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WaPo Wonders: Can’t We Hold Conservative Voters Accountable?
Hotair.com ^ | 5-21-19 | Jazz Shaw

Posted on 05/21/2019 8:37:58 AM PDT by DeweyCA

Most of the liberals across the country – particularly in the media – are all in favor of “punishing” Republicans in public office. But they tend to limit their ambitions in these areas to the idea of voting them out of office. Or, in the case of the President, removing him sooner via impeachment. This is seen in some quarters as accountability.

Today, however, I’m looking over a more unique suggestion, brought to us by Matthew Sears at the Washington Post. Sure, it’s all well and good to talk about holding elected officials accountable. But what about the voters who sent them to office? Shouldn’t there be some way to hold their feet to the fire and exact some retribution for their poor decision-making skills? (I realize this sounds like something from the Onion, but bear with me. It’s actually serious.)

Sears begins by asking the question, “Democracies give power to the people — does anyone hold the people responsible for this power? He then goes into a lengthy analysis of the history of democratic forms of government, most of which you’re free to skip over. But we finally get to the payoff in the final three paragraphs of the article. How exactly are we going to hold Republican voters responsible for the evil they have unleashed on the land? (Sears attempts to make this sound like a generic argument, but when listing examples, he’s talking specifically about Republicans. The Democrats apparently never err in selecting elected officials.) Here’s the money shot. (Emphasis added)

But missing in both Athens democracy and our democracy today, is the question of how to hold regular citizens more accountable for their electoral decisions, too. Formal, legal accountability is out of the question, but is moral accountability too much to ask? All politicians fall short in fulfilling their promises, or neglect to fulfill them altogether. Yet, when politicians do exactly what they promised they would do — say, cracking down on migrants in cruel ways, or stoking anti-Muslim sentiment — can we not hold those who voted for them morally accountable to a certain degree?

Too often, we see supposed moderate Republicans, most of whom really voted for Trump, throw up their hands in the face of Trump’s excesses, and evade suggestions that they should take a lead role in resisting Trump, including at the ballot box. We should challenge such duplicity early and often. I’d go so far as to say we should call out our otherwise pleasant relatives who support odious candidates. Have an aunt who voted for Steve King? Let her know that she enables white supremacy. After all, if voters have great power — which they do, at least on paper — it follows they should also share at least some responsibility for what those they elect do.

Well, it’s good to see that Sears isn’t looking for “legal accountability,” presumably in the form of rounding up Trump voters and throwing them in prison. (Well, at least not yet, anyway.) So he’s just looking for “moral accountability.” You don’t need to go much further in the article to understand what he’s talking about. Have an annoying, conservative aunt who voted GOP? Start berating her. You obviously won’t change her mind, but at least you might be able to stop her from showing up for Thanksgiving dinner.

This is nothing new. All Sears is doing here is trying to take credit for the public gang behavior that poutraged liberals have already been engaging in when they attempt to chase conservative public figures out of restaurants or other public spaces. The unoriginal twist here is the suggestion that such mob rules be applied to individual voters.

But remember, everyone. Republicans are mean. Democrats are the party of the nice people.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2020demprimary; censorship; elections; hatespeech; mediabias; socialwarfare; stigma
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To: DeweyCA

Every leftist is a totalitarian at heart. Thank God they’re also such ineffectual whinging pussies in this country.


21 posted on 05/21/2019 9:33:18 AM PDT by dead (Our next president is going to be sooooo boring.)
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To: DeweyCA

Leftists don’t even pretend to believe in democracy or the little people having a vote anymore. They only believe in their “right” to win at all costs. If they don’t get their way, they believe it is their duty to harass and slander and bully all those who had the temerity to think for themselves. All this writer is promoting is intolerance, close-mindedness, and authoritarian thinking—all of which are very popular currently on the left. They will not be happy until all the little Americans they so look down on obey them (and their absurdly distorted world view) without question.


22 posted on 05/21/2019 9:40:40 AM PDT by FenwickBabbitt
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To: DeweyCA

Next steps:

We know from the voter rolls who is registered as a Republican. Have anyone who is so registered wear a decal, like a yellow elephant, on his sleeve, so that people can clearly identify him as a deplorable. Then smash up the windows of his home or business, write letters of protest to his employer, fire all such people from institutes of learning, cultural institutes, etc.

We’re not saying put them in prison. No. But hold them accountable.


23 posted on 05/21/2019 9:42:01 AM PDT by RAldrich
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To: DeweyCA

So I guess Mr.(?) Sears agrees that all “refugees” should be sent to sanctuary cites/states.


24 posted on 05/21/2019 9:43:37 AM PDT by Do_Tar (To my NSA handler: Just kidding.)
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To: DeweyCA
Today, however, I’m looking over a more unique suggestion, brought to us by Matthew Sears at the Washington Post. Sure, it’s all well and good to talk about holding elected officials accountable. But what about the voters who sent them to office? Shouldn’t there be some way to hold their feet to the fire and exact some retribution for their poor decision-making skills?

Is this not what Saddam Hussein was doing to voters who did not vote for him? Is this why union thugs keep getting re-elected? Is this why Chavez and Maduro and their ilk, keep getting "re-elected?"

I am concerned that such Fascist and communist techniques have been adopted by the Democrats. Are they (Democrats and MSM) themselves the enemy of the people?

25 posted on 05/21/2019 9:46:54 AM PDT by olezip
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To: FenwickBabbitt
They will not be happy until all the little Americans they so look down on obey them (and their absurdly distorted world view) without question.

And we slide inexorably towards CW2.

26 posted on 05/21/2019 9:47:52 AM PDT by bassmaner (Hey commies: I'm a white male, and guilty of NOTHING! Sell your 'white guilt' elsewhere.)
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To: DeweyCA
"Can we not hold those who voted for them morally accountable to a certain degree?"

He's right, and that's why I refused to celebrate Easter this year with my pro-Dem and therefore pro-abortion and pro-homosexual and anti-Christian sisters. This cuts both ways, but of course that would never even occur to him.
27 posted on 05/21/2019 9:54:07 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: DeweyCA
Matthew A. Sears endorses Antifa and turning Mob Rule Hate Speech and personal intimidation tactics loose on relatives and friends who support and vote Conservative and civilized policy.

I'm sure we agree on what the "A" stands for.

28 posted on 05/21/2019 9:57:04 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (America NEEDS Mob Rule, another European and Mid East World War and a universal Draft)
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To: DeweyCA

Thinly disguising what they really want, to kill us all off.

As Bill Ayres said, for the Revolution to succeed, at least 25 million would need to die.


29 posted on 05/21/2019 9:58:27 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Larry Lucido

The piece was authored by Matthew A. Sears in the Compost.


30 posted on 05/21/2019 9:59:22 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (America NEEDS Mob Rule, another European and Mid East World War and a universal Draft)
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To: wastoute

No one wants to live in ‘New Weimar’...


31 posted on 05/21/2019 10:06:33 AM PDT by glasseye ("24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? I think not." ~ H. L. Mencken)
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To: DeweyCA

Wouldn’t it be fun if Michael Sears’ strategy was
turned on him? Somebody exposes him to a little
doxing and see what happens. Admittedly it is not
easy or likely due to the fact that conservatives
tend to have too much class to confront the opposition
in a heavy handed way out in public.

But, truth be
known, we may need to change our ways in order to
survive. At some point we may need to change our
game. The fact that Democrats are willing to push
this impeachment sham in spite of the vast support
for Trump tells me we need to prepare for anything.


32 posted on 05/21/2019 10:07:08 AM PDT by Sivad (Demo M/O = infiltrate, overtake, politicize, weaponize)
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To: DeweyCA

And then they blame conservatives for the lack of civility in political discourse. But then again remember democrats are the party of the hooded terrorists, like the KKK and AntiFa...

This deterioration of political discourse is completely on the shoulders of the left. Specifically, it started in earnest with Saul Alinskey and his book Rules For Radicals, where there is no civil discourse,,, only ridicule, to dehumanized and demonize.


33 posted on 05/21/2019 10:12:56 AM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
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To: Sivad

if that happens please ping me with the info...


34 posted on 05/21/2019 10:13:41 AM PDT by God luvs America (63.5 million pay no income tax and vote for DemoKrats...)
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To: Sivad

...we need to prepare for anything


The left is already physically attacking us. (AntiFa)
“In our face”
Kicking us out of restaurants.

-Remember the republican baseball practice shooting?
-The Las Vegas shooter?
-Just about every mass shooting or bombing attempt with few exceptions, have been carried out by hard core leftists.

Their hatred of us is obvious and totally committed to intolerance.
The civil war has already started.


35 posted on 05/21/2019 10:28:20 AM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
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To: DeweyCA
Sears tips his hand when he couches the question in terms of "we" holding "them" accountable. That means incessant social warfare against the other tribe, not whatever he actually means by "democracy". Lose an election? Smash somebody's window, dox them, try to get them fired. It's hardly a recipe for social cohesion.

It is, in fact, elected officials who need to be held accountable in a representative republic, and his side has a perfectly blank track record of doing so.

Athens is not, I'm afraid, an example that makes his case under any scrutiny at all. There democracy led to the sort of mob excesses that prevented Athens from a coherent war policy during their Peloponnesian War: the firing of generals such as Thucydides (history was the gainer there), the execution of admirals who failed to recover dead bodies from a raging sea, the alienation of Alcibiades, who might have saved them from disaster, the eventual execution of Socrates. Those voters were held accountable by the gods, as the story goes, by defeat, enslavement, and a tyrannical occupation government. It's the sort of "accountability" a successful political system strives to avoid.

If, indeed, Sears is offering to take accountability for the criminal plundering that accompanied the 0bama administration, good on him. It might be interesting to see how that would work out. Sackcloth and ashes come to mind.

36 posted on 05/21/2019 10:34:24 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: bk1000

We did. we elected Trump to hold you accountable for electing the bastard Obama.
______________________________________

Post of the day. Fact is, post of the year so far.


37 posted on 05/21/2019 10:42:42 AM PDT by StAntKnee
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To: DeweyCA

As a former Leftist I’ve said many times over the years forget about debating these people objectively and with civility. The Left uses and has used violence as it’s stock in trade for decades. Time to start beating the crap out of them at every opportunity. I’m in no way suggesting committing murder. I’m talking about good old fashion ass whupping. I no longer speak to my youngest brother, he’s a die hard Leftist Antifa supporter. The last time we had an argument my older brother and one of my younger sisters had to intervene. We were that close to going at each other. Now that both my parents are gone my brother is dead to me.


38 posted on 05/21/2019 10:51:00 AM PDT by jmacusa ("The more numerous the laws the more corrupt the government''.)
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To: DeweyCA

Silly commie dems still think we live in a democratic nation when in fact we are a republic. More proof the leftist brain is seriously diseased and damage beyond repair.


39 posted on 05/21/2019 10:53:18 AM PDT by Boomer (One can be an American or a Democrat but never both; not since Zero was elected anyway.)
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To: DeweyCA
Just imagine the screams and cries of anguish on the left if someone on Fox pondered if there was a way to hold LIBERAL voters accountable for their actions.

There is a way to do that. You make them live under the rules and taxation that they voted for. Just look at the quality of life on the left coast.

WWG1WGA

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

40 posted on 05/21/2019 11:05:00 AM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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