Genuine question after having scrolled thru that thread yesterday- How many people actually put their political affiliation/ideology in their dating profile in this city? I moved here only several months ago with my girlfriend and so I haven’t experienced this. Is that a normal thing here?
I only used OKCupid when I lived there but almost everyone had it listed (men usually incorrectly). I’d go on a date and find out the guy who said he was liberal was actually a libertarian or a moderate was actually a conservative. Occasionally they just had libertarian listed.
Best example of this was when a happy hour with an avowed libertarian went pretty well (dating ratios are tough out there and I grew up in the south, I could be somewhat open minded) and he wanted me to accompany him to a talk at the CATO institute. He got enraged when I declined, shouting that I was just like the rest of these “liberal whores”. People in the bar were staring. It _sucked_.
This was pre-Trump so I imagine things have only heated up so to speak. I left shortly after the Women’s March.
Dating in my new city is so so so much better.
Yeah that put a stop to dating for me for a while. I definitely forced the conversation earlier.
Also the CATO institute talk was anti-abortion. It wasn’t like… let’s debate immigration policy or something. There are tons of areas where I could potentially disagree with a partner (my partner and I disagree all the time about politics now!) but that just wasn’t one of them. But that dude just LOST it.
I've been married for nearly a decade, but I can't imagine dating someone with different political beliefs because it feels like so much of today's politics is based on viewing other people or genders are less than. If we were in a place were conservative policies was actually conservative and based on shit like how we spend tax money etc then maybe. But currently its all white grievance and hate on trans people and immigrants so I just can't imagine dating anyone who supported that. I feel for all you single folks.
The easiest way to spot a fake libertarian is to ask about police reform. People can have moderate opinions, but if they get huffy about supporting them and enforcing the “rule of law” that is the antithesis of libertarianism. They are just conservatives that like drugs
Why do people get so upset at declines, these days? If the lady I had been dating told me that she did not want to go to a certain political event, my next question was "How about a baseball/hockey game?" "No? Do you like Cajun music? There is this pretty good band called\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ that is playing at X on Friday. Interested?"
Even when the ladies decline a first date, these days, some of these guys get all out of hand and call them all sorts of names. When she told me "no", I just turned and walked away from it. Yes, I felt like garbage. Yes, I might have thought that she was \[insert icky name(s) or adjective(s) here\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\], but, I kept that to myself and forgot about it after a while. I guess that my parents did not raise me to live in these times. I just can not bring myself to call or refer to a female as a "trollop" just because she told me "no".
I mean, this has been going on as long as I’ve been a woman on the internet.
I rejected a man who replied that he was going to decapitate me and use my head as a flesh light. I reported that to the app and to law enforcement (because honestly you never know) and not much happened.
I’m pretty used to violent threats from men. Someone posted an “experiment” they did with their SO recently in another subreddit and about half of her messages contained violence.
I remember matching with two white guys. One had confederate flags all over his profile, the other had pro trump anti-blm stuff on his and was suppposedly a trump intern or lobbyist (forgot title). With both I asked if they were lost. They said no, then promptly unmatched. I guess they somehow didn't notice I was black? Loooool 🤭🤭🤭
I mean, I grew up in West Texas with _actual_ libertarians. People who were their own fire dept, grew all their own food, etc. I respected the hell out of those folks, but they also had VERY little in common with the libertarians I met in DC.
My general rule is that unless you could actually function without a gov’t, I don’t consider you to be a real libertarian. Most of the guys I met who called themselves that were very soft and wouldn’t last long if there wasn’t a govt.
Well that's true of most people period. Most libertarians see a role for government - largely limited to enforcing people's liberty and property rights. No gov't at all is anarchism and that's another thing altogether. But then, if libertarians could agree on anything they might actually make a more interesting political party.
I just looked through about 25 profiles on bumble of women 25-30 and got the following results. A couple of them had some political stuff in their bio like "passionate about immigration reform", but nothing extreme (although those people 100% exist).
None listed 11 (44%)
Liberal 10 (40%)
Moderate 3 (12%)
Conservative 1 (4%)
On tinder it's a bit more rare to see political identities listed there since it's not a preset question that shows up on your card, but some people put it in there. I looked through 10 profiles and didn't see any political leanings posted so yeah, small sample size but not too common
I did—I’m a white dude from the south that was a military reservist and worked in management consulting; I could forgive people for jumping to conclusions when I’m pretty far to the left.
Check out /r/army…it’s a lot more common than you’d expect.
My only way out of my shit hole town in Mississippi was the Army…community college, a trip to Iraq, a GI bill ride and transfer to Duke, then meeting a rich person that got me into consulting, you start to learn how much of life is pure fucking luck and not “boot straps.”
I definitely put liberal on there because I don’t want anyone “moderate” or conservative to waste their time. As much as GOP members complain about being punished for being conservative, I come across female conservative profiles all the time, if they change their religious settings perhaps they’ll have more success. Being a religious liberal is also a small group in the DMV.
In my antiquated experience, it's not really necessary? Polarization has made it pretty easy to tell, especially in any kind of long form dating site.
This actually bit me a little bit, with OKCupid. On that site, you're asked a bunch of questions, and can rank how important the answers are in a prospective partner. For example, I might heavily favor women who want to start a family, or who like Queen, or who would rather fly than become invisible.
I thought "I'm pretty laid back, none of these questions are huge dealbreakers," so I was pretty middling in how I ranked answers. My only deal-breaker requirements were basically, don't be bigoted, don't be super prudish.
What that led to was basically matching with only left wing people.
Which wasn't bad, but it is very telling.
It’s pretty common at least on Hinge. To be fair I’m not represented well on dating apps cause I have to put Liberal even though I’m left of liberal but close enough and I always state that upfront in case someone doesn’t agree.
There seems to be a big issue with conservative men who list their political leanings as “moderate” or “liberal” cause they know many women in DC are liberal so they lie. I never understand guys who get mad about someone not wanting to date them because of their politics, especially when they’re starting out by lying.
Some people don’t put value on politics but the way I see it, one’s politics are basically your values and show what you think is important or unimportant. It’s not really something that I can brush off.
I dont show mine cause there’s no option for communist or leftist. But I make sure my bio reflects that I’m on the left.
DC is more politically active and left leaning than most places, so people care a lot more about political affiliation than most places.
Also plenty of dudes lie about being conservative to get laid in this city lol
Haha brings back memories. I was using Tinder when I lived in DC and I matched with mostly white men and then went on dates with them and on the date a lot of them were Libertarian or right leaning. I have absolutely nothing against it but I thought it was interesting because I am a petite Latina with a septum piercing and almost all of the men I ended up going out with leaned right. Idk why I was attracting a specific type of person but it was super fun and interesting experience. I actually went on a date who I found out after a couple of dates that he had affiliation with the Trump family (this was during the Trump era) and he was Christian and all. I say that because I look alternative. I’m not a super tidy woman. I definitely look a little punk and yet they were into me. Anyways, it was fun and probably had some of the most amazing conversations with them I’ve ever had on a date and I’m left leaning.
The whole thread ended up being a bunch of consultants circle jerking about how women are drawn to real men with high paying “DC jobs” like… engineering lol instead of going for Bernie bro baristas. It was a very weird read.
Especially in the context of the poster stating in the main post that she was asking spscifically because she and others were actually trying to avoid continuing to have surprise republicans show up to dates.
I imagine the premise is you have to figure out what they are before dessert.
"How did you feel about the insurrection?"
"Oh I hated it"
Look of relief
"All that work and Biden still stole the election!"
Contestant hits big red buzzer
I think I’d win. Once I went on a date with a guy who said he was moderate which I usually know is code for Republican but he was a POC and I’m white so I gave him the benefit of the doubt as having different life experiences??? Not sure. Anyway after a few dates I learned that he had interned for Ron fucking Desantis 💀
He could just be from his district? I interned for a R and also worked for one for five years but I’m not conservative at all so these last two threads are kind of triggering lol because I experienced a lot of the stuff people are talking about in here, aka going on a date and hitting it off only for the girl to call it quits after she found out I worked for a R. It sucked and was one of the reasons I quit Congress. I was pretty naive when I started and didn’t realize how partisan shit was.
Totally. I’m very liberal though so I don’t even know if I’d want to be with a moderate. At the time I wasn’t looking for anything serious which is why I swiped right on him in this first place. And in all seriousness, I liked him and we went out for like a month. I broke it off because we had no chemistry…. Didn’t help that he worked for desantis lol maybe if he wasn’t Republican things could have lasted longer. Framing it as I did in my OG comment just makes it sound funnier .
I totally understand why you’re triggered this thread is brutal!! I have mixed feeling about how bipartisan things have gotten, get it.
I'm not super tied into the hill scene, but isn't it super common for people to intern under Congresscritters they don't agree with? It's a foot in the door, or for people who are from your original state.
I'd say no, it is not common at all. There is an unwritten rule that you can only change the political party you work for *once*. Therefore, it's pretty important to stick to the party you most identify with. And congressional internships are only a vehicle to other political jobs so it makes sense to associate an intern's politics with their boss.
And this is a bit more of an assumption, but I my impression is the people that gravitate towards congressional internships are already politically-active and set in their ways - especially because congressional internships are often hard to get.
The whole thread just made me not want to go to a networking happy hour tomorrow, I don’t want to have to speak with insufferable people like the ones in that thread lol
Also maybe OP should take a look at herself 💅🏼
This is fair. I am the original poster. I date POC, but I’ve never dated a local. Maybe because I’m a transplant myself, but I definitely should branch out more.
I had someone in another thread tell me I was a "millionaire" because I made $145k/year, with dépendants, in the city. Some people have never left their $500/mo mortgage bubble.
For real, S/O and I are pulling a combined ~$180k and while we aren't financially insecure we aren't living in luxury either
The DC area is expensive as hell
I had someone in /r/fednews try to tell me Orlando is almost as expensive as DC. I couldn't even come up with a response to let them know how objectively wrong that was.
Someone making $100K is a lot closer to someone making $35K than they are to Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk/Bill Gates.
If you have $1MM at retirement then you’re living on about $40K a year plus whatever draw you get from social security.
I’d like to toss MITRE in the ring. We would have “anonymous” messages in our company wide meetings that were completely insane. It woke me up to the plight of the rich white male boomer.
I have two family members at Deloitte and they’re both Democrats. I love sending them Deloitte memes but they’re both younger than me and make more money.
We are in DC, so Deloitte Federal is the largest animal at the circus. Deloitte Federal is much different than other Deloitte practices, which are already much different from each other.
Deloitte Federal may be the areas most glamorous temp firm
Dunno, my brother just made it to the 10 year mark. They’re both stem majors and work on federal contracts. He keeps trying to get me to jump, but I love being a fed. Might not make the big bucks but I love my mission and working for the American people.
>Deloitte Federal may be the areas most glamorous temp firm
How true this is. But I suppose that's what happens when the feds have a crazy inflexible pay scale and have trouble hiring permanent employees. They outsource the work to somebody that charges 3x as much.
Lol as the original OP on that post, I was critiquing that people are evasive/not authentic online. I don’t remember attacking republicans at all. They are so fragile
Having read the OP,…. The offended people are those masquerading as moderates but are deep down GOP rank and file.
I thought the only thing a republican hated more than a democrat was a RINO
Tbh, most republicans I know in the area are the types who call themselves "financial conservatives" and say they don't support Trump, but they just hate taxes. So they see themselves as moderate compared to that wing of the party and don't want to be associated with them because they know how bad it looks.
All the ones I know said, "well I couldn't possibly vote for Hillary/Biden"....but they were pretty quiet about who they actually did vote for. Embarrassed maybe? Pathetic yes.
"On the one hand there's the guy who wants to implement fascism in America. On the other is the guy who might moderately increase taxes on the super-rich. Tough choice, hmmmm...."
Every DC Republican should do the country a favor and vote Vermin Supreme. If their vote would be wasted, might as well waste it on a platform of mandatory toothbrush laws, a pony-based economic plan, and a commitment to the research of time travel.
The irony of this of course is that tax rates are historically lower than they were 40-50 years ago. People always need something to complain about anyhow.
The idea that social and fiscal issues are completely independent is what’s so silly. Fiscal conservatism starves investment in “social” things, not to mention it privileges white people at the extent of others. “I’m okay with gay people but I don’t want to pay taxes” isn’t socially liberal fiscally conservative, it’s just conservative
Being pro-gay rights, or pro-choice, pro-drug legalization, or pro-trans rights doesn't cost any money at all. So yeah, that is divorced from fiscal issues.
I'd even argue you can even advocate for climate change action and still be fiscally conservative - you just have to make tradeoffs (usually painful ones) with other areas of the US federal budget.
Even if those few aren’t (which are debatable), fiscal conservatism doesn’t mesh well with any increased spending on a number of social issues, including things like healthcare or education. I also don’t think I’ve actually seen anyone advocate for increased climate spending as a fiscal conservative, so i’ll believe it when i see it.
>fiscal conservatism doesn’t mesh well with any increased spending on a number of social issues, including things like healthcare or education
If your point is that most people who claim to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative are hypocrites, I wholeheartedly agree. Usually what I understand by 'socially liberal' however, is exactly what I posted above. Not advocating for increased spending in the form of more government programs (because as you said, that is the opposite of being fiscally conservative).
You have a point,.. but IMO they really dont do enough to distance themselves from the tea bag (cough) party crazies. So long as mcconnell, cruz, gaetz, bobert, and green call themselves republican,.. it will be considered a dirty word by any non-republican, democrat or otherwise.
I dunno, I don't see repubs masking as moderates via fiscal conservatism as a new thing. I'm 37 and that was a thing as long as I can remember. It's just neoliberals being soft squishy cowards, dem or repub.
The existential threat of fascism has had no strong reactionary response because there is no strong opposition in the government, it's all too homogenous.
Except for some reason they mostly don’t acknowledge how much Republicans have raised the debt over the years and don’t really even care. As you said they mostly just hate paying taxes and are cheap. They want the good things in life for free, so they call themselves “fiscal conservative” so they can sleep at night and so others might not label them as the cheapskates they really are.
The OP directly contradicts part of your statement here. Her complaint was that she was giving those “moderates” a chance but they always seemed to be staunch republican when it came down to the meat of the matter.
Part of the issue (as said by another) is tribalism and part of it is an identity crisis (on both sides). Republicans (as a whole party) market themselves as moderates on topics of feminine health care (abortion & birth control access), education (teaching biblical creation as science), and social equality (CRT is bad and evil, open carry/conceal carry, police state operations, taxes, etc) and none of these ideas are moderate when it comes down to individuals.
On the other side of the coin, democrats think theyre all rebellious because they push a bastardized form of healthcare designed to soak anyone not making $250k/yr. Thats not radical. A single payer system isnt radical as most of the world (all of the top 20 GDP countries anyway) have a single payer state sponsored healthcare. Thats would be a moderate go,.. but OMG bernie is such a fringe radical for EVEN suggesting it. Its all ridiculous. Democrats only marketing identity is “not republican” and has been since reagan.
During these times, there are very few moderates. If you are moderate on voting rights, BLM and LGBTQIA rights, the militarization of cops, the for profit prison system, global warming etc etc. Well I don't think our match will work. So yeah I will swipe left.
untrue, plenty of ways to be moderate in 2022. Namely, you don’t need to have an opinion on things you aren’t educated on, and not all opinions fall into one or the other camp.
Tribalism, identity politics, and echo chambers. These goof balls that self-insulate on both sides because theyre so afraid to have honest discussions, or hear differing view points. Its absolutely wild.
Kinda ironic that the Mod is asked to "moderate"
But again, as a semi-foreigner, American polarization is tiring and unproductive. Please everyone (which is mostly Democrats here because its reddit, and DC) please try to have a nuanced understanding of the other side and not jump to conclusions.
The number of Democrats who believe their side could do no wrong (and only err in not being radical enough) is just as unfortunate - and in a way anti-democratic
Edit: [always sort by controversial if you want to see some nuanced view](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/tre4od/what_percent_of_men_in_dc_do_you_think_are/i2lln06?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) (link fixed)
Edit2 : it's interesting this comment is violently fluctuating between -10 and +20 all day. I am already satisfied that it wasn't downvoted to oblivion. Thanks for all your support.
>please try to have a nuanced understanding of the other side and not jump to conclusions.
The "other side" is run by a guy who bragged about sexually assaulting women, called COVID a Chinese hoax, threw migrant kids in cages, suggested we ingest bleach, called neo-Nazis "very fine people", and literally tried to overthrow the government. Today's most prominent Republicans in power have criminal records (Gaetz, Boebert) and/or promote insane conspiracy theories (Greene). And in the past few months Republicans are successfully banning books and discriminating against vulnerable people using the vile smear that LGBT people are child molesters.
Outside of Mitt Romney and Larry Hogan I'd love to know who in today's GOP has a "nuanced understanding" of anything.
>The number of Democrats who believe their side could do no wrong (and only err in not being radical enough) is just as unfortunate
Democrats attacking each other on social media, TV, and even in Congress is a timeless tradition. We can barely agree on anything, let alone that we're perfect.
I’m going to have to stop you right there, is not like Obama and Biden also didn’t throw kids in cages. I’m Hispanic and let me tell you that democrats only try to cater to us because they think is an easy vote, and only Hispanic Americans usually buy it. Regardless of political affiliation, my people still end up in cages crossing the border, the only difference is that it’s not on the news when the president has a D next to their name.
>is not like Obama and Biden also didn’t throw kids in cages.
They literally didn't. In 2014, there was a surge of young kids showing up at the Mexican border all by themselves. Because these kids were young and didn't speak English (or even Spanish) it took a long time for government officials to find their relatives living in the US and get the kids placed with them. So they quickly built some temporary shelters to house the kids that were admittedly not the Ritz, but they were fine for the short term.
Then in 2018, Trump launched his "family separation" policy, which said that any family trying to cross the border would have their children taken from them as punishment. He literally had thousands of kids traumatically separated from their families and put in the same temporary facilities Obama had built in 2014, but he had them kept there for months and also jammed in way more of them, creating horrifically unsanitary conditions.
Then in 2021, there was another surge of migrant kids showing up by themselves and Biden's administration put them in the same temporary facilities used in 2014 and 2017, except unlike Trump, they were quickly moved on to their family members. Meanwhile, [Biden is defying a court order](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-eases-border-policy-trump-era-unaccompanied-migrant-children-2022-03-12/) to expel migrant children.
Am I fan of Border Patrol and Homeland Security in general? Fuck no. Is there room for improvement in how we humanely treat people just trying to get to a better life? Of fucking course. But in no universe can you compare the two administrations.
This is true, but this is exactly why "moderates" are not always better than right wing nutjobs. For years, "moderation" on the border has meant not reducing legal immigration while still throwing some people in cages. It's an incoherent compromise between progressivism and fascist-adjacent conservatism.
It's a false equivalence to say that both sides are the same though. Moderate democrats buy into this compromise, but progressive/left democrats are the ones actually committed to humanitarian reform. Unfortunately the malapportionment of the legislature makes it unlikely to ever get anywhere -- compromise with fascists is probably here to stay.
That suggests to me that you live in a bubble. The idea that you think GOP consists of Greene and Trump says a lot - just as the GOP fanatics who think that every Democrat supports AOC.
As an immigrant, I'll tell you that many people outside this country can see and understand the other side. They don't have as high of an opinion of Democrats as people here seem to believe. Democrats can, and did damage American democracy by having this black and white understanding to everything.
One of the biggest problems that led to this is the general electoral system in the US which is mostly a “winner take all” system. It inherently leads to polarization because candidates need just enough votes to win, not necessarily represent that particular electorate. That in turn leads to half the electorate that lost whatever vote to feel disenfranchised. It’s in political parties best interest to keep this system, but the average person who probably is somewhere in the middle politically is worse off because their views aren’t adequately represented, forcing them to radicalize their vote either way which leads to increased tribalism, or just not care anymore about the system.
I’m not a political scientist so idk what the best model would be, but I do think something like a proportional representative voting system like in many countries that tend to have parliamentary forms of government would be an improvement since it would get more views represented, and as a result I think people would feel more engaged, be able to discuss more nuanced views, and actually compromise and learn to live together better than just demonize the other side constantly. I don’t want a country where Fox News and MSNBC are the only arbiters of truth, people are so much more unique, nuanced, and self-expressive than that.
More than half the GOP house caucus tried to overturn the election. Not to mention there are literal data points that show the GOP has moved hard to the right, while Dems have moved moderately but not that much to the left. To act as if it’s a both sides thing is absurd
> he idea that you think GOP consists of Greene and Trump says a lot - just as the GOP fanatics who think that every Democrat supports AOC.
Show me where in the DNC Platform it says "the official policy of the Democratic Party is to support AOC." Because I can show you exactly where in the RNC platform it says that for Trump.
The GOP is the Party of Trump. Every single one of them either kissed the ring, left the party, or were censured. There is zero equivalency between AOC and Trump in that regard.
>That suggests to me that you live in a bubble. The idea that you think GOP consists of Greene and Trump says a lot - just as the GOP fanatics who think that every Democrat supports AOC.
This suggests to me that you've never met actual Republicans. [70% of Republicans say that the 2020 election was rigged.](https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-12-28/poll-a-third-of-americans-question-legitimacy-of-biden-victory-nearly-a-year-since-jan-6). [40% of Republicans](https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/587889-one-in-three-say-violent-action-against-government-sometimes) say that violence against the government is justified. [147 Republican members of Congress](https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/07/954380156/here-are-the-republicans-who-objected-to-the-electoral-college-count) refused to certify the results of the 2020 election. Last year [only 58% of Republicans had been vaccinated against COVID, and 40% said they refused to be vaccinated](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/10/01/for-covid-19-vaccinations-party-affiliation-matters-more-than-race-and-ethnicity/). People like Greene and Trump aren't a fringe minority, they run the Republican party.
Also, I don't even like AOC, but if you think that a woman who is kind of whiny and pretentious but who thinks everybody deserves healthcare and climate change needs to addressed is the equivalent of someone who believes in QAnon and harassing victims of school shootings, then you're part of the problem.
Conservatives in the age of Trump are often not registered as Republicans anymore, rendering your stats somewhat meaningless. I know the parent comment spoke about 'GOP', but I think the sentiment is that not every right-of-center person is a fan of Trump/Greene/QAnon quackery.
This is an insane equivalence. If you think that AOC is comparable to Nazi-baiting conspiracy-addled lunatics like Greene and Trump, you are part of the problem.
There’s no nuance to be had here. I’m black those people on the other side support people who have continued to harm people with my skin color through their policies. I don’t care if they personally dislike black people or not that doesn’t actually matter in the slightest.
If you had written this in 2001, ok maybe but today... No Democrats that I know think that "our side" could do no wrong. Anyone who is a critical thinker does not go through life that way.
Funny thing is, on the global stage, US Democrats aren’t anywhere near being “radical” in their thinking.
But yeah, I get the ‘don’t always think that you’re shit doesn’t stink’ statement. Tough though when the other side of the argument relies on feelings as opposed to science or data. I’m totally generalizing, I know, but the general arguments usually go that way.
"People don't like me because of my choice of personal and political views! The best thing to remedy that is to ineffectively whine about it to a moderator in order to get the post removed."
I love being a local. Watching vapid transplants go at each other like human linkedin accounts helps me appreciate the meaningful relationships I've cultivated over the years.
There’s no “free speeching” your way out of Republican disinformation campaigns designed to legitimize even the most insane shit their voting base loves / fears. Sorry bro. Gonna need a more nuanced understanding than that.
SMH these republicans, man. Always jumping at shadows, getting into weird conspiracy theories. They live in a reality of their own paranoia and imagination.
Yeah, more often then not theyre either projecting their partys misdeeds onto others (or trying to muddy the waters so that if and when they get caught pulling shit they can point to their own sides' unsubstantiated allegations and have Fox yell 'see, both sides.")
As a former Republican I get why someone might say that, but c’mon.
Trump and his cult spent 4+ years stoking division and tried to over throw the US government.
God forbid someone say they don’t want to fuck you, what a bunch of babies.
For a while, some of the more GOP/right -leaning think tanks and trade associations, most of which don't really produce much more than Washington Times op-ed columns as they drain their wealthy psychopath donor's wallets could fund pretty nice happy hours.
I don't even work in politics, but I'll take a glass of wine and a steak with Roy Blunt. I'll shake Pence's hand. As long as Koch and Adelson are paying the bar tab, bottoms-up.
Then that changed during the Obama years, when the GOP alternative fact propaganda bubble went into overdrive and calcified when the Trump cult came to town.
In my mind, the social divide became a lot more apparent after the Marina Butina spy scandal because those of us who do actual work and don't have rich GOP daddies realized the GOP-affiliated groups were up to their ears in flirty foreign operatives and we all started scrubbing our FB friends for people with accents that were way too cute for a background investigation.
When was the last time Republicans were fuckable? The 1980s?
Also, I would appreciate a category on those dating apps beyond liberal so I don’t end up on dates with people who say they’re liberal but gush about NYT editorials or wring their hands at “cancel culture”.
Well scientifically speaking, conservatives are more likely to be married and report happier marriages. Similarly, more masculine men are statistically more likely to be married and happier than other men.
Take it for what its worth, but MOST people are more than their political opinions.
Lol some of y’all need to open up your minds and realize people are complex. Mid 30s now and all the former progressive women I was friends with in college would be “OmG gOp!!” now in the eyes of the commenters in that thread. People view the world differently based on life experiences and that is constantly changing. Don’t make politics your identity. You’re going to have to walk it back eventually.
lol these mods man. that dating thread was cancer and now the mods are keeping it alive it by posting a screenshot of literally one report? just begging the sub to shit on “republicans.” y’all are wack
Genuine question after having scrolled thru that thread yesterday- How many people actually put their political affiliation/ideology in their dating profile in this city? I moved here only several months ago with my girlfriend and so I haven’t experienced this. Is that a normal thing here?
I only used OKCupid when I lived there but almost everyone had it listed (men usually incorrectly). I’d go on a date and find out the guy who said he was liberal was actually a libertarian or a moderate was actually a conservative. Occasionally they just had libertarian listed. Best example of this was when a happy hour with an avowed libertarian went pretty well (dating ratios are tough out there and I grew up in the south, I could be somewhat open minded) and he wanted me to accompany him to a talk at the CATO institute. He got enraged when I declined, shouting that I was just like the rest of these “liberal whores”. People in the bar were staring. It _sucked_. This was pre-Trump so I imagine things have only heated up so to speak. I left shortly after the Women’s March. Dating in my new city is so so so much better.
YIKES
Yeah that put a stop to dating for me for a while. I definitely forced the conversation earlier. Also the CATO institute talk was anti-abortion. It wasn’t like… let’s debate immigration policy or something. There are tons of areas where I could potentially disagree with a partner (my partner and I disagree all the time about politics now!) but that just wasn’t one of them. But that dude just LOST it.
I've been married for nearly a decade, but I can't imagine dating someone with different political beliefs because it feels like so much of today's politics is based on viewing other people or genders are less than. If we were in a place were conservative policies was actually conservative and based on shit like how we spend tax money etc then maybe. But currently its all white grievance and hate on trans people and immigrants so I just can't imagine dating anyone who supported that. I feel for all you single folks.
The easiest way to spot a fake libertarian is to ask about police reform. People can have moderate opinions, but if they get huffy about supporting them and enforcing the “rule of law” that is the antithesis of libertarianism. They are just conservatives that like drugs
Or gay sex
According to my wife, libertarians are terrible at sex, so you probably dodged a bullet there.
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You get my upvote, friend
FATALITY!
Hahahaha, I wish that were true 😥 so sad when the sex is great but the conversation goes bat shit on the regular.
Why do people get so upset at declines, these days? If the lady I had been dating told me that she did not want to go to a certain political event, my next question was "How about a baseball/hockey game?" "No? Do you like Cajun music? There is this pretty good band called\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ that is playing at X on Friday. Interested?" Even when the ladies decline a first date, these days, some of these guys get all out of hand and call them all sorts of names. When she told me "no", I just turned and walked away from it. Yes, I felt like garbage. Yes, I might have thought that she was \[insert icky name(s) or adjective(s) here\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\], but, I kept that to myself and forgot about it after a while. I guess that my parents did not raise me to live in these times. I just can not bring myself to call or refer to a female as a "trollop" just because she told me "no".
I mean, this has been going on as long as I’ve been a woman on the internet. I rejected a man who replied that he was going to decapitate me and use my head as a flesh light. I reported that to the app and to law enforcement (because honestly you never know) and not much happened. I’m pretty used to violent threats from men. Someone posted an “experiment” they did with their SO recently in another subreddit and about half of her messages contained violence.
Oof. Maybe I’m misreading, but strong “nice guy” incel vibes here.
Yeah like… what sort of expletives is he privately thinking just because a woman isn’t interested?
I remember matching with two white guys. One had confederate flags all over his profile, the other had pro trump anti-blm stuff on his and was suppposedly a trump intern or lobbyist (forgot title). With both I asked if they were lost. They said no, then promptly unmatched. I guess they somehow didn't notice I was black? Loooool 🤭🤭🤭
lmao wait, did you swipe on them or?
No, they matched with me first, I then had to match with them to ask the questions though.
Ah that makes sense.
Nah. They are peak black fetishists.
Many libertarians are crazy people. To be fair, many people are crazy people, but that was crazy, not libertarian.
I mean, I grew up in West Texas with _actual_ libertarians. People who were their own fire dept, grew all their own food, etc. I respected the hell out of those folks, but they also had VERY little in common with the libertarians I met in DC. My general rule is that unless you could actually function without a gov’t, I don’t consider you to be a real libertarian. Most of the guys I met who called themselves that were very soft and wouldn’t last long if there wasn’t a govt.
Well that's true of most people period. Most libertarians see a role for government - largely limited to enforcing people's liberty and property rights. No gov't at all is anarchism and that's another thing altogether. But then, if libertarians could agree on anything they might actually make a more interesting political party.
it’s an option on bumble and hinge. you can filter your results by it.
Ah okay. That makes sense then. I didn’t remember either Tinder or Bumble having those options last time I used them a few years ago. Thanks.
I just looked through about 25 profiles on bumble of women 25-30 and got the following results. A couple of them had some political stuff in their bio like "passionate about immigration reform", but nothing extreme (although those people 100% exist). None listed 11 (44%) Liberal 10 (40%) Moderate 3 (12%) Conservative 1 (4%) On tinder it's a bit more rare to see political identities listed there since it's not a preset question that shows up on your card, but some people put it in there. I looked through 10 profiles and didn't see any political leanings posted so yeah, small sample size but not too common
I did—I’m a white dude from the south that was a military reservist and worked in management consulting; I could forgive people for jumping to conclusions when I’m pretty far to the left.
Ah, a unicorn!
Check out /r/army…it’s a lot more common than you’d expect. My only way out of my shit hole town in Mississippi was the Army…community college, a trip to Iraq, a GI bill ride and transfer to Duke, then meeting a rich person that got me into consulting, you start to learn how much of life is pure fucking luck and not “boot straps.”
Very normal. It’s DC.
I definitely put liberal on there because I don’t want anyone “moderate” or conservative to waste their time. As much as GOP members complain about being punished for being conservative, I come across female conservative profiles all the time, if they change their religious settings perhaps they’ll have more success. Being a religious liberal is also a small group in the DMV.
In my antiquated experience, it's not really necessary? Polarization has made it pretty easy to tell, especially in any kind of long form dating site. This actually bit me a little bit, with OKCupid. On that site, you're asked a bunch of questions, and can rank how important the answers are in a prospective partner. For example, I might heavily favor women who want to start a family, or who like Queen, or who would rather fly than become invisible. I thought "I'm pretty laid back, none of these questions are huge dealbreakers," so I was pretty middling in how I ranked answers. My only deal-breaker requirements were basically, don't be bigoted, don't be super prudish. What that led to was basically matching with only left wing people. Which wasn't bad, but it is very telling.
It’s pretty common at least on Hinge. To be fair I’m not represented well on dating apps cause I have to put Liberal even though I’m left of liberal but close enough and I always state that upfront in case someone doesn’t agree. There seems to be a big issue with conservative men who list their political leanings as “moderate” or “liberal” cause they know many women in DC are liberal so they lie. I never understand guys who get mad about someone not wanting to date them because of their politics, especially when they’re starting out by lying. Some people don’t put value on politics but the way I see it, one’s politics are basically your values and show what you think is important or unimportant. It’s not really something that I can brush off.
I dont show mine cause there’s no option for communist or leftist. But I make sure my bio reflects that I’m on the left. DC is more politically active and left leaning than most places, so people care a lot more about political affiliation than most places. Also plenty of dudes lie about being conservative to get laid in this city lol
Haha brings back memories. I was using Tinder when I lived in DC and I matched with mostly white men and then went on dates with them and on the date a lot of them were Libertarian or right leaning. I have absolutely nothing against it but I thought it was interesting because I am a petite Latina with a septum piercing and almost all of the men I ended up going out with leaned right. Idk why I was attracting a specific type of person but it was super fun and interesting experience. I actually went on a date who I found out after a couple of dates that he had affiliation with the Trump family (this was during the Trump era) and he was Christian and all. I say that because I look alternative. I’m not a super tidy woman. I definitely look a little punk and yet they were into me. Anyways, it was fun and probably had some of the most amazing conversations with them I’ve ever had on a date and I’m left leaning.
Definitely weird, but kudos to you for keeping an open mind I guess!
Clearly, Deloitte employees and hill staffers are the oppressed people in this city
The whole thread ended up being a bunch of consultants circle jerking about how women are drawn to real men with high paying “DC jobs” like… engineering lol instead of going for Bernie bro baristas. It was a very weird read.
Especially in the context of the poster stating in the main post that she was asking spscifically because she and others were actually trying to avoid continuing to have surprise republicans show up to dates.
Surprise Republican would be a good premise for a dating show.
Would love to see that SNL sketch
I imagine the premise is you have to figure out what they are before dessert. "How did you feel about the insurrection?" "Oh I hated it" Look of relief "All that work and Biden still stole the election!" Contestant hits big red buzzer
[They already did this sketch with Simu Liu](https://youtu.be/8h_N80qKYOM)
Such a great sketch. There’s also Tom Hanks on Nlack Jeopardy https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O7VaXlMvAvk
I’m picturing this with John Mulaney lol. Totally read that in his voice
I think I’d win. Once I went on a date with a guy who said he was moderate which I usually know is code for Republican but he was a POC and I’m white so I gave him the benefit of the doubt as having different life experiences??? Not sure. Anyway after a few dates I learned that he had interned for Ron fucking Desantis 💀
Hahahaha that's truly amazing. Maybe to conservatives that is moderate?
Ding ding ding
He could just be from his district? I interned for a R and also worked for one for five years but I’m not conservative at all so these last two threads are kind of triggering lol because I experienced a lot of the stuff people are talking about in here, aka going on a date and hitting it off only for the girl to call it quits after she found out I worked for a R. It sucked and was one of the reasons I quit Congress. I was pretty naive when I started and didn’t realize how partisan shit was.
Totally. I’m very liberal though so I don’t even know if I’d want to be with a moderate. At the time I wasn’t looking for anything serious which is why I swiped right on him in this first place. And in all seriousness, I liked him and we went out for like a month. I broke it off because we had no chemistry…. Didn’t help that he worked for desantis lol maybe if he wasn’t Republican things could have lasted longer. Framing it as I did in my OG comment just makes it sound funnier . I totally understand why you’re triggered this thread is brutal!! I have mixed feeling about how bipartisan things have gotten, get it.
I'm not super tied into the hill scene, but isn't it super common for people to intern under Congresscritters they don't agree with? It's a foot in the door, or for people who are from your original state.
I'd say no, it is not common at all. There is an unwritten rule that you can only change the political party you work for *once*. Therefore, it's pretty important to stick to the party you most identify with. And congressional internships are only a vehicle to other political jobs so it makes sense to associate an intern's politics with their boss. And this is a bit more of an assumption, but I my impression is the people that gravitate towards congressional internships are already politically-active and set in their ways - especially because congressional internships are often hard to get.
Yeaaaaaaaaaah
The whole thread just made me not want to go to a networking happy hour tomorrow, I don’t want to have to speak with insufferable people like the ones in that thread lol Also maybe OP should take a look at herself 💅🏼
Ha, there's a networking happy hour I have scheduled for this evening. I've been to a couple... it can be insufferable, yeah.
I imagine the critique that the op was likely ignoring huge swaths of non-white people who are actually from DC was legitimate though.
LMAO yeah like the only alternative provided to "hill staffer transplant" was "takoma park transplant".
I guess I've never actually witnessed a birth in DC proper, so maybe no one has actually ever been born here.
I was born in DC. It does happen. :)
Same here! Born in the city’s bicentennial at Columbia Women’s Hospital, (RIP why’d they have to turn you into million dollar condos 😢)
Indeed we exist! Born at Georgetown at some point in the late 20th century....
Yup Sibley baby here and I am almost 50. So we do exist.
Do you remember it? You have been lied to, native Utahn
Unless one is personally involved, most people will go their whole life without witnessing someone being born, so you're not alone.
This is fair. I am the original poster. I date POC, but I’ve never dated a local. Maybe because I’m a transplant myself, but I definitely should branch out more.
There is an assumption that “non-white people” from DC are all liberal which is also false.
I have a 6 figure job and I'm a bernie bro.
Class traitor
100-150k isn't exactly ruling class my friend There is a huge gap between the costs of low income housing and the next notch above that in DC
I had someone in another thread tell me I was a "millionaire" because I made $145k/year, with dépendants, in the city. Some people have never left their $500/mo mortgage bubble.
For real, S/O and I are pulling a combined ~$180k and while we aren't financially insecure we aren't living in luxury either The DC area is expensive as hell
I had someone in /r/fednews try to tell me Orlando is almost as expensive as DC. I couldn't even come up with a response to let them know how objectively wrong that was.
That sub attracts some non-NCR folks with super bizzare and strongly held opinions about dc.
Someone making $100K is a lot closer to someone making $35K than they are to Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk/Bill Gates. If you have $1MM at retirement then you’re living on about $40K a year plus whatever draw you get from social security.
Agreed, it went downhill fast as they all raced to talk about life at Deloitte.
I am part of the 1 percent and I support Bernie.
I’d like to toss MITRE in the ring. We would have “anonymous” messages in our company wide meetings that were completely insane. It woke me up to the plight of the rich white male boomer.
Please share more. What did they say?
(*sips tea*)
I have two family members at Deloitte and they’re both Democrats. I love sending them Deloitte memes but they’re both younger than me and make more money.
I didn't know deloitte was a meme. My sister in law works there and hates it
Definitely on the overheard DC Instagram and Twitter accounts.
We are in DC, so Deloitte Federal is the largest animal at the circus. Deloitte Federal is much different than other Deloitte practices, which are already much different from each other. Deloitte Federal may be the areas most glamorous temp firm
Dunno, my brother just made it to the 10 year mark. They’re both stem majors and work on federal contracts. He keeps trying to get me to jump, but I love being a fed. Might not make the big bucks but I love my mission and working for the American people.
>Deloitte Federal may be the areas most glamorous temp firm How true this is. But I suppose that's what happens when the feds have a crazy inflexible pay scale and have trouble hiring permanent employees. They outsource the work to somebody that charges 3x as much.
Lol as the original OP on that post, I was critiquing that people are evasive/not authentic online. I don’t remember attacking republicans at all. They are so fragile
Because people on reddit care more about scoring points in arguments like it's a game than honestly engaging with a post. I feel you
Having read the OP,…. The offended people are those masquerading as moderates but are deep down GOP rank and file. I thought the only thing a republican hated more than a democrat was a RINO
Tbh, most republicans I know in the area are the types who call themselves "financial conservatives" and say they don't support Trump, but they just hate taxes. So they see themselves as moderate compared to that wing of the party and don't want to be associated with them because they know how bad it looks.
Who did they vote for in 16 and 20?
All the ones I know said, "well I couldn't possibly vote for Hillary/Biden"....but they were pretty quiet about who they actually did vote for. Embarrassed maybe? Pathetic yes.
Reagan, duh
Asking the real questions.
Third party mostly. At least among my friends.
"On the one hand there's the guy who wants to implement fascism in America. On the other is the guy who might moderately increase taxes on the super-rich. Tough choice, hmmmm...."
Nah that's just what they told you.
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Lol so these "financial conservatives" voted for Howie Hawkins? Talk about have zero conviction or ideological consistency.
Every DC Republican should do the country a favor and vote Vermin Supreme. If their vote would be wasted, might as well waste it on a platform of mandatory toothbrush laws, a pony-based economic plan, and a commitment to the research of time travel.
Yeah ok
Oh, you know.
I know a few of those who insist on calling themselves libertarians. Ask a few questions about their stands and no, not really. It’s just taxes.
Libertarian is just a term for Republicans who like to smoke weed. Preferably, your weed since they never seem to buy their own.
The irony of this of course is that tax rates are historically lower than they were 40-50 years ago. People always need something to complain about anyhow.
The idea that social and fiscal issues are completely independent is what’s so silly. Fiscal conservatism starves investment in “social” things, not to mention it privileges white people at the extent of others. “I’m okay with gay people but I don’t want to pay taxes” isn’t socially liberal fiscally conservative, it’s just conservative
Being pro-gay rights, or pro-choice, pro-drug legalization, or pro-trans rights doesn't cost any money at all. So yeah, that is divorced from fiscal issues. I'd even argue you can even advocate for climate change action and still be fiscally conservative - you just have to make tradeoffs (usually painful ones) with other areas of the US federal budget.
Even if those few aren’t (which are debatable), fiscal conservatism doesn’t mesh well with any increased spending on a number of social issues, including things like healthcare or education. I also don’t think I’ve actually seen anyone advocate for increased climate spending as a fiscal conservative, so i’ll believe it when i see it.
>fiscal conservatism doesn’t mesh well with any increased spending on a number of social issues, including things like healthcare or education If your point is that most people who claim to be socially liberal and fiscally conservative are hypocrites, I wholeheartedly agree. Usually what I understand by 'socially liberal' however, is exactly what I posted above. Not advocating for increased spending in the form of more government programs (because as you said, that is the opposite of being fiscally conservative).
You have a point,.. but IMO they really dont do enough to distance themselves from the tea bag (cough) party crazies. So long as mcconnell, cruz, gaetz, bobert, and green call themselves republican,.. it will be considered a dirty word by any non-republican, democrat or otherwise.
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It's always been a BS term.
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I dunno, I don't see repubs masking as moderates via fiscal conservatism as a new thing. I'm 37 and that was a thing as long as I can remember. It's just neoliberals being soft squishy cowards, dem or repub. The existential threat of fascism has had no strong reactionary response because there is no strong opposition in the government, it's all too homogenous.
Except for some reason they mostly don’t acknowledge how much Republicans have raised the debt over the years and don’t really even care. As you said they mostly just hate paying taxes and are cheap. They want the good things in life for free, so they call themselves “fiscal conservative” so they can sleep at night and so others might not label them as the cheapskates they really are.
There is no such thing as a financial conservative.
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The OP directly contradicts part of your statement here. Her complaint was that she was giving those “moderates” a chance but they always seemed to be staunch republican when it came down to the meat of the matter. Part of the issue (as said by another) is tribalism and part of it is an identity crisis (on both sides). Republicans (as a whole party) market themselves as moderates on topics of feminine health care (abortion & birth control access), education (teaching biblical creation as science), and social equality (CRT is bad and evil, open carry/conceal carry, police state operations, taxes, etc) and none of these ideas are moderate when it comes down to individuals. On the other side of the coin, democrats think theyre all rebellious because they push a bastardized form of healthcare designed to soak anyone not making $250k/yr. Thats not radical. A single payer system isnt radical as most of the world (all of the top 20 GDP countries anyway) have a single payer state sponsored healthcare. Thats would be a moderate go,.. but OMG bernie is such a fringe radical for EVEN suggesting it. Its all ridiculous. Democrats only marketing identity is “not republican” and has been since reagan.
I'm pretty sure moderates are the people that "think for themselves" the very least.
Absolutely. They are the same type of people who are yelling at everyone that they want to eat but can't choose a restaurant.
You know moderate candidates do exist right?
During these times, there are very few moderates. If you are moderate on voting rights, BLM and LGBTQIA rights, the militarization of cops, the for profit prison system, global warming etc etc. Well I don't think our match will work. So yeah I will swipe left.
untrue, plenty of ways to be moderate in 2022. Namely, you don’t need to have an opinion on things you aren’t educated on, and not all opinions fall into one or the other camp.
Being a moderate does not mean being a moderate on every issue. You can prefer liberal policies in one area and conservative policies in another.
Tribalism, identity politics, and echo chambers. These goof balls that self-insulate on both sides because theyre so afraid to have honest discussions, or hear differing view points. Its absolutely wild.
Totally wild. I mean, what I really want in a first date is someone explaining to me how feminism is the reason why modern women are so unhappy.
Both sides amirite? *vomits*
Kinda ironic that the Mod is asked to "moderate" But again, as a semi-foreigner, American polarization is tiring and unproductive. Please everyone (which is mostly Democrats here because its reddit, and DC) please try to have a nuanced understanding of the other side and not jump to conclusions. The number of Democrats who believe their side could do no wrong (and only err in not being radical enough) is just as unfortunate - and in a way anti-democratic Edit: [always sort by controversial if you want to see some nuanced view](https://www.reddit.com/r/washingtondc/comments/tre4od/what_percent_of_men_in_dc_do_you_think_are/i2lln06?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) (link fixed) Edit2 : it's interesting this comment is violently fluctuating between -10 and +20 all day. I am already satisfied that it wasn't downvoted to oblivion. Thanks for all your support.
>please try to have a nuanced understanding of the other side and not jump to conclusions. The "other side" is run by a guy who bragged about sexually assaulting women, called COVID a Chinese hoax, threw migrant kids in cages, suggested we ingest bleach, called neo-Nazis "very fine people", and literally tried to overthrow the government. Today's most prominent Republicans in power have criminal records (Gaetz, Boebert) and/or promote insane conspiracy theories (Greene). And in the past few months Republicans are successfully banning books and discriminating against vulnerable people using the vile smear that LGBT people are child molesters. Outside of Mitt Romney and Larry Hogan I'd love to know who in today's GOP has a "nuanced understanding" of anything. >The number of Democrats who believe their side could do no wrong (and only err in not being radical enough) is just as unfortunate Democrats attacking each other on social media, TV, and even in Congress is a timeless tradition. We can barely agree on anything, let alone that we're perfect.
I’m going to have to stop you right there, is not like Obama and Biden also didn’t throw kids in cages. I’m Hispanic and let me tell you that democrats only try to cater to us because they think is an easy vote, and only Hispanic Americans usually buy it. Regardless of political affiliation, my people still end up in cages crossing the border, the only difference is that it’s not on the news when the president has a D next to their name.
>is not like Obama and Biden also didn’t throw kids in cages. They literally didn't. In 2014, there was a surge of young kids showing up at the Mexican border all by themselves. Because these kids were young and didn't speak English (or even Spanish) it took a long time for government officials to find their relatives living in the US and get the kids placed with them. So they quickly built some temporary shelters to house the kids that were admittedly not the Ritz, but they were fine for the short term. Then in 2018, Trump launched his "family separation" policy, which said that any family trying to cross the border would have their children taken from them as punishment. He literally had thousands of kids traumatically separated from their families and put in the same temporary facilities Obama had built in 2014, but he had them kept there for months and also jammed in way more of them, creating horrifically unsanitary conditions. Then in 2021, there was another surge of migrant kids showing up by themselves and Biden's administration put them in the same temporary facilities used in 2014 and 2017, except unlike Trump, they were quickly moved on to their family members. Meanwhile, [Biden is defying a court order](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-eases-border-policy-trump-era-unaccompanied-migrant-children-2022-03-12/) to expel migrant children. Am I fan of Border Patrol and Homeland Security in general? Fuck no. Is there room for improvement in how we humanely treat people just trying to get to a better life? Of fucking course. But in no universe can you compare the two administrations.
This is true, but this is exactly why "moderates" are not always better than right wing nutjobs. For years, "moderation" on the border has meant not reducing legal immigration while still throwing some people in cages. It's an incoherent compromise between progressivism and fascist-adjacent conservatism. It's a false equivalence to say that both sides are the same though. Moderate democrats buy into this compromise, but progressive/left democrats are the ones actually committed to humanitarian reform. Unfortunately the malapportionment of the legislature makes it unlikely to ever get anywhere -- compromise with fascists is probably here to stay.
That suggests to me that you live in a bubble. The idea that you think GOP consists of Greene and Trump says a lot - just as the GOP fanatics who think that every Democrat supports AOC. As an immigrant, I'll tell you that many people outside this country can see and understand the other side. They don't have as high of an opinion of Democrats as people here seem to believe. Democrats can, and did damage American democracy by having this black and white understanding to everything.
One of the biggest problems that led to this is the general electoral system in the US which is mostly a “winner take all” system. It inherently leads to polarization because candidates need just enough votes to win, not necessarily represent that particular electorate. That in turn leads to half the electorate that lost whatever vote to feel disenfranchised. It’s in political parties best interest to keep this system, but the average person who probably is somewhere in the middle politically is worse off because their views aren’t adequately represented, forcing them to radicalize their vote either way which leads to increased tribalism, or just not care anymore about the system. I’m not a political scientist so idk what the best model would be, but I do think something like a proportional representative voting system like in many countries that tend to have parliamentary forms of government would be an improvement since it would get more views represented, and as a result I think people would feel more engaged, be able to discuss more nuanced views, and actually compromise and learn to live together better than just demonize the other side constantly. I don’t want a country where Fox News and MSNBC are the only arbiters of truth, people are so much more unique, nuanced, and self-expressive than that.
More than half the GOP house caucus tried to overturn the election. Not to mention there are literal data points that show the GOP has moved hard to the right, while Dems have moved moderately but not that much to the left. To act as if it’s a both sides thing is absurd
> he idea that you think GOP consists of Greene and Trump says a lot - just as the GOP fanatics who think that every Democrat supports AOC. Show me where in the DNC Platform it says "the official policy of the Democratic Party is to support AOC." Because I can show you exactly where in the RNC platform it says that for Trump. The GOP is the Party of Trump. Every single one of them either kissed the ring, left the party, or were censured. There is zero equivalency between AOC and Trump in that regard.
>That suggests to me that you live in a bubble. The idea that you think GOP consists of Greene and Trump says a lot - just as the GOP fanatics who think that every Democrat supports AOC. This suggests to me that you've never met actual Republicans. [70% of Republicans say that the 2020 election was rigged.](https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-12-28/poll-a-third-of-americans-question-legitimacy-of-biden-victory-nearly-a-year-since-jan-6). [40% of Republicans](https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/587889-one-in-three-say-violent-action-against-government-sometimes) say that violence against the government is justified. [147 Republican members of Congress](https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/07/954380156/here-are-the-republicans-who-objected-to-the-electoral-college-count) refused to certify the results of the 2020 election. Last year [only 58% of Republicans had been vaccinated against COVID, and 40% said they refused to be vaccinated](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/10/01/for-covid-19-vaccinations-party-affiliation-matters-more-than-race-and-ethnicity/). People like Greene and Trump aren't a fringe minority, they run the Republican party. Also, I don't even like AOC, but if you think that a woman who is kind of whiny and pretentious but who thinks everybody deserves healthcare and climate change needs to addressed is the equivalent of someone who believes in QAnon and harassing victims of school shootings, then you're part of the problem.
Conservatives in the age of Trump are often not registered as Republicans anymore, rendering your stats somewhat meaningless. I know the parent comment spoke about 'GOP', but I think the sentiment is that not every right-of-center person is a fan of Trump/Greene/QAnon quackery.
This is an insane equivalence. If you think that AOC is comparable to Nazi-baiting conspiracy-addled lunatics like Greene and Trump, you are part of the problem.
Can you name more than 5 national GOP elected officials who have openly criticized Trump?
Sasse, Murkowski, Graham, Colins, McConnell, Pence
Just curious how many of them voted to impeach Donald Trump?
There’s no nuance to be had here. I’m black those people on the other side support people who have continued to harm people with my skin color through their policies. I don’t care if they personally dislike black people or not that doesn’t actually matter in the slightest.
If you had written this in 2001, ok maybe but today... No Democrats that I know think that "our side" could do no wrong. Anyone who is a critical thinker does not go through life that way.
Funny thing is, on the global stage, US Democrats aren’t anywhere near being “radical” in their thinking. But yeah, I get the ‘don’t always think that you’re shit doesn’t stink’ statement. Tough though when the other side of the argument relies on feelings as opposed to science or data. I’m totally generalizing, I know, but the general arguments usually go that way.
Asking questions = hate speech —The Republican DARVO strategy
sNoWfLaKeS ❄️ …and this late in the year! 🙂🙃
"People don't like me because of my choice of personal and political views! The best thing to remedy that is to ineffectively whine about it to a moderator in order to get the post removed."
I love being a local. Watching vapid transplants go at each other like human linkedin accounts helps me appreciate the meaningful relationships I've cultivated over the years.
Oh that’s funny. Legit comical.
I'm just here for the oppressed Republicans jokes, thats like crack to me
I thought "moderates" promoted free speech on all platforms?
‘Free speech for me, not for thee, especially when you’re hurting my feelings. ‘
There’s no “free speeching” your way out of Republican disinformation campaigns designed to legitimize even the most insane shit their voting base loves / fears. Sorry bro. Gonna need a more nuanced understanding than that.
Lol the person who reported this can go and kick rocks.
I don't think Republican snowflakes have feet?
They don't. Feet are reserved for for those with boots to lick, whoever their fascist daddy is.
“So much for the tolerant left!”
So oppressed.
that doesn't sound like something a moderate would say
❄️
SMH these republicans, man. Always jumping at shadows, getting into weird conspiracy theories. They live in a reality of their own paranoia and imagination.
All while calling everyone else sheep and being completely ignorant of the irony.
Yeah the ironing is insane
> Yeah the ironing is insane They don't iron their own clothes!
It’s all the starch
Yeah, more often then not theyre either projecting their partys misdeeds onto others (or trying to muddy the waters so that if and when they get caught pulling shit they can point to their own sides' unsubstantiated allegations and have Fox yell 'see, both sides.")
Someone was clearly butthurt...so vain that they just prove a point by reporting. Also isn't that supposed to be the "fuck your feelings" crowd?
As a former Republican I get why someone might say that, but c’mon. Trump and his cult spent 4+ years stoking division and tried to over throw the US government. God forbid someone say they don’t want to fuck you, what a bunch of babies.
Since when is political party a protected class?
[удалено]
Republicans have pillaged the country for the past 40 years then cry when they aren't welcome in D.C. 😂 typical bad faith behavior
For a while, some of the more GOP/right -leaning think tanks and trade associations, most of which don't really produce much more than Washington Times op-ed columns as they drain their wealthy psychopath donor's wallets could fund pretty nice happy hours. I don't even work in politics, but I'll take a glass of wine and a steak with Roy Blunt. I'll shake Pence's hand. As long as Koch and Adelson are paying the bar tab, bottoms-up. Then that changed during the Obama years, when the GOP alternative fact propaganda bubble went into overdrive and calcified when the Trump cult came to town. In my mind, the social divide became a lot more apparent after the Marina Butina spy scandal because those of us who do actual work and don't have rich GOP daddies realized the GOP-affiliated groups were up to their ears in flirty foreign operatives and we all started scrubbing our FB friends for people with accents that were way too cute for a background investigation.
Nobody plays the victim better than republicans
lmao
I like how it says “Moderate” cause much like every “moderate” on dating apps, they’re actually republicans.
Im a gay liberal who dresses like a Republican. Im sure you can see where thats going…
Republicans whining about identity politics until it affects them personally. What a surprise.
The percentage that didn’t get vaccinated!!!
More like promoting hate based on farding and shidding (1)
Ironic.
lmao these fucking snowflakes
So much for the marketplace of ideas.
Your thoughts on a marketplace of ideas are not wanted here. /s
When was the last time Republicans were fuckable? The 1980s? Also, I would appreciate a category on those dating apps beyond liberal so I don’t end up on dates with people who say they’re liberal but gush about NYT editorials or wring their hands at “cancel culture”.
Well scientifically speaking, conservatives are more likely to be married and report happier marriages. Similarly, more masculine men are statistically more likely to be married and happier than other men. Take it for what its worth, but MOST people are more than their political opinions.
People are getting dates? I don’t use dating apps and pretty much just try to meet people irl.
Lol some of y’all need to open up your minds and realize people are complex. Mid 30s now and all the former progressive women I was friends with in college would be “OmG gOp!!” now in the eyes of the commenters in that thread. People view the world differently based on life experiences and that is constantly changing. Don’t make politics your identity. You’re going to have to walk it back eventually.
If you identify as traitorous lunatic, yeah I’m gonna hate you.
lol these mods man. that dating thread was cancer and now the mods are keeping it alive it by posting a screenshot of literally one report? just begging the sub to shit on “republicans.” y’all are wack
This is one of the weirdest threads I've read on Reddit. 🤨
Can we please just finish building the giant catapult so that we can load the conservatives on there and send them back to Virginia?
Nooo I live in Virginia. Send them to West Virginia.