"All Republicans are Republicans"

[TygrBright]

Got this email from Penzey's today. Pretty sure they won't mind me sharing it here almost in full but without the product sales links. I did leave in the 'join our email list' pitches (but not links) because, hey, it's a good email list for me, maybe others here will enjoy Bill and his writing (emphasis mine):

You sharing our gift boxes with others who care about America and democracy and making little sacrifices to keep those at risk safe from covid is the reason I can say what I’m about to say next. Thank you!

All Republicans are Republicans. There’s a regularly reoccurring email theme I get from seemingly a variety of people that goes along the lines of: Just like all Germans weren’t Nazis, not all Republican voters support what’s happening. Sorry, but nope. If you want to say just like all Germans weren’t Nazis, all Americans aren’t Republicans, sure I’m right there with you. But no one is forcing anyone to be a Republican; as of now it’s still a choice.

And I get that if you are a kind, decent, well-meaning person who believes in equality, the wealthy paying some taxes, and saving our environment for our grandkids, it can be only natural to believe there must be kind, decent, well-meaning people like yourself among the Republican voters who would rise up against the January 6 plotters in their party had they succeeded, but there aren’t. There just aren’t.

Sure there’s always the exceptions that prove the rule. I myself spend a large amount of time trying to get that crowd to see the reality right in front of them, but I have to say at this point they’ve had their fill of reality years back. They are now far happier living in the make believe world the talking points Republicans regularly supply them. I actually thanked the author of the Fox Business article that quoted so heavily from our January 6 email. At least they presented their readers with a different voice from what they are used to hearing. There’s always someone who can be reached. We’re Cooks, we don’t stop trying. But Republican voters have been done with democracy for a while now. We have to be honest about this.

Though Republican voters have spent a lifetime pledging allegiance to the republic for which our flag stands, when their party ends that republic they won’t be rising up, or switching parties or actually be upset in any way at all. Instead they will just parrot whatever the Republican talking points will be that day: this is just until we can insure our elections haven’t been compromised, the president suffers from dementia and had to be removed from office for our nation’s safety, our focus right now must be the crisis at the border. Sadly, should our democracy end, Republican voters will feel a swelling of pride for their successful defense of democracy.

The good news is that we still have time and not all Americans are Republicans, not by a long shot. If we were, they wouldn’t need to steal elections. We have time, but it’s time to make the most of it. We need to move on from imagining there are good people on both sides. Cooking has brought us so much, including a sense of right and wrong, good and bad. If we are going to keep our democracy we are going to have to become more comfortable using those words to counter Republican talking points that are really well-crafted but still depend on our politeness and willingness to debate their nonsense points. We have to be done with that.

What’s the next step? Half of it is being done with debating “do vaccines work” or “was January 6 just a typical tourist walkthrough” and moving on to asking those spreading these lies what has made them so broken that they don’t care their lies are causing thousands of needless covid deaths or bringing about the end of America.

The other half is having fun and sharing tasty food. The race against time we are running has two distinct finish lines, 11.8.22 and 11.5.24. To keep at it that long, spirits will need refreshing pretty much daily. As a Cook this is right up your alley. And seriously, you want our Remember January 6 Box to help you keep your wheels on the tracks. Last night, dinner was served with broccoli and a side of extra-wide, cholesterol-free egg noodles. Nothing’s better for pasta than Pasta Sprinkle and for our broccoli it was Justice that made it shine.

And please, if you are still a Republican please, please try to wrap your mind around the reality that history, beyond any doubt, will be labeling you “the baddies.” You have our democracy hanging by a thread. You’ve needlessly killed hundreds of thousands of Americans with your covid nonsense. History will not be kind. And also, please stop intentionally causing all the abortions by banning sex Ed in schools and blocking affordable, accessible birth control. That’s just mean. Thanks!


And please, if you are not a Republican and it’s within your means, can you please, please buy and share some gift boxes to make up for what being honest in the previous paragraph just cost us? It’s not the money so much, but we’ve got some good plans to save democracy up our sleeves for the coming month and more people on our email list would help with that. Thanks for caring, thanks for cooking,

Bill
[e-mail]

P.S. If this email was forwarded to you by a friend, would you please consider signing up for our email list? We work hard to make it a list worth being on. And If you believe in vaccines, little sacrifices to save the lives of others, and knocking on every door possible before 11.8.22 to turn out every last vote to save our democracy, we would be better off with you on our mailing list. Please come be a part of shaping a world filled with every kind of very kind people. Thanks.

I wish I cooked more! It would let me buy more stuff from these folks. But even though I buy very little from them, their gift boxes are often on my gifts-to-others lists, and I like getting their emails.

appreciatively,
Bright

[CrispyQ]

1. I asked a republican cousin of mine, who was like an older brother to me when I was young,

"How can you support a party that wants to keep people who disagree with them from voting? They want to keep me from voting. How do you support that?" No answer.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

17. I've asked my relatives a similar question

I worked in broadcasting most of my life. I've asked my relatives "do you realize when Trump calls the media the 'enemy of the people' he's talking about me and my friends?" The response has always been crickets.

[Ocelot II]

2. Penzey's is a great company. There's a store not far from me, and I've enjoyed

just walking through it and enjoying the aromas. I don't cook much, though, so I don't buy a lot of spices - they just get stale. But when I want good ones that I'm sure to use, that's where I'll go. I tend to use up cardamom pretty fast (I made Julekake this Christmas) and I'll get more from Penzey's. Love them!

[kacekwl]

4. Wow, I haven't had Julekake since

before my farmor passed about 12 years ago at 108 years old.

[Ocelot II]

7. My recipe came from my grandmother, who was born in 1882

and died in 1981, and I have no idea where she got it, probably from her Norwegian grandmother. (My mom referred to her grandfather as Bestefar, and for years I thought that was his name) It's one of those imprecise old recipes where you keep adding flour until the dough "feels right."

[barbtries]

3. i love Penzey's

I didn't think about gifting their spices over Christmas but definitely will going forward, especially since I have all the spices I need at the moment and barely cook anymore.

[keithbvadu2]

5. pledging allegiance to the republic for which our flag stands

[keithbvadu2]

6. pledge

[cstanleytech]

10. To bad for the moron that the word Republic was never written

as a pledge to any actual political party rather it was written as a pledge to the style of a government that is run by the people.

[RussellCattle]

13. She seems nice. Oh, wait. Didn't see the nipple at first. (Still got to wonder though.)

[niyad]

15. Moran cannot even spell "traitor".

[RussellCattle]

8. This is the second time that I've read about the social conscience of Penderey's ownership....

.....displayed even more emphatically with this message. I buy from them regularly and will certainly do more.

[Beartracks]

9. Even good Republicans... are still Republicans, and electing them leads to Republican majorities...

... and Republican majorities clearly don't follow the lead of good Republicans.

========

[DENVERPOPS]

11. I believe

that it will be significantly easier to stop the Republican Coup now, than it will be to try and "over throw" them later....
And a lot less bloody.............

Hopefully, (maybe miraculously) the Dems will get it together and stop this chaos before it comes to that...........

AND, I have to say, The Zillionaire Dems are not pitching in and giving us much help. But then again, their lack of financial help is understandable......After all, the Dem's Zillionaires tax cuts were as huge as the Republican Zillionaire's tax cuts.........
To bad the Dem Zillionaires aren't smart enough to realize that Zillionaire Dems won't exist if Republican Zillionaires succeed......

[GoneOffShore]

12. Just signed up again for Bill Penzey's email list.

He's the best.

[slightlv]

14. Good Friends gave us a gift box

of Penzey's spices for Xmas one year. I was so impressed with them. And so impressed with the company once I read up on them. Am going to sign up on their email list today, as well as check out what boxes they have available. Might be time to "gift" myself a little after Xmas gift (gryn).

[niyad]

16. Thank you so much for sharing this. Have adored Penzey's spices for many years, and

even more so when Bill really started speaking out.

Used to have two stores right here in town. Alas, both are closed now. Closest now is Littleton, which I just called to let them know how much we all love them. Thank goodness for mail order.

[Hekate]

18. I love Bill Penzey and his spices and love it that he does a mail-order business for us