From Evangelical Tea Partier to Democrat

[Bob78164]

This first-person account is the story of one woman's transformation from a Southern evangelical Christian who would never have dreamed of voting for a Democrat to a Democratic voter who supported Beto O'Rourke for the United States Senate. It demonstrates a remarkable change of perspective in many aspects of her life.

Here is one of her insights about the difficulties of her political conversion.

My transformation feels threatening because it calls my fellow evangelical Republicans’ identities into question. If someone who has championed their values goes out and says, “No, I was wrong,” then they may be forced to face some hard questions. The fear is that if they are wrong too, then their whole belief system falls apart, and their identities are gone.

. . . .

So how does a person change their mind? It took time (in my case, years), and it required me to get outside of my bubble. I broke away from the people and information sources that automatically supported my worldview. I questioned what I’d been taught. I got comfortable with not having all the answers and sitting with the tension of not knowing the right thing to do.

I found it fascinating reading. --Bob

[Spock]

Since you like to research everything and approach things with an open mind;

From the opposite perspective; you should find "Republican Like Me" just as fascinating.

https://www.amazon.com/Republican-Like- ... +ken+stern

"Republican Like Me: How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right" by Ken Stern

>>>"In this controversial National Bestseller, the former CEO of NPR sets out for conservative America wondering why these people are so wrong about everything. It turns out, they aren’t.

Ken Stern watched the increasing polarization of our country with growing concern. As a longtime partisan Democrat himself, he felt forced to acknowledge that his own views were too parochial, too absent of any exposure to the “other side.” In fact, his urban neighborhood is so liberal, he couldn’t find a single Republican--even by asking around.

So for one year, he crossed the aisle to spend time listening, talking, and praying with Republicans of all stripes. With his mind open and his dial tuned to the right, he went to evangelical churches, shot a hog in Texas, stood in pit row at a NASCAR race, hung out at Tea Party meetings and sat in on Steve Bannon’s radio show. He also read up on conservative wonkery and consulted with the smartest people the right has to offer.

What happens when a liberal sets out to look at issues from a conservative perspective? Some of his dearly cherished assumptions about the right slipped away. Republican Like Me reveals what lead him to change his mind, and his view of an increasingly polarized America."<<<<<<<

[silverscreenselect]

Since you like to research everything and approach things with an open mind;

From the opposite perspective; you should find "Republican Like Me" just as fascinating.

Judging by the results of this last election, there were far more people like Bob cited than like Spock cited.

[Bob78164]

Since you like to research everything and approach things with an open mind;

From the opposite perspective; you should find "Republican Like Me" just as fascinating.

Judging by the results of this last election, there were far more people like Bob cited than like Spock cited.

Spock still makes a fair point. With this thread I'm at least implicitly challenging Republicans to reconsider their views. It's fair for him to point out a mirror-image example. --Bob

[Ritterskoop]

I got an earful from a very moderate conservative yesterday, who has a small business and whose family farms in the mountains. I was babbling about an article I'd read asserting that extreme conservatives frame the world as things to be feared and avoided, while liberals are more likely to explore and take chances. Clearly the article was written by someone who thought the latter view was a better way to live.

The resulting conversation reminded me that it is not conservatives or liberals who cause much of our polarization.

It is extremists.

Most of the folks who live toward the middle can have a conversation with each other. We can peacefully agree to disagree on some things, and make real progress on some things.

My acquaintance said he wished we could figure out a way to fix it so politicians couldn't profit from their time in office. We agreed it is OK for them to earn a living, but not to make extra. Then it is not service. If we had it arranged that way, it would make the pool of people smaller and in theory, more honorable.

[BackInTex]

I got an earful from a very moderate conservative yesterday, who has a small business and whose family farms in the mountains. I was babbling about an article I'd read asserting that extreme conservatives frame the world as things to be feared and avoided, while liberals are more likely to explore and take chances. Clearly the article was written by someone who thought the latter view was a better way to live.

The resulting conversation reminded me that it is not conservatives or liberals who cause much of our polarization.

It is extremists.

Most of the folks who live toward the middle can have a conversation with each other. We can peacefully agree to disagree on some things, and make real progress on some things.

My acquaintance said he wished we could figure out a way to fix it so politicians couldn't profit from their time in office. We agreed it is OK for them to earn a living, but not to make extra. Then it is not service. If we had it arranged that way, it would make the pool of people smaller and in theory, more honorable.

Extremists and assholes.

And I include the following as assholes (because I don't think they are necessarily extremists)
- Trump (all I want for Christmas if for Trump to shut up and govern)
- Feinstein

[Spock]

Since you like to research everything and approach things with an open mind;

From the opposite perspective; you should find "Republican Like Me" just as fascinating.

Judging by the results of this last election, there were far more people like Bob cited than like Spock cited.

In the context of this thread-Your point being?

[Estonut]

Since you like to research everything and approach things with an open mind;

From the opposite perspective; you should find "Republican Like Me" just as fascinating.

Judging by the results of this last election, there were far more people like Bob cited than like Spock cited.

In the context of this thread-Your point being?

Clearly, he believes that the winning margins came from people who switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party.

[silverscreenselect]

Clearly, he believes that the winning margins came from people who switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party.

Not all of it did, but some did, and a number of those voters could be lost to the Republicans for quite a while to come.

[Estonut]

Clearly, he believes that the winning margins came from people who switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party.

Not all of it did, but some did,

Actually, some tiny fraction may have.

and a number of those voters could be lost to the Republicans for quite a while to come.

Or they may all come back for the next election. No one knows, not even you.

[Bob78164]

Clearly, he believes that the winning margins came from people who switched from the Republican to the Democratic Party.

Not all of it did, but some did,

Actually, some tiny fraction may have.

and a number of those voters could be lost to the Republicans for quite a while to come.

Or they may all come back for the next election. No one knows, not even you.

To my mind, the more likely scenario is what happened here in California. Republican voters are aging out of existence, and the vast majority of young voters are becoming lifelong Democrats. It took about 20 years for the California Republican Party to transform itself from the party of Prop 187 to utter irrelevancy. I think the national Republican Party has now started along that same road, and I don't see much evidence it's looking for an off ramp. Consider Kansas the canary in the coal mine.

But all of this is beside the point of my post. Positions aren't right because they're popular, and I started this thread to encourage people to examine the assumptions that lead them to conclude which policies are right, not which ones are political winners. --Bob

[Estonut]

Republican voters are aging out of existence, and the vast majority of young voters are becoming lifelong Democrats.

Please provide a cite for your assertion that the vast majority of young voters will be "lifelong" Democrats. How can anyone possibly know this?

[Bob78164]

Republican voters are aging out of existence, and the vast majority of young voters are becoming lifelong Democrats.

Please provide a cite for your assertion that the vast majority of young voters will be "lifelong" Democrats. How can anyone possibly know this?

It's obviously a prediction, not verifiable for a long time. --Bob