Multiple RED ALERTS: The Save Act and Steve Bannon's poll watcher scheme

 So...there are multiple threats to democracy that were discussed tonight on the majority report that I want to report on. The first, Steve Bannon wants there to be ICE watching polling places on election day. There have historically been right wing "poll watchers" at polls and generally speaking which not all poll watching is necessarily bad, a lot of it can have racist implications, like say, the KKK watching a polling place where black people vote. or ICE watching a polling place in 2026. Yeah. They wanna do that. And obviously, the goal is clear: voter intimidation. Sure, they'll say there's fraud and they gotta watch the polls to stop it, but like every attempt at voter suppression that conservatives try to do, they always claim fraud that doesn't exist as an excuse to pass ridiculous measures intended to intimidate and disenfranchise people.

Another red alert discussed in the video is the Save Act, which hasnt passed congress to my knowledge, but the purpose is to make it require a real ID to vote. Again, "we gotta make sure citizens vote", so what's the problem? Well, a lot of underprivileged groups tend to struggle to access the right paperwork. And Real ID's requirements are so hard at times that it's hard for american citizens to get them, especially married women. I mean, Sam mentioned it on his show, and I know people in my life who had had this problem too. So...you wanna prove you're a citizen for a real ID. Okay, show your birth certificate. Oh, but what if you're married and dont have the same name as on the birth certificate any more? Well now you need a marriage certificate. Oh, but it has to be from such and such, and I know with my family we've had to track down a marriage certificate out of a church that no longer exists to prove that a person is in fact a citizen. It's a ridiculous process. It is painful, time consuming, and can take years. Of course, women tend to vote democrat so screw them right? And of course if you're poor and overworked, you likely wont have the right documents, and it's hard for you to acquire them, and if you're working 40+ hours a week just to survive, you're not gonna wanna go through the headaches of getting the ID. So...you wont vote. And then the republicans win. See the problem? Yeah, voter suppression. These guys are doing it.

As i said, they're gonna try to rig 2026 in every way possible. "Watching" the polls, having ridiculous ID requirements to vote. Hell, and this is unconfirmed, but I heard that they're photographing the ICE protesters and putting them in a database so they can wipe them from voter rolls later, claiming they're "domestic terrorists". Yeah. Protesters who are using their rights to protest a tyrannical government and jack booted thugs terrorizing the streets are being considered "domestic terrorists" and they're gonna try to wipe them off the rolls. This one is unconfirmed, but Kyle Kulinski mentioned it several times on his show, although I couldnt verify the claim. I wouldn't doubt it though. Again, they'll do it in every way possible. Trump's long term success comes from the republicans breaking democracy and ensuring that democrats do not retake congress. If Trump can't consolidate power by november, the worst of it is over. And then we take our country back, one institution at a time. And every institution we take, the weaker he becomes until we run the republicans out of office for good.

At which point, it'll be up to the democrats what happens next. it's possible they're so weak they screw it up themselves, but hopefully they'll learn SOMETHING from recent losses and actually get it together and have a long term strategy to hold this administration accountable and ensure, through legal and ethical means of course, that a future fascist administration doesnt happen again.

But again, that's why I feel a need to urgently report on stuff that comes out that seems to be a threat to elections.  

Hate to break it to you, but all of modern politics is a psy op

 So...some on the right, the more intellectually honest ones I mean, are currently coming to the realization that their entire political worldview is based on a right wing psy op. I mean, with the Epstein files basically confirming that Epstein was partially responsible for bringing /pol back on 4chan, and Bannon being largely responsible for pushing gamer gate and the like, people are realizing that their views are largely influenced by a cabal of elite billionaires who ran a massive psy op campaign to build the right wing movement. 

And before that, in the previous generation, Evangelical Christianity was also a psy op created not just to dumb down and brainwash the conservative population in the US into modern conservatism, but also much of the developing world. While some forms of left wing Christianity did exist previously, they became supplanted by an authoritarian fundamentalist version that emphasized obedience and justified the existing economic system.

And...if we really think about it, conservative protestant Christianity ALWAYS existed to justify the current economic system, as my own research into the protestant work ethic, the history of property rights, etc., shows that the entire thing was a psy op created to justify the wealth of the wealthy and the poverty of the poor at home, while also simultaneously justifying colonialism abroad.

And before that, complex webs of relations between the monarchies and catholic church supported the medieval system. And before that Constantine the Great adopted Christianity as a way to further his rule too. So Christianity has always had its roots in justifying conservatism and authoritarianism too, and the history of the past 2000 years has been shaped by powerful people utilizing religion for their own ends and to justify existing power structures and economic relationships. 

But the left...isn't much different. Especially the modern left. Honest question, guys. Do you honestly think there aren't wealthy and powerful people coordinating with each other and deciding what talking points are used, and how to justify the existing power structures within the democrats as well? Do you honestly not think the complete and utter worthlessness of the modern democrats isn't coordinated? That they didn't just flood message boards with propaganda, bullying people into voting blue no matter who, and pushing out and minimizing organic grassroots movements? Do you think it's a coincidence, the democratic party has, instead of pursuing a working class strategy, explicitly abandoned working class politics to push for a brand of fiscally conservative moderate instead? I mean, we had the podesta emails and clinton campaign emails 10 years ago, we saw a glimpse of what was going on behind the scenes. And while people will point out "yeah but russians released them for their own purposes", maybe they did, but don't they still tell a story about the rot inside our own organizations?

Do you think it's a coincidence that the corporate media pushes corporate talking points? Do you think the rise of wokeism was just a coincidence? I've heard that wokeism's elevation itself was a CIA psy op intended to create a new version of left wing politics that explicitly didn't have a working class bend to it. And I kinda believe it, because it's been corrosive to our movement since.

I honestly believe that the Bernie Sanders political revolution was the natural end goal of the direction left wing politics were going until the 2016 campaign, when these entities came down hard and enforced "voter discipline" on people to push people to Hillary. And I never bought it. Why?

Well...when you have the education I do, and you have the ideological basis for politics that I do, it kind of makes you more hardened against propaganda. You have critical thinking. You gain some immunity to this nonsense. The entire direction we've gone in since 2016 has been a massive distraction by the wealthy to move us away from the direction politics was naturally evolving toward....with disastrous consequences. Now politics is reminiscient of 1930s germany, with a useless and fractured left and a strong, growing, fascist right. It was a psy op. We're here, because this was a psy op. 

And...I can't say I'm fully immune to propaganda, no one is. It's impossible to have an opinion without it being influenced by something, and some propaganda force probably helped influence it. But, I would say I'm a bit more hardened to it. And outside of my college education, I really would credit my deconversion from Christianity as helping me here. You see, Christianity is a mind virus used by the rich and powerful to pull one over on us. It always has been, as I stated above. But, the key to overcoming that is a strong worldview based on reason and evidence. And quite frankly, leaving Christianity immunized me enough and hardened me enough where I wasn't biting the modern culture war, and I've remained pretty consistent in my views since I developed them around 2012-2014 or so. That isnt to say there aren't evolutions and iterations, but my core convictions are the same, and I've been trying to keep my eyes on the prize. And for all saying I've kinda turned into a blue no matter whoer, as I can see that coming, I only did so because of the growing fascism in the GOP that represents an existential threat even I have to respond to. The wealthy try to control democracy, and that's bad enough, but some are trying to kill that, and just implement authoritarianism. And that's dangerous because if they succeed, the level of control they'll have over the discourse and society will get worse. SO we must fight to maintain democracy before we can move back on to other things. It's not a surrender, it's a tactical retreat. But I digress.

And honestly, the fact that new atheism declined in favor of this new "woke" paradigm, and the whole fiscally conservative/socially liberal thing is probably because it can't be used by the wealthy. because a worldview based on reason and evidence, teaches people to see truth. And the wealthy dont want you to see truth, they want you to live in their matrix, or their cave arguing within the paradigm they set up for you. And that's how they control politics, even with a democratic system on paper. They dont control all of democracy, but if they can control the key players, and discourage pursuit of say, third parties, they can keep most people in their paradigm. And sadly, most of society has fallen for it and this transition to a 7th party system is shaped into the image THEY wanted it to be, and not what was good for the people. 

But yeah, if you wonder why I dont abandon new atheism in this new paradigm, even if I am somewhat spiritual now, this is why. Because new atheism and humanism ARE the answer. Some on the left will say marxism is the answer, but when has that ever ended well. Powerful people corrupted that too, and quite frankly, I've come to a realization lately when I think about it is that the reason Marxism failed is because it basically is a regression to feudalism. And even if everyone is equal on paper blah blah blah, we all know the reality in those states is much different, and a ruling class ruled over them with an iron fist. 

So no, I dont see marxism as the answer, even if some level of class consiousness and conflict theory is useful. Basically, the rich and powerful will either use systems to push people toward their ends, or try to destroy them. Which is why our society has an aversion to marxism, which teaches people about class relations, and atheism, which teaches people reason and causes people to abandon the christian mind control virus that the elites use to control people. Atheism, btw, is relatively benign compared to marxism, and my own ideology is more "liberal" in nature than "leftist", but still, it's liberalism done right. Not a corporate captured and controlled version of it, but an organic version based on intellectualism and doing what's best for the masses. 

But yeah. Again, the ruling class couldnt control that so it was displaced for wokeism, and that's when the left started losing. Because it no longer represented the people, channeled their anger, or stood for something in opposition to what currently exists, but it was this corporate captured thing that served to distract people with useless social issues and keep people fighting amongst themselves over nothing.

And until we abandon these ideologies, nothing will change with politics. With that said, I encourage people to abandon these failed and controlled ideologies for something actually substantive, as that's how we really change society. This blog has tools that will help. I've been writing and maintaining it for the past 10 years now.  

Why I'm not impressed by James Talerico

 So....a lot of progressives get really opinionated over this James Talerico guy. And I feel like it's almost become a progressive litmus test to like him over Jasmine Crockett. While I'm open to discussions on whether he's better than Crockett (tbf I haven't fully explored this topic but I'm on team crockett on vibes alone), honestly, you're just not gonna convince me that James Talerico is the bees knees. You're just not.

It's the in your face Christian worldview. I know I got a rather derisive comment saying "just say you're a 2012 reddit atheist and move on" and to be fair...*points to the blog name*, but yeah, I don't take very kindly to religion being front and center in one's political life. As I see it, religion influences morality, and influences politics. How can you have a solid, respectable exegesis of the political situation we are in if your worldview begins with a religion full of dubious names and an authoritarian morality that holds us back? Even if I acknowledge progressive Christians exist, I still believe that Christianity is gonna kneecap that progressivism, and lead to strange ideas around, say, the concept of work ethic, and property, and the origins of the universe, humanity, and civilization. It's gonna lead to weird hangups in morality that cause weird contradictions and brainworms in one's worldview. Even if Talerico and I come to the same conclusions, we often do so for radically different reasons, and that can lead to problematic implications in the details of how these ideas are proposed. 

 Take, for example, his debate on Jubilee where he had that debate with conservatives and was arguing using their logic against him.  I cringed at him arguing the ideas from a right wing point of view on work and work ethic, and how there really aren't people committing fraud or whatever. For me, the ideological difference between right and left goes deeper than that. I dont think we should worry a ton about people who "dont deserve" aid getting aid at all (outside of the prospect of illegal immigrants getting aid) because I disagree with the whole moral perspective that there is deserving vs undeserving, because that originates out of christian morality that I dont agree with. I believe that a UBI should be a right of all citizens. Period. That healthcare should be a right of all citizens. Education, housing, ditto. Period. End of discussion. It's nice he argues to defend flawed johnson era welfare state programs against the social darwinists who want nothing at all, but i just dont vibe with him here. I'm sorry, I dont.

It's the same issue I had with HRC who put her faith front and center too. I dont want someone who is "double minded", as they would say, and unstable in all their ways. Either you're hot or your cold, if you're lukewarm i'll spit you out of my mouth! Blah blah blah. Ya know. I dont want these mealy mouthed answers on social issues of "I find this morally wrong but..." There is no but, it makes you look wildly inconsistent and unreliable when you add "buts." Either youre pro choice or you're not. Either youre pro gay marriage or you're not. I dont wanna hear "well according to my faith its a sin but i believe people should be allowed to do it anyway because *add half hearted defense here that makes no sense*. No. Crap or get off the pot. I dont trust candidates who are half way in this Christian world and half in the real one. 

And some people are saying its good he can relate to those people and it makes him electable. Maybe so but that doesnt mean I LIKE him, and way to make the HRC 2016 argument all over again. We cant have a candidate with actual convictions, we have to have someone who defends some watered down version of left wing ideas through our opponent's moral system. I dont like to operate that way. I want someone who is unapologetically humanist and who actually argues their ideas based on reason, evidence, and a secular moral view. Sorry not sorry.

I understand that 2012 era reddit atheism has lost its popularity over the years. But that was my gateway to the left, and that's how I structure my ideological worldview. And I believe that with the decline of reddit atheism, the left lost something, which is why it struggles in this modern era of politics. It lost its intellectual high ground. It lost its punchiness, its ability to troll. It's ability to actually take on the right from a position of moral and intellectual superiority. 

 I know one of the people I argued with that caused this conversation argued he's progressive because he argues left wing points from a position of empathy, but we live in a society that highly prioritizes individualism and rational self interest. No one cares about that, and while the left might have some weird version of moral superiority based on empathy, that's ALL it has any more. It's lost its intellectualism. It lost its actual values, its philosophy. It's just a hugbox of feels over reals. And I've been highly critical of the empathy hugboxers over the years because of this. Because they're just a bunch of annoying self righteous people and no one fricking cares. 

I keep telling lefties this and they dont get it. When I was on the right, I was a values voter. I'm STILL a values voter, I just changed what those values are. I get it, it's Texas. It's "god's country." If we need some moderate good old christian boy to win that seat, well, we do what we gotta do. Not like we have a good choice. But that doesnt mean i LIKE the guy. it means i tolerate the guy. 

I get it, my politics are, at this point, from a different era. They're pre 2016 politics. I get that that's foreign in this new environment. But back then, we were winning, and the right was losing. And honestly, that's how I see politics. It just is. And I'm not gonna change. I just dont relate to some modern liberals and progressives, and I dont see eye to eye with them on worldview, morals or values. I'm off doing my own thing. But it IS my own thing, I own it, and if people dont like it, tough. I dont necessarily like others who do something different either. And that's where I'm gonna leave this. Sorry, not sorry.  

The new Epstein files are wild

 So....I won't post them. They're disgusting. You can watch videos on them, you can read then yourself on the justice department's website, but I won't be linking to them given how gross they are. 

But yeah....it's confirming my own suspicion, Trump isn't just some dude who went to Epstein's island a few times, but a major player. He's implicated in child rape, sex trafficking, even murder. I have friends who are relatively apolitical reading this stuff and being disgusted by it. Which is...the sane reaction. It is disgusting, and I'd like to say, I dont know how anyone can support Trump after this,  but let's face it, I know the answer to this: people are brainwashed and not living in the same reality as the rest of us, where they'll ignore the evidence even when it smacks him in the face. Somehow, Trump really is the guy who can shoot someone in 5th avenue and not lose any voters (or lose relatively few). 

But yeah, if you still support him, I encourage you to think deeply about your relationship to reality, because either you're not living in it or your morals are so F-ed up you'll support a literal pedophile. And not just any pedophile, but like, the king of all pedophiles. Trump is accused of doing, or being complicit to many of the worst crimes known to our justice system. You know, for a while after losing my faith, I believed that there wasn't really true evil, and that humans were just sometimes misguided about what the good or moral thing is, but that we all kinds wanted similar things, some people just seriously perverted those goals through some bad logic somewhere. but no, the older I get, the more I realize true evil exists, and these guys are pure evil.

And it's not just Trump. This just seems to be how the ultra wealthy live. There's anecdotes coming out due to these files about alleged cannibalism these guys are engaging in. There was an anonymous tip that the Epstein people were cooking and eating babies. It's unreliable, but given the culture of extreme moral depravity and also silencing people, the topic has come back up, especially in regards to a young mexican woman who made some wild accusations and then disappeared not long after. Another victim perhaps? We don't know, but it's been suspected by some that this was related to epstein's stuff. 

But yeah, again, it's not just Trump either. It's so many people. So many wealthy people and powerful people are being implicated in being involved with this stuff. It's messed up. And I ain't even touching the pedophilia.

Another disturbing thing is how many crazy ideas in the private sector seemed to come from Epstein in one way or another. Epstein apparently suggested 4chan open a political board, which happened soon after and is one of the forces behind the alt right movement that came in the years after. So people on the right are coming to the realization that their entire political perspective was shaped by a psy op. Apparently monetization in Call of Duty was epstein's idea, and the idea of getting children addicted to such purchases. And apparently 75% of bitcoin's code has been traced back to epstein, so now bitcoin investors are kinda realizing they just funded a massive pedophile ring. Peter Thiel and Palantir, ya know, the 1984 guys, also seem related to this stuff. It seems like every bad thing and idea in the world is somehow related to this guy, it's insane.

Speaking of which, I would like to talk about Qanon and pizzagate for a second. Now, I believe that Qanon is mostly BS. but hear me out, could this have been an epstein psy op too? I kind of wouldnt doubt it. Here's why. With pizzagate, there were accusations of democratic party insiders communicating with each other by going to get pizza at some restaurant in DC were actually speaking in code and were actually talking about child sex crimes.

But...in the actual epstein files, we have evidence of people doing just that. I have to wonder...did someone with inside knowledge of the epstein organization create Qanon and push this rumor as a way to rile up conservatives? I wouldnt doubt it. it turns out there is really an elite cabal of pedophiles who run the world from the shadows and who speak in code about pizza when they really mean child sex crimes. Idk, it's just a bit too on the mark. 

Now, again, that doesnt mean Qanon is a legitimate conspiracy theory, it was an idea that radicalized right wingers against the left and made people believe the democrats were doing this, when in reality, it was all them. It was this alt right movement who was being funded and supported by all these pedophile billionaires. Could someone have been telling on themselves here? It's crazy.

Now, I actually had a friend come to me last night after reading about some of this stuff and being utterly disgusted and asking me, how do I cope with this crap. Sadly, I don't have any advice. The older I get, the more I realize just how messed up the world is, and how it's...well....THESE GUYS who made it this way. And it does go deeper than just sex crimes and stuff. It's everything, it's our economic system. I had another friend ask if this is what the elites really think of us, as if they only care about us for our labor, or sex toys, or...FOOD (given the cannibalism accusations), and....I have to say, yeah, they do. They dont care about us. We're livestock to them. The world is their farm. And this economic system was set up to extract labor from us. The more I research the more my own conclusions align with the likes of the leftists insofar as how these institutions got set up.

And sadly, I dont have answers. I find it mega depressing itself. But...one advice I did give, and i'll give to you here, is to not look away, to not delude yourself, but to accept it. There's that stuff about staring into the abyss and the abyss staring back. but this time, the abyss is staring at US, and WE have to stare back. And WE have to assert dominance. 

As I said, Trump's success relies on swiftly breaking democracy. His approach is that of a robber, move fast break things, and get out before the country knows what hit them. But here's the thing, we DO know what's hitting us. And we cant turn away from it, or pretend it isnt happening. We have to acknowledge it. Admitting we have a problem is our first step to solving it. 

So...in 2026 and 2028, go to the ballot box KNOWING the reality of this stuff, AND the world. And act accordingly. Vote accordingly. Get these psychos out of power. And yes, I know the democrats are controlled opposition too, but we gotta run outsider populist candidates like Bernie Sanders and Andrew yang, and win. Because let's face it, the democrats' complicity isnt meeting the moment. We need an actual paradigm shift, a party realignment. And sometimes, before we get the good thing, we gotta experience a really bad thing first. It took a hoover to get an FDR. A buchanan to get a Lincoln. A King George to get a Washington. And...it works the other way too. We needed a Carter to get a Reagan. 

I feared last year that Biden was Jimmy Carter and Trump was Reagan. Im not convinced that Trump is Reagan. He MIGHT be a realigning figure, and a negative one, but honestly, before we can get a positive figure, we sometimes need a negative one to shake things up so badly that the good one becomes necessary to restore some sanity to society.

The next democratic administration CANNOT be another Joe Biden. It needs to do better. We need an actual transformative figure who will not only heal our democracy, and hold these people to account for their crimes (and not just the pedo stuff, I'm also talking the ICE stuff too), but also establish a new economic paradigm for a modern age. 

As for me, as I see it, my goal is to inform. I'm here to educate people, to raise awareness and raise consciousness, and I'm just gonna keep doing that. I just hope people actually fricking listen because that's how we change things long term. Collective action and political organization. And for me personally, that's how I cope with this crap. A catalyze my anger into something useful. By writing about it. Because, again, to change things long term, we need to inform, educate, change minds. That's how we build a counter to this movement long term. They operate from the top down and with tons of money flooding the system, we have to operate from the bottom up through the grassroots. We already know what we gotta do. We saw it with Bernie's 2016 and 2020 campaign, we saw it with Yang's 2020 campaign as well. We just gotta keep pushing and trying until we succeed.

That's the best advice I can give.  

RED ALERT: Trump calls for nationalizing elections

 So...Trump's still salty over losing the 2020 election, claimed that elections in 15 states are "corrupt", and that the federal government should step in to stop that. And EVERYONE disliked that, including the GOP. At least people still care SOMEWHAT about democracy and they aren't just calling to end elections. 

Still, it's worth reporting on because, well, I've been warning you guys. Trump's (and Trumpism's) long term success relies on its ability to maintain and consolidate control over our institutions, and given the GOP stands a very good chance of losing the 2026 midterms and 2028 elections, well...it's possible that we will endure.

Still, it doesn't mean Trump ain't gonna try and this is basically him trying. 

The ironic thing is, in theory, I'm not even opposed to more federal control in standardizing election procedures. I've been critical of our 50 states patchwork given the republicans have previously consolidated control in their states to make it harder for democrats to gain gains, while also rigging it against third parties via banning ranked choice voting. So my opposition was over the powers that be not allowing MORE democracy to thrive, since I would much rather us be a multi party democracy with 3+ viable parties. Still, 2 is a step up from 1, and Trump wants to make us a one party state. 

But that's the difference. When i criticize our institutions it's because I wanna make democracy better where we have, say, 4 national parties, with the libertarians and greens becoming more mainstream. These guys wanna kill it and have only 1. 2 is better than 1, but not as good as 3, 4, 6, or whatever. So....I guess now I gotta play defensive and support this flawed patchwork in opposition to trump's efforts to just rig stuff as he pleases directly. I hate that we've gotten here, but we've gotten here. I guess that's checks and balances though. Right now the states are our primary line of defense against trumpism. Although with this even the president's own party, especially long standing members from pre 2016, are just like NO to this. Which is good, they should be. I dont see how any principled "constitutionalist" can support Trump. He doesn't support the constitution, either in letter or spirit. I might criticize the constitution, but at least I support the spirit of it. I just think we could do certain things better and that the actual implementation is a bit flawed and dated. These guys just hate the idea of democracy, or rule of law, or checks and balances.

And yet we're the ones accused of "hating America" (see the other day's rant) for lightly criticizing the constitution or our institutions the way we do. No, Donald Trump hates "America." And Donald Trump is a fascist, or at the very least fascist adjacent. We just want America to grow and be the best it can be. Huge difference. He wants to turn us into 1930s Germany. Complete with our own concentration camps. Yeah, he's doing that too. 

 *sigh*, i hate this administration. Not America as a concept or the constitution in general, but specifically the people who run it currently. We are in hell. It's like we all died in the mid 2010s somehow and it's been a fever dream ever since. Sometimes I wish we would just wake up back in 2017 with Bernie Sanders being sworn in as president. 

Discussing the 1 democrat vs 20 MAGA republicans Jubilee video

 *sigh*, they did it again. This time it's 20 MAGA republicans vs 1 democrat. Im not gonna lie, this one was PAINFUL to watch. Like, the MAGA in this one were so stupid, dishonest, or both. I would not have the patience to do these debates. It's like playing chess with a pigeon. They just knock over the pieces and strut around acting like they're victorious. 

I won't go into individual claims. Nothing was said that was substantive enough to discuss, outside of maybe the last claim which I have a rant about. But yeah, these people are just in their own little world, it's all feels over reals. They make claims that are patently false. When logical contradictions are brought up, they pivot, deflect, or act like it's different somehow. It's just a crapshow.

The last claim involved the idea that democrats "hate America" and then this guy just kept talking over this guy. He handled it very coolly, and was very professional, dismantling him and making him look bad, but I probably would've lost my crap and told him to F off. he was just doing this mccarthyist thing of making radical claim, when said claim defines "America" as conservative values. Hes ranting about communists and zohran mamdani and blah blah blah and its like...so people cant disagree with you now? Thats what i hate about the "hate america" crap. These guys define "America" in these very romanticized terms, and often appeal to stuff like "freedom" (which i support), "hard work" (BLEH!), the judeo Christian worldview, etc. And it's just...ugh. And then this guy just kept talking over him and not letting him get a word in edgewise while claiming HE was the one getting cut off any time this guy tried to respond. Again, you try this crap on me, I'm not particularly gonna be civil about it. It's obvious what this was trying to do. 

Anyway, as far as my view on that, while I do hate conservative values and this romanticized idea of "America" that conservatives have (which is a "civil religion" parallel to literal religion), I approach the issue differently. I take the Al Franken approach. Conservatives love America like 4 year olds love their mommies. if you say anything bad about mommy you must HATE mommy and that makes you a bad person because mommy is good. Meanwhile, Al Franken points out liberals love America too, we just handle that love like adults do where we dont give people a pass on every crappy thing they do, and we want our loved one to, you know, grow, and do the right thing. And I'd say that's where I'm at.

I know some leftists, like DIE HARD leftists, tend to have an "anti America" mindset. Like, you cant bring up anything american without them bashing it. Like if you bring up FDR, they'll bring up internment camps. If you bring up Lincoln they'll bring up how he was actually somewhat racist. if you bring up a founder they'll go on about how they were slave owners. Nothing is ever good enough and when your perspective devolves into America/west bad, yeah you kinda do hate America. But liberals have always been a bit more nuanced, at least the smart ones. 

I admit my country has faults. And I discuss them on here. heck, being steeped in the history of this country and the world as of late, really, some might get the opinion that I DO hate this country, this system, etc. But at the same time, I also acknowledge that no state is perfect. There's no state on this planet that is morally perfect. And blind nationalism is a mental disease as far as I'm concerned. We need to be honest about the faults of our state, our social and economic systems, etc., if we want to change them for the better and improve them. But that's the problem with the "love america" crowd. They think America is perfect and beyond reproach and that anyone criticizing it must hate it. it's a really immature mindset.

Of course, unlike on this blog, in a debate, you'd never be allowed to say that as the whole point of the argument is to hurl baseless accusations at people and never let them get a word in edgewise to defend themselves, which is precisely what happened here, this guy wasnt honestly interested in discussion. He was trying to pull this mccarthyist BS of just screaming at people and not letting them defend themselves. And to be fair, the democratic debater handled it well, whereas I probably would've just told him to go F himself and ended it there. Because I dont respond to that nonsense well. 

Here's the thing, liberal ideas are complex and require explaining. Hell, there's a reason I dont do live debates and instead hide behind this blog and the book im trying to write. because I do better when I can actually argue for my ideas on my own terms, while republican/conservative ideas tend to be assumed by default, and defending them often requires a lot of rhetorical dishonesty like logical fallacies, gish galloping, and just never letting your opponent talk. If your opponent cant talk, they win. And that's the asymmetry that we on the left have to put up with. And it gets worse the further left you are, as you are often operating from an entirely different paradigm that requires tons and tons of theory just to explain. The conservative relies on disrupting peoples' abilities to argue their viewpoints properly. And this isn't just a republican vs democrat problem, but a liberal vs leftist one too. In the democratic primaries, keep in mind what my argument was about the field being rigged against the left. it relied on things like media control and dishonest hosts who wouldnt let their opponent talk properly and constantly guided the conversation on their terms. 

Again, if the left can argue its ideas, it can probably make a good case. But most people are stupid, quite frankly, and as long as the media does a good enough job in not letting someone with progressive or leftist (keep in mind you dont need to even be a full blown leftist to have this happen to you, even a progressive liberal is gonna get this treatment) views talk and explain their point of view properly, they win. So they try to disrupt how you talk. 

Conservatives do it to liberals, and liberals do it to progressives and leftists. And that's a huge reason why the right is so favored. It's the "thank you for smoking" ice cream scene in practice. It's not about convincing you, it's about convincing the masses. And keep in mind, the masses are stupid. They eat it all up, and that's why we don't win. Even if we're right. Because as the guy in the scene said, when your job is to never be wrong, you're never wrong, and you'll basically use any intellectually dishonest deflection in order to achieve the result that you want. Which is what happened here and what the "liberals hate America" crap is about. it's about knocking us off balance where we gotta defend ridiculous accusations, and then never letting us talk enough to defend ourselves. Again, that's how they win. it's dishonest, it's hacky, intellectuals know better, but most people aren't intellectuals so it sticks. Again, it's why i hate actual live in person debates and stick to text. You cant pull that crap on me if I can just type a monologue explaining my views.

Btw, this is one of the reasons I became an atheist. I remember when I was deconverting, I was watching debates between Madalyn Murray O Hair and some preacher dude and the preacher dude acted like this. Atheist proposes valid points, Christian just craps all over the place like a pigeon playing chess. Why bother playing with these people if they dont play fair?

And yeah, it's the same thing with Charlie Kirk too. Everyone is like "oh he tried to debate when he was alive, he was civil." He was a hack. Not saying he should have died, I'm very much against that sort of murder. But to actually criticize his debate skills and the concept of civil debate, he wasn't a real honest debater, he was a conservative hack who debated dumb college students who havent yet been able to fully develop their worldviews and then acts like they're so smart for "winning." It's like me bragging about getting 100 kills in casual breakthrough in Battlefield 6 when i just spent all match sitting in a corner farming bots with a meta gun of my choice. I know some people actually do take pride in doing that, but it's not an accomplishment. Same thing here. Kirk rarely debated actual intellectual equals on equal ground. He was known for being a debate bro who smacked down college students. 

And yeah. See the conservative MO yet? I didn't plan on going into conservatives being intellectually dishonest debaters but that's kind of where this ended up. You see a pattern enough you end up eventually calling it out, i guess. And yeah. it's hacky and dishonest, sorry, not sorry.  

Discussing how Christianity is a CIA psy op

 So, Genetically Modified Skeptic just put out a video arguing (with evidence) that evangelical Christianity is literally a CIA psy op, and how it was designed to counter Catholic liberation theology in poorer countries in like South America, in order to justify taking land away from people, and making people compliant to the wealthy. 

And uh...I'm just gonna say...no crap. I mean, it is no surprise that the second I left the Christian faith I became radically liberal/progressive. I wouldnt call myself a full blown leftist, but my ideas flirt with leftism, and I kind of have a leftist analysis of problems, but with more "liberal" solutions. 

I'm gonna be blunt, it did not elude me that when I left the faith, that it became clear that religion was a tool used by the rich and powerful. It's literally plato's cave or the matrix, a mental prison designed to redirect angst regarding the causes of our largest societal problems away from their root causes toward unproductive ends. 

Christianity has always had that kind of vibe for me where we wonder why bad things happen to good people, and it's like gee...idk Timmy (or whoever asked the question), but we do know that God will settle the accounts in the next life. FOOLS. That's what they want. That's what the elites want. For you to not worry about this stuff and to focus on the next life, so they can rob you in this one! 

I mean, it really is as Marx would say, religion is the opium of the masses. People don't focus on how F-ed up this life is, and what the root causes of that suffering is, because of it. And fundamentalist christianity is literally designed to redirect people away from focusing on the causes of social problems, and intend to redirect stuff inward toward focusing on one's own virtue. Youre not to focus on this world and its problems, only your own morality, and your own sin. And dont forget, if you dont work hard, you're not of good moral character!

Heck, and this is where I get more into my own research projects, I'll say this about protestant Christianity. it's ALWAYS been this way. The protestant work ethic and the idea of a natural right of property were used to justify the wealth of the rich and the poverty of the poor. It was said the wealthy "deserved" their wealth because they worked hard for it, while the poor are poor because they didnt work hard enough. Again, dont focus on the actual systemic causes of poverty, focus on personal morality. Which involves working harder and being a useful tool to the ownership class. Once you see it, it feels like Bioshock Infinite with Fink Industries and all their BS propaganda about working hard. But that's the society we live in, the work cult. 

There's...been a lot of disturbing stuff coming out of the epstein stuff recently. Rampant claims of pedophilia among the elites, especially our current president. Rumors of cannibalism even. And I'm not kidding. A mexican friend of mine was telling me about how this model attended an elite party in like 2009 and had a mental breakdown screaming about how they were literally eating people and was basically arrested for making a scene...and then never seen again. And given how the epstein files does imply the murder of those who talk about things they've seen at these parties and how they end up as fertilizer for trump's golf course (true story, according to the files, btw), uh...kinda makes you wonder.

Why am I telling you this? Because a friend of mine is so shaken up, they're literally like "is this how the elites see us? like we're subhuman and basically just useful for labor and if they feel like it, eating and raping us?" And uh...yeah. I mean, I've heard stories before the magna carta how the nobles would just kill peasants for funsies at times. That's how the elites see us. They hate us. They despise us. We're just livestock to them. And keep in mind what I've said about the dark enlightenment and my own UBI stuff, these guys would rather a wave of mass death among the working class than giving us a UBI. And a lot of the left seems to prefer a world of eternal servitude to the wealthy over that alternative. As if we shouldnt just demand that they share. Oh wait, that's "communism" according to them. Even if it actually isn't (keep in mind, I still consider myself a liberal). 

Anyway, back to the topic. So yeah, evangelical christianity. It was designed like 400 years ago to justify our existing systems. The natural right to property justifies the property right regime, and the protestant work ethic justifies a world in which we all gotta give our labor to rich people. It's ALWAYS been like this.

And yes, I know, there have been supporters of christianity who dont think like this. I'm aware of that too. Some christians wanted a post work world so we could spend more time at church or some crap. Some hated consumerism because they thought we should all live simple lives like Jesus. I mean, that's the thing, they support ideas that I support, but within religion. And for me, that's the rub. See....I left religion. And I just see no point in going back. yes, left wing christians exist. But I ask, why be christian at all? is christianity actually reasonable? Can you build a consistent, coherent worldview out of it that makes sense? I dont think so, personally. It just feels so conflicted to me, and even if not every aspect of it is bad, I jsut can't support the mentality. I mean, I welcome allies wherever they lie, even in religions i otherwise disagree with, but honestly? Christianity in general just gets caught in the crossfire for me. Secularism has led me away from Christianity, and I see no reason to go back. Even if not all versions of it are bad. Because...it just doesnt make sense to me, it doesnt click, and I think the fact that it has the mentality that it does, where it does not emphasize reason and following evidence, is inherently a negative. Even if some within the faith agree with me, we agree for different reasons. I wont turn away allies, but still, you see how I can't just...go back to being pro that stuff?

And it's the same with the work ethic. I know elizabeth anderson, for example, who has such a good book on the protestant work ethic, which has heavily influenced my current views, loves to emphasize that there is a progressive work ethic...I have to ask....why keep the work ethic at all? I dont wanna save the work ethic. I wanna kill it. I wanna drive a sake through its heart so we dont have to work any more.

And that's kinda how I feel about organized religion in general. Even if catholics sometimes have social justice teachings and the like....I think that the world just makes so much more sense when you dont allow such weird influences to corrupt your worldview. These mindsets arent designed to be compatible with reason and evidence....so why accept them?

And yes, I understand even secularism isnt perfect. The secularization of the work ethic and its influence by utilitarians has caused great harm as well in my view. It was the utilitarians who argued for the panopticon for the poor for example, who created a proto doctrine of growth, who saw capitalism as a race with no finish. It was them who decided that the suffering of the poor was worth it if it advanced society by their own metrics. If anything, the secularization of the work ethic made it far worse, removing its humanitarian impulses. Likewise, I've come to realize that without religion, the right won't just go away, it'll just become more outspokenly fascistic. It'll argue its ideas under the guise of structural functionalism and become about race politics, with open authoritarianism being promoted as functional to build a strong nation or whatever. So...to be fair, secularism isnt perfect either.

Still....my ethos is...fundamentally...secular. It has its origins in the New Atheist movement of the 2000s and early 2010s, it embraces reason and evidence in finding truth, and it embraces a humanistic mindset its ethics. Hell, human centered capitalism as we understand it is just...humanism. It's literally taking secular humanist principles and applying them to economics.  And yeah. That's where I'm at. 

The fact is, religion is a tool often used by the rich and powerful to justify the status quo, especially in regard to wealth and privileges. Protestant christianity is just a perfect tool to be used by the wealthy to domesticate people into the perfect slaves. It's not surprising it was used by the CIA to enslave people. It's always been used that way, going back to the dawn of capitalism. And before that, we had the divine right of kings and feudalism, and so on and so forth. So yeah, I just see no reason to support religion, especially given the way the world is today. I just wanted to comment on this, as it's right up my alley as far as my political ideology goes.