Farewell to the party of Lincoln

Before your LDS family and friends in Utah, Idaho, and Arizona blindly vote straight “Republican” once again, I strongly encourage you to call them and point out that the Republican Party they think they are supporting no longer exists. Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, recently published a piece in which she documented the removal … Read more

Eight false beliefs voters cling to

Many Americans will be basing their voting decisions this year on strongly held beliefs that are complete nonsense. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that voters are stupid. I am saying that they often don’t do their homework thoroughly and are therefore easily deceived by simplistic slogans, false conspiracies, and fake outrage. Even worse, … Read more

2 issues that Republicans use to demonize the Left

The most telling symptom of fascist politics is division. It aims to separate a population into an “us” and a “them.” … Every mechanism of fascist politics works to create or solidify this distinction. Jason Stanley Fascists lure honest conservatives into fascism by constantly telling them that “the left” is an existential threat to their … Read more

10 Tactics of Fascism

Fascism is a cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by immigrants, leftists, liberals, minorities, homosexuals, women, in the face of what the fascist leader says is a takeover of the country’s media, cultural institutions, and schools by these forces. And that’s why you need a really macho, … Read more

Refusing to acknowledge Republican Fascism

The establishment of our new Government seemed to be the last great experiment for promoting human happiness. George Washington, January 9, 1790 American democracy is in very serious trouble. Our “great experiment” could very well come to an end with the election of 2022 or 2024. If the Republicans retake Congress, as the media keeps … Read more

The top 5 underemphasized stories of 2021

If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. Abraham Lincoln, 1838 2021 was supposed to be the year things returned to normal. A highly qualified, easy-going, gentleman was entering the White House and, with the … Read more

The politics of grievance

Things is messed up. Them [immigrants, people of color, religious minorities] is takin’ my [job, housing, government benefits] using MY tax dollars. And the Democrats want to make it easier for [“those people”] to vote so they can increase their own benefits at MY expense. Now those socialists want the power to stick a needle … Read more

The straw man

Republicans frequently employ the informal fallacy. This category of faulty reasoning includes such problems as ad hominem (personal) attacks, begging the question, equivocation, false dilemma, faulty analogy, inconsistency and more. (Here is an interesting list). Informal fallacies are not fallacies of logic (those are called formal fallacies). Rather, they are fallacies caused by faulty premises … Read more