Views from Crestmont Drive

• The dichotomy revisited, today via Heather Cox Richardson: how Democrats, and Republicans, differ in their approaches to raising money, and spending it.
• Her distinction echoes George Lakoff’s, and the conservative inability (or refusal) to take long-term consequences into account;
• Why adolescent boys appreciate Trump;
• And why conservatives dismiss support for climate change, prefer strongmen, and use the word fraud to slander civil servants and de-legitimatize the government;
• How constituents are fighting back, via town halls;
• And three strong reasons about how democracy will survive Trump.

Many of these topics can be considered in the broad terms of, what kind of society do Americans want to live in? A selfish and authoritarian one, or one in which people help each other because such help benefits *everyone*? Republicans, busy slashing funds for “benefits” they think are give-aways to free-loaders, seem not to understand that those funds are *investments* toward making society beneficial for everyone, including themselves. The distinction carries along several dimensions, as I’ve explored via various books and links in recent years. Here’s Heather Cox Richardson, who captures it this way, in reaction to the question of how the US should raise money, and spend money.

Heather Cox Richardson, February 25, 2025

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