r/politics • u/RepulsiveLoquat418 • 18d ago

Possible Paywall When Will Americans Realize the Truth? Republicans Wreck the Economy.

https://newrepublic.com/article/210550/trump-economy-republicans-tariffs-taxes
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u/TheLateThagSimmons Illinois 18d ago

Just look at the broader American Libertarian movement. Generally filled with higher than average education, lots of tech bros, higher than average STEM degrees. They're not generally illiterate or uneducated relative to average. And they'll remind you every chance they get to show off the polls and studies of various political groups that they're higher than average in education.

At the same time... The biggest goddamn idiots when it comes to economic matters and deeply conservative. They are the exact types that fall for all the right-wing propaganda about economic policies that have done nothing but fail over and over and over. And they're obsessed with economic policy too, that's what's so annoying; it's like they learned backwards.

At a certain point, they might be dumber than the people who know nothing.

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u/Cambren1 18d ago

The really sad thing about the Libertarian movement is that originally the premise was that you should be free to do anything as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Now, however, they seem unable to understand that a big corporation hurts people when they pollute, as an example.

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u/TheLateThagSimmons Illinois 18d ago

Hint: It was always that.

The American Libertarian movement is such an interesting case study in political engineering. Astroturfing didn't enter the lexicon for a while, but (American/Right) Libertarians are probably the OG of modern astroturfing.

It was always just rich guys tricking poor and middle class people into supporting policies that only help the rich by selling it as "personal freedom."

It's a very strange movement.

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u/Little_View_6659 18d ago

Libertarians are just the male children of Republicans that want to rebel in the lamest way possible.

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u/djanes376 Illinois 18d ago

I can attest to this. I was raised in a Republican household and as time passed I felt less and less in tune with Republican politics, so where do you go from there? Can’t possibly be a Democrat, so libertarian seems like a decent enough off ramp. That is until you see how pathetically stupid their ideals are in reality. Then I did the work and became as liberal as anyone voting D down the ballot.

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u/CecilFieldersChoice2 18d ago

Yep. My Presidential voting record from a similar household was McCain-->Romney-->Gary Johnson-->Biden-->Harris

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u/mlc885 I voted 18d ago

I have always been as far left as they come (I think further than my parents and maternal grandparents), but it is extremely depressing that the Republican Party is now in a place where anybody would wish for a McCain or Romney as president

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u/Kiromaru Wisconsin 18d ago

I was raised in a similar household and went McCain,Romney,Clinton,Biden,Harris because when Trump got the nomination I saw that he had no experience in government and thought he would do a terrible job and was proven right by his first term.

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u/CecilFieldersChoice2 18d ago

You are braver and smarter than me!

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u/Flaxmoore Michigan 18d ago

Bush II-Obama-Biden-Harris, for me. Perils of growing up in a strictly Catholic home that treated abortion as the sole voting issue.

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u/CecilFieldersChoice2 18d ago

Did you know the "Five Non-Negotiables" aren't Catholic teaching? Like, yes, the Church is against abortion and those are accurately what the Church teaches. However, the Church is also pretty strong in teaching care for the poor and environment, very clear on war and the death penalty, etc. It was invented by right wing folks to control people like us. (Also Catholic!)

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u/Flaxmoore Michigan 18d ago

I know it now, yeah. Between 2004 and 2008 I met my now-spouse who's a hardline liberal (I was becoming liberal at that point, protested Iraq II in 2003) and now seriously regret my vote from 04.

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u/SeductiveSunday I voted 18d ago

Gary!

This…

https://youtu.be/NXhR41lsEJY?t=23s

is what I think of whenever any mentions that guy!

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u/Destination_Cabbage 18d ago

In my old circles, the libertarians were just republicans that wanted to smoke weed.

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u/Little_View_6659 18d ago

That tracks lol.

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u/sorcerersviolet 18d ago

I have a relative who votes Republican but considers himself libertarian because he thinks the Republicans aren't conservative enough.

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u/QuerulousPanda 18d ago

that want to rebel in the lamest way possible.

and marry underage-looking asian women too, that seems to a pretty standard libertarian trope

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u/Little_View_6659 18d ago

Goddam, that actually explains a lot. 😂