The inside view

[aadler]

The last week has been interesting. I haven’t seen the multiple leftist riots I more-than-half-expected in the wake of The Donald’s stunning victory; on the other hand, the meltdown from mainstream (and plenty of lesser-known) leftists has ramped up to meth-frenzy levels.

This isn’t just a general observation regarding reports from national and alternative media; my wife’s social media has a number of posts from people she knows and with whom she’s always been on good terms, repeating the general lament that the government has been taken over by Nazis, and only bad faith and deliberate evil could possibly have prompted anyone to vote for Orange Man Bad.

I don’t simply disagree. I know they’re wrong.

Understand: this isn’t a matter of opinion. I know they’re wrong. And I’ll explain how I know.

If I tell you, No, I’m not a Nazi, then you have to decide whether or not to believe me.

I, however, don’t have to consider any such question. I know I’m not a Nazi. Not because I’m smarter than you, not because I have a better argument, but simply because I’m inside my own head and know what’s there. It’s not even your fault, it’s the plain reality that you can’t know my mind any better than I can know yours.

That obvious fact has effects further down the line. If you (the general “you”) call me a Nazi, and I know you’re wrong — utterly, intractably wrong in something apparently fundamental to your entire belief system — then I can’t help but see a very high likelihood that you’re wrong about a great deal more. Sure, I already believed you were wrong, but now I have direct evidence that your judgment is badly questionable.

Unless, of course, you — again, the general “you” — are just lying, saying ‘Nazi’ because ‘racist’ stopped working as well. (Not that ‘racist’ has been put out to pasture. I’d bet that I and people like me are now cast as every ‘ist’ in the dictionary, as long as it can be used as an insult.)

So, yes, I do have to make a decision after all. I have to figure out whether the person making the accusation is a liar, or an idiot. All the while recognizing that the two can, in fact, coexist.

Comments

[texanfan.livejournal.com]

I've debated saying this for a few days now. I don't believe you're a Nazi. I don't think you, or your wife, are bad people. I think that you have been sold a bill of goods. I believe you to be wrong that Trump's victory represents a victory for America. Was the alternative perfect? No. There are problems with the current administration as there are with all administrations, but I believe it to be substantially better than what is coming. I pray I'm wrong. I pray that Trump is good for our country and that I'm worrying needlessly about what he plans to do. Sadly, I don't think I am, and I wonder if you will be as happy with your choices in a year or two as you are right now. Only time will tell.

[aadler]

Every time we’ve ever dealt with each other, be it a matter of writing opinion or (much less often) politics, you have taken a great deal of care to avoid giving offense, while still lining out those areas where we didn’t quite agree. I never thought, then, that you would be among those shouting “Nazi!” — and, indeed, you aren’t — and so the post I wrote was specifically aimed at those who ARE doing so.

I also pray that Trump will be good for the country, and that you’re worrying needlessly. I’ve never really been aboard the Trump train, and was in fact surprised at what he accomplished in his first term. I wish we could have someone equally effective without the baggage of that blustering, bombastic personality. Maybe the future will bring forth such an individual … but for now, he’s what we have, and I see him as being much, much, much preferable to what was offered as the alternative.

You believe what you believe in good faith. So do I. At least one of us must be wrong (and we very well could both be, in ways we’re unable to perceive). We’ll see. Right now, you look to the finding-out with trepidation, I with anticipation, but neither of us wants a disaster. So, yes, we both hope I’m right on this … and we’ll both be living with whatever the results turn out to be.

May they be good for all

Yep that's it; that's why he won!

[vantiri.livejournal.com]

Thing is: Aadler, that's *why* he won, and won as big of a victory as he did: he routed them- and the leftists rout was so bad that they got locked out of the "blue wall", by a *red wall* behind their own wall... it was that bad, and its only going to get worse for those Socialist Nazi-Commmie scum and vermin that the leftists really are!
It is *their* policy to embrace the methods of Il Duce, the use of the raised fist to resolve political disagreements.
Trump's victory was NO defeat for the USA; this "Texanfan" is incorrect: what he's up to is VERY good for the USA; and this's also confirmed from the viewpoint of how a patriotic autocrat would perceive his choices upon analyzing his policies: streamlining the administration? That's a darn-near GENIUS move, and truly necessary... theirs, if honest, is well aware that they can really only bollux up their own lives, and boy do they do that!
Plus, in any metric at all, an elected republic is infinitely stronger than any autocracy in terms of effeciently solving problems and doing it correctly.
Over the past few months to years: I spent a LOT of hours playing "Hearts of Iron IV", a game by Paradox, a Swedish wargame company; and they did me a VERY good solid: the one way to become truly strong is to pull the domestic policies of the government *back* to within the bounds of the Constitution; to rule only rarely is to do so wisely- in fact, if you made a fanfic about that, the "Autocrat gang" (composed of Nazi Germany, Italy under Il Duce, the USSR, *and* Imperial Japan, as well as their jr. partners) would've made an agreement among themselves to "Let the Giant Sleep" as they refer to the USA; the power imbalance in question is far more than most can imagine; and the reason why is political freedom!
That, and the religious freedom that pairs up with that, is the vital ingredient, then the free market ensues truly and genuienly, and the result is that NOBODY will be strong enough to beat such a country, if they maintain their armed forces.

Re: Yep that's it; that's why he won!

[aadler]

My problems with Trump are, essentially, the same as felt by so many of the people who despise him, we just proceed differently from that beginning. I dislike everything about his public persona: the tone of voice he uses, his endless (seemingly pointless) digressions, his constant self-aggrandizing self-congratulation … he is, in fact, a terrible public speaker, except for the part where he visibly and powerfully connects with his audience (and, on that basis, I’m not his audience, I do better when I READ his speeches because, live, I have a hard time looking past the arrogant blowhard doing all the talking).

The difference is between how he comes across, and what he actually does. What he does is breathtaking. I revered Ronald Reagan as a visible president, the public persona of President Trump reliably turns me off completely … but I am uncomfortably beginning to see that I might have to recognize Trump as a greater president than Reagan. Once again, I wish we had a less annoying person to do all the things Trump is doing, but I have to wonder if he could accomplish as much as he has done and is doing, without all the negatives that turn me off so badly.

I didn’t even vote for him the first time, I simply chose him as the delivery vehicle for my anti-Hillary vote. The next two elections, I was voting for him; I still wish he was less annoying, but sometimes you just have to go with what you’ve got.

Re: Yep that's it; that's why he won!

[vantiri.livejournal.com]

Well, one of his biggest edges is that nobody in the globalist mindset has any hope at all of understanding what he's going to do next, this's a huge edge: as your opponents will consistently misplace their forces, or misalign them.
I'd say based on your responses that I'm actually much more resilliantly "Classically liberal"/Conservative, as back say in the 18th Century AD, that's what we were known as... what matters is what a man *does*, NOT how he comes across.