Pragmatic rationalism: Another forlorn attempt to explain it

Germaine's predicament -- cognitive rocks are super heavy

This blog post is another of my proverbial lost causes. But I'm a modern day Sisyphus. In my opinion, my past attempts to explain my political anti-ideology ideology, pragmatic rationalism, have been unsatisfactory.

Nonetheless, Sisyphus is persistent. He keeps pushing that rock up the hill, hoping the spouse doesn't, uh, interfere?

Hey tweety pie, could you please let that thing go and get some groceries?? 

You can play with your rock later. I'll make sure it 

stays at the bottom of the hill. 

Aw, crud, do I have to?

Yesterday, I tried to explain why I now believe that the Republican Party and its rank and file supporters are fairly included in the label of FRP (fascist Republican Party). I got entangled in this quite useful politics back and forth, also known among experts as "to and fro."  

The following is from yesterday's discussion here about the fascism or lack thereof among Republican rank and file voters.

Opening volley: I don't think your description of the Republican party is either helpful or entirely fair. You basically are saying that there are 3 types of Republicans: Christian nationalists, Nazis, and the people deluded by Fox News. There isn't enough daylight between these groups to call them separate.

Most of the people who actually care about fiscal conservatism (read: tax cuts) are a separate group. The second group are the actual elites, and they don't care much about the first group (we'll call them the base). The elites don't have the same social priorities of the base, but they're happy to use them and let them have their way if it means feeding their interests. Likewise, the base is willing to parrot the points of the elites, but they don't really care about the priorities of the elites. Both are fine with authoritarianism, but for different reasons. The elites are fine with it because it solidifies their power. The base is fine with it because it lets them impose their will on others.

Sisyphus response 1: 

The second group are the actual elites, and they don't care much about the first group (we'll call them the base). The elites don't have the same social priorities of the base, but they're happy to use them and let them have their way if it means feeding their interests. .... Both are fine with authoritarianism, but for different reasons.

That is a really nice, clear way to describe the situation. Well done.

That is how I see it. The elites are happy to, and expert at, using the base to serve their own interests.

But I do not understand the unfairness you see in how I characterize and label the FRP. I'm missing something in your reasoning. Is fascism the wrong label, and if so, why? What is a better label, or is it better to assign labels to the different groups to be more accurate?

For example:
elites = three groups (i) anti-democratic laissez faire capitalists, (ii) anti-democratic radical Christian nationalists, and (iii) anti-democratic racists, fascists and/or White supremacists
R&F = ? (some of all of the above?)

Volley 2: The label of fascist is fine for the party as an organization. What's unfair is saying that there are only 3 types of Republicans: Christian nationalists, Nazis, and the people deluded by Fox News.

You stated that there are 2 groups. The elites, radical ideologues whose main goals include Christian nationalism, and the rank and file, 50% of whom are Nazis, and 50% of whom are deluded by Fox News. By your reasoning, all Republicans fall into one of those 3 groups. That's what isn't fair.

There are plenty of Republicans who joined the party because they are anti-tax and/or anti-regulation. They don't care about Christian nationalists, Nazis, or Fox News, both in the sense that they don't necessarily share that ideology but also in that they feel no need to oppose it. Saying there's no difference between that group of Republicans and those who fall into your 3 groups is unfair and inaccurate.

Response 2: I understand your point. Not all Republicans are strictly in one or more of those three major groups. That is true.

But here is my problem. Reference to the FRP includes in people who aren't in one of the three groups, but they are in the genus group called Republicans, which includes all groups, not just the big three. If these outliers vote for Republican candidates who advocate for anti-democratic policies and rely heavily on anti-democratic rhetoric and dark free speech, what are those people? They support the fascism of the FRP with their votes. Maybe there are enough Republicans outside the big three groups that they are a necessary block of votes to win state and/or federal elections for anti-democratic or fascist Republicans.

In their minds they are not fascists. But in practice, what does their meaningful behavior amount to?

Volley 3: If you're just going to paint them all with the same brush based on how they're voting, you don't need to go through the charade of separating them into categories that you're just going to ignore. If you're actually trying to understand them, though, you have to consider where they're coming from. The question, then, it what you're trying to do. Are you trying to justify screaming about them? Or are you trying to make a fair description of them?

Response 3: 

... you don't need to go through the charade of separating them into categories that you're just going to ignore.

It's not a charade on my part. It is an attempt to explain why the categories can collapse into the single FRP label. Some people accuse me of unreasonably lumping disparate groups into one genus and to be transparent, explaining the subgroups helps people understand my reasoning, which they are free to partly or completely accept or reject. At least when others decide, it will be on the basis of a reasonable understanding of why I lumped groups as I now do. I don't ignore the small groups but conclude that, by their actions or behaviors, they defensibly or rationally can be included in a larger generic group.

Are you trying to justify screaming about them? Or are you trying to make a fair description of them?

I am trying to make a fair description of them. I try not to engage in irrational screaming. Not all criticism amounts to irrational screaming. But unless I explain myself and my reasoning, people have no objective basis to decide if I am unjustifiably screaming or fairly describing something that is complicated and open to dispute.

Without an empirical basis to understand my beliefs, people default to politics as usual, i.e., people who agree will see my opinions as true, and ones who disagree will see them as false or flawed. I don't want to do politics as usual. IMO, politics as usual is inherently toxic and anti-democratic. I want to do pragmatic rationalist politics and that requires enough explanation to afford people a better basis to decide for themselves than mere uncritical agreement or disagreement with an opinion not supported by any facts, truths and/or reasoning.

Volley 4: You really don't seem like you're trying to make a fair description. Your three categories look more like of a collection of insults than any kind of serious effort to understand them, and your dismissal of anyone who doesn't fit one of those three as being a small minority not worth considering only compounds that impression. The entire post makes me think it's unlikely you have any friends or family that are conservatives.

Response 4: Fair enough. At least we understand each other and that is a good thing.

To recapitulate, nothing I have said to try to explain myself in this blog post and my comments to you is sufficient for you to believe that my assertion of facts, truths and reasoning is nothing more than mere insults with no respect or serious effort to understand the people my comments discuss. 

Just curious, exactly what do I not understand about the people you believe I unfairly and/or irrationally smear, slander and/or falsely lump together or characterize? Since you offer almost no details of your facts, truth or reasoning, I assume you completely reject everything I assert as false or worse, with little or no probative weight in fact, truth or reason.

 

I am not trying to be obtuse or disrespectful to you. I am trying to explain myself. So far, my explanation is completely unpersuasive in your mind. I accept that, but don't understand why.

FWIW, some of my family is deeply conservative, but not my immediate family. Some of my friends are conservative, but not hard core T**** supporters -- they are uncomfortable with the modern GOP. Would a different family and friends situation for me necessarily make a major difference in my analysis and beliefs? How many liberal friends and family do T**** supporters have and would a difference in

Volley 5: to be determined if there is a return volley

The point I want to make

The core point I want to make here is in the comments highlighted above. Whether one agrees or disagrees with my assessment of rank and file Republicans as fascists is beside the point here. 

My point is this: One cannot do rational pragmatism without at least some explanation of asserted facts, truths and/or reasoning. Absent that, there is no rational basis to evaluate most political opinions in dispute, ~98% in my opinion. In those cases, politics defaults to politics as usual where people agree with opinions they like and disagree with ones they don't.

Questions: Other than facts, truths and reasoning, what else is there to evaluate the acceptability or lack thereof in disputed political opinions, e.g., personal morals and self-interest? Are morals and self-interest built into truths? Is this blog post too wonky?

Fighting wave of misinfo, YouTube bans false vaccine claims

 YouTube is wiping vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories from its popular video-sharing platform.

The ban on vaccine misinformation, announced in a blog post on Wednesday, comes as countries around the world continue to offer free immunizations for COVID-19 to a somewhat hesitant public. Public health officials have struggled to push back against a steady current of online misinformation about the COVID-19 shot since development of the immunization first got underway last year.

YouTube’s new rules will prohibit misinformation about any vaccine that has been approved by health authorities such as the World Health Organization and are currently being administered. The platform had already begun to crack down late last year on false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, will delete videos that falsely claim vaccines are dangerous or cause health issues, like cancer, infertility or autism — a theory that scientists have discredited for decades but has endured on the internet. As of Wednesday, popular anti-vaccine accounts, including those run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were kicked off YouTube.

“We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we’re now at a point where it’s more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” YouTube said in a prepared statement.

The new rule will apply to general claims about vaccines as well as statements about specific vaccines, such as those given for measles or flu.

Claims about vaccines that are being tested will still be allowed. Personal stories about reactions to the vaccine will also be permitted, as long as they do not come from an account that has a history of promoting vaccine misinformation. ___

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-technology-business-misinformation-public-health-d68aa3f6f6bc44e36c77c33cff4a450a

What took YouTube so long? OR will this be seen as censorship of opposing views? 

Is the label “fascist Republican Party” unduly unfair, inaccurate and/or offensive?

American fascists, Kansas City, MO, 2013

Context

Several people here have pointed out that not all Republicans are fascist, which in my opinion is probably true in some sense. That said, I put a lot of thought into the label before starting to use the FRP (fascist Republican Party) label after the 1/6 coup attempt. I understand that what we have now is not identical to fascism under Mussolini. But I believe the similarities are sufficient to warrant the label. And, what the FRP wants to do to this country is not done yet. If that party gets its way, I believe that the differences between Mussolini and what we are now would significantly narrow further. The overt, ongoing Republican Party attack on democracy, elections, the rule of law, civil liberties, inconvenient facts and inconvenient truths is not over yet. Its not close, at least among the elites and power players that dominate the FRP.

Has corporate power merged with the American state?

What is the modern FRP?

In my opinion, the FRP consists of two main different groups that dominate the party, the elites and the rank and file (R&F). The elites consist of radical ideologues, prominently radical fundamentalist Christian nationalists and radical wealthy laissez faire capitalists and special interests. One main goal of the elites is to install fascism in the name of trickling wealth and power up to the top few. The other man goal is to impose dark ages Christian morality and biblical law, basically Christian sharia, on what they see and/or claim is a nation deeply corrupted by horrors such as secularism, social tolerance, ferocious persecution of innocent Christians, racial impurity and sexual abomination. That group clearly is, among some other bad things, anti-democratic, anti-inconvenient truth (deeply mendacious), and fascist. This group utterly dominates the FRP and its divisive, polarizing rhetoric, policies and behaviors.

By contrast, the R&F are a different kettle of fish. Probably at least about 50% are strongly authoritarian or fascist and thus strongly aligned with the elites. Those are the White supremacists, racists, Nazis, capitalist autocrats, etc. The other ~50% see themselves as patriots desperately fighting to defend threatened democracy, truth and other democratic ideals. Most of this portion of the R&F firmly believe the lies and bullshit the elites have convinced them to believe after decades of ruthless radical right propaganda. Some of this portion of the R&F are supportive of violence to defend democracy, with some of those willing to participate in a violent defense with bloodshed.

The lies and bullshit The R&F has been deceived into believing are exemplified by slandering both Democrats and the Democratic Party like this description by one disgruntled conservative observer: 

Trump has returned to the explosive rhetoric of that day [1/6], insisting that he won in a “landslide,” that the “radical left Democrat communist party” stole the presidency in the “most corrupt, dishonest, and unfair election in the history of our country” and that they have to give it back. .... Looking ahead to 2022 and 2024, Trump insists “there is no way they win elections without cheating. There’s no way.” So, if the results come in showing another Democratic victory, Trump’s supporters will know what to do. Just as “generations of patriots” gave “their sweat, their blood and even their very lives” to build America, Trump tells them, so today “we have no choice. We have to fight” to restore “our American birthright.”

That is a direct call for civil war backed by gunfire. It is not an invitation to the opposition to come in for a coffee and donuts chat to compromise and settle differences amicably.  Although it is an authoritarian call for violent overthrow of democracy, most of the R&F see it as a call to defend threatened democracy, and defend it by violence if needed.

In addition to being falsely labeled as radical left communists, some of the R&F believe that the Democratic Party and rank and file Democrats are, among other awful things, 

    (i) cannibalistic pedophiles; 

    (ii) conducting a massive deep state conspiracy to install some form of fascism or other form of tyranny on the American people; 

    (iii) planning to confiscate all guns and then enslave most everyone; 

    (iv) planning to make Christianity illegal and apply force to convert everyone to atheism; 

    (v) planning to rig all future elections so that Republicans cannot win elections any more, because “there is no way they win elections without cheating.”; and/or

    (vi) planning to replace White people in power and White people’s rights with non-White immigrants who will (a) invariably vote for Democrats, and (b) enjoy rights superior to the rights of White people.  

That is mainstream FRP propaganda and talking points. Tens of millions of the FRP R&F believe at least some of that deranged crackpottery and lies. Some or many independents also believe at least some of it. Heck, even some Democrats believed, probably still do, that the 2020 election was stolen. That kind of vicious FRP propaganda has been going on for decades. It has worked with most of the R&F.

Back to the FRP label

People will partly or completely accept or reject that description of the modern Republican Party. I believe it is accurate and not overstated or understated. Nearly all Republicans will reject most or all of it. Opinions of others will vary widely. 

But based on my perception of the Republican Party, that is why I use the label FRP for both the elites and the R&F. I resisted lumping the two groups before the 1/6 coup attempt, but not after that. After 1/6, there was no excuse to keep the elites separate from the R&F. Most people either saw 1/6 as pro-democracy or anti-democracy, despite FRP propaganda painting it as just innocent tourists taking selfies in the Capitol. 

So, despite most, (~90 ?) of the Republican R&F strongly believing, actually “knowing,” they are not fascists, their beliefs and behaviors directly support and sustain elite FRP American fascism. If the R&F walked away from the Republican Party and stopped voting for the politicians in power now, the cancer of Republican Party fascism would die. 

People sometimes do act based on false belief(s), thinking they support X and/or oppose Y, but in fact their actions do the opposite. That is what is happening here. The Republican elites and their well-funded propaganda Leviathan have finally managed to deceive, manipulate and betray most of the Republican R&F. 

Questions: 

1. Under current circumstances in the Republican Party, is it unfair, inaccurate and/or offensive to label the Party, its elites and/or the R&F fascist? If not fascist, what label would be better, authoritarian, radical, autocratic, plutocratic, Republican, something else?

2. Assuming one believes that most of the Republican R&F are deceived and not aware of what they actually support, does that mean they are not fascists? Or, does the Republican Party not actually support fascism, but is mostly or completely benign and pro-democracy?

3. Should members of the Republican R&F leave the party in protest, or stay while believing that they and/or the GOP are not fascist?  

Some racists are in the mix

The Supreme Court’s public credibility drops to new low: Litmus tests are involved

In a display of adult self-delusion and crackpot juvenile logic, some Supreme Court justices have been publicly asserting that they are not political because sometimes they make decisions they do not like. That reasoning is nonsense. One can be a highly political judge, like all six of the radical Christian nationalist (CN) Republicans on the bench now, but still sometimes constrained by the law. Rome was not built in a day, and neither will the Republican Party’s dream of American fascism. To build a durable fascism, American democratic rule of law needs to be corrupted and subverted over time into authoritarianism. That cannot be done in a single case or even a dozen cases. It will take several years, probably at least four, assuming a Republican wins the White House in 2024.

Recent polling indicates that ~60% of Americans now view the court with disapproval. Recent court decisions that fell in line with fascist Republican and radical CN ideology appear to have had a negative impact on public opinion. The Washington Post writes: 

In emergency decisions in August and September, the court ruled against two Biden administration initiatives, ending a nationwide eviction moratorium and reimposing an abandoned immigration policy. And in a bitter 5-to-4 split that sparked controversy and prompted congressional action, the court allowed to take effect a Texas law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, while legal challenges to it continue.

“I think these last few years have really been very dangerous and potentially devastating to the Supreme Court’s credibility because the public is seeing the court as increasingly political, and the public is right,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who served as a Supreme Court clerk to Justice Harry A. Blackmun. “The statements by Thomas, Barrett, Breyer, you know, give me a break . . . they are just inherently noncredible.”

As expected, the radical right propaganda Leviathan has been cranked up to chime in with its faux reality. Radical right propagandists and blowhards dismiss charges of radical right politics in the court as just liberal complaints about a Supreme Court doing great job. This is as partisan as just about everything else in contested American politics.

No one on the radical right and none of the judges mention the fact that Republican nominees have to pass a number of political litmus tests to even be considered for a judicial nomination. The political tests are what one would expect. For example, Republican nominees must show themselves to staunchly opposed to abortion, gun regulation, government regulation, taxes, secularism, secular education, climate change regulation, immigration, consumer protection, civil liberties, and staunchly in favor of corporate power, rich people power and trickle-up economics. 

By definition, fascist Republican judges are pre-packaged politicians with their credentials and ideological bona fides thoroughly vetted before they can be put on the radical right, CN Federal Society’s acceptable judge list. At least for the fascist Republicans in power, this is purely political and so are their judges.

What about the Dem’s litmus tests for judges?

In 2019, some Democratic politicians indicated that for them, support for abortion rights and the 1973 Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision was their litmus test. The Hill wrote in an article entitled, 2020 Dems break political taboos by endorsing litmus tests:

Democratic presidential hopefuls are embracing a political tool long considered taboo: setting litmus tests for potential judicial nominees.

A torrent of legislation restricting abortion rights in several states has prompted a scramble among several candidates to set more explicit ideological and jurisprudential conditions for would-be judicial nominees.

Chief among those conditions: that any potential judicial nominee back the ruling in Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case that established a woman’s right to an abortion. So far, a handful of candidates for the Democratic nomination, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have committed to appointing only justices that would uphold that decision.

Those pledges underscore the extent to which presidential candidates have become comfortable with shattering what has been considered largely off-limits in campaign politics. 

“There’s been a discomfort with crossing that line. I think what we’ve seen over the past three years is a breakdown in that discomfort,” Christopher Schmidt, a constitutional law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

It looks like that in response to the rigid litmus tests the FRP (fascist Republican Party) now require its judicial nominees to pass, the Democratic Party has started moving in the same direction, at least on the issue of abortion. 

A personal analysis: Not all litmus tests are the same -- authoritarian vs. democratic

Demagoguery: political rhetoric, activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument

In my opinion, there are two fundamentally opposed mindsets at war in America’s political and legal systems. One is mostly democratic, pluralistic, secular, and in favor of relatively more wealth and power distribution to the masses. For the most part but not completely, that’s the Democrats. The other mindset is mostly authoritarian, racially and socially intolerant (I see it as an American variant of fascism) and in favor relatively more wealth and power distribution to wealthy people and powerful special interests, usually at the expense of the masses and/or the environment. For the most part and with few exceptions, that’s the FRP. Decades of RINO hunts have mostly ideologically cleansed the FRP of mental diversity. 

Based on 2010 data

One other important mindset difference is grounded in principle and morality. The democratic mindset usually relies much more on facts and reasonably sound reasoning to make its arguments and appeals for support. For that mindset, the ends do not justify the means. Inherent in the democratic mindset is an openness to accepting social change in both law and policy. 

By contrast, the fascist mindset is demagogic and relies much more on lies, deceit, irrational emotional manipulation and partisan motivated reasoning. Here, the ends justify the means, e.g., lies, fomented irrational fear, hate,  bigotry, etc. Inherent in the fascist mindset is an openness to law and policy that the elites dictate, usually in reliance on laisses-faire capitalism and/or God as moral authority. In general, society gets what it wants only if the elites, speaking for their economic ideology and/or God also want it.  

Those opposed mindsets are at war in the courts. Hence the litmus tests. If one accepts that description of the two mindsets as basically accurate, and yes, the FRP vehemently disagrees, one can see litmus tests for judges as one of two different things, mostly democratic or mostly authoritarian. Thus a judicial litmus test in favor of defending something that most of the public wants, e.g., easy access to legal, safe abortions, is different than a litmus test hell-bent on getting rid of abortion rights regardless of what the public wants.

Questions: 

1. Are all litmus tests for judges equal, or is the democratic vs authoritarian distinction argued here real and meaningful?

2. FRP elites and its propagandist Leviathan (Faux News, Breitbart, the Federalist Society, etc.) now routinely refer to the Democratic Party as radical left and socialist tyrants, but is that true, with the FRP actually being the more authoritarian and radical of the two mindsets?

3. Which mindset is currently more powerful (i) in politics and law, and (ii) in society generally, as represented by, e.g., the distribution of wealth data shown above?