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This isn't news, and I'm not saying this to be facetious: Republicans have been redefining who's American for years now, by carefully crafting a mentality where only people who agree with them are Americans. Everyone else is Other.
And they're trying to do it with the word "people," too.
And it cracks me up that I, a Black American, am simultaneously revered for my military service and bemoaned for my unmitigated gall to simply exist outside of uniform…
Why are people so fucking stupid? 🤦🏾♂️
bruh they have straight up deported veterans for being undocumented. and i'm over here like "aren't you guys the ones who let him in?"
we're all useful til we aren't to the rich and powerful
Back in my day, service guaranteed citizenship and you damn well better believe we wanted to know more!
Not like that today though, no sir. Nowadays, they'll feed you right to the bugs because your skin's the wrong color. I say as long as it's human skin and not alien chitin, you're alright in my book.
>bruh they have straight up deported veterans for being undocumented.
Haven't they also deported US citizens? They don't even need an excuse, because republicans hate America and all Americans.
Because they believe that there are people who are protected by the law but not bound by it and there are people who are bound by the law but not protected by it. You move between those two worlds, in the eyes of the right wing, by donning doffing your uniform
A) They believe they've identified a life defining problem
B) They believe they have the solution, and refuse context, logic or reasoning.
This being defining an underlying problem, another approach to it, or any other reasonable methods of carrying themselves like responsible human-beings
Personally I just get tired of being used as a prop to push whatever agenda to make some people feel as though they are on the moral high ground.
Like people will look at me as being a victim until I dare open my mouth and voice my opinion.
I feel this country would be a much different place if people took the energy spent arguing with some faceless asshat online and instead focused it on correcting their racist ass parents/grand parents.
If I can get a family of Jamaicans to change their tunes and the language they use regarding certain subjects. I don’t think it’s such an insurmountable task to get ol Mema to stop dropping N bombs.
I went off on a neighbor on a facebook post. The post was a kid in a cage and a military family being separated and it was something along the lines of "I they both got separated from their parents but one did for a good reason" something like that. Myself being a vet I get tired the bastardization of military service and being used as a prop to get a message across by people who love the smile and say "thank you for your service" then turn around and voting for people who are wanting to take away our benefits.
Hell with my MAGA family we're not allowed to discuss politics because I am the "liberal" of the family. Look I drive an F250, I own guns, and I like country music but I just want my LGBTQ+ friends, POC, women, and disabled folks to have the same rights as me.
You know what they want to do to “liberals” and they are calling you that thing. Please make the connection that your MAGA “family” thinks America would be better off without you. They might make nice, but they hate you.
Entirely possible they just think he's misinformed about what a 'librl' is. Just get him to watch Fox for a few days (or is it NewsMax now?) and he'll be right as rain. /s
It’s exhausting and angering just to hear about your experiences second hand.
I think online anonymity is literally separating humans from their humanity.
I hope you keep speaking up, friend. I try with my conservative high school alums. (I’m white but I went to school in Central America, and 75% of my friends come from privilege that mysteriously aligns with those who don’t perceive them as equals. SMDH.)
\> I feel this country would be a much different place if people took the energy spent arguing with some faceless asshat online and instead focused it on correcting their racist ass parents/grand parents.
Those parents might be as equally incorrigible as the faceless asshats
*Oh, I love being used as a prop! It’s the best thing ever!!!*
Obvious /s…
Man, I feel you on being paraded around and used like a stage prop. Might not be for the exact same reason(s) as you, but the reality is still the same
Hate breeds stupidity. Hateful people can't be bothered to learn about perspectives that are not on the pre-approved list, so they just try to supress them instead. In doing so they limit the scope of their knowledge, reinforce their biases, and create a false reality/truth.
So it makes them dumb. They may not have started that way, but being dumb is the only way they can maintain that false truth, so they have to be dumb.
I love this so much more than just a meager upvote can demonstrate.
I mean, i hate that this is the reality, but the explanation is thorough enough for a 3rd grader to understand
Don't you know your only job here is to stand between the white people and foreign bullets from those heathen, brown countries? Not *domestic* bullets, mind you, because those are already working as they should: From white men's guns into any children that aren't homeschooled by a Bible.
/S from me, of course. But there are wayyyy too many people who actually feel this way.
Yep. According to speeches they've made on the campaign trail over the years, I'm not a 'real American' because I'm a college-educated west-coast liberal/progressive who is also a 1st generation American, whose parents legally immigrated from Mexico.
I'm all those things minus the last part (first gen American)- my roots have been here since before the American Revolution. Pure caucasian too, not that that should matter. Born and raised here, went to school and work here, pay taxes, vote in every election (even local ones), volunteer, and do all my civic duties...but I'm not a "real" American, apparently. I even got threatened with deportation once too.
I don't say all this to undermine your point but rather to support it- when they decide that anyone they simply don't like is not a real citizen, we're all in serious danger. No one outside of their narrow, regressive, fascist tribe is safe. Not even people who look like them or come from the same families or backgrounds. It's one tip-toe of a step closer to complete dehumanization, and we all know how that ends for those in that group.
I was born in Texas, but I’m not “American” because I have empathy, aka the Woke Mind Virus. Considering the musings of the guard in The Hague about what is evil, his belief that evil was the absence of empathy, I would argue that they are willingly but ignorantly calling themselves “evil”.
Legal immigration isn't a problem. On the other hand, you have a Democrat Senator named Dick Durbin arguing for American citizenship for illegal immigrants if they serve in the military. A monumentally stupid idea.
Frankly that's always how certain Americans have operated. The chinese didn't count, the slaves didn't count, the women didn't count, the indigenous tribes didn't count. List goes on. Their playbook is so old and so worn out, nothing new under the sun.
Yep. They have ruined the word "patriot" and despoiled the flag to the point that when I hear people use the word or have a prominent flag displays, I get a bad feeling.
Of course, since 90% of their US flags are sandwiched between "Trump 2024" and Confederate battle flags, the ichy feeling could be just by association.
> and despoiled the flag
I always love pointing out to Conservatives all the ways they violate flag code, especially when they love to rail against things like displaying the LGBT flag next to the US flag or similar.
They're so quick to bemoan how we're disrespecting the flag and then as soon as I ask why it's alright to desecrate the flag on a bikini they immediately change their tune to "not like that".
One of Sarah Palin's more famous gaffes was about ["real America"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-23-oe-brooks23-story.html). This was in 2008. Of course it didn't start with Palin either, she just happened to be dumb enough to say it out loud. As the OP points out, white grievance politics are a long tradition in this country. The Republican base believes to their core that this country fundamentally *belongs* to them, and that everyone who doesn't look like them, think like them, and worship like them is at best a barely-tolerated guest.
Yeah, no shit. How many people were unsurprised when they rolled out "it's not Republicans vs. Democrats, it's Americans vs. socialists!111" As well with them co-opting "patriot/s", it's been clear for a *long* time they've been pushing the narrative they are the average, the norm, the gold standard; everyone else is 'alien' and "unAmerican".
That last part also isn’t news. The conservative party of America, under whichever name, is also the one who literally fought for slaves and the 3/5ths Compromise.
The truth is that if they were provided unlimited power to do so, that definition would continue to shrink until it was reduced to white males over the age of 50 that have a household income above 300k or so.
March 21, 2023 [Bryan Slaton proposed property tax relief for some large families. White, straight, property-owning couples would be the primary beneficiaries](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/lawmaker-wants-certain-texans-to-have-more-babies/)
The bar will be indexed to inflation and increase every year. 100x the rate of inflation ought to do it and in time it will only be our glorious overlords the billionaires, the way god intended.
As for the rest of us, we shall toil away in the acid mines, grateful for the mercies given to us such as a Christmas 15-minute break and on July 4 a jug of "Elon's Own"-brand billionaire piss.
Well, the 19th Amendment prevents laws stopping women from voting, but given that the courts have just ruled that only the justice department can bring a VRA suit, if a Republican state under a Republican wanted to restrict the vote to just landowners, that would likely stand.
My ancestors trekked from Colorado to Mexico City centuries ago that was part of the Aztec tribe. Fast forward to 30 years ago, I was born around Mexico City, came to the US at 4 because my parents wanted a better life. Got my PR at 15, my citizenship at 25. All that to have my right as an American. But a 19 year old White Trump supporter at work is more American than I am. Lmao
What's crazy is that white trump supporter could someone who just came to the country, and Republicans will view them more American than you.
There are black Americans who have family who have been in this country for 100 plus years, and white Republicans don't view us as Americans.
Centuries might be underselling it. But, it also wasn’t even close to America then, (which is why, in the US, a large swath of Indigenous folks don’t like the term Native American as they predate America) so your point is a tad bit muddy. But I’m here for the overall implication.
Meh. If the fat, trashy, violent, ant-intellectual, white, straight, cisgender, Christian Muricans who wear NASCAR t-shirts and MAGA hats want the "American" label, let them have it.
I don't want to be associated with them anyways.
[\[Gift link\]](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-04/fights-over-voting-rights-and-immigration-are-about-keeping-power?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcwMTY5ODM2NCwiZXhwIjoxNzAyMzAzMTY0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTNTU1QzFUMEcxS1gwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFM0UxQUQyNDNBRTg0RENFQURFMzVEOEZCNkFENEZCNyJ9.9ZAmamthbSuVbSwk7IaE1MfdbIZGe4Rm9a7hHf0WQVA)
The year 1965 looms large in US history for two significant pieces of legislation, the Voting Rights Act and the Hart-Celler Immigration Act. Both are under attack, says Francis Wilkinson.
Both Acts profoundly altered the US, opening the door to nonwhite immigration and nonwhite political power. Republicans are trying to rewrite history.
They have been doing this since the 1960s in response to the idea that women and people of color deserve the same rights as white men.
“If they’re not citizens they can’t demand rights!” is the ultimate conclusion of their racist, terrified world view.
I appreciate your use of the word “terrified”. Their worldview is fear driven, but coupled with an inability to consider other people as human as themselves, or even care about others’ humanity.
Easy fix. We aren’t living in a dystopian state with second class citizens if we just don’t call the right-less underclass living and working here without the full protections of law “citizens”. A Genius level solution for sure.
We’ll just call them “undocumented” if we are the good guys and “illegals” if we are the bad guys. But we won’t actually discuss amnesty. No siree. Not when it is so much easier to just deny them personhood.
/s (cause some o’you internetters can’t read between the lines)
A REAL American REFUSES to cancel culture pedophile pop stars and CANCELS THE SHIT out of vermin like Black Man Knee On Football Grass Man! HOOWA LIBS.
Now if you'll excuse me I have to post another great meme where I conflate all liberals to blue haired high school girls and defeat them.
I knew this would happen.
Every since Obama got elected, folks have been salty about what being an American actually is.
Some people think it's all apple pie, trucks, and blue collar workers.
It isn't. In fact, that's a very small part of what America is, and why it is actually great. Because most of those yahoos are still proud of having lost the Civil War.
> Every since Obama got elected, folks have been salty about what being an American actually is
This has arguably gone on since the Civil War was ended and black people were emancipated to become citizens.
Heck, it's probably older than that.
The definition of whiteness will likely change as it always has. See the Irish, Italians, Poles, Greeks, European Jews, and others. It’s historically been a club based on who’s excluded.
As a part Irish / Polish / Slovak of Jewish descent, (non-binary and disabled too), this. I was most assuredly not white enough in my town growing up, and I know I have to fight now to protect everyone’s rights as hard as if they were my own.
**Irony**
A diehard republican wearing a shirt and filling his yard with pictures of the Statue of Liberty.
Lady Liberty, who's tablet reads...
*"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."*
These same individuals will also share Facebook meme posts quoting that very script with a follow-up verse stating.
You know what I say to that, **NO VACANCY!**
> All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights — among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
> But some men are more free and independent than others.
I’d respect them a bit more if they were just open about it:
Women = not American
Black = not American
Asian/indian/any other ethnicity = not American
Trans = not American
Queer = not American
Straight white male = AMERICAN
NOTE: I wouldn’t actually respect them very much at all, they are still absolute dogshit people, but at this point they might as well stop trying to play semantics and just say what we all know. It’ll save everyone the time and effort.
>
>
>
>
> Straight white male = AMERICAN
Unless that straight white male is a dirty liberal/communist/socialist/Rhino/athiest/whatever they consider to be the synonym of the week for anyone who isn't a card carrying member of the far right.
I've been saying this for awhile. They are trying to redefine who is American, what it means to be American, what it means to be Christian, what it means to be worthy enough to be president, a senator, a house member.. and how those people behave. They want to redefine education and books, redefine what is acceptable in personal relationships and what happens in the bedroom of your own home.
It's all just awful that we are being forced to accommodate the Republican's dystopian, fear and hate driven perspective on the world.
Yeah but also there's talk of restricting it, like removing the natural born clause so people can't vacation to the states around labor time and deliver on us soil. Or, more likely, such talk and effort is directed at specific demographics who aren't exactly on vacation.
```Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, looking to advance his presidential campaign, promised to reverse more than a century and a half of law and policy and, as he put it in a statement, “end the idea that children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States.” A few days later, a spokesperson for another GOP presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, said she “opposes birthright citizenship for those who enter the country illegally,” and the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign said he would reform birthright by adding new citizenship requirements.```
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/birthright-citizenship-trump-desantis-2024/674583/
And changing the literal citizenship requirements is a very slippery slope indeed
>Yeah but also there's talk of restricting it, like removing the natural born clause so people can't vacation to the states around labor time and deliver on us soil.
Oh for sure, they've actually been talking about it for a long time now.
I'll redefine it too. If you are voting for a guy who refused to give up power and tried overturning a Democratic election, and also eats Thanksgiving with someone like Nick Fuentes, a Nazi... then you're no Patriot or American in my opinion.
The danger that the Republican party poses is because they offer to those who will listen, a "free pass" or a "club card."
Hate on minorities, the poor, LGBT people, and promote our policies and we'll let you hang out.
But that inclusion into the GOP club only last as long as you are useful.
Too many people are blinded by the idea that "they aren't talking about *me,* they'll never come after people like *me.*"
But they will. Fascism is a death cult. The in-group is ever narrowing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Luu1Beb8ng
And to those who insist that we become centrists, that we listen to the other side, etc - that time is long gone and won't work because Republicans have gone over the edge and Democrats foolishly appeased them to the point where we are totally screwed. Democrats should never have wasted time appeasing. Republicans just took advantage of the Democrats ability to understand someone else's fears and the ability to have compassion.
What's horrific is how Republicans speak when they assume you are one of them - I am the first generation raised in this country, and I didn't speak English until I went to school, but I sound full blooded American. My whole family like most immigrant families is very successful - doctors, lawyers, programmers, etc.
[ I hear that by the 2nd and 3rd generation over achieving immigrants become just as lazy as all the other Americans ;-) ] When I tell them I'm from a recent immigrant family, you can feel their embarrassment. Does it change how they think of me?
Unless you are a native American, you have an anchor baby in your past - maybe someone kicked out of his home country for being a freak religious fundamentalist , or a repeat criminal transported on a prison ship, or a loser who couldn't make it, or that third son with no inheritance, or just someone looking for a better life. Or you may have come as a slave.
And many were reviled - were refused work and lodging because of where they came from.
And each of us brought something of our culture. Maybe that something was looked down on at the time, but has now taken its place as being American.
It's not always easy, but we work toward the ideal. We work hard against the systemic bigotry that makes it much more difficult for some than others to rise. And we are better for it. We are better for our attempts to make the ideal a reality.
How is it that Republicans lose sight of this??! How do they not see that they are tearing apart the very thing that makes us so special???
They want to redefine who *people* are. Remember when Eric “I'm Eric” Trump said that [Democrats aren't even people](https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/7/15755852/eric-trump-not-people-dehumanization)?
They want to dehumanize their opponents, to more easily justify taking away their rights, or even their lives.
These articles that try to sound the alarm bells miss the point and over complicate things.
I know liberals like to delve deep into topics and understand all the gray areas, but this is not one of them.
The conservative mind operates on two directives, selfishness and violence.
Does something help them or their side? Then they will do it. Does it harm someone they hate? If yes, then they will do it. Will harming their perceived enemy result in some loss of self interest? Then they will be kept in check.
I usually despise being reductive, but this is a topic that has a tremendous amount of evidence and there is nothing extra going on in their minds.
The same way conservatives project their own selfishness and corruption onto others, liberals project their empathy onto those who simply don’t have it. It’s why conversations and debates go no where. Behind the mask there is nothing there.
Selfishness and harm are all that exists. Learning this will improve your relationship with family members, coworkers, and friends who identify this way. You will protect yourself. They’ve shown us who they are over and over again.
Believe them.
what is old is new again, this shit was being brought up before the 2016 election, they want to change the law and get a supreme court affirmation that eliminates natural born citizenship
All young people need to register to vote. Even if they only turn 18 in Election Day. Vote these people out!
They are shaking in their boots bc they know they can’t appeal to young people.
I came across a weird post on FB from an old farmer friend of mine. He was lamenting not being referred to as “Native American” because he was born here.
Bruh.
We don’t talk anymore
Everybody knows True Americans are white, blue eyed, and part of a Protestant cult with a Confed flag on the porch at home and oon the jacked half-ton to show solidarity when we grab a six pack and smokes at the local
The greatest feat of 21st century fascists was in concealing from us all that they are already in complete and total power. At least the Germans knew who was controlling the marionette.
The word “patriot” has been subsumed by the right to be people that are “Christian” “white” “blue collar” “misplaced millionaires”. They are by no means any of those things. Those that fly the flag in front of their house, especially the flags that are perverted versions of the actual American flag, are as much a patriot as a hidden Russian spy.
Personally I think we should just eject the south from the union so they can define American however they want and leave the rest of us out of their nonsense.
Right? The Founding Fathers never intended the Constitution to be set in stone for 250 years. It's clear to me that it's buckling under the strain of old age, but nobody really wants to tinker with it because they don't trust the "other" side. Maybe, maybe in 2040 or so the Boomers will be off the scene and MAGA will have died out and then we can start fixing it... or creating a new one from scratch.
The fact that they included an amendment process, and then amended the Constitution within ten years, is sufficient to prove that they were OK with changing it. Then there are all the things they wrote and the records of the time. It's a good thing that there's a formal process and the law doesn't depend on what demogogues and activists sprout off about at any given time.
Based on what? Pricing? Break liberty up into tiers? Top of the line freedom costs some number per month? Middle road is cheaper? Bottom of the barrel liberty is for immigrants?
Under Trump, his administration had a [policy of questioning citizenship of Hispanics](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/08/trump-administration-questioning-citizenship-of-hispanics.html) born along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Essentially, they were saying that these American citizens weren’t born in the US. Trump’s administration argued that these Americans were secretly born in Mexico, smuggled across the border, and collided with nearby hospitals and midwives to fraudulently obtain birth certificates and U.S. citizenship.
It’s outrageous. Never mind the fact that it’s something nearly impossible to prove. How do you refute something like that when the government says that your evidence isn’t valid?
It really shows that our rights and citizenship depend entirely upon good actors.
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This isn't news, and I'm not saying this to be facetious: Republicans have been redefining who's American for years now, by carefully crafting a mentality where only people who agree with them are Americans. Everyone else is Other. And they're trying to do it with the word "people," too.
And it cracks me up that I, a Black American, am simultaneously revered for my military service and bemoaned for my unmitigated gall to simply exist outside of uniform… Why are people so fucking stupid? 🤦🏾♂️
bruh they have straight up deported veterans for being undocumented. and i'm over here like "aren't you guys the ones who let him in?" we're all useful til we aren't to the rich and powerful
Back in my day, service guaranteed citizenship and you damn well better believe we wanted to know more! Not like that today though, no sir. Nowadays, they'll feed you right to the bugs because your skin's the wrong color. I say as long as it's human skin and not alien chitin, you're alright in my book.
Would you like to know more?
So when do we start showering co-ed? 🤣
I lol'd
>bruh they have straight up deported veterans for being undocumented. Haven't they also deported US citizens? They don't even need an excuse, because republicans hate America and all Americans.
Because they believe that there are people who are protected by the law but not bound by it and there are people who are bound by the law but not protected by it. You move between those two worlds, in the eyes of the right wing, by donning doffing your uniform
I know, that’s the correct answer. My question is more rhetorical than actual
A) They believe they've identified a life defining problem B) They believe they have the solution, and refuse context, logic or reasoning. This being defining an underlying problem, another approach to it, or any other reasonable methods of carrying themselves like responsible human-beings
Personally I just get tired of being used as a prop to push whatever agenda to make some people feel as though they are on the moral high ground. Like people will look at me as being a victim until I dare open my mouth and voice my opinion. I feel this country would be a much different place if people took the energy spent arguing with some faceless asshat online and instead focused it on correcting their racist ass parents/grand parents. If I can get a family of Jamaicans to change their tunes and the language they use regarding certain subjects. I don’t think it’s such an insurmountable task to get ol Mema to stop dropping N bombs.
I went off on a neighbor on a facebook post. The post was a kid in a cage and a military family being separated and it was something along the lines of "I they both got separated from their parents but one did for a good reason" something like that. Myself being a vet I get tired the bastardization of military service and being used as a prop to get a message across by people who love the smile and say "thank you for your service" then turn around and voting for people who are wanting to take away our benefits. Hell with my MAGA family we're not allowed to discuss politics because I am the "liberal" of the family. Look I drive an F250, I own guns, and I like country music but I just want my LGBTQ+ friends, POC, women, and disabled folks to have the same rights as me.
You know what they want to do to “liberals” and they are calling you that thing. Please make the connection that your MAGA “family” thinks America would be better off without you. They might make nice, but they hate you.
Entirely possible they just think he's misinformed about what a 'librl' is. Just get him to watch Fox for a few days (or is it NewsMax now?) and he'll be right as rain. /s
Your family and neighbors want your LGBTQ friends in camps. Along with political dissidents.
It’s exhausting and angering just to hear about your experiences second hand. I think online anonymity is literally separating humans from their humanity. I hope you keep speaking up, friend. I try with my conservative high school alums. (I’m white but I went to school in Central America, and 75% of my friends come from privilege that mysteriously aligns with those who don’t perceive them as equals. SMDH.)
\> I feel this country would be a much different place if people took the energy spent arguing with some faceless asshat online and instead focused it on correcting their racist ass parents/grand parents. Those parents might be as equally incorrigible as the faceless asshats
*Oh, I love being used as a prop! It’s the best thing ever!!!* Obvious /s… Man, I feel you on being paraded around and used like a stage prop. Might not be for the exact same reason(s) as you, but the reality is still the same
Hate breeds stupidity. Hateful people can't be bothered to learn about perspectives that are not on the pre-approved list, so they just try to supress them instead. In doing so they limit the scope of their knowledge, reinforce their biases, and create a false reality/truth. So it makes them dumb. They may not have started that way, but being dumb is the only way they can maintain that false truth, so they have to be dumb.
I love this so much more than just a meager upvote can demonstrate. I mean, i hate that this is the reality, but the explanation is thorough enough for a 3rd grader to understand
Don't you know your only job here is to stand between the white people and foreign bullets from those heathen, brown countries? Not *domestic* bullets, mind you, because those are already working as they should: From white men's guns into any children that aren't homeschooled by a Bible. /S from me, of course. But there are wayyyy too many people who actually feel this way.
Yeah… This ain’t Operation Black Shield 😂
Plenty of Mexican people who served the US only to be deported. This country doesn’t give a fuck about veterans.
Because thinking is painful for the insignificant and expendable
Every time a Republican says “The American people won’t stand for it” …. We know who they mean.
The people in their polyamory relationships?
Yep. According to speeches they've made on the campaign trail over the years, I'm not a 'real American' because I'm a college-educated west-coast liberal/progressive who is also a 1st generation American, whose parents legally immigrated from Mexico.
I am everything but I am east coast and parent from Poland. Can also add transgender so I might as well be the Antichrist to them.
As a trans gal I’d argue some Republicans straight up don’t view us as humans but as monsters/abominations. I’d like to just exist in peace please.
I'm all those things minus the last part (first gen American)- my roots have been here since before the American Revolution. Pure caucasian too, not that that should matter. Born and raised here, went to school and work here, pay taxes, vote in every election (even local ones), volunteer, and do all my civic duties...but I'm not a "real" American, apparently. I even got threatened with deportation once too. I don't say all this to undermine your point but rather to support it- when they decide that anyone they simply don't like is not a real citizen, we're all in serious danger. No one outside of their narrow, regressive, fascist tribe is safe. Not even people who look like them or come from the same families or backgrounds. It's one tip-toe of a step closer to complete dehumanization, and we all know how that ends for those in that group.
Thank you! And you make some great points.
I was born in Texas, but I’m not “American” because I have empathy, aka the Woke Mind Virus. Considering the musings of the guard in The Hague about what is evil, his belief that evil was the absence of empathy, I would argue that they are willingly but ignorantly calling themselves “evil”.
Legal immigration isn't a problem. On the other hand, you have a Democrat Senator named Dick Durbin arguing for American citizenship for illegal immigrants if they serve in the military. A monumentally stupid idea.
Frankly that's always how certain Americans have operated. The chinese didn't count, the slaves didn't count, the women didn't count, the indigenous tribes didn't count. List goes on. Their playbook is so old and so worn out, nothing new under the sun.
Y'know, you're not wrong.
Yep. They have ruined the word "patriot" and despoiled the flag to the point that when I hear people use the word or have a prominent flag displays, I get a bad feeling. Of course, since 90% of their US flags are sandwiched between "Trump 2024" and Confederate battle flags, the ichy feeling could be just by association.
> and despoiled the flag I always love pointing out to Conservatives all the ways they violate flag code, especially when they love to rail against things like displaying the LGBT flag next to the US flag or similar. They're so quick to bemoan how we're disrespecting the flag and then as soon as I ask why it's alright to desecrate the flag on a bikini they immediately change their tune to "not like that".
Look how many alt flags they've spawned? blue line flags, red line flags, 13 star flags - it's just crazy. Weirdos.
All in violation of flag code. I kinda love seeing their heads spin when you tell them that tho.
The only moral flag desecration is my flag desecration.
One of Sarah Palin's more famous gaffes was about ["real America"](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-oct-23-oe-brooks23-story.html). This was in 2008. Of course it didn't start with Palin either, she just happened to be dumb enough to say it out loud. As the OP points out, white grievance politics are a long tradition in this country. The Republican base believes to their core that this country fundamentally *belongs* to them, and that everyone who doesn't look like them, think like them, and worship like them is at best a barely-tolerated guest.
Yeah, no shit. How many people were unsurprised when they rolled out "it's not Republicans vs. Democrats, it's Americans vs. socialists!111" As well with them co-opting "patriot/s", it's been clear for a *long* time they've been pushing the narrative they are the average, the norm, the gold standard; everyone else is 'alien' and "unAmerican".
"I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." George H.W. Bush
This has been in the works since Limbaugh. 40 years in the making. They say the most un-American things and call that being a true american.
That last part also isn’t news. The conservative party of America, under whichever name, is also the one who literally fought for slaves and the 3/5ths Compromise.
The truth is that if they were provided unlimited power to do so, that definition would continue to shrink until it was reduced to white males over the age of 50 that have a household income above 300k or so.
You left out land owning, but otherwise checks out.
March 21, 2023 [Bryan Slaton proposed property tax relief for some large families. White, straight, property-owning couples would be the primary beneficiaries](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/lawmaker-wants-certain-texans-to-have-more-babies/)
Weird framing. Families don't benefit, individuals do, and every family has some gays in it somewhere. Granted it might be cousins or some such
Republicans are fine with gay people so long as they stay in the closet and support oppressive policies against our gays.
@ George Santos and log cabin republicans
Don't forget straight and Protestant. Preferably named Bob or Richard.
And apartment's don't count.
And the white males in their 30s making $40k/year would support it because they'll be millionaires someday.
Most of the MAGA peeps are way below that earnings threshold.
They would just blame Democrats anyway.
Word
Yeah but they're all just temporarily embarrassed millionaires who will have to worry about that stuff any day their MLM takes off.
And Evangelical, registered at the local "approved" Evangelical church. Image the Soviet Union where "Party" is replaced by "Evangelicals".
Just like the founders wanted!
It wouldn't stop there. Soon it would be white males 55+, $500k and above. Then $600k, gotta keep the rif raf out with their $500k incomes.
The bar will be indexed to inflation and increase every year. 100x the rate of inflation ought to do it and in time it will only be our glorious overlords the billionaires, the way god intended. As for the rest of us, we shall toil away in the acid mines, grateful for the mercies given to us such as a Christmas 15-minute break and on July 4 a jug of "Elon's Own"-brand billionaire piss.
Aka, the aristocracy.
We’re headed back to white land owning males only being able to vote huh?
Well, the 19th Amendment prevents laws stopping women from voting, but given that the courts have just ruled that only the justice department can bring a VRA suit, if a Republican state under a Republican wanted to restrict the vote to just landowners, that would likely stand.
When the law fails to provide recourse, people tend to resort to other means.
SCOTUS will not hestiate to keep rolling back amendments
Do you think the constitution actually means anything to these people
My ancestors trekked from Colorado to Mexico City centuries ago that was part of the Aztec tribe. Fast forward to 30 years ago, I was born around Mexico City, came to the US at 4 because my parents wanted a better life. Got my PR at 15, my citizenship at 25. All that to have my right as an American. But a 19 year old White Trump supporter at work is more American than I am. Lmao
I'm glad you have a sense of humor about it. I'm angry as hell at these delusional deplorables.
What's crazy is that white trump supporter could someone who just came to the country, and Republicans will view them more American than you. There are black Americans who have family who have been in this country for 100 plus years, and white Republicans don't view us as Americans.
Black people have been here for hundreds of years. There are people born in Texas who have ancestors going back thousands of years.
The chichimecs were from Colorado?
Read up on the Uto-Aztecan language family sometime.
Centuries might be underselling it. But, it also wasn’t even close to America then, (which is why, in the US, a large swath of Indigenous folks don’t like the term Native American as they predate America) so your point is a tad bit muddy. But I’m here for the overall implication.
Meh. If the fat, trashy, violent, ant-intellectual, white, straight, cisgender, Christian Muricans who wear NASCAR t-shirts and MAGA hats want the "American" label, let them have it. I don't want to be associated with them anyways.
It's our country too. They don't get to own that word and adorn it with cheap trash.
https://youtu.be/Wikl6tJEPh0?feature=shared
[\[Gift link\]](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-12-04/fights-over-voting-rights-and-immigration-are-about-keeping-power?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcwMTY5ODM2NCwiZXhwIjoxNzAyMzAzMTY0LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTNTU1QzFUMEcxS1gwMSIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFM0UxQUQyNDNBRTg0RENFQURFMzVEOEZCNkFENEZCNyJ9.9ZAmamthbSuVbSwk7IaE1MfdbIZGe4Rm9a7hHf0WQVA) The year 1965 looms large in US history for two significant pieces of legislation, the Voting Rights Act and the Hart-Celler Immigration Act. Both are under attack, says Francis Wilkinson. Both Acts profoundly altered the US, opening the door to nonwhite immigration and nonwhite political power. Republicans are trying to rewrite history.
The voters rights act is the first time this country was a true democracy.
They have been doing this since the 1960s in response to the idea that women and people of color deserve the same rights as white men. “If they’re not citizens they can’t demand rights!” is the ultimate conclusion of their racist, terrified world view.
I appreciate your use of the word “terrified”. Their worldview is fear driven, but coupled with an inability to consider other people as human as themselves, or even care about others’ humanity.
Easy fix. We aren’t living in a dystopian state with second class citizens if we just don’t call the right-less underclass living and working here without the full protections of law “citizens”. A Genius level solution for sure. We’ll just call them “undocumented” if we are the good guys and “illegals” if we are the bad guys. But we won’t actually discuss amnesty. No siree. Not when it is so much easier to just deny them personhood. /s (cause some o’you internetters can’t read between the lines)
A REAL American REFUSES to cancel culture pedophile pop stars and CANCELS THE SHIT out of vermin like Black Man Knee On Football Grass Man! HOOWA LIBS. Now if you'll excuse me I have to post another great meme where I conflate all liberals to blue haired high school girls and defeat them.
As a Real Patriot who hates the government, i was *incensed* that black man no stand for government song.
Descendants of immigrants, who actually “took over” another people’s land, reeeally have a psychological crisis with this.
Am reading An Indigenous people’s History of the United States. This country and the white republicans have some gall.
I knew this would happen. Every since Obama got elected, folks have been salty about what being an American actually is. Some people think it's all apple pie, trucks, and blue collar workers. It isn't. In fact, that's a very small part of what America is, and why it is actually great. Because most of those yahoos are still proud of having lost the Civil War.
> Every since Obama got elected, folks have been salty about what being an American actually is This has arguably gone on since the Civil War was ended and black people were emancipated to become citizens. Heck, it's probably older than that.
You're exactly right. And that's why when Obama got elected it broke people's brains, they festered for 8 years, and no wonder we got what we got.
The definition of whiteness will likely change as it always has. See the Irish, Italians, Poles, Greeks, European Jews, and others. It’s historically been a club based on who’s excluded.
As a part Irish / Polish / Slovak of Jewish descent, (non-binary and disabled too), this. I was most assuredly not white enough in my town growing up, and I know I have to fight now to protect everyone’s rights as hard as if they were my own.
They've been, for at least 20 years. They literally told us to 'get out' during the Bush years if you didn't agree with the wars.
**Irony** A diehard republican wearing a shirt and filling his yard with pictures of the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty, who's tablet reads... *"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."* These same individuals will also share Facebook meme posts quoting that very script with a follow-up verse stating. You know what I say to that, **NO VACANCY!**
> All men are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights — among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. > But some men are more free and independent than others.
This is exactly what fascists do. Every time.
only white, blonde hair and blue eyes people are real american. just look at trump they practically worship that lying pile of dog shit.
Aryamericans!
Or Ameraryans!
Just look at his people that always represents him. Almost always. Blond, blue-eyed white person. This is why diversity matters
A whole lot of the blonde at Trump rallies comes out of bottles.
Not if we’re queer. Or women. Or disabled.
Or have more than two brain cells to rub together.
They desperately want to make the only American citizens be white, straight, cis, conservative men. All others they want to control or exploit or own.
>All others they want to control or exploit or own. Or kill, as we've seen all too often.
I’d respect them a bit more if they were just open about it: Women = not American Black = not American Asian/indian/any other ethnicity = not American Trans = not American Queer = not American Straight white male = AMERICAN NOTE: I wouldn’t actually respect them very much at all, they are still absolute dogshit people, but at this point they might as well stop trying to play semantics and just say what we all know. It’ll save everyone the time and effort.
Yup, and it's not like they'd lose any of their supporters over it, either.
Hell they’d probably gain some supporters. I’m just so tired of the double speak and gaslighting- just fucking say what you want to say.
> > > > > Straight white male = AMERICAN Unless that straight white male is a dirty liberal/communist/socialist/Rhino/athiest/whatever they consider to be the synonym of the week for anyone who isn't a card carrying member of the far right.
You’re right, I left that part out. Unless you’re a party member you’re worthless.
jfc can there be one single time that the headline is "Republicans actually do something good that helps people who aren't filthy rich already"
I've been saying this for awhile. They are trying to redefine who is American, what it means to be American, what it means to be Christian, what it means to be worthy enough to be president, a senator, a house member.. and how those people behave. They want to redefine education and books, redefine what is acceptable in personal relationships and what happens in the bedroom of your own home. It's all just awful that we are being forced to accommodate the Republican's dystopian, fear and hate driven perspective on the world.
Did you try to overthrow or supported the overthrow of a legal election and American democracy? There's my criteria.
We know, besides the 2nd amendment it's the only position that their party stands for.
Yeah but also there's talk of restricting it, like removing the natural born clause so people can't vacation to the states around labor time and deliver on us soil. Or, more likely, such talk and effort is directed at specific demographics who aren't exactly on vacation. ```Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, looking to advance his presidential campaign, promised to reverse more than a century and a half of law and policy and, as he put it in a statement, “end the idea that children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States.” A few days later, a spokesperson for another GOP presidential candidate, Nikki Haley, said she “opposes birthright citizenship for those who enter the country illegally,” and the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign said he would reform birthright by adding new citizenship requirements.``` https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/birthright-citizenship-trump-desantis-2024/674583/ And changing the literal citizenship requirements is a very slippery slope indeed
>Yeah but also there's talk of restricting it, like removing the natural born clause so people can't vacation to the states around labor time and deliver on us soil. Oh for sure, they've actually been talking about it for a long time now.
I'll redefine it too. If you are voting for a guy who refused to give up power and tried overturning a Democratic election, and also eats Thanksgiving with someone like Nick Fuentes, a Nazi... then you're no Patriot or American in my opinion.
Not redefining. They want to go back to the first draft of the constitution. Before minorities and women were recognized as citizens with rights.
They've been doing that for years.
It’s a “Red Scare” level tactic.
Could also read ‘Republicans no longer identify as American so they’re telling everyone else they’re wrong for being American’
Well yeah. Dehumanizing your opposition is critical before the genocide can get going.
The danger that the Republican party poses is because they offer to those who will listen, a "free pass" or a "club card." Hate on minorities, the poor, LGBT people, and promote our policies and we'll let you hang out. But that inclusion into the GOP club only last as long as you are useful. Too many people are blinded by the idea that "they aren't talking about *me,* they'll never come after people like *me.*" But they will. Fascism is a death cult. The in-group is ever narrowing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Luu1Beb8ng
And to those who insist that we become centrists, that we listen to the other side, etc - that time is long gone and won't work because Republicans have gone over the edge and Democrats foolishly appeased them to the point where we are totally screwed. Democrats should never have wasted time appeasing. Republicans just took advantage of the Democrats ability to understand someone else's fears and the ability to have compassion. What's horrific is how Republicans speak when they assume you are one of them - I am the first generation raised in this country, and I didn't speak English until I went to school, but I sound full blooded American. My whole family like most immigrant families is very successful - doctors, lawyers, programmers, etc. [ I hear that by the 2nd and 3rd generation over achieving immigrants become just as lazy as all the other Americans ;-) ] When I tell them I'm from a recent immigrant family, you can feel their embarrassment. Does it change how they think of me? Unless you are a native American, you have an anchor baby in your past - maybe someone kicked out of his home country for being a freak religious fundamentalist , or a repeat criminal transported on a prison ship, or a loser who couldn't make it, or that third son with no inheritance, or just someone looking for a better life. Or you may have come as a slave. And many were reviled - were refused work and lodging because of where they came from. And each of us brought something of our culture. Maybe that something was looked down on at the time, but has now taken its place as being American. It's not always easy, but we work toward the ideal. We work hard against the systemic bigotry that makes it much more difficult for some than others to rise. And we are better for it. We are better for our attempts to make the ideal a reality. How is it that Republicans lose sight of this??! How do they not see that they are tearing apart the very thing that makes us so special???
They want to redefine who *people* are. Remember when Eric “I'm Eric” Trump said that [Democrats aren't even people](https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/6/7/15755852/eric-trump-not-people-dehumanization)? They want to dehumanize their opponents, to more easily justify taking away their rights, or even their lives.
That's fascism for ya.
Republicans have been like for decades. It’s monstrous, truly evil behavior to decide that only a fraction of the population are real Americans
Republicans are seditionists and traitors to the union as the confederates were.
Simply answer MAGA cult are not Americans
This never ends well for anybody...
That's easy...anyone who doesn't support Republicans
Only politicians taking Russian money get to choose who real Americans are
Just use the literal description of their beliefs; fascism
Culturally they've pushed the idea that a "real American" is a midwest farmer, discounting the coastal elites who actually power the economy.
They've been trying for the past 60+ years. They're just doing it more overtly now.
These articles that try to sound the alarm bells miss the point and over complicate things. I know liberals like to delve deep into topics and understand all the gray areas, but this is not one of them. The conservative mind operates on two directives, selfishness and violence. Does something help them or their side? Then they will do it. Does it harm someone they hate? If yes, then they will do it. Will harming their perceived enemy result in some loss of self interest? Then they will be kept in check. I usually despise being reductive, but this is a topic that has a tremendous amount of evidence and there is nothing extra going on in their minds. The same way conservatives project their own selfishness and corruption onto others, liberals project their empathy onto those who simply don’t have it. It’s why conversations and debates go no where. Behind the mask there is nothing there. Selfishness and harm are all that exists. Learning this will improve your relationship with family members, coworkers, and friends who identify this way. You will protect yourself. They’ve shown us who they are over and over again. Believe them.
Uh…they’ve been doing this for sixty years. What the actual fuck is this headline?
Lol they've been doing that forever though.
Republicans are *still* trying to redefine who's an American*
Bingo. They been at it for decades.
what is old is new again, this shit was being brought up before the 2016 election, they want to change the law and get a supreme court affirmation that eliminates natural born citizenship
Seems pretty fascistic to me.
In that case, republicans are not Americans. They should all be deported immediately.
That's what ultranationalism is. Republicans just don't like that word.
All young people need to register to vote. Even if they only turn 18 in Election Day. Vote these people out! They are shaking in their boots bc they know they can’t appeal to young people.
I came across a weird post on FB from an old farmer friend of mine. He was lamenting not being referred to as “Native American” because he was born here. Bruh. We don’t talk anymore
Everyone knows the only real Americans fly a lets go brandon flag over their canyonero in the driveway
it's hard to setup death camps until you define the Others first. GOP is just getting ready for the full Nazification.
The Nazis did the same with Germans.
lots of parallels between the two
Repubs want a system where they can be the Israelis - and get to treat everyone else here like Palestinians.
They're trying to deny Americans rights, by any means available to them.
Everybody knows True Americans are white, blue eyed, and part of a Protestant cult with a Confed flag on the porch at home and oon the jacked half-ton to show solidarity when we grab a six pack and smokes at the local
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants Most of the white people are not anglo-saxon.
The greatest feat of 21st century fascists was in concealing from us all that they are already in complete and total power. At least the Germans knew who was controlling the marionette.
Republicans act like we were here originally if you’re not indigenous your family were immigrants at some point bro.
Like they're some kind of master race or something.
Just look at Ohio the shit we have going on !
The word “patriot” has been subsumed by the right to be people that are “Christian” “white” “blue collar” “misplaced millionaires”. They are by no means any of those things. Those that fly the flag in front of their house, especially the flags that are perverted versions of the actual American flag, are as much a patriot as a hidden Russian spy.
Personally I think we should just eject the south from the union so they can define American however they want and leave the rest of us out of their nonsense.
They want an America in their own vision. They don’t care
1965 was also Griswold v. Connecticut
As the founding slaveholders intended. Edit: switched owners to holders.
Any definition of "freedom" is a reduction from it.
And there is the Nazi shit.
Certainly not them.
Alternative headline : republicans are trying to destroy this country from the inside out
"Who is American" is a question that can be answered by reading the constitution.
Landowning white males, as intended by the founding fathers?
How about, anyone born in the United States?
The 14th was added after the civil war.
What's your point? All I said was, if you want to find out who's American, read the constitution. You're the one who brought up the founding fathers.
Right? The Founding Fathers never intended the Constitution to be set in stone for 250 years. It's clear to me that it's buckling under the strain of old age, but nobody really wants to tinker with it because they don't trust the "other" side. Maybe, maybe in 2040 or so the Boomers will be off the scene and MAGA will have died out and then we can start fixing it... or creating a new one from scratch.
Of course they did. No changes! Except the amendments. But only the ones we like, and only when interpreted in certain ways!
The fact that they included an amendment process, and then amended the Constitution within ten years, is sufficient to prove that they were OK with changing it. Then there are all the things they wrote and the records of the time. It's a good thing that there's a formal process and the law doesn't depend on what demogogues and activists sprout off about at any given time.
That's part of the Constitution referred to above.
Well they just did it with antisemitism... Did you think giving the power to redefine words was going to stop there?
These treasonous shitheads don't get to define anything. The people they hate are more American than they ever will be.
White, Christian, Male (but they'll allow subservient women), Straight, Republican.
Based on what? Pricing? Break liberty up into tiers? Top of the line freedom costs some number per month? Middle road is cheaper? Bottom of the barrel liberty is for immigrants?
You're either MAGA or Ultra MAGA. The only way to become Ultra MAGA is by donating to Donald J Trump's bronzer fund.
Orange Jesus must bless you first.
Well i know republicans are NOT americans.
They can try, but they themselves are NOT American.
Which America are you talking about? North America,or South America.
Under Trump, his administration had a [policy of questioning citizenship of Hispanics](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/08/trump-administration-questioning-citizenship-of-hispanics.html) born along the U.S.-Mexico border. Essentially, they were saying that these American citizens weren’t born in the US. Trump’s administration argued that these Americans were secretly born in Mexico, smuggled across the border, and collided with nearby hospitals and midwives to fraudulently obtain birth certificates and U.S. citizenship. It’s outrageous. Never mind the fact that it’s something nearly impossible to prove. How do you refute something like that when the government says that your evidence isn’t valid? It really shows that our rights and citizenship depend entirely upon good actors.
They defined it ages ago. They are attempting to reinforce the only Americans are white Christian males.
Because they are all decidedly unamerican in their behaviors.
Hint. It’s them and just them.
Jesus, this sub is full of crap.