My favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, was a Republican. I think a secular federal republic is a pretty decent form of democratic governance. The "Radical Republican" wing of the antebellum Republican Party were the most ardent and vocal supporters of abolition in Congress.
Now the very word is tainted by association by these scumbags.
And Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive Republican that opposed trusts and the imbalanced influence of money in politics (but the changes began to happen during his time, which is why he left the party altogether). There was a time when “Republican” just referred to the kind of governmental structure one supported (just like “democrat”), with a range of economic and social views. That’s actually what the “grand” in Grand Old Party (GOP) referred to iirc—it was a party big enough handle a range views and ideas. AND, again iirc, the whole push for republican governmental ideas by said party was to find a way around the stranglehold of slavery in American economics. Representative government could make decisions that the populace might not support because it was the morally correct thing to do (which is also why the concept of electors was advanced by Hamilton, incidentally: as a safe-guard against tyranny—electors could look at an elected candidate and say “nah” because that person was actually likely to work against the interests of the United States).
At the beginning of March, Johnson advised his Republican colleagues not to hold town hall meetings, claiming they were giving a "forum" to "professional protesters."
These idiots are going to find out why peaceful protest exists. The alternative is not very friendly to say the least.
Protestors make noise and cause a ruckus to draw attention to any number of social issues they feel need addressed. If they're successful, laws/perceptions change to more closely reflect their ideal.
Professional protestors are those that get paid to do that.
Ergo, politicians are the "paid protestors", and the people you are avoiding are just garden-variety protestors.
If you have to advise all of your colleagues to hide from protesters instead of holding a dialogue with the people you represent... maybe you're the baddies?
Its looking more and more like thats the GOP plan. Incite an uprising, then they declare martial law where they are free from any check on their power by the courts.
Whats going to be the lynchpin is the GOP will have an army willing to put down Americans en masse.
This is one of the reasons why Lincoln was emphatic that the south had to draw first blood. That allowed him to set the war in motion.
The problem this time is that the fascists are in power and they have their hands on the levers. They are drawing first blood through their laws and executive orders.
At some point, liberals will have to fight back. I fear that more people will die before that happens
Or the military command structure fractures and now they have several warring regional or state fractions/civil war, or the military leadership enacts a coup when given illegal orders and either holds executive under military threat or hands control back to the legislature or judicial to hold a special election.
They are unable to see any of these unintended possible consequences of their actions, the same way they are unable to identify irony, or have empathy, or entertain hypotheticals.
One or two skilled people identify a venue (public high school gym? Public park? Local, non-corporate movie theater? A stadium?) and schedule a date and time?
Come up with a draft agenda to discuss at the meeting, publish it somewhere accessible online, and request comments to consider additions/revisions?
Do the same thing for a meeting ruleset to ensure it remains productive and not just an excuse to suck up oxygen by venting/ranting? Use something like a 'talking stick'?
Have petitions ready for signature so attendees can formally record their views and desires upon conclusion of the meeting?
Identify 3 or so topics to rally behind and ask for volunteers to lead or serve on committees to act on them?
I want this stuff to be actionable, not just a "someone should do this!" complaint.
I'm not an organizer... I'm naive on how this kind of thing works...but I'd like to be part of an organized movement to make things trend toward better before it gets worse.
No. No, they are not. America is full of a bunch of pussy, shit talkers. They won't do a damn thing. If they were going to do anything but whine, they would have done it by now.
As a nebraskan I am finally proud of one thing in this corn packed hellhole. At least the people in this district are finally fucking realizing who to blame for their poverty
The district as a whole voted republican, but the attendees are just whoever showed up to the town hall to air grievances, which sounds like it was not republicans.