Does anyone in the Republican party actually have a plat form going into the midterms?

Think back 6 years ago, the FPOS ran on Make America Great Again yet he NEVER once was asked HOW he planned to do it & he sure did NOT volunteer his plan!!! As we can see now, his plan was to make HIMSELF great…NOT America!!!

Having a thoroughly worked out platform is not a Republican thing. They were against big government ever since Ronald Reagan. The less that they think the better the base is. After all, the government is the problem, even them.

Hopefully they will amend simplify the tax code, even more when under Trump, and have a plan to cut the deficit and debt without putting the Globe into Austerity? Or at least not too long?

The same ol’, same ol’. Hey look, gay people! Hey look, Hunter Biden! Hey look, transgenders wanting to take a whiz in the women’s room, men’s room, outdoors, (pick one). A nut job with an AK 47 lurking outside a school? Move on, nothing to see here.

HERE is the Texan 2022 version.

My summary:

* God and the “original intent” of the Constitution
* anti-abortion from fertilization
* heterosexual marriage only
* option to home-school or do private schools
* a whole bunch of other attempts to claim states’ rights, reduce the authority of the Federal government, etc – see the document for more details

@Zaku Holy shit that’s frightening. I am however ok with the option to home-school.

Thanks for sharing.

A national abortion ban because they’re such believers in state’s rights. And ending Social Security, the ACA and probably Medicare.

Impeach Joe Biden. For what? They don’t care.

Yeah. Well, the Daily Kos summary is perhaps more frightening:

1) Arrest the members of the Jan. 6 Committee for daring to investigate the insurrection
2) Conduct more investigations of Hillary Clinton
3) Ditch democracy
Special Bonus: Destroying public education

I believe the Republican party effectively destroyed as a cohesive functional entity. I suppose I would compare it to a huge and powerful weed. Trump is effectively a big dousing of roundup to the weed. The massive weed still stands, but the health of the thing is clearly no longer visible as the thing dies from its roots on up. Meanwhile, November promises a huge proliferation of me too Trump would be idiot candidates to further rot the weed. This while Trump’s legal embarrassments scream from the headlines in the midst of the election. And the future for the current Republicans who embraced Trump and still have not dared to release their grip, even as the exposure on the extent of his criminality intensifies? To quote Ted Cruz “History will not be kind to the man holding Mussolini’s coat.”

@Zaku Any of those proposals would damage the union if passed. Which is probably the intent. To prove that the government the problem.

In 1969 I heard the Republican Party brag that their base was too stupid to know what they were up to. Now they’re proving that theory. It breaks my heart when I hear some really intelligent people regurgitate some really stupid stuff…NOT because they believe it, but because people who find them stupid told them what to believe & they chose to!!!

I just saw a report done by Paola Ramos this morning about a Republican Politician in Texas who won a traditionally Democratic district using Dios, Familia, y Pais, as their slogan. I might have the order wrong. Which means God, Family, and Country. Trump did better with Latinos in 2020 than in 2016 according to Paola. I’m not sure if that was better only in Texas or across the US.

The Republican platform is the same as it has been for a long time, lower taxes, pro big business, Christian values, and keep the socialists and communists out.

Billionaires are funding right wing candidates and according to Ramos going into churches and really getting out into the community. She said the largest group of people converting to Evangelical Christianity are Latinos leaving Catholicism. Ramos talked about it like it was some sort of new strategy, but it has been around as long as I can remember, that is what the great migration to the Republican party was all about in the last 50 years.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is not running this year, just released his plan to outlaw abortion nationally.
Because of his plans effect on Republican candidates who are running, this should be referred to as a Splat Form.

You don’t need a platform….you need dumb blue collar people ruled by fear.

You’ve set this question up so that no response is appropriate except bashing Republicans. It hard to talk about a fix without defining the problem. Most if not all our current problems have been created by Democrats. We want to fix education but to do so you must stop teaching kids how to get a vasectomy and start teaching them how to read. we want to curb inflation but to do so we must stop spending money we don’t have. We want to reduce the cost of energy but to do so we must stop eliminating our sources of energy. We want to slow the tidal wave of illegal immigration but to do so we have to close our open border.

And in a recession, we DO NOT need 87,000 new gun toting IRS agents.

@Jaxk And luckily, we’re not getting them.

Gun toting IRS? Lol.

87,000 over ten years, everything from IT, customer service, and some auditors. Seems like a big number to me too, but the IRS is way behind, they need more employees. My most recent letter from the IRS was that they owe me. My accountant made a mistake.

Maybe a simpler tax code without so many wrote-offs and loopholes would help?

Do you want big tax dodgers to get away with it? That will make the taxes for the everyday person go up.

@Jaxk About those gun totin IRS agents. Isn’t it the Republican platform that the country is better off when EVERYBODY totes a gun? It appears the theory is guns for all but let’s crack down on the right to vote.

@Jaxk Not true Gun toting IRS is fake news !

https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-irs-armed/fact-check-the-irs-is-not-hiring-thousands-of-armed-agents-job-ads-show-opening-for-specialized-unit-idUSL1N2ZT296

No, They do not advocate everyone should own a gun but that they have a right to do so. Your watching too much CNN.

@Tropical_Willie – So if they already have 2100 armed agents how many of the 87,000 will be armed? Armed or not, I don’t want another 87,000 IRS agents.

Not your number @Jaxk that is for sure and maybe if the put 100 agents on Trump Org and the Trump family, they could pay for 87,000 agents over the next ten years.

You are watching too much Fox New z z z !

So gun totin is superfluous to the argument. How about this? Why have any oppressive IRS agents at all? Are taxpayers, say for instance the Trump family more or less likely to cheat or rather get away with it (they’re ALWAYS gonna try) minus that swarm of agents? What multiple of his or her salary would you guess an IRS agent might generate in legitimate revenue owed the country? The government doesn’t need those agents for the suckers totin luncboxes who get their taxes sucked away before they see their paychecks. That’s not where the cheats lurk and particularly the BIG cheats…..the ex President, the REPUBLICAN ex President.
.

So what you really want is to have those 87,000 agents descend on Trump in hopes that you may find something. He’s already being audited.

@Jaxk “Guns make us less safe”, unless you work for the IRS.

Yes of course. He is our ONLY swindling big money tax cheat. Suppose, just for thought, we had one revenue agent for every multi millionaire tax cheat or even better, every tax cheat corporation? Do you suppose 87, 000 might be enough?

So unless they can blame the democrats for every problem there is,they have no platform going into the midterms.

Why do you think they audited the “show books”, not the real books which are the ones the NY AG is using, along with Trump’s CFO, he would know where they hid the “cooked books”.

Most GOP Congress members are against having more agents to audit them and the big business that supports them.

If an idiot like Trump can manage to outdance the IRS FOR DECADES, there just might be some truth to the claim that the bureau is woefully understaffed.

Also @HP under republican rule they would mostly only focus on the average working slob, leaving the wealthy elites alone.

It sounds like you all are in favor of the government going after your political enemies. With no proof what-so-ever, you make the argument that all republicans are tax cheats. Are you really so ignorant of the way things work?

I think they will be running mostly on culture war BS. They can’t run on the economy, because they don’t really have a fix for inflation (neither do Democrats, of course, but the economy won’t fundamentally change no matter who’s in power; what Republicans can change is more culture war stuff). Abortion bans are less popular than they anticipated (see the big loss in red Kansas; when the people actually get to vote on this shit, they don’t want it), so I guess we’ll get more anti-trans school legislation and bathroom panic, probably some more book bans. The U.S. has sure hit a cultural zenith, boy. Immigration will be talked about, but what else is there other than more wall-building bluffing? The ironic thing is that Latinos are voting more Republican than ever before, so the “great replacement” theory is even more flawed than its defenders think.

Uh @Jaxk I think the New York AG has plenty of proof to nail the Don Father to the wall for tax fraud.

Once again, the assumption that pursuit of a masked bank robber proves bias against masks. It is OF COURSE political bias, not the little matter of the man’s criminality.

Amazing how fast the topic gets changed when the Republicans can not come up with a platform for the midterms, other than democrats bad Republicans good vote for us and get a coupon for 10% off at ammo mart.

@Demosthenes DeSantis has kicked the legs from under the reliable immigration stool formerly available to elicit the pavlovian response from the targeted knuckle draggers.

@HP Definitely true. People forget that moderates are the ones who will determine this election (as they do all elections, really). They aren’t hardcore Trump supporters. They are the kind of people who think the Democrats aren’t adequately addressing immigration, but then they see DeSantis’ shady Martha’s Vineyard flights and are turned off by the alternative. I don’t think anyone should underestimate Republican wins; they probably will do well in the midterms. But I don’t think they will do as well as they think they will (I mean, does anyone? The “blue wave” of 2018 was kind of a bust).

I think there might be surprises awaiting us in November. Women in particular are REALLY pissed.

And they should be!!
The republicans have a lot of butt kissing to do between now and the midterms let’s see how it plays out.

we DO NOT need 87,000 new gun toting IRS agents. You’re right about that…we also DON’T need over a million right wingnuts toting guns with a racist or homophobic attitude as well!!!

With no proof what-so-ever, you make the argument that all republicans are tax cheats. NEVER known one that didn’t brag about cheating on their taxes!!!

@Blackberry “You don’t need a platform….you need dumb blue collar people ruled by fear”

Count your lucky stars and hope you never have to know that fear.

@Blackwater_Park What fear? What are you talking about? Seems like a lot of chutzpah to tell @Blackberry of all jellies that he doesn’t understand the fear that can be experienced in the United States of America.

I think @Blackberry was being pretty stereotypically condescending to speak of “dumb blue collar people”. But I guess I’ll be interested to hear his answer if he responds to that, as I was assuming by “fear”, he was talking about the culture war fears that Republicans stoke (trans youth, replacement theory, etc.). But it certainly isn’t only “dumb blue collar people” who fall for it.

Official platforms are usually only updated every 4 years before presidential elections.

@Demosthenes I agree that it wasn’t the nicest thing to say, but to tell a Black person they don’t understand being afraid, it just sounds ridiculous to me.

I’m assuming @Blackwater_Park is white and grew up feeling safe and has no idea what it’s like to hear stories about one’s own people being abused, enslaved, killed, church shootings, let alone if he has had racism directed at him personally.

@JLeslie WTH are you talking about. I was calling out @blackberry for mocking what “dumb blue collar people fear” Have you had to live paycheck to paycheck? have you had to forgo medical treatment for food or utilities? Have you had to worry about losing your job because you can’t get to work when your 25 year old car won’t start? Losing your house because you’re 6 months behind on your mortgage? Worry about how you will take care of your kids as a single mom or dad who has to work and can’t afford daycare? This is not racial. It’s what the working poor face every day. From what I have gathered, you have not had to really worry about that. Don’t preach to me about what fear I know or don’t know. Lefties are so wrapped up in racial identity stuff that you ignore the actual problems people of all colors face every day. I can’t imagine how hard it is for someone trying to get by at the poverty level right now. All necessities are sky high and unaffordable, even to those in the “middle class.” They can’t even afford housing if they’re just staring out. They’ll vote for whoever promises to help them and I don’t blame them for throwing votes to Trump. He at least paid attention to them, The left ignored them and it’s in no way surprising that they continue to vote for conservatives who promise jobs and better economic conditions.

Here is another take, this time about the House Republicans’ plan for the country titled “Commitment to America” released yesterday. The link is Heather Cox Richardson’s description, which summarizes and decodes it.

@Blackwater_Park Yes, I did live check to check for a while. Yes, I have forgone medical care because of the cost.

Financial worry is one of the worst stressors out there, it affects everything, and most importantly safety. Safety including, shelter, healthcare, food, and yet Republicans who struggle financially vote for candidates who enrich the rich and hurt the poor.

Do poor people get to benefit from the stock market rising, or real estate tax write-offs, or money being taken away from the public school system and put into private schools with vouchers? No! Blackberry can speak for himself, but I think that’s probably some examples of what he is talking about.

How are the Republicans helping the working poor? Enlighten me.

I have said a dozen times how it’s an embarrassment for the US that people who work 40 hours a week often times live unsafely.

My dad grew up extremely poor. My grandfather lived and died poor. He was put in an orphanage as a young boy for a few years his family was so poor. He came to America in his early teens not knowing English without his parents, only his siblings. He was slightly hard of hearing, he was paranoid schizophrenic, and somehow he mustered the strength to ride the NY subway every day to work in a factory and paid almost nothing. I grew up appreciating hard work and the poor. That’s partly why I’m a Democrat.

Did you grow up thinking being at a wedding you risked a bomb blowing up the church? That’s what was in my mind whenever I was inside of a synagogue.

The Republicans had interest rates at EXTREMELY low levels. People couldn’t make any money on their savings, or just pennies anyway. Investors could buy housing with very low interest rates, and so they did. They bought lots and lots of housing driving up prices. Housing prices are ridiculous now in so many markets.

These higher interest rates are partly a reaction to the bad management during the Trump years. There have been low rates during some Democratic presidential years too, but I don’t know if I ever saw anything like 2019–2020.

@Jaxk I don’t claim all Republicans are tax cheats, and in spite of what I might think of them, I also don’t believe for a minute that you think I think they are ALL dumb as a brick. I do think you & they have the great misfortune to have hitched your collective wagons to a man with the integrity of a slug. The sad truth is that from the moment you did….you never stood a chance.

@JLeslie Yeah, I’m sure by “fear”, blackberry did not mean “economic anxiety”. I’m sure he meant divisive, “culture of fear” nonsense. But then there’s no reason to put down working people. It’ll be interesting to see how he weasels out of this one. Lol

“Do poor people get to benefit from the stock market rising” Yes they do, It’s well understood that during a bull market employment is higher, and there are more economic opportunities for everyone. Real estate tax write offs are not part of this. That’s a wealthy person’s game. Interest rates were low during Obama’s time too, that’s not so political as it’s a function of the fed. The republicans are not necessarily helping, they promise to help. The left recently have straight up ignored the working class despite claiming them as their own. They think and vote for themselves so if they throw their votes to the right the left is doing something wrong. One thing I respect about the left is that they’re pro union. I respect the right because they’re more delicate with the economy. I also think it’s funny that you… a white woman living in a safe, gated community, retired in her late 40’s? would tell me that I don’t know fear without knowing much more than I’m an educated white male. You honestly need to take that back. I generally like you but I have seen you put your foot in your mouth like this more than once though. So taking a grain of salt here is in effect. I have even defended you when others here ganged up on you for no good reason if you remember.

@Blackwater_Park Hmm but you accused blackberry and JLeslie both of not knowing fear. Why is it okay for you to do that but not for anyone else to? JLeslie assumed you had not experienced racial prejudice-type fear. Is that correct?

Republicans have a much clearer idea of what they are against than what they are for but it is clear to me that they represent a drift towards fascism.

@flutherother it’s apparently the direction in which the country is headed. One thing is certain. As the army of the dispossessed continues to swell, one of 2 outcomes is guaranteed. There will either be an increasing tendency toward authoritarian measures in order to keep the lid on the boiling pot, or a more equitable distribution of the bounty the country clearly generates. And with human nature being what it is and the dictates of capitalism, I am greatful to live through these days which my kids will look back on as the GOOD TIMES.

@Demosthenes, neither. I called out blackberry for mocking the legit fear blue collar people have.

@JLeslie assumed something else. I had no idea @Blackberry was black until it came up.

@Blackwater_Park White JEWISH woman. It’s annoying as a Jew that so many non-Jewish white, Black, Latin American, and name your group give zero acknowledgment to what Jewish people grow up with and experience even if it’s just in the background for some of us.

I was and am lucky enough to not have experienced any significant antisemitism directed at me personally, but there is antisemitism all around. There is more antisemitic violence than other hate crimes if you look at it as a percentage to the population. The events might not line up in your head like it does mine, because it’s not your group. One of my closest friend where I live, her family had to move when she was a child the antisemitism was so bad. Children saying slurs to her, pushing her off of her bike, one kid poured Coke on her head, their house was papered more than once with antisemitic messages, imagine having a 5 year old girl and worrying about her in that situation? To this day she hides she’s Jewish, she’s in her early 60’s.

Remember that shooting in the synagogue in PA? Trump said something like who didn’t they have armed security. The Democrats got all upset about his statement, but I thought, yes, why didn’t they?! Almost every synagogue I’ve been to has some type of security or a police car out front during services and events. Why? Because we are threatened.

I’m not saying you don’t know any type of fear. I’m saying other people have fears too, and you might not understand the fears other people experience. Moreover, both the blue collar Democrats and Republicans want the same thing for themselves, can we at least agree on that? Fair wages, safety for their children, healthcare, education, etc. We all should try to understand the worries of each other and work together.

I still work, albeit part-time. I completely agree I have the luxury of not having to work full time, although part of the reason I don’t is because of my health. That doesn’t mean I didn’t work my ass off for many many years. I’ve been working since I was 14. Through my 20’s and 30’s I worked in retail all hours, all days, I didn’t even take my honeymoon after my wedding because it was “season” in Florida so I waited until a few months later.

I don’t have any children. I don’t know if you do. If you don’t have children you have more money than the person who does have children. A few years there I spent money trying to have them, but since it never happened, any money that would have been spent in kids could go to savings. I spend very little on vacations, and I have not taken a vacation in three years.

So, ok, now I have a pleasant upper-middle class lifestyle. I can tell you both sides of barely being able to save much as a low income person to having a bunch of disposable income. I can tell you from experience, when you have money it’s easier to accumulate more money. So, I want the working poor to become middle class. I want them to get higher wages and not be abused (like I was) at work. I think most Democrats want that.

You said when the economy does better employment is up. Generally that’s true, but right now there are tons of job openings. I want working people to not have to work so hard their entire life, especially those who work very physical jobs their bodies take a beating. You want working people to be able to keep on working until they die. I want something better for them.

Once and for all The Villages is not a gated community it is a community with gates to slow down cars for the golf carts. You (anybody) can come right up to the gate and push the red button and the gate will lift. All roads are public. You can come dance in the squares whenever you want even if you don’t live here, and eat in the “country club” restaurants for the same price I do (some are very inexpensive) everything is open and accessible to the public except for the recreation center activities that we pay for in our amenity fee. Maybe you want to live here too?

That’s so long maybe no one will read it. That’s fine. My main message is I think it would be good for everyone to try to understand the fears of each other and work together for a better country. Most politicians want to increase people’s fears. That’s destructive.

I read it, and I for one am glad you are safe. It sounds like you’ve earned it. And even had you not, it’s what we all should deserve and have a right to expect. I owe you and thank you for shifting my perspective. Until reading your paragraph, I had not even weighed the idea that for many, the villages is a place of refuge. It’s both funny and tragic that I could live so long and yet still miss so much of what stares me in the face.

@JLeslie You said when the economy does better employment is up. Generally that’s true, but right now there are tons of job openings.

That’s a good point. The unemployment rate is around 3.7% right now, two percentage points lower than the same time last year, and about the same as pre-pandemic 2019. Yet I think most people would agree the economy is bad, due to inflation. The problem is wages are stagnant and a lot of the job openings are part-time non-benefited. Low unemployment doesn’t necessarily mean anything else about the economy is looking up.

I think the working class understandably feels let down by both parties. Both of them claim to care about them, yet the continuing national trend is a shrinking middle class and a growing wealth gap, for decades. A trend that neither party seems to be able to reverse.

^^I’m not sure wages are stagnant. I haven’t researched it. I think it varies by state. In Florida a couple of years ago we voted in raising minimum wage to $15 over a set number of years, I think five. Each year or two the minimum was scheduled to increase incrementally. That was voted in by a good sized majority, so that means more than just Democrats voted it in. I actually was hesitant on the $15, I would have preferred $12 at the time, In a shorter time frame. I know the minimums here are increasing due to it, people are getting increases.

Where I live specifically, which is a huge employer, probably one of the largest in FL,The Villages notoriously pays crappy wages, because they have a bunch of retirees just looking for a little extra cash and many employees have Medicare. Plus, even the local people living near The Villages, the areas are fairly poor and low wages are “normal” but the perk is the benefits they get living near The Villages and working here. They get a great K-12 school, The Villages is building another school now, and the free entertainment.

Also, recently DeSantis increased teacher salaries, although probably still low compared to some states.

Florida has the “problem” of having a lot of retirees, meaning our pool of workers is probably tighter than some states. That would be interesting to know, I wonder the statistics.

@HP I felt safe growing up, but my family vacationed mostly in the places that Jews knew we were welcomed and some other subtle things that existed during that time. I grew up in extremely diverse cities where everyone was part of the many. Minorities didn’t stick out as foreign, they were part of what America is.

Those statistics you’re looking for reflect the reality that America is a place where the middle class can no longer afford to have children. And if you are hanging on by your fingernails to a middle class existence these days, the fastest and most assured exit from that class (short of a heroin habit or major health problem)—the fast track to poverty is parenthood. We are an aging population, as with all of our Western (white) counterparts. And our ratio of young people shrinks EXACTLY as our ratio of white folks. In fact, it is the immigrants that scare us to death who are certainly our future if Americans themselves can no longer afford to have kids. Did you ever notice, it isn’t folks our age who can withstand the rigors of walking here. This America of course, so rich old folks can buy their way into the country. Some day in the not too distant future, someone will be emptying my bedpan. What do you want to bet, it will be someone born here?

@Blackwater_Park
What fear? I grew up around blue collar Americans in a small Oregon town.

From their mouths….not mine:
The fear of mexicans having kids.
The fear of the government taking their guns and enacting marshall law.
The fear of mexican and black gangmembers that are literally no where around them, but ignore the white meth heads breaking into their cars.
And the fear of not being able to purchase bump stocks.

None of these are real fears except for crime, which won’t be fixed, because we have for profit prisons and the fact that unfettered capitalism literally needs an underclass to exist for it to work.

If you want crime fixed, then fix your country. Plenty of people are a few paychecks away from having nothing to lose.

@Blackwater_Park
Just a reminder that anytime anyone brings up these systemic issues, we’re literally called liberals….or we’re accused of asking for handouts.

You recognize everyone has these issues, yet the country is still the way it is….so what’s the solution? If reigning in corporate welfare and greed is being a communist….then what’s your solution? People had a chance to at least say something to politicans…but they stormed the Capitol instead of actually making an attempt to get some kind of change. Another wasted opportunity.

“Have you had to live paycheck to paycheck? have you had to forgo medical treatment for food or utilities? Have you had to worry about losing your job because you can’t get to work when your 25 year old car won’t start? Losing your house because you’re 6 months behind on your mortgage? Worry about how you will take care of your kids as a single mom or dad who has to work and can’t afford daycare? This is not racial. It’s what the working poor face every day. From what I have gathered, you have not had to really worry about that. Don’t preach to me about what fear I know or don’t know. Lefties are so wrapped up in racial identity stuff that you ignore the actual problems people of all colors face every day. I can’t imagine how hard it is for someone trying to get by at the poverty level right now. All necessities are sky high and unaffordable, even to those in the “middle class.” They can’t even afford housing if they’re just staring out. They’ll vote for whoever promises to help them and I don’t blame them for throwing votes to Trump. He at least paid attention to them, The left ignored them and it’s in no way surprising that they continue to vote for conservatives who promise jobs and better economic conditions.”

@Blackberry I’m sorry you think that this is what blue collar people worry about. Conservatives do worry about guns being taken away, I’ll give you that. It’s a legit fear. But blue collar, working poor are much more worried about paying their bills. They don’t care about Mexicans having kids. They are really scared of the white meth heads, and black meth heads and opioid heads, and scammers and..and… . They’re even more afraid of becoming one of them after becoming homeless themselves. They see the growing homeless and know they’re just two steps away. I do live in a middle class neighborhood but just the equivalent of a couple blocks away there is a homeless camp which is mostly an open drug scene. They have been breaking into cars and houses. You had better believe I’m armed. The working homeless are not in those camps, they live in cars at the Walmart around the corner or live on their own away from the “drug camps.” Like 98% of people did not even know what bump stocks were, including me until that Vegas shooting happened. Most, almost all gun owners were like “WTF is a bump stock and yeah, that should be illegal” The people who stormed the capitol were not average blue collar citizens, they were mostly dumb, naive, well off trust fund kids. Blue collar citizens don’t have the luxury of storming the capitol if they even wanted to. They’re too buy grinding out a living and they’re not very political because they don’t have that luxury.

@JLeslie I’m not going to downplay what it means to be Jewish or the fears you have but I will say you get to enjoy the privilege of being white. Unless you tell people you’re Jewish they’ll never know. It’s not the same thing that some one like @Blackberry faces when there is no hiding being black. You and I, will never truly know how that feels.

@Blackwater_Park Mostly, I agree with that. The Black experience is not completely analogous to the Jewish one, or other minorities, and I do think Black people as a whole experience more outright discrimination, but we do have some things in common. It’s not just how others treat us, but also the generational trauma handed down through the generations. The levels of paranoia, anxiety, and depression, the hyper-vigilance, it’s experienced through the generations by minority groups that have been oppressed and worse. I would say the poor in America, of every race, ethnicity, and religion all also have some trauma, because of how our society is set up.

I do have the benefit of being white, but I am fairly obviously Jewish to people who spend a lot of time around Jews. My last names are very Jewish, especially my married name. When I decided to take it back in 1993 I said out loud, “if there are hijacker’s on a plane I’m in the first group to be shot.” Were you even thinking anything like that before 9/11?

Maybe now white Christians are being traumatized by the messaging out there. They are being told people in their country want to take away Christianity, which is mostly false, except for a very small few whack jobs who want everyone to be atheists, and 9/11 has them paranoid about Muslims, and they think there is a threat to Christians in the US, but really there isn’t.