re: Who is the bigger threat to freedom? Vicious, bloodthirsty Dems, or weak do-nothing Reps?

quote:

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weak do-nothing Reps

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Easily this. You can't fault a snake for biting you. It's in their nature. But you can be aware that a snake will bite.

The "stakeholder" class that enables and funds the bloodthirsty Dems to destroy-- while buying the complicity of the do-nothing Reps with the scraps from their table (or perhaps a modest seat at that table)-- is the biggest threat.

But if you have to choose between D and R, then it probably would have to be the do-nothing R's combined with the general apathy of the public. This point has been philosophically broached by numerous people through history to the point that "apathy" has it's own category in quote compilation books & websites. Here are a few (ironically, many of these quotes are attributed to what I know or assume to be a more Dem/liberal source, but truth is truth and they are relevant):

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Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing. - JOHN STUART MILL

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity. - GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters, for without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves we collude with it through our apathy. - J. K. ROWLING

Apathy is the death knell of any order. Once a system has degenerated to the point that apathy is the only thing holding it in place it, it is in its twilight phase. Then one day the music stops. - JOHN BERLING HARDY

Apathy is the glove in which evil slips its hand. - ANONYMOUS

It is ... far more important to resist apathy than anarchy or despotism for apathy can give rise, almost indifferently, to either one. - ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE

Apathy goes to the root of our moral and spiritual crisis today.... Apathy is the loss of ability to feel indignant at the work of evil in our lives and in the lives of others. It is the absence of outrage against injustice. It is the erosion of ability to commit oneself to important causes, to care deeply about other people, and to take risks in the struggle against every form of human bondage. - DANIEL MIGLIORE

Apathy and evil. The two work hand in hand. They are the same, really.... Evil wills it. Apathy allows it. Evil hates the innocent and the defenseless most of all. Apathy doesn't care as long as it's not personally inconvenienced. - JAKE THOENE

Apathy is a spiritual numbness that creeps in and corrupts the good that God intends for our life and the good that He wants us to accomplish for Him and His kingdom. - ELIZABETH GEORGE

Apathy is the overrated protection of that rock you're hiding under. - LAURA J. W. RYAN

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These are all related in how the point out the evil of inaction and believing a growing evil isn't your problem (yet). There was one quote I noticed, which had a slightly different tack which makes it worth mentioning separately. I wasn't familiar with the name (Dos Passos), so looked him up and he was an American author who started as a socialist/pacifist (he Russia to study it), but became disillusioned with the Left, and publicly converted to the Right; later, even campaigning for Goldwater & Nixon:

"Apathy is one of the characteristic responses of any living organism when it is subjected to stimuli too intense or too complicated to cope with. The cure for apathy is comprehension." - JOHN DOS PASSOS

What I like about this one is that it more explcitly defines what the problem is-- at least for many of us: a recognition of the vast complications of how we could hope to *effectively* stand up against the might of the government? It also gives some modest direction: You have to start by learning and understanding.

This is one of the reasons I really appreciate this board and topics like this one that get discussed here. More people need to wake up from their apathy so they recognize what disingenuous assheads like Lindsey Graham are doing when they start yelling about abortion just before the election to tank Republican candidates. (That some people are so soft-headed that they planned on voting R until Graham irritated them into voting otherwise or not voting at all is both a different topic and perfectly on point with the apathy of "weak do-nothing Reps" in your thread title.)

To be clear, understanding is only a start and has to lead to meaningful action. But we have to understand before we act. I've seen reference to good action on this board: people getting involved in small-time local politics/offices and school boards, etc. And it's important to wise up to machinations of the Left, so you don't get ensnared by their traps, as happened to many J6 folks who naively followed the encouragement of antifa, the Capitol police, Ray Epps, etc to enter the building.


TLDR: do-nothing / corrupt Reps are a bigger problem. We all have to develop an active desire to understand the games being played and take action; to get involved in grass roots efforts to select better candidates, networking to strengthen and educate our communities, and whatever else we can do to make a difference... instead of just showing up to vote once every few years, which-- depending on where you live (looking at you: GA/AZ/PA...) may literally count for nothing.

Both of them