In many cases, they’re identical because some people just react by adopting what they’re told by someone who reinforces their existing biases and beliefs. We all seek out affirmation of what we believe.
But I want them to describe not only the exact change they want but also how they think the government should deal with major issues facing the country. Among those issues are these:
1. Over 99% of the world’s climate scientists have conducted studies measuring the impacts of climate warming, including the faster-than-expected melting of glaciers, the warming of ocean temperatures that make hurricanes more destructive, and the loss of marine life as water becomes too warm for their survival. The cost of rebuilding after major storms is now in the many billions. What would they do to address climate warming, how would they pay for it, and how would they prevent future damages?
2. Millions of Americans lack access to affordable healthcare or any healthcare at all. Texas leads the country with the largest number of citizens with no health insurance because Republicans refuse to expand Medicaid. In addition, “The share of the nonelderly population with employer-sponsored health insurance fell by more than 8 percentage points between 1998 and 2018, from 67% to 58%.” https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/long-term-trends-in-employer-based-coverage/
So around 43% of workers are unable to get healthcare through their employers. Some get coverage through Medicaid, others through Obamacare. Millions go without, leaving them vulnerable to preventable diseases. How would they resolve this problem, and who is to pay for it when poor people cannot afford it because they earn too little?
3. The US immigration laws do not work. Legal immigration to the US has something like a 10-year backlog. While many people want no immigrants to be allowed, employers need immigrants to keep the economy moving. How would they change immigration laws when a significant majority of the population favors immigration but a significant minority does not?
Those are only three of the many issues facing the US, and I truly would like to see a discussion of of these issues among conservatives who oppose all three with moderators who can bring out facts and push for responses based on real conditions instead of the imaginary ones we think they believe in but don’t truly know exactly what they want. Too often, the media just reports the political views of the right wing without demanding how they would make change in a country as diverse as ours.
My mental image of the right wing has long been of a group watching their house burn but refusing to call the Fire Department because they’re been told it isn’t real. I know that’s more the MAGA cult, but there’s a big middle of non-MAGA Independents who lean Republican who are most likely not as reactive as the MAGAs. Perhaps it would help to hear from them.
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