As IF Times

Source: New litmus test? Dems demand elimination of ICE amid immigration furor | Fox News

Over the past 10 years, it’s clear to anyone observing the state of political discourse in America that the dignified to and fro from a period long ago has given way to pretty sharp elbowed acrimony by modern participants.   Historically, both of the major US political parties have been characterized as representing their own particular constituencies.  But while the GOP can still be painted as being stodgy conservatives, the Democratic Party has morphed like a melting candle into an unrecognizable blob of discordant principles.

For years, that party liked to be portrayed as the party of inclusion and of the working class average man.  Unfortunately, that characterization is as dated as handlebar mustaches on barkeepers, or for that matter, even the word barkeeper.  In fact, it’s unlikely that the Dems would like to be known as merely representing men; that would be offensive.  They want to include all the sexes: 16 at last count.  You know that animals and plants will be on their radar soon. The Democrats’ main tool of recruitment is the balkanization of the population into identifiable victimized sub groups,  but now they’ve modified their message  to also include those that aren’t even citizens.

As a matter of common sense, if you’re a political party trying to win the hearts and minds of Americans, it seems obvious that your particular vision of America should resonate with a big chunk of the population, representing ‘American values’.  Not only has there been a departure from this logical path, the route now taken is to champion causes and values that are absolutely antithetical to the very notion of America….and in a very unapologetic way.

The most recent surprise victor at an electoral runoff for state representative in New York, Alexandria Cortez, ran unabashedly and proudly as a socialist and has expressed that communism is the end game.  The most shocked person was the defeated incumbent who thought he owned all of the space on the left.  Imagine his surprise at being out lefted.  Clearly, Cortez was able to galvanize a support base with her message of anti establishment sentiments.  It was the usual songsheet of ostracism, racism, unjust laws etc etc that progressive politicos all sing from.

What’s most radical is Cortez’s insistence that ICE, the immigration police force,  be disbanded and borders should be freely open.  While this may seem a reasonable idea for a 28 year old idealist, you’d think that rational voters, whom are presumably older and can see the folly of such a platform, would be resistant.  Picking up a newspaper and reading about Venezuela, or Cuba should have been a reality check.  But no. So much for logic.

What’s more worrisome is the willingness of the Democrats to embrace such radicalism because it can lead to a seat in the House at the expense of the GOP.  It’s the old “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” idea. We see an increased acceptance of political fossils like Mad Maxine Waters calling for public intimidation of political opponents. We observe public calls for violence against non believers by actors and jugglers and assorted media talking heads.  People are not left in peace in public spaces, nor at their homes. Gangs of people threaten people with violence who don’t share their worldview.  Schools at all levels stifle speech and opinions which are not in accordance to progressive sensibilities.  Of course the irony of this fascist behavior even as the left accuse others of fascism is completely lost on them.  The resemblance of their behavior and dogmatically irrational beliefs to a certain militant religious group is uncanny, but again, that irony is missed.

The Democratic Party is going through a period of significant upheaval, a process which the Republican Party itself went through years ago and which is still in process.  But whereas the GOP at its core still champions the values of the founders of the nation, the Democrats seem to have abandoned any classic vision of America, choosing instead to allow the party to pursue a direction that is everything that Americans have historically fought against.  The gulf between the GOP and the Democrats is now enormous.  Choosing between their platforms is like choosing  between chocolate ice cream or earwax. This has come about from years of distorted narrative about the history of the nation and its people from a revisionist education system and buttressed by the media.   It has been exacerbated by the exaggeration of moral relativism and spurious social justice causes.

One of the most prescient authors of our time made many astute observations about the predictability of humans, human nature and especially of governments.  One of these quotes seems apt here: ” The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history”  

It’s unclear whether the election of Cortez will embolden Democratic candidates to be more nakedly militant against a traditional America.  You can bet that tack will be tested on the public, especially in the increasingly radical western states.  We’ll see if the public prefers ice cream or earwax.

Source: ProPublica audio tape of crying immigrant children plays during Kirstjen Nielsen briefing – Washington Times

To those paying attention, the tactics used by ‘progressives’ to sway people’s opinions in their favor are virtually the same from issue to issue.  Rather than engage in a logical discussion on cause and effect, a discussion they would surely lose, they instead try to influence by emotion.  Of course much of Hollywood’s success exploits this weakness in people; productions are most successful when some emotional nerve is struck and people are moved by a sappy scenario, which in real life is likely utterly preposterous.  When Hollywood does it well, we get It’s A Wonderful Life.  What they mostly put out however, are laughers like Pretty Woman.

The power of emotional imagery to sell a position is not lost on the political set. Much of what finds its way into public policy results from some event with emotional circumstances.  Recently, images of crying students in Florida after a school shooting predictably re-ignited the gun control crowd.  A few years back, the image of dead boy on a beach spurred international interest in Syria.  Let’s not forget the classic picture of a polar bear on a small piece of ice floe to sell global warming.  In reality, the bear was just going to the bathroom, but it served its purpose among the Al Gore set.

Even the image of the planes hitting the twin towers in New York were important in the now accepted policy of TSA frisking and resultant long lineups at airports today.  People are willing to accept and submit to this non sensical protocol long after the rationale behind it has disappeared.  Since most people are law abiding, they comply.  Contrast this to the current hand wringing drama over adults with children apprehended at the US border while illegally attempting to enter the country.  Naturally, the kids are distressed at the situation that their parents put them in, but the images are depicted as showing the cruelty of the border agents and by extension, Trump.  We are pretty sure that crying kids would not exempt their parents from being frisked before boarding a plane at any airport.  I’m also reasonably certain that kids would likely be distressed if their parents were apprehended while stealing from a Wal Mart, also a crime.

This crying kids image is so powerful that even rational thinking people are budging at the bleating by partisan parties to ‘relax the restrictions’.  It’s not a big stretch to soon have people show up at banks with crying kids to demand money for housing and food and healthcare.

Come to think of it; that’s exactly what’s going on.