“Let’s start with the obvious — a tyrant sits in the White House,” Walsh added. “The very thing our Founders feared most is here. Throw in the fact that one of our two major political parties is a real and direct threat to democracy and the rule of law. These are unprecedented, dangerous times in America. I know it. You know it. There are even Republicans who know it.”
At some point, progressives need to excise themselves from the democratic party. I don’t share anything policy wise with Joe Walsh. He can go fuck himself.
I don’t know the guy’s whole history, and his prior support of the GOP is GIANT red flag to me. However he’s saying a bunch of the right things I would want to hear from a reformed GOP:
“I’ve opened my eyes and listened to people who don’t think like me,” he said. “And by doing so, I gained a greater understanding of and appreciation for LGBTQ issues, structural racism, the need for empathetic immigration reform, the dangers of climate change, and the role government must play to help care for the neediest and most vulnerable among us.”
He could be a lying bastard, so I don’t trust him yet, but these match a whole bunch of my political positions, so I’m hopeful we might have yet another person trying to fight for them. So no free pass, but time will tell.
He is a lying bastard and we should not trust him yet, or probably ever, but he might be a useful tool in getting more open minded conservative voters to take stock and reevaluate their positions. The enemy of your enemy is not your friend, but they can still be used to attain your goals.
I don’t trust a word he says.
Its obviously a digression from the main point of your comment, but that isnt what critical race theory means.
The existence of structural racism is just a political-sociological fact. Critical race theory is specifically a field of legal study that examines structural racism within the legal system exclusively. The “theory” aspect comes from the more debatable points of to what extent explicit racism in the law that has since been rectified (by civil rights laws or whatever else) still impacts the modern legal system.
Technically I suppose you could say any recognition of structural racism is still critical, and it would be called critical social inquiry in any capacity, if youre talking from an academic perspective. But the main point is that admitting structural racism exists =/= “critical race theory”
Yeah I don’t trust this guy. He’s got no moral backbone or real ideology other than a desire for power. I seem to remember him being very vocal against Trump at points, then backing away from criticisms at important times during Trump’s first term. Putting a D next to his name now definitely doesn’t make me trust him. Even fucking Trump would have stuck with being a Democrat if he thought it would have made him rich and powerful.
If Walsh actually wanted to help this country he’d run as a Republican, but be vocal against Trump. Or better yet, just remain an independent. This country needs to start electing 3rd party candidates, especially with name recognition on his side, he might have a decent chance with the positions he’s taking.
We don’t need more people like Fetterman weaponizing the title of Democrat to keep putting a “bipartisan” spin on Republican policy, and move the party more towards the right.
If that’s where the Democrats really believe we should be headed then yeah now is the time (before we get any closer to midterms) to decisively say we’re going to need a new party for left candidates.
2019 viewpoints of Walsh
No Republican with any common sense or shred of decency would have this take: 2012 Republican Joe Walsh: abortions to save mother’s life never necessary
People can change, and I applaud him if he has genuinely changed,… but we also need to stop pretending like an older conservative with name recognition, is somehow the best way forward for the party.
There are younger progressive candidates who actually have the drive to make this country better than it was in the first place, instead of just returning us back to normal, only to keep compromising, and losing the little ground we managed to get back over and over again.
Unless the US adopts some kind of proportional representation system (or even at the least discards FPTP), doing that would only ensure that no progressive voices are heard in the government.
The better and more practical option is to take over the democratic party. That is unless you want to have no control over the government.