A lot of conservative pundits have hitched their stars to Donald Trump. What if he loses?

[Meshuge Mikey]

there will be blood sweat and tears on TV the Radio and probably in the streets when the devotees finally understand that the donny was never in it to win it!!

[Smokin Joe]

there will be blood sweat and tears on TV the Radio and probably in the streets when the devotees finally understand that the donny was never in it to win it!!

The only thing that feels worse than being a sucker is having your nose rubbed in it.

[Suppressed]

Blues Traveler's 'Hook' is instructive:

Indeed!

[Suppressed]

How many people have you talked to, who got a bad deal on a car?  Very few; and the few who did, either got ripped off so royally a lawyer promised he could make it good; or else the chump is claiming there was fraud or hidden facts.

They have vested need to be right, once they've picked a side.  They'll stick with the scam that's ripping them off, long after it's past being funny to onlookers.

I have a great many faults, but this is one I either never picked up -- or I learned to suppress. I suspect the latter.  My parents were both very logical and scientific, so being wrong and modifying one's view was perfectly acceptable...even encouraged.

When I wanted a new toy my friends wanted, they would ask me to recall previous toys and whether they were like what was shown in ads.

And to this day, Mom loves to tell how I asked, "Mommy, why are we the only people who don't believe what's on TV?"

This isn't to say I'm immune to advertising, but I think it illustrates that people can be taught to resist it.

[Sanguine]

I have a great many faults, but this is one I either never picked up -- or I learned to suppress. I suspect the latter.  My parents were both very logical and scientific, so being wrong and modifying one's view was perfectly acceptable...even encouraged.

When I wanted a new toy my friends wanted, they would ask me to recall previous toys and whether they were like what was shown in ads.

And to this day, Mom loves to tell how I asked, "Mommy, why are we the only people who don't believe what's on TV?"

This isn't to say I'm immune to advertising, but I think it illustrates that people can be taught to resist it.

You mean people can be taught critical thinking?  Yes, I think they can.  Which means the converse is also true: people can be taught to emote and suppress thinking.  Which is what our school systems now encourage and teach.

[Smokin Joe]

You mean people can be taught critical thinking?  Yes, I think they can.  Which means the converse is also true: people can be taught to emote and suppress thinking.  Which is what our school systems now encourage and teach.

Yep.  When I was a kid there was an ad in the comic book for a hundred army guys and tanks and planes and all the goodies for (I forget how much) something cheap. I was all excited when I showed it to my mom. She just smiled and said "How big is the box?" When I figured out the box they came in was smaller than a box of kitchen matches, my enthusiasm waned. Since then, I look for the catch.

[Bigun]

It is much the same as dealing with a friend whose new infatuation is a slut or a he-ho. Trying to talk them down off of being 'in love' is hazardous duty, and often only cements their resolve to ride the road to perdition and misery. 
I used to wonder why so many movies centered on the high school years with almost fetishistic certainty. For a while I figured the appeal was just to a money spending demographic, but them I realized so much of America has never outgrown those years at a much deeper level.

It is that JV fervor that sways far too many people in all sorts of decisions, and makes them easy marks for con men, the whole while they insist they got a good deal.

Boy do I have the scars to prove the truth of that!  Long story for another time!

[Sanguine]

Yep.  When I was a kid there was an ad in the comic book for a hundred army guys and tanks and planes and all the goodies for (I forget how much) something cheap. I was all excited when I showed it to my mom. She just smiled and said "How big is the box?" When I figured out the box they came in was smaller than a box of kitchen matches, my enthusiasm waned. Since then, I look for the catch.

And, that probably contributes towards a tendency to be conservative: preferring to operate by thinking over feeling and having learned HOW to think.

[Smokin Joe]

And, that probably contributes towards a tendency to be conservative: preferring to operate by thinking over feeling and having learned HOW to think.

I was quite fortunate. Both parents, and my grandparents are (were, in the case of my grandparents) critical thinkers, politically aware, and would examine things for not just face value but for other implications and consequences. My uncle taught me chess at an early age, and while far from being a master, thinking moves ahead changes the game. Yes, they were all conservatives.

[Smokin Joe]

Boy do I have the scars to prove the truth of that!  Long story for another time!

Yep, both sides of it.

[sneakypete]

I fully agree. Start with a (testable) hypothesis and conduct experiments to see if it holds up.

Not: Start with a foregone conclusion and massage/edit the data or presentation methods to support it.--which is what appears a lot any more, not solid research.

@Smokin Joe

If you are going to go to that much trouble,go with the sure-fire method and create a new religion that promises people a life of luxury and comfort free from worry for an eternity. All they have to do to enroll in the process is to make small or large (large works better) monthy payments to the leaders,and become their slaves for the rest of your Earthly life.

Well,you might be required to kill a few non-believers in order to "Save them",but that's a minor thing to do and it really benefits them in the long run,right?

[sneakypete]

And, that probably contributes towards a tendency to be conservative: preferring to operate by thinking over feeling and having learned HOW to think.

@Sanguine

Probably,but my best GUESS is that is a lesson that needs to be learned while you are a child,or it won't stick. If you still believe in dreams when you become an adult,chances are you will be a dreamer until the day you die because for all of your life the lie has been the dream that you learned to believe beause it comforted you and it's not easy to give up dreams as an adult.

[Smokin Joe]

@Smokin Joe

If you are going to go to that much trouble,go with the sure-fire method and create a new religion that promises people a life of luxury and comfort free from worry for an eternity. All they have to do to enroll in the process is to make small or large (large works better) monthy payments to the leaders,and become their slaves for the rest of your Earthly life.

Well,you might be required to kill a few non-believers in order to "Save them",but that's a minor thing to do and it really benefits them in the long run,right?

Well, I was talking about scientific experimentation, for research.

Not government, not "social engineering".

The people who are massaging data to pull off the 'climate change' scam are living large on our dime, pretty much through highly questionable "research", and seriously affecting our liberty to do what we will.

We're already slaves. If you look under the hood of your vehicle and go look under the hood of one 50 years older, you're paying thousands more for stuff designed to stop emissions which allegedly cause the temperature of the planet to change. From the bulbs in your light sockets to the amount of water your toilet flushes, to the refrigerant in your refrigerator, you're in thrall to the people who are saying the planet will heat up, the seas rise, and the world turn into a cinder if you don't do what they say--all based on bunk.

[Sanguine]

@Sanguine

Probably,but my best GUESS is that is a lesson that needs to be learned while you are a child,or it won't stick. If you still believe in dreams when you become an adult,chances are you will be a dreamer until the day you die because for all of your life the lie has been the dream that you learned to believe beause it comforted you and it's not easy to give up dreams as an adult.

I don't know, @sneakypete.  I suspect it may be possible to learn, though hard to break all of those lifelong mental habits.

[jmyrlefuller]

@Sanguine

Probably,but my best GUESS is that is a lesson that needs to be learned while you are a child,or it won't stick. If you still believe in dreams when you become an adult,chances are you will be a dreamer until the day you die because for all of your life the lie has been the dream that you learned to believe beause it comforted you and it's not easy to give up dreams as an adult.

That wasn't really my experience. I was a pretty optimistic fellow up through college. Then cold, hard reality hit as I graduated and the recession it—and I became a hardened, embittered cynic.

[Sanguine]

That wasn't really my experience. I was a pretty optimistic fellow up through college. Then cold, hard reality hit as I graduated and the recession it—and I became a hardened, embittered cynic.

Now, J.Myrle, I hope you're not equating cold hard cynicism with conservatism?

[roamer_1]

I was quite fortunate. Both parents, and my grandparents are (were, in the case of my grandparents) critical thinkers, politically aware, and would examine things for not just face value but for other implications and consequences. My uncle taught me chess at an early age, and while far from being a master, thinking moves ahead changes the game. Yes, they were all conservatives.

My heart weeps that my father is no longer around... He is the one, above all others that taught me to think critically.
And it didn't matter what subject matter one would choose. Anything and everything was subject to dissection to find the working mechanisms behind the thought.

It is so very hard to find folks willing to do that at all, not to mention being willing to tear apart their long held and beloved tenets to find out if they are indeed TRUE... In as much as it is hard to find, when one does find such people, they are always a treasure.

[roamer_1]

I don't know, @sneakypete.  I suspect it may be possible to learn, though hard to break all of those lifelong mental habits.

I think you are right @Sanguine - Such explains the fact that many are liberal in their youth, but become Conservative with age. Perhaps not to the level obtained by one trained to think critically, but life can be a cruel mistress - One will necessarily learn, by way of pain, that all that glitters is not gold... And in that failure occurs where thought is false, therein the basics of critical thinking are laid bare, for the very least to discover.

[Sanguine]

My heart weeps that my father is no longer around... He is the one, above all others that taught me to think critically.
And it didn't matter what subject matter one would choose. Anything and everything was subject to dissection to find the working mechanisms behind the thought.

It is so very hard to find folks willing to do that at all, not to mention being willing to tear apart their long held and beloved tenets to find out if they are indeed TRUE... In as much as it is hard to find, when one does find such people, they are always a treasure.

You are so right - they are rare and they are a treasure.

[jmyrlefuller]

Now, J.Myrle, I hope you're not equating cold hard cynicism with conservatism?

No, actually, I was pretty identifiably conservative even as a high-schooler, which is when I really started paying attention to politics.