Still,the question has to be asked,"WHY did/do you allow those idiots to have such a negative influence on you?
It's the internet - and largely THEY DON'T. However, a few online stalwart Trump imbeciles were infuriated enough by recalcitrance to attempt to engage in doxing for nefarious purposes, those of us they had declared enemies of the state and had threatened. Threats of retribution followed up by doxing of an online moniker over our political position will garner negativity I assure you.
Plus, I do not suffer bullies very well.
If you spend you life being and getting pissed off by comments made to you by random strangers,you will never be happy,and they will have "won",even if they don't know about it.
This is a political discussion forum. Passionately arguing core principles and concepts related to liberty is what is done on a political discussion forum is it not? They do have a tendency to adversely or positively affect us and our posterity in the meat world, which is why they are important to argue about are they not?
Unless political hacks engaged in efforts to affect your liberty do not piss you off - then understandably you would not be passionate about arguing your positions.
If anything, it is the spirit, intent or zeitgeist of the ideas and memes anathema to liberty that are shaping policy and the culture that actually piss me off - not the clueless pawns and dupes who utter the pap they regurgitate from whatever Political Narrative, MSM newsfeed or talk radio host they are plugged into.
I still don't understand why you took and take it so personal,though.
As I said, we are arguing things related to the core foundational aspects of whether we retain what is left of our liberty or whether they are lost to ideas anathema to liberty's existence and/or surrendered for temporary political expedience.
True,but a larger truth is THEY don't "grant" you,I,or anyone else a single damn thing.
Please re-read what I wrote. I said granting us the GRACE to vote our conscience (meaning granting us the liberty to vote our conscience without the kinds of public shaming attempts and coercive threats made all during the last election cycle and since). True, no one GRANTS us our rights despite the efforts of some who want to make our rights nothing but grants of the State. However, extending grace to supposed 'fellow Conservatives' to vote whom we thought best represented our principles and interests in terms of carrying out the administrative duties of the office of President is something that many vocal Trump supporters considered an enemy action worthy of threat, ridicule and castigation. Those traits we wrongly assumed were only behaviors limited to the sphere of Leftist Activists. It's been a revelation let me do say.
In short,hjs biggest flaws are WHY he IS the man we need in the WH at this period in our history. The fact that he is attracting even more supporters now than he did when he was running is a good indication that he is uprooting the existing corrupt conditions that exist in the beltway. They can no longer do business like they have been doing business. Just look at what happened yesterday for proof of this. Chuck Shuymer and the DNC were actually blamed for shutting down the government. Yeah,I know,they ARE at fault for the government shut down,but they NEVER take the blame for it,and they have been getting hammered.
I certainly do not begrudge you that viewpoint there Pete. There is nothing dishonorable or incorrect in that opinion and normally I would clink your glass and agree that such is a compelling argument to make in justifying your support for the guy.
Trump's rabid fanbase does not deserve someone like you for certain. However, because I have a guttural aversion to bullies, Intimidators and mob zombies of any political persuasion (just ask the Ron Paul brigades that I rejected and abhorred with nearly equal passion as I do Trump's bunch), I find it good to demonstrate that their particular methods are destructive to the cause they pay lip services to, when their real desire and delight is to so the same thing that Obama's bunch wanted to do to his political enemies: punish, payback.
I will never align myself with such mobs or the people they would have as monarchs.
What you are missing is the "here and now" is HERE NOW! We either start making changes now,or there will be no opportunities to do so in the future.
I am not of the belief or opinion you can work within institutions wholly corrupted by using corruption to achieve better ends. 'Making changes' that will actually save a Constitutional Republic in decline as we are, are not made by electing one person to high office and giving them daily praise and applause. A debased culture will always choose lesser and lesser men depending on which of them feeds their basest desires and promises them grander benefits and handouts at everyone else's expense. Such is the human nature our Founders warned us about.
The HERE AND NOW requires an about-face in the culture - not just in the oval office.
AND that is why I passionately argue about principles, and against memes, mindsets, zeitgeists and trends that I consider destructive to my principles. Whether or not it has any positive impact on someone or liberty in general is not always something I can measure - but then I learn that something I had argued or said years ago had a positive effect in changing the way someone thought about a core issue and they changed their behaviors for the better.
Which is why I do what I do.
And because, I like to fight and argue.