dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

https://www.prageru.com/video/do-you-have-republican-friends/

Will Witt asked New Yorkers how many Republican friends they have. Do you think they responded with open-mindedness and tolerance?

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

I started watching, but I've had my fill of airheads who don't even know what country they live in.

JimMe

I may sound ignorant, but I have Liberal, Conservative, and Moderate friends and family, and I like them all... And I don't know what ethnicity most are because it doesn't matter to me... Caring and helping each other is what makes us friends and family... Politics, Religion, Race don't stop us from relating to one another favorably... That's the essence of living in the United States of America...

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

If you made a similar video asking Republicans "Do you have any Democrat friends?" I'll venture that they have many and are much more tolerant than vice versa. Living in L.A. and Orange County I experienced this.

Wildlandfirefighter

I have a lot of both, but the interesting thing to me is that many of my GOP friends are not big fans of Donald Trump. Most (around 60% I would say) v**ed for him but say they will not do so again. The rest love him and will. Of my democratic friends I do not know a single one that supports the president. I have quite a few independent friends too, which is what I consider myself, and I don't know any of them that approve of the president either. Take that for what you will, that's where my mostly wildland firefighter and natural resource management friends are at right now.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

As an Independent, I did not v**e for Trump. Bottom line is that there is not one Democrat that was in the race who I in good conscience could v**e for. In fact, no one in the Democratic party fits the bill. I think Trump is being led down a golden brick road with this v***s business and when he gets to the end of the road he will see the phony deep state operatives who have wormed their way into his inner circle and led him astray. They have been hiding behind the curtain until now. Trump is outnumbered and overwhelmed by RINOs, Deep State Obama holdovers, and Democrats. I don't care for much of what he says or his methods, but I can't argue with his success. We are in a global civil war for the continuation of our great republic and experiment in a representative democracy or succumb to the one-world government UN g*******ts and all become s***es to the utopian vision they have for only themselves. The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great crisis remain neutral. - Dante. Which side of the fence will you line up on.

Wildlandfirefighter

Have to agree with you, there does seem to be a lack of candidates of quality throughout the country these days, which seems absurd given we have 330 million people here. But the answer is not trying to promote a global civil war. We only have one planet, we can achieve more in the long run by being a world strength for good and trying to bring people together instead of trying to create a world where social (country) distancing is the norm and everyone only cares about their own little piece of turf. You may not like globalism, but at this point in history the opposite will create much more chaos and is really not very appealing.

And the biggest deep state problem we have is honestly too much money in politics. Our representatives do the bidding of the rich lobbyists instead of the people, and our current president does much the same. His "inner circle" of advisors are television personalities and the rich and famous. Who do you think they are looking after when they provide their recommendations to the president?

Want to make a change, change out the people in congress that were v**ed in to do the peoples work but instead are doing the work of the 1%. Get big money out of the equation, or better yet, get rid of the two party system and use something like Kyle recommended on an earlier post.

As far as Dante is concerned, the quote is actually “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.” I like Dr. M.L. Kings version better: “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” I'm sure not a fence sitter, but regardless, Dante was just a man who wrote poetry, his Divine Comedy is no less a work of fiction than anything Shakespeare concocted.

debeda

Not for liberals, apparently.......

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

Ahhhh, now, might I ask "if" you have any friends you assign your definition of Liberal to? We come in many flavors, ya know, and you might be surprised by how relatable a great many are, and how deeply they care. Just sayin'.....

Lonewolf

Trump is the new leader of the deep state just look at his cabinet it's a wonder wall street hasn't closed .

debeda

I do. We just have AGREED not to talk politics. Or when we do, because of events, we state our case but dont fight about it.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

Yes, I was paraphrasing Dante (hence, the absence of quotation marks). Whether something is fiction or non-fiction is of no relevance. There is much t***h to be found in fiction, if not more. Shakespeare, Dante, or Dr. King, (greatly influenced by Gandhi, who was no angel himself, but that's another story) all expressed great ideas.

Globalism, like anything, can be a force for good or evil. It all depends on how we decide to use it. The left wants to use it to ens***e the world because they are useful i***ts. So, I agree with you about being a force for good. It is unfortunate that we too often stick our nose where it doesn't belong. I dislike isolationism more than globalism. But that doesn't mean we let other countries walk all over us. China very much wants to be the hegemonic force in the world. And in spite of all the reforms China has made economically, it is still very much a top-down political system with most citizens playing the role of peon. It is an evil system that goes against everything God has provided for us here.

Too much money in politics; I absolutely agree! Bloomberg was a perfect example. Citizens United has some very disturbing implications. Candidates need money to get elected. No matter what we do to change the influence of money through campaign finance laws and reporting, people find a way around it through loopholes. How much influence did money play in Trump's e******n? A lot! The democrats spent far more money on Hillary's campaign that was spent by Trump's. I don't have a solution to the issue of money in politics. However, you greatly overestimate the amount of work congress does for the 1% at the expense of the rest of us. Besides, Congress is only one branch of the government. What happens at the local level and at City Hall has a much greater impact on our day-to-day lives.

How do you suggest we lessen the influence of money in our e******ns? How and why do you suggest we eliminate the two-party system we are saddled with? Every system ever devised has problems inherent within its structure, no matter how well-meaning it may be. Our founders created a wonderful method of preventing factions and ambition from gaining control. However, we have moved far away from the ideal principles expressed in the greatest document of governance ever created by man because of the influence of progressivism and their complete disdain for our Constitution. They have undermined it and turned it into a "Living Constitution" that is now more similar to those of c*******t countries where their Constitution expresses high ideas but carries no more importance than a blank sheet of paper.

The fence-sitting metaphor was a rhetorical question, not aimed specifically at you, but intended for everyone. If one is not part of the solution then one is part of the problem. We have a lot of disinterested and low-information v**ers. Young people supporting Bernie Sanders because they want free college is a good example. Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Like you, I too am looking for solutions to the problems of my country, and I am open to hearing anyone's ideas to fix the problems we have as long as the unintended consequences are not worse than the cure. The more you tinker with a system the more convoluted it becomes.

Lonewolf

my thought is all the American people who can descend on DC and haul every member of the house and senate out tar and feather them and put them on a train home.

Daredevil

👍👍👍👍

woodguru

I fish and hunt with a few republicans, we have a good rule, that it is best not to talk politics on a boat, or with someone who is carrying a gun...