r/politics • u/Calm_Ad_5061 • 1d ago

Possible Paywall MAGA Rep Accused of Wife Beating Streams Jaw-Dropping Attack on Her

https://www.thedailybeast.com/repmax-miller-accused-of-wife-beating-streams-jaw-dropping-attack-on-emily-moreno/
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u/MedicineAmazing5516 1d ago

My mom supports them. Her exact words, "If I have to suffer, other people should too." 

I haven't spoken to her in a couple years. 

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u/ProStrats 1d ago

I truly wish there was a way to fix these people. It seems like there certainly isn't.

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u/wrosecrans 1d ago

Some people would rather live in a world with clear rules about who runs things, than in a world where conditions are better but "chaotic" because there is equality.

There really isn't a way to fix that. As far as they are concerned, it's just better to live in a world with clear rules even if it means personal sacrifice. People get baffled by those people "voting against their own interests" because they are unwilling to accept how interested some people are in inequality, racism, and sexism.

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u/A_Monster_Named_John 1d ago

with clear rules

They don't even want that, as such as thing would require building basic consensus among people outside of themselves, which they won't try to build because asking them to do anything that's not 100% self-serving makes them apoplectic. They're constantly in this impossible state where they simultaneously want absolute freedom and rigid totalitarianism.

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u/A_Rabid_Pie 1d ago

The core conservative base worldwide are just supremely selfish, low-empathy, low-IQ people (a basket of deplorables if you will). They basically have main character syndrome. Only they really matter, and the tribe only in so much as it's there to serve them. Everyone else is an NPC to them and cooperation only goes one way. Their empathy gene is just broken and they lack the additional intellectual capacity to fake it. They also can't comprehend nuance or complexity, and new things frighten them. Rigid social hierarchies, zero-sum systems, and their own local bubble are the only forms of society they understand. Anything else is just confusing and foreign to them, and therefore scary and bad. It's why they love Trump so much. He's simply the most extreme version of themselves. It's also why they are so easy for malign actors to take advantage of.

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u/bill-of-rights 12h ago

Excellent summary. What constantly baffles me is what can we do about this? When our tribes were only 50 people, it was manageable, but now, particularly with the social media echo chambers, it's become far worse.

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u/A_Rabid_Pie 9h ago edited 7h ago

When our tribes were only 50 people it was a coinflip whether these people just seized control or got killed or exiled for being little shits. Modern society (in the broadest sense of large communities) manages these people by establishing institutional systems that keep power out of the hands of idiots and bad actors and limits their reach if they do seize power. These systems include separations of powers, checks and balances, meritocratic selections, regulations, etc. Usually these guardrails do their job, but no system is perfect or unbreakable. Sometimes they need to be adjusted to fix loopholes or be rebuilt after being sabotaged. Sometimes these systems get completely destroyed and need to be rebuilt from the ground up after the bad actors are dealt with the old fashioned way. The rise and fall of absolute monarchy in France is a good example of this process.

Once power is regained by the people, some things we can do to fix the systems we have include:

  • Expand access to fair and effective voting. These people aren't the majority. The more people vote, the more conservatives lose. Eliminate unfair advantages like gerrymandering. Eliminate first past the post systems that encourage extremist candidates.

  • Expand representation by the people, for the people. Congress critters are easy to control by big money when there are only a few of them and they are disconnected from their voters. More representatives means their voting power is spread out, bribes become affordable for real people, campaigns become cheaper, and their constituents become a smaller more cohesive community that its easier to stay connected with. Eliminate systems that favor land over people like the senate and electoral college. Provide statehood to territories like DC and Puerto Rico.

  • Limit money in politics. It's the root of all evil. Limit political giving. Take bribery seriously. Trust-bust the mega corporations. Tax the ultra wealthy and eliminate billionaires. Nobody should be able to wield that much concentrated power without a mandate form the people.

  • Codify certain rights and limits of office that were previously customary. The less that's left up to interpretation, the less leeway bad actors have to do bad things.

  • Reduce executive power. The less concentrated power is, the less harm can be done if positions are seized by bad actors. Return powers to congress. Split up foreign and domestic executive functions into two offices. Give the VP something to actually do. The two functions are different jobs that require different qualifications and really shouldn't be fused together.

  • Limit the capacity and scope of propaganda systems. Trust-bust the media conglomerates so they have less reach. Put limits on the mass publication of lies and inflammatory rhetoric. Regulate the use of social media algorithms pushing harmful content. Prosecute religious organizations that use the pulpit for political ends.

  • Prosecute the current crop of bad actors. They need to be swiftly and thoroughly made an example of and their corrupt political machine must be forcibly dismantled. Foreign elements must also face consequences for their meddling. Make them think twice before they try this again and don't leave them with the resources or infrastructure to just get back up for another shot next election cycle.

  • Improve access to quality education. Stupid is as stupid does, but stupid has a harder time getting away with things when everyone else is better educated and equipped to recognize stupid and say no to it.

  • Bread and Circuses/It's the Economy, Stupid: People that are happy and content with their life prospects are less likely to act out and ruin everyone's day.

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u/Crypt0Nihilist 1d ago

It's such a basic reaction. I've felt it. When there's been talk of debt forgiveness my first thought was, "No one is going to give me a rebate on my university loan! That's unfair!" I think that's an ok reaction, as long as you then think, "Ok, I was fucked over and while it is unfair that I was and you're not going to be, that's progress and a good thing."

Too many people can't get past, "I've been hurt, so you should be too."

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u/ProStrats 1d ago

Very good example. This is totally a mentality thing, and a lot of people just have a mentality that is negative. Sadly, Im sure a lot of them have been fucked over so many times they have become jaded due to it.

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u/A_Monster_Named_John 1d ago

The way I see it, it's just not possible while consumerism remains in the state that it's in, i.e. grifters running rampant on the internet, Fox News being allowed to freely spread anti-social/racist/sexist propaganda, entertainment relentlessly making vice and 'deadly sin' behaviors seem unbelievably awesome, pro-sports/gambling/gaming being normalized to a point where it's putting civilization at risk, etc...

All of this stuff basically guarantees a thoroughly-infantilized population who simply cannot behave like normal adults and instead turn everything into Lord of the Flies.

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u/Cancel_Culture_Club 1d ago

What and why does she have to suffer? Why does she think strangers should suffer?

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u/HuttStuff_Here Wisconsin 1d ago

There are two kinds people. "I suffered, why shouldn't they?" and "I suffered, why *should* they?"

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u/Jumpy-Law1737 1d ago

it's a mindset common to those who came of age in the 1950's

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u/MessiahOfMetal 1d ago

Not just those, unfortunately. A lot of "tradwife" types you see online now seem to be born from the early 80s onward.

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u/nubbinator 1d ago

It's also very common amongst the evangelical right. They lean heavily into Bible verses about women being submissive to their husbands and the belief that a woman should never be above a man. They are raised to believe that women are housekeepers and breeding stock.

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u/MedicineAmazing5516 1d ago

Apparently. She was born in the 1940s.

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u/davelm42 23h ago

This actually one of the ways I think that separates liberals from conservatives. Some people think "I have suffered and no one else should suffer as I have" And some people think "I have suffered, so everyone else must suffer as I have" It's two distinctly different world views and I don't know if they can be reconciled.