself in is worse. They can't pull out of their death sp[iral, but they may be able to take us down with them.

While we keep hearing that the same percentage of the GOP continues to support Trump, another factoid I encounter from time to time says that the GOP's membership is declining, which puts the percentages in an entirely different light makes partly because their positions are unpopular, partly because of changing demographics, but also because they refused to be vaccinated. Seriously, the gap in mortality between Democrats and Republicans since 2021, when the vaccines were introduced, must have been decisive in some close races in 2022.

They're losing.

I'm not saying that they've lost, we're not remotely out of the woods, but LOSING is what makes them bullies, and it's what makes them think they're victims. Minorities who seek power above all things are not looking to democracy to save them. The more they lose, the more dangerous they will become.

And while watching a Matt Walsh video has made me think about getting an AR-15, to use against against rabbits and ducks, political voices who shy away from responding to thugs in a thuggish way are raising a point that they have every right to raise. This is probably way too simplistic as history, so take it as a metaphor: nonviolence worked better against the English in India than violence has worked against the English in Northern Ireland.

Again, not talking about political parties, talking about assholes.

Assholes who push and goad and threaten until someone fights back. Then they pretend they're acting in self-defense when they retaliate.

Our government should be doing something to stop this, but one party has wholly sided with the assholes and BOTH parties tell the victims its their own fault for escalating the situation.

And you can keep saying the Republicans are losing, but how long has it been since they backed the popular opinion or had a President win the popular vote?

And yet they still keep getting into office.

Binro is using it as a metaphor. He's saying that people growing up in an environment where bullies typically win and fighting them is pointless has led to the current political situation in the US.

in his analogy one of only two political parties in America that can be used as a vehicle to elect representatives to government is being 'bullied' by the other political party, and the only faction that is empowered to do anything about it has been trained to punish the victim for fighting back.

this analogy is meant to absolve the Democrats for their refusal to act, as if they are paralyzed with fear of fighting back because the uncaring authority figure (the voters lol) would punish them for doing so.

this is how bad liberals have to contort themselves to make the actions of the Democratic Party fit within the narrative they have created in their heads instead of recognizing the reality that both political parties are competing for the favor of the same small group of ultra-wealthy individuals, and what the voters want or do not want doesn't really matter. that's why the policy of both parties is essentially identical on economic issues.

You quickly switch from internet tough guy who wronged victim whenever I bully you.

Actually, that's straight from the conservative playbook, so I guess it's no surprise.