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Liberals Are Losing the Culture Wars
The Atlantic ^ | November 4, 2015 | By Molly Ball

Posted on 11/04/2015 9:55:48 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee

In Tuesday’s elections, voters rejected recreational marijuana, transgender rights, and illegal-immigrant sanctuaries; they reacted equivocally to gun-control arguments; and they handed a surprise victory to a Republican gubernatorial candidate who emphasized his opposition to gay marriage.

Democrats have become increasingly assertive in taking liberal social positions in recent years, believing that they enjoy majority support and even seeking to turn abortion and gay rights into electoral wedges against Republicans. But Tuesday’s results—and the broader trend of recent elections that have been generally disastrous for Democrats not named Barack Obama—call that view into question. Indeed, they suggest that the left has misread the electorate’s enthusiasm for social change, inviting a backlash from mainstream voters invested in the status quo.

Consider these results:

*Ohio voters rejected a ballot initiative to legalize recreational marijuana by a 30-point margin.

*Voters in Houston—a strongly Democratic city—rejected by a 20-point margin a nondiscrimination ordinance that opponents said would lead to “men in women’s bathrooms.”

*The San Francisco sheriff who had defended the city’s sanctuary policy after a sensational murder by an illegal immigrant was voted out.

*Two Republican state senate candidates in Virginia were targeted by Everytown for Gun Safety, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s gun-control group. One won and one lost, leaving the chamber in GOP hands. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; US: California; US: New York; US: Ohio; US: Texas; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: 14thamendment; 2016election; 2ndamendment; abortion; anchorbabies; anchorbaby; banglist; california; carlyfiorina; deathpanels; election2016; fourteenthamendment; gaykk; gaykkk; governormoonbeam; guncontrol; h1b; homosexualagenda; houston; jerrybrown; jimgilmore; johnboehner; johnkasich; libertarians; medicalmarijuana; mikebloomberg; mollyball; moonbeam; newyork; newyorkcity; obamacare; ohio; sanctuarycities; sanctuarycity; sanfrancisco; secondamendment; speakerboehner; speakerjohnboehner; tedcruz; texas; theatlantic; trump; virginia; zerocare
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To: wintertime

Too many do, yes.


21 posted on 11/04/2015 11:59:40 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

If only. I see nothing but a straight slide to perdition.


22 posted on 11/05/2015 12:06:50 AM PST by Unam Sanctam
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To: Carry_Okie

Agree. Cultural health is systemic. You cannot have forced “morality” by the motions without a moral population, or one which at least honors morality.

Any gains we have recently seen will be swept aside to reveal the true moral barbarism which society has become at heart. I’m not saying this gleefully, but honestly.


23 posted on 11/05/2015 12:09:45 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: Carry_Okie
Hate crimes institutionalized. Gay marriage. Gay scoutmasters. Common Core. Affirmative action for transgenders. Gays in the military. Psychologists coming out against Christianity...

The thing that really sucks is that several of those are fiat decisions from SCOTUS and are damn near impossible to get rid of.

24 posted on 11/05/2015 12:11:50 AM PST by Ken H
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To: marron; wintertime; TigerClaws
We keep hanging on hoping for the next election. They are setting up to run the table.

Says it all right there.

We fill the schools, we fund the cable companies and the entertainment industry, we shop at stores that spit on our values.

25 posted on 11/05/2015 1:18:17 AM PST by Claud
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To: fwdude

Yep. The moral rot is widespread and growing. Legislation can’t save us. The only thing that can turn us around now is chastisement. Four horsemen, wrath of God kind of stuff.

There is already a pronounced chill in the air in this long summer of frivolous decadence, and soon comes the winter.


26 posted on 11/05/2015 1:31:08 AM PST by Claud
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To: wintertime

Marxists are always the first to abolish education... If you are smart and can think for yourself.. You are the enemy. They did it with slavery.. They are doing it with afghan women. Stay in the box we put you in.. We will feed you, entertain you and give you just enough so you stay in your box.


27 posted on 11/05/2015 2:23:38 AM PST by momincombatboots (Back to West by G-d Virginia.)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

“Liberals Are Losing the Culture Wars”

Liberals whine about losing as they roll up our flanks with only token resistance.


28 posted on 11/05/2015 3:59:18 AM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (It's the apocalypse, lets have some fun!)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

Thank-you for making my day with that good news.


29 posted on 11/05/2015 4:03:57 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

This past Tuesday’s off-year elections is proof!


30 posted on 11/05/2015 4:04:32 AM PST by Biggirl ("One Lord, one faith, one baptism" - Ephesians 4:5)
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To: Brad from Tennessee

To lose a minor battle here and there is not losing the culture war. Unfortunately, our side has almost been entirely crushed to dust over the decades long onslaught.


31 posted on 11/05/2015 4:09:45 AM PST by euram
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To: Brad from Tennessee
Also, Donald Trump is hosting Saturday Night Live this week.

The world of the liberals has been turned upside down. What next? Sean Hannity doing a morning gabfest show for the housewives and work shy at home? The horror!

32 posted on 11/05/2015 4:12:57 AM PST by SamAdams76 (Businessmen use their own money to succeed. Politicians take other people's money and fail.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
It's a consequence of having no culture and being averse to actual conflict.

33 posted on 11/05/2015 4:36:17 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Here's to the day the forensics people scrape what's left of Putin off the ceiling of his limo.)
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To: Carry_Okie
Poppycock. Hate crimes institutionalized. Gay marriage. Gay scoutmasters. Common Core. Affirmative action for transgenders. Gays in the military. Psychologists coming out against Christianity... We slow them down upon occasion, but the net direction is obvious.

Yep - pipe dream to think they are losing. God has spoken and we know that we will degenerate until Jesus comes back to set things right. Funny how so many religious folks ignore what He has proclaimed....

34 posted on 11/05/2015 4:38:59 AM PST by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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To: TigerClaws

“The real rot is through liberals running education and the media.”

Addressing #2 is easy. Quit buying cable TV. It’s literally as simple as that. If 1/3 of subscribers to various TV packages would quit purchasing them, cable companies would have big time issues carrying a massive portion of the rotten vomit out there.

I never thought I’d ditch cable TV, but it’s been 3 months and I feel fine :-).


35 posted on 11/05/2015 4:39:01 AM PST by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: Brad from Tennessee
Everyone this thread need to understand this.
36 posted on 11/05/2015 5:13:19 AM PST by bankwalker (In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.)
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To: wintertime
Scary!....Yet, education seems far down on the list of priorities for conservatives and Christians.

Nearly 2 million kids are homeschooled in this country. When I was a kid there was no such thing. Then there are private and Christian schools with who knows how many kids in them. That leaves the public schools without involved parents. I know that really frustrated Christian teachers 20 years ago.

37 posted on 11/05/2015 5:19:46 AM PST by DungeonMaster (Now I understand why my grandparents quit voting.)
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To: Claud

Well put, poetically, and truthfully.


38 posted on 11/05/2015 6:12:01 AM PST by fwdude (The last time the GOP ran an "extremist," Reagan won 44 states.)
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To: All

We’ve won nothing. Elections haven’t been the problem: conservatives have “won” elections for years. The problem is these so-called “election victories” have not resulted in anything that remotely resembles conservatism in the way of public policy or cultural change. Electoral politics is a rigged game and it’s rigged by design. By keeping conservatives tied up in the futile exercise of voting, it destroys our effectiveness as well as our morale and distracts us from taking other measures that would have a better payback for the time and resources expended.


39 posted on 11/05/2015 6:24:54 AM PST by RKBA Democrat (Voting is self-abuse - without the pleasure.)
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To: RKBA Democrat

You are of course sadly right. And many of our “Republican” victors “grow in office” in the words of one “Bill” Clinton, “sooner, rather than later.”


40 posted on 11/05/2015 8:09:49 AM PST by Theodore R. (Liberals keep winning; so the American people must now be all-liberal all the time.)
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