Can't be a Jedi if you support Trump...?

After reading a good deal of this very long thread I had one primary thought come to mind…
(no, I did not read the entire thing – maybe 60/70 plus percent?)

I find it interesting how politics has become more about people than policy. Maybe we should change it to people-tics

If the last few years has shown anything, I have been witness to a level of moral, ethical and moral bifurcation and partisanship that I honestly never thought the general populace would sink to. All in support of “their man.” I personally don’t care who is representing us so long as they actually represent us. And given what we’ve been shown… I think the politicians we have do represent the populace on a whole.

Getting online and checking everyone’s favorite web site, www.i’mright.com and cherry picking the statistics that supports one argument and representatives position is hardly the way I think we should approach the governance of a society.

How about actual research and careful consideration of what the best option for not only a short term but long term outcome would be? Then putting aside our petty differences to implement a policy that could see it to fruition.

Or whatever. The circus is entertaining. I don’t mind watching for a while longer LOL :laugh:
Sometimes it takes a matter of epic proportion to change the status quo. I just wonder if everyone will really believe it was worth it when that time comes.

Omhu and zealotx I will respectfully disagree with your ideas on this matter and I will refrain from posting on again this specific thread . Because I see your minds are made up on the matter and even if I politely argue with you and the talking points ( specifically from omhu ) it will be an endless debate . Until one of us just decides the matter is no longer relevant to argue because we made our point . My point is this no matter how or who you vote for if you want to be a Jedi then be a Jedi . If some of your personal beliefs conflict with the Jedi way than that is okay , and if your preferred candidate's beliefs or policies doesn't exactly match the temples that's okay too . We have a right to vote for who we want and no one or religion should tell you otherwise and if they do then that is infringement on our rights and that's not good . Also if a religion has a standard on who you can or can't vote for than that religion in that case has bad values . And no I'm not saying that the temple is bad in that sense , personally I love this place and the people within . I like the values ,openness , and acceptance of this temple and in no way am I saying they need to be altered in anyway . I'm just saying that there should be no mandate on who to vote for , or there should be no ( because this candidate has different policies than we endorse you can't vote for them and if you do the you can't be a member or call yourself a Jedi ) .

Omhu Cuspor wrote: The title of this thread - "Can't be a Jedi if you support Trump?" seems to potentially convey two meanings, due to an observation someone once made about the word "you": "When I say 'you', I mean either you, me, or everybody." So, if the intent is to convey "everybody", as in "Could anybody be considered a Jedi if s/he supports Trump?" I am going to sidestep the question. There are people here who clearly think the answer is yes, and perhaps that is correct; I don't see anyone in this thread whom I think is malicious (other than Malicious, heh), Absent any bad intent, I don't wish to start proposing rules about who and who does not belong here.

But, if "you" actually means "you" in this case, so the question is "Do you yourself find being a Jedi compatible with a choice to be a Trump supporter?", a response is more clear.

Dominant in my mind is the prominent statement on the opening page of the Temple: "Jedi believe in the Force, and in the inherent worth of all life within it." With that in mind, I consider various impacts of the political policies of the current U.S. administration:

* Dramatically reversing America's commitment to climate change, placing ever-greater restrictions on the use of scientific evidence
at the EPA and making America one of only two nations on Earth to repudiate the Paris Climate Accord. This denies the inherent
worth of today's young people, future generations, and non-human forms of life.
* Equating asylum seekers with illegal aliens, imprisoning them under harsh conditions, and kidnapping children from their parents. This
denies the inherent worth of non-Americans.
* Making implied threats of a first-strike nuclear war on two occasions (against North Korea and Iran). This arguably denies the inherent
worth of virtually everyone.
* Implementing a tax cut mostly benefitting the very rich while over half of Americans can't afford a $400 emergency. This negates
the inherent worth of the middle class and poor.
* With some justification, withdrawing the American military from Syria - but in a manner that left our Kurdish allies exposed to danger.
This denies the inherent worth of the Kurds - and, as a sideline, has driven them into a tentative alliance with Russia.
* Trying to implement an across-the-board ban on Muslims entering the U.S. This abrogates the inherent worth of Muslims.
* In an admitted extension of longstanding U.S. policy, has participated in the instigation of disorder and violence in Venezuela and Brazil.
This denies the inherent worth of our Latin American neighbors.
* With the help of Congress, has taken no action to secure America's easily hackable election system. This denies the inherent worth
of voters, or at least their desires.

So - could I personally in good conscience be a Jedi if I supported Trump? Easy squeazy lemon peasy -

No.

All good points.

I think the distinction we have to make is that we're specifically talking about Trump and his policies, not about the Republican party, Conservative values, blue collar workers, or any other group that identifies with an overall agenda of "make america great again" because that phrase means different things to different people. There must be a distinction because, in my opinion, Trump is rewriting Republican culture as we speak and its not good for them either. But Republican congress people feel trapped because of his support among "the base", and we can get into who that is, is too strong for them to stand on their conservative principles. But because of their silence the base never hears the full truth, only Trump's story and those who support that story in order to maintain political power.

It is hard for me to believe that conservatives are happy to keep these children in these detention centers for WEEKS. I don't believe THEY are heartless. I believe Stephen Miller is heartless. People can hide behind a policy but it matters how you execute it. For example, Marijuana is illegal on the federal level but isn't being enforced upon states like California. It's schedule 1 just like Heroin. So it kills me how people defend the way in which immigration policy is executed as if there's no choice or room for leniency; as if the violations of federal law make someone deserving of this kind of treatment or even the possibility of losing their children forever.

These EXTREME actions are not the view of a political party but rather strategy cooked up by Miller and rubber stamped by Trump. And I said this before Trump got elected, that he lacks the ability to see secondary and tertiary consequences and that's the main skill you need to be president. That's why Trump never understood Obama and a lot of people react negatively to the executive branch and distrust government in general. What you do for one group of people affects another. That "energy" has to come from somewhere. So Trump was like, "America first" which implied that non-Americans were to blame. Other companies don't pay enough for defense. People come here from "s-hole countries". Muslims are terrorists. Mexicans are taking our jobs. Blacks are getting public assistance. Etc. So Trumpism says F(orget) all these people. Let's make it great again for us... "real" Americans.

And of course someone's going to complain about what I just said but the fact is that everyone is free to interpret MAGA in their own way without knowing how Trump and his allies interpret it themselves. And that's another secondary consequence that Trump either didn't see or doesn't care about. Everyone wants to make "their" [version] America great again. And that involves decisions that will negatively impact the other groups (typically minorities) they don't care about. They think MAGA is good because they believe they are the Americans that Trump wants to protect and defend. So they assume his version of America, and American greatness, is the same as his, without fully seeing that he is acting largely in response to Obama. Trump wasn't against Democrats under Clinton. Trump donated to the Clintons. But Trump lies so easily and convincingly that people in his base simply believe that he thinks the same way they do on all these issues and that he cares.

And so he becomes a kind of white knight Jesus character and people refuse to see him as a real man instead of the fictional character he was on The Apprentice. Think about it. Everyone thinks they know Jesus and Jesus wants to save them but let's apply critical thinking and logic. None of them would need to be saved if they were never born. And if he simply came earlier, they would never have born and never would have needed salvation because they didn't exist. But what do humans do? We start with the notion of self and ego and I and then we work backwards from there. But in reality, for every generation people claim Jesus died for, that's another generation he couldn't come back for before they were born. And if we then cannot answer the question for the next generation, were Jesus to come today, how can we then answer the question for our own generation?

So no offense to believers but the point is that often we try to filter the world through our beliefs and imagine that people are on our side. But Trump's on his own side.He simply knows that being on his own side comes at the cost of making people believe he cares.

I have a hard time reading anything that says if your this you ARE this. Especially when it come to modern day Jediism.
Truth of the matter is - real talk -you can be a jerk and still be a modern day Jeddist. With that said - some may find me the jerk at times and some may not - gotta love the Hero’s journey like that - we can play multiple parts in multiple paths for a multitude of things and people. You can be anything and a Jeddist - it’s kinna a given thing. One of the hidden Joys to all this is ( for me as well) - we know this. It’s like as to family is for me some times - some I wanna hug some I wanna kick some in the head and some I don’t associate with any more- but they are still family. No matter how ya feel some days - get salty or call that crazy lot what ya want - call em to the table and eat.
Sit down and eat already! Lol
We can have the extra seat available mentality or keep letting labels separate ... either way- choice is always ours.

Malicious wrote: Omhu and zealotx I will respectfully disagree with your ideas on this matter and I will refrain from posting on again this specific thread . Because I see your minds are made up on the matter and even if I politely argue with you and the talking points ( specifically from omhu ) it will be an endless debate . Until one of us just decides the matter is no longer relevant to argue because we made our point . My point is this no matter how or who you vote for if you want to be a Jedi then be a Jedi . If some of your personal beliefs conflict with the Jedi way than that is okay , and if your preferred candidate's beliefs or policies doesn't exactly match the temples that's okay too . We have a right to vote for who we want and no one or religion should tell you otherwise and if they do then that is infringement on our rights and that's not good . Also if a religion has a standard on who you can or can't vote for than that religion in that case has bad values . And no I'm not saying that the temple is bad in that sense , personally I love this place and the people within . I like the values ,openness , and acceptance of this temple and in no way am I saying they need to be altered in anyway . I'm just saying that there should be no mandate on who to vote for , or there should be no ( because this candidate has different policies than we endorse you can't vote for them and if you do the you can't be a member or call yourself a Jedi ) .

voting for Trump and being a "Trump supporter" are not the same thing to me. Let's make that clear.

Supporter means you are in favor of HIM. That's not the same thing as voting for him, believing him to be the lesser of two evils. Like I said, i voted in favor of Jill Stein because at that time I didn't want to vote for the lesser of two evils, but that kind of vote is NORMAL. If I support a candidate, that's more proactive. I like them. I'm engaging in activity to "help them" win. I'm not just giving them my vote because "meh... at least he's not Roy Moore".

Plenty of Republicans vote R. Period. It doesn't matter who the candidate is. And especially for local races. Most people don't go vote, knowing all the people they're voting for. They see the D or the R and they check the box based on a general assumption about the candidate's perspective being similar to their own. But this thread isn't talking about those voters. It's not talking about the red team or the blue team. It's specifically about a man. Donald Trump.

If you're voting for him and holding your nose, that's understandable pragmatism. But if you give full throated support because you like what he's doing... that's the support we're talking about. Supporters WANT zero tolerance at the border. That's why someone in his rally crowd said "shoot em" and we don't need to rehash Trump's response. But clearly, he doesn't care about those people. But those people are not less human because they're not American. And NO ONE deserves to lose a parent or child because of some federal law that can be selectively enforced.

And it was the same with Bill Clinton. I didn't agree with what he did with Monica Lewinsky but that was more of a issue in his marriage. I could still vote for him. However the crime bill meant that I can't support him. Based on policy. The other guy might be even worse and so I have to consider that in my voting. I have to consider what not voting for him would mean for other candidates too. But I don't support the man. So if you say, "well I wanted conservative judges on the supreme court", okay. But that's support for a conservative republican agenda; still doesn't mean you have to support the man.

Does that make sense?

Malicious wrote: Omhu and zealotx I will respectfully disagree with your ideas on this matter and I will refrain from posting on again this specific thread . Because I see your minds are made up on the matter and even if I politely argue with you and the talking points ( specifically from omhu ) it will be an endless debate . Until one of us just decides the matter is no longer relevant to argue because we made our point . My point is this no matter how or who you vote for if you want to be a Jedi then be a Jedi . If some of your personal beliefs conflict with the Jedi way than that is okay , and if your preferred candidate's beliefs or policies doesn't exactly match the temples that's okay too . We have a right to vote for who we want and no one or religion should tell you otherwise and if they do then that is infringement on our rights and that's not good . Also if a religion has a standard on who you can or can't vote for than that religion in that case has bad values . And no I'm not saying that the temple is bad in that sense , personally I love this place and the people within . I like the values ,openness , and acceptance of this temple and in no way am I saying they need to be altered in anyway . I'm just saying that there should be no mandate on who to vote for , or there should be no ( because this candidate has different policies than we endorse you can't vote for them and if you do the you can't be a member or call yourself a Jedi ) .

To be fair malicious, you display quite a few of the strategies I've seen trump supporters use: "I don't like him, but he's better than *insert amalgamation of all the worst things about any possible opponent*" "you aren't going to change your mind, so it's pointless for me to try and back up my talking points I introduced" "my vote is my choice" etc.

If we broke down the discussion into clinical little policy quanta, would you stand by some of the explicitly TotJO points (e.g. opposing capital punishment) or would you be closer to someone else's line? Your understanding of how the first amendment works is lacking quite a bit. If you have questions about it, I could answer them over PM.

At any rate, if you don't support someone's policies, don't support them. The US went for the majority of its history without the 2-party hegemony we see today, so why be a sucker for it. Make elections closer, and don't give into ideological laziness

"poop" - George Washington

When I was born it was illegal for a white person to marry a black person in 22 states. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-miscegenation_laws_in_the_United_States

The US Supreme Court struck down these laws in 1967. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia

Here's an unsettling article from a couple of years ago. NEARLY 20 PERCENT OF AMERICANS THINK INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE IS 'MORALLY WRONG,' POLL FINDS

If someone supports banning interracial marriage (a constitutional amendment making banning legal) can they be a Jedi?

CaesarEJW wrote: "poop" - George Washington

But what paper would he choose?

Malicious wrote: ... My point is this no matter how or who you vote for if you want to be a Jedi then be a Jedi . ... We have a right to vote for who we want and no one or religion should tell you otherwise and if they do then that is infringement on our rights and that's not good . Also if a religion has a standard on who you can or can't vote for than that religion in that case has bad values . And no I'm not saying that the temple is bad in that sense , personally I love this place and the people within . I like the values ,openness , and acceptance of this temple and in no way am I saying they need to be altered in anyway . I'm just saying that there should be no mandate on who to vote for , or there should be no ( because this candidate has different policies than we endorse you can't vote for them and if you do the you can't be a member or call yourself a Jedi ) .

While our political leanings appear to reflect stark differences, I do agree with you in this, Malicious. Politics perhaps is most focused on how a society attains its goals; members of a religion might be said to be united in what those goals should be. We can align in the latter without aligning in the former.