YellerKittyFeb 13, 2023
Tony Stark

Why aren’t Republicans out in front of the idea that we need to build a modern electrical grid which supplies people and our businesses energy in a sophisticated and superior way, increasing American competitiveness in the 21st-century and overall helping everyone’s health?

Is there one single forward-looking idea anywhere to be found in today’s Republican Party? Newsflash, tax cuts for billionaires ain’t it. Standing in the middle of the tracks with your arms folded while the freight train known as the future obliterates you is not a genius political strategy in the long run.

But then, fully investing in developing anything that would help anyone outside their high-level donors is beyond Republicans at this time.

California’s EVs are already improving air quality and public health-
https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/23583500/ev-electric-car-california-air-pollution-asthma-health

California’s EVs are already improving air quality and public health

Researchers have found that California’s electric cars are already keeping asthma patients out of ERs.

Vox
Feb 12, 2023 at 4:00pmWeb
Show threadRoberto Da CostaFeb 12, 2023
@TonyStark All Republicans want to do is tear things that might work for the American people down. Building anything is a concept that they hate.
Show threadAlexFeb 12, 2023

@TonyStark The R's have moved beyond having anything but distain for new ideas and potential learning.

They don't need to think through solutions when they can just point at fault. The Democrats need to quit agreeing to be judged by people who refuse to bring anything but judgement to the table.

Show threadTony StarkFeb 12, 2023
@mentallyalex Oh, yes. I think we are past that point for sure.
Show threadMy Blue Check is MIAFeb 12, 2023
@mentallyalex Reverting back to pre 1900 thinking and will drag us back as far as they can. I am surprised they haven't said....yet...they want to bring slavery back as well.
Show threadDanette 🐬Feb 12, 2023
@TonyStark Rs, by and large, are also Christian and believe in the end times. One has to read The Family to understand how deeply this has influenced many of them. They aren’t preparing for the future, they’re preparing for the end of the world. My dad- who used to never believe in this bullshit- now says in response to news like the Dobbs decision “it’s end times, Jesus is coming back.” The 1% have their own plan.
Show threadWord of Mouth Feb 12, 2023
@Danetteb @TonyStark This is an incredibly under-recognized point. If it seems like the Christian Nationalists want to burn everything down... it's because they want their God to burn everything down, except the 144,000 chosen few
Show threadDanette 🐬Feb 12, 2023
@notroot @TonyStark exactly! How can this country do anything when a large percentage of our politicians don’t even believe we need to long term plan for our future AND Democrats don’t ask them about it
Show threadWord of Mouth Feb 12, 2023
@Danetteb @TonyStark Unfortunately, even if they're not Christian Nationalists, most Dems are still Christian. Nothing new there... just the continued plague of gullibility and religious indoctrination that respects no partisan boundary.
Show threadDanette 🐬Feb 12, 2023
@notroot @TonyStark Christian or no (and I personally wish they weren’t but hey that’s not gonna happen) the first question they should be asked in a debate is something like: “do you believe in the separation of church and state?” Christian Nationalists will not agree with it. They might lie but they’re more likely to hem and haw
Show threadRichard K Feb 12, 2023
@Danetteb @TonyStark The utter lack of planning for any other possibility...
Show threadMarniDFeb 12, 2023

@TonyStark I think it’s a confluence:

1) Money - Koch bros and other deep pockets have a stranglehold on the party

2) Social issues - Repubs no longer govern to help the greater good, the environment, global affairs. Now they focus on reproductive rights and anti-minority policies, I *think* because for the former there is a strong pro life contingency, which keeps those voters with the repubs and b/c for latter that, sadly, resonates with the balance of the voters. …

Show threadTheRealCiceroFeb 12, 2023
@TonyStark They will rather sit in the cold and dark, and have their secret donors poison their kids, just to own the libs
Show threadJasonInIowaFeb 12, 2023
@TonyStark You know the answer to this question. Standing out in the middle of the tracks with your arms crossed … is the best way to make money in your own lifetime.
Show threaddingodogFeb 12, 2023

@TonyStark
Alternative explanation: they just want power.
For that they need votes and money.
The 1% give them money in return for favors.
To get the votes, they have learned that nothing works better than rage farming and stoking fear.

Whether a policy is "good for America" isn't even a question they are interested in. They are not for or against any policy.

The only thing that matters is if they can use it to stoke fear and rage.

Show threadisotope239 🥸💻📚 🇺🇦Feb 12, 2023
@TonyStark Plenty of good analyses here of why republicans are choosing performative grievance instead of actually doing something constructive, I'd just add one thing. Performative grievance is a lot easier to do than figuring out solutions. I have too many deeply red relatives and they do only the shallowest bit of research, just enough to confirm their bias. Republican voters aren't interested in genuine solutions but love the shoutiness of their representatives.
Show threadTony StarkFeb 12, 2023
@isotope239 I agree. “Shoutiness” -a good word invention and I like inventing words.
Show threadIreland Inside and OutFeb 13, 2023
@isotope239 @TonyStark GQPers cannot govern. When your entire outlook is based on hating government that automatically means they hate the jobs they've been elected to do and therefor cannot and will not be able to do anything constructive for anyone, including the sheeple who elected them.
Show threadisotope239 🥸💻📚 🇺🇦Feb 13, 2023
@Irelandinsideandout @TonyStark What you said, Ireland, what you said.
Show threadMartha HowellFeb 12, 2023
@TonyStark
The highly-praised Scott Walker's (former WI governor and failed presidential candidate) economic plan was based primarily on mining, a industry with huge swings in response to the global market and huge ecological concerns.
Show threadLitzz11Feb 12, 2023
@TonyStark What did Republicans say when FDR created the Tennessee Valley Authority that created jobs and brought electricity to an impoverished region? They hated it. I worked for the TVA in the 80s and 90s and they STILL hated it. This country has invested so much in a region that despises us for it. I’m so tired of the Hillbilly Elegy nonsense. We pulled their asses into the industrial age and the thanks we got is a bunch of anti-government, 10th Amendment, insurrectionists.
Show threadTan_Hana_Dharma_MangrwaFeb 12, 2023
@TonyStark Bro, it's because they don't like smart people. Less pollution means healthier brains, but they hated people with healthy brains. They wanted to keep stupid people who believed in them blindly.
Show threadFull Metal AccountantFeb 13, 2023
@TonyStark
Do you hear that Mr McConnell? That is the sound of inevitability.
Show threadJulesceltFeb 13, 2023
@TonyStark This gives me hope that in a short time frame a lot of pollution from cars can be cleaned up. I've watched the Front Range of Colorado have perpetual brown haze for yrs now. I would love to see it clear again.
Show threadPatricia KaydenFeb 13, 2023
@TonyStark Good for California. Other blue states should do the same.
Show threadTheBatmanFeb 13, 2023
@TonyStark all they care about is pleasing their masters : Big Oil, NRA, and the Billionaire class. Everyone and everything else is not in their minds or agenda.
Show threadTina Mar 12, 2023
@TonyStark it is sad that the only one party makes sense.