That you could have a reasonable and civil conversation on the topic and in the end change the other person’s opinion with logical arguments is a great thing.

but it is OK for someone else to do ti. The NRA gets its members all worked up like a pep rally full of adrenaline but afterwards the bravado wears off.

It is easy to talk about someone else doing it, which is pretty much what Trump does all the time.

There is a lot courage and guts when people are in a large crowd, like Trump's rallies.

* a spark of fear
* a spark of hatred
* a spark of nationalism
* a spark of economic failure
* a spark of loss
* a spark of the unknown

* a huge pile of the dry brush
of flagrant and relentless propaganda

16oz of gasoline
--------------------------------
The Fascist recipe for a blazing inferno

Except, I believe, the fascist recipe calls for 500 ml of petrol.

He’s smart - if you can’t shoot, don’t carry.

who just left after visiting for a week, which he does each year a time or two. Here in the deep south conservatives can be divided into those who will be friends with those they know are liberals and those who won't, and he's one of the good guys. Unlike a pair of women a block up whose insincere smiles are always topped by hostile eyes as I am first and last, and only, their enemy.

Our friend's always been typical conservative in orientation. But since we don't discuss politics, and because he's never been particularly interested in politics, and because he always seemed sensible if not much involved on many issues, such as gun control, we didn't realize how irrational and intractable his partisanship has become.

We learned when he stressed out after I innocently turned on PBS evening news one night that he's reached a point where he won't watch any news, except perhaps Fox, but I think he mostly avoids that also.

When a conservative guest was speaking, he was sitting there insisting the conservative wouldn't be allowed to speak, and we could see it made no difference to his antagonism that the conservative spoke at length without being interrupted. The subject was gun control, which our friend supports in words if not vote, but his mind was completely opposed to NPR covering it. I mean, we listen with some curiosity to what Fox is saying when we turn it on, but he might as well have been deaf.

When they were covering issues with teaching climate change (extremely unfortunate timing for this topic) his mutterings insisted, again without hearing anything, that schools had removed teaching real climate science and replaced it with liberal propaganda. I'm sure he took in absolutely no information from this segment also. We changed the channel.

That didn't work either. Even though he's a knowledgeable science-oriented naturalist, turns out he now refuses to watch nature documentaries if anything about them suggests they could contain liberal propaganda (my words, but obviously includes mentioning problems arising from anything related in any way to man, which of course are now serious almost everywhere). We learned that when trying to find something we could all watch. We turned the TV off.

So, completely closed mind taken over by hyperpartisanism in a naturally nonpolitical moderate conservative. But in at least 15 years he'd never behaved this way before, and I'm wondering if it might be reflective of what's happening with some others who used to be approachable if not in agreement.

Could he be feeling besieged by "enemy" information that he can't accept coming from almost all directions now? We've never discussed Trump/GOP/Russia, but he can't be happy with whatever's seeping through the membrane of his balloon, probably more and more. Even the thermometer is in his face as we had yet another record high week here this year also. And the fish, which are spawning right now (ruined the fishing) instead of when they used to.

What comes next for him?

Some of Nixon's biggest fans remained loyal until the end. These folks have bought into a philosophy - that has been brewing since Limbaugh took to the airways. Hopefully, Trump's election is the apex. It's downhill from here.

They can't stop this country from becoming more diverse. It has already happened. They can't stop the LGBTQ movement. That ship has sailed. They can't put women back in the home, most women work and younger women are feminists (they just are).

Climate change? Too late, it's a science. Your friend's influence in this country is waning.

Change is coming because we - as a country - already are progressive. The democrats are coming, we are building in the states. Sure, we have to hope that we curtain Trump's destruction. (That's a real threat). But when he is gone, we'll move forward again.

We'll have a new Obama - and republicans will have to sit and watch as the countries laws moves to the left - to catch up to a society that has already acknowledged the truth of change.

we have reason to put our hope in younger generations, this guy's only 42, one of the oldest "millennials," and has a bachelor of science degree.

When the Scopes trial signaled the end of a run of conservative fanaticism in politics, wounded fundamentalists especially retreated from politics and turned inward. Looking at him, it's easy to believe he'd really like to make it all go away. But that should be much harder to do now, even for those inclined. For just one thing, the powers who've made such useful tools of them would come after them.

That supposed Chinese curse wishing "interesting times" on enemies may never have been heard of in China, but all the people who must have come up with it through human history were definitely onto something.

Thirty years of clever propaganda, using psychology to influence people by playing on their fears and resentments.

I'm thinking that the way to fight back is by using shame. I think we're being too nice. We need to start shaming people.

of duty and responsibility to nation over party, and of the need to come together "make America America again" whenever speaking as Democrats and of our beliefs and goals.

We need to rebuild the center by speaking to the significant majority of Americans who really do want us to somehow be able to work together again.

After all, that's how a Democrat rocked the nation by getting deep-red Alabama to make him their senator. Most Republicans really, really did not want Roy Moore, but Democrat Doug Jones would have lost and lost big if he'd run on any of the wedge issues we find so shameful, like gun control and trying to roll back women's rights. Jones refused to hammer down on any of those wedges. Instead, he asked them to vote for a return to decency, and the next day headlines all over the country were "Decency Wins!"

There's a big lesson there.

Thanks for speaking them, stonecutter357.

you on the issue of arming teachers, that doesn't mean he is going to vote Democratic from now on.

I am not a miracle worker!

and that will help.

And all your work will be for naught.

He can't stand Fox/Fake News, Rush or any or those people!

with bullets? I haven’t heard anyone ask that question. Like others suggested, regardless of how offensive it might seem, if it were my child blown apart by bullets, as painful as it may be, I would allow or demand that pictures be published. Like Jackie O after JFK, show the people what they did. She refused to change her clothes. And, It wasn’t until the news started shows video of dead soldiers in Vietnam that the public became in engaged.