Hacker News Reader

Comment by LadyCailin | Hacker News Reader

The problem is, I have yet to see any good faith efforts to govern on the part of Republicans in the past decade. Sure, Democrats make missteps all the time, and I'm more than happy to campaign with you against specific things that the Democrats have done over the years, but I can't think of a single good thing that Republicans have done in my adult lifetime. Since Newt Gingrich, it seems that Republican's primary purpose in life is to grab more power - the country be damned. I'm more that willing to vote for a Republican that isn't just a party shill, and has reasonable views on things like gay rights, abortion, the war on drugs, military spending, healthcare, etc, but I have yet to see even a single one. Romney, maybe? But not really, he's still a hyper partisan, except in like 2 things.

View on HN

> I'm more that willing to vote for a Republican that isn't just a party shill, and has reasonable views on things like gay rights, abortion, the war on drugs, military spending, healthcare, etc, but I have yet to see even a single one.

It sounds like what you're saying is that you'll vote for any Republican that leans Democrat.

> I have yet to see any good faith efforts to govern on the part of Republicans

That sounds super partisan.

> Republican's primary purpose in life is to grab more power

At this point, I've heard both parties say that about the other.

> > I have yet to see any good faith efforts to govern on the part of Republicans

> That sounds super partisan.

Can you provide any evidence to the contrary? I'm willing to believe that my news are partial...

Is there any indication that the GOP is going to seek consensus with the next administration?

Democrats introduce legislation designed to, they think, help Americans. Republicans block that legislation.

The one major piece of legislation passed and signed into law in the past 4 years by Republicans, who controlled all of the government for 2 of those years, was a giant, unfunded, tax break for the rich. That is it.

Sam Harris did a really fascinating podcast with David Frum, a long time conservative writer and assistant George Bush.

Frum basically says that after the Obama election, republican strategists sat down to decide on whether to shift the platform to changing demographics in America or to double down and declare all out war. They chose the latter.

Congressional and Senate Republicans did quite well under Obama. Trump's increase in the Black and Hispanic vote will be food for thought.

I was under the impression that, in general terms, the Black vote went for Biden and the Hispanic vote went for Trump.

The majority of both went to Biden, but Trump made gains over what he got in 2016 which was better than Romney in 2012. So there appears to be a path to improve minority showing for Republicans, depending on the Republican.

I've seen and heard quite a few democrats addressing the need to do better Spanish outreach due to the spread of pro trump propaganda on social media. That mistake has been identified and is being addressed. I have not heard that the black community went big for Trump. Can you cite some sources?

I wrote that he made gains, because he did. He did better than Romney did in 2012 and did better than he did in 2016.

Sorry, you're right.

I think a potential factor is the democrats' anti-gun rhetoric. It's explicitly designed to cater to white suburban moms, i.e. those who think guns are bad and scary and threaten their children. This in spite of the fact that twice as many children die from accidents involving glass tabletops than firearms accidents [0]. Add to that the recent surge in new minority gun owners due to safety concerns [1], the long, racist history of gun control [2] from army/navy laws to those targeting "saturday-night specials", and the recent push to lock certain weapons behind a $200 tax and an arduous process [3] and I think it makes for a big factor in Trump's increased black and hispanic support. This is in spite of the fact that Trump is absolutely terrible as far as gun rights go, but the democrats for some reason insist on being worse. Running on a platform of repealing the NFA, the GCA, and the FOPA, or even getting rid of the Hughes amendment, would probably yield massive dividends.

[0]: https://www.ammoland.com/2020/11/twice-as-many-children-die-...

[1]: https://www.blackenterprise.com/black-americans-now-account-...

[2]: https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/civil-rights/347324-t...

[3]: https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/

Good points.

Do you think there's room for a middle ground on this issue? Can America handle a national discussion on gun rights, health care access, bullying, and mental health simultaneously? Gun laws cut through all of those issues deeply.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com