Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

[deleted] t1_ivt4q4t wrote

Reply to comment by headgasketidiot in Democrats and Progressives regain veto-proof majority in the Vermont House by mojitz

You make a good point about the company you keep. However, I disagree because I think we should value the individual over the party. I say this because I don’t 100% agree with the standard Dem or GOP party line. I want a politician to represent me that has supports policies from both sides of the aisle. If you meet those needs, I don’t care if it says republican or democrat besides your name.

The one thing I would like to see on the fed and state level though, is an end to the preference given to seniority, majority, and party. Like the chair/ranking member system for committees incentives party unity which isn’t actually good for Americans in general (I think).

1

headgasketidiot t1_ivt6b9y wrote

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but in your analysis of voting for the individual, I ask that you take into account the full picture.

Being part of a party is a lot more than the letter besides your name. Like I said in my comment, Scott participates in Republican fundraising. He is part of fundraising organizations with some of the worst politicians in the US. This organization has an annual operating budget of almost $100 million, which they deployed to help flip Virginia on a bullshit CRT panic just last year:

>In 2021, we sent shockwaves across the country when we helped flip Virginia blue to red.

He's also happy to take their money:

> ... the Republican Governors Association, which has spent millions of dollars on super PAC ads backing Scott's candidacy.

Scott might use his words to criticize the national rise of the MAGA movement, but he collaborates with it and supports it with his actions. If you take that into account and still decide Scott is your man, by all means, but don't let him and others pretend like being a Republican is just a letter next to your name. That's a trick they're playing to keep your attention away from the huge fundraising machinery the party operates in the shadows.

edit: typo

4

[deleted] t1_ix5ekyj wrote

First off, thank you for having a meaningful and civil political debate. It’s is appreciated even though we disagree.

While I think you are right, that the letter next to someone’s name is more than just that, it’s also not the ONLY thing that characterizes them or what they represent. As a voter, especially in a gubernatorial race, I feel better served voting for someone that most closely represents me rather then doing so because they are a republican or democrat. If memory serves I’ve split every ballot I’ve ever voted on.

1

headgasketidiot t1_ix5hjkz wrote

There's a really good book by Milton Mayer called "They Thought They Were Free." He was a Jewish journalist that moved to Germany shortly after WW2, where he befriended former Nazi party members and wrote about them. It's been a long time since I read it, but it really affected me, and what I got out of it was that regular people supported the nazis and the holocaust without really actually meaning to. They didn't even seem to have particular animosity towards Jews.

One of the people Mayer details in the book is a banker who joined the party late in its rise and was honesty pretty clearly never really super into it. This is what he told his long-time Jewish friend about his joining the party:

>With men like me in the party, things will be better. You'll see.

Days after that conversation, kristallnacht happened.

It's a bit of a theme in that person's story; the idea that good people in the party thought their membership in it was harmless, or could even help moderate it. Obviously, they didn't. In fact, that same person talks about how deeply he regretted his decision to join. He says the moderates who joined the party ended up making the extremism of the party possible.

Scott sits down, breaks bread, and actively collaborates with Abbott, DeSantis, Noem, and other actual fascists. That's a serious lack of judgement for even a regular person, but it's unacceptable to me in a person in a position of power. When I think about the lessons of history, I just can't forgive that.

1