Over and over again I have been bullied and harassed on social media by individuals who inhabit the political left. All I have to do to trigger an onslaught of mean-spirited and abusive comments is to post something on Facebook that goes against official progressive orthodoxy.
Whenever I encounter posts from my progressive friends that I do not agree with, or that I know are incorrect, or that I know are pure bovine excrement, I simply scroll past like an adult. My liberal friends rarely return the favor. There have been times when I’ve had to do battle with 4 or 5 angry leftists at the same time. Each time this happened I felt very much I was ambushed by a pack of rabid dogs.
None of my Conservative or Libertarian friends engage in the same type of bullying and harassing behavior that progressives engage in regularly. Just about all of my right leaning friends have been tormented by hoards of angry liberals. Just about all of my progressive friends have bullied and harassed me. That is the primary difference between the right and the left when it comes to social media.
It took me quite a while to figure out why liberals constantly engage in this holy war against posts that they do not agree with. Their goal is to bully and harass individuals who do not share their beliefs into silence. We are heretics to them. Freedom of speech is not a two-way street to leftists. They label posts that go against progressive groupthink as misinformation, or hate speech, or both. Then they declare all-out war on those individuals that dare think for themselves.
The only way I found to fight against this bullying and harassment is to unfriend those that attempt to bully me into silence. I tried to engage in rational debate and a respectful sharing of views and opinions. That was not well received at all. They responded with insults and tantrums. The bullying only escalated.
I firmly believe that every individual has a right to believe whatever they wish to believe, and to give voice to those beliefs however they wish. I firmly believe that no individual has the right to force their beliefs on any other individual. Sadly, those on the political left do not share these beliefs.
Conservatives, I certainly like to think, have great political ideas, such as believing in smaller, and therefore less expensive government, and we believe in aggressively pursuing overall public safety.
And that is where conservative political acumen, particularly in states like Illinois, ends. Much less so than liberals, we are people of the private, not public sector, and we are not constantly thinking about, or scheming, about politics. I’m pretty sure leftists think about politics as often as 16-year-old boys think about sex. In both situations, that’s too much, but conservatives need to have their political radar–and sonar–always switched on.
That is why the unhappy conservatives in Illinois need to begin now to plan for the 2028 vote to call for a constitutional convention. The current constitution, which is deeply flawed despite its relative youth, went into effect in 1970.
While the Illinois General Assembly can call for constitutional convention any time, Article XIV of the 1970 constitution stipulates that every 20 years the question of holding a “con-con” must be presented to voters. If 60 percent of voters–or a majority of those casting a ballot in that election–votes “Yes,” then a constitutional convention must follow. Voters in the next general election can choose to accept or reject the resulting document.
Four years from now–yeah, 2028.
But what about the 2024 presidential and congressional races? And the 2026 midterms? Yeah, they’re important too. But conservatives need a long game. A very long game. Make that a winning game.
Leftists plan for the expected as well as the unexpected. As for the latter, once the COVID lockdowns started, liberals were calling for widespread mail-in and early voting, as well as a plethora of ballot drop boxes.
They had contingences in already mind–and now Joe Biden is our president. Do you understand yet?
As for right now, we can start with talking about the many flaws of Illinois government, generating what urban activists call “street heat.”
A new Illinois constitution can attack those problems.
And there are so many problems in Illinois, which has been annually losing population for ten years.
Gerrymandering. This is a problem statewide. Saying that legislators draw their own districts is not correct. It’s the state House speaker and the state Senate president who drive the redistricting process. Independent commissions should draw General Assembly districts and for all counties and municipalities with more than 50,000 residents.
An attempt in 2016 to change the decennial redistricting process by a constitutional amendment was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
Legislative leaders. Boss Michael Madigan, a Chicago Democrat who is currently under indictment for racketeering, was House speaker for all but two years from 1983 until 2021. He’s been around for so long that Madigan was delegate to the 1970 constitutional convention. One of the arguments against calling for a con-con in 2008, when this issue last faced voters, was that Madigan wouldn’t be around forever. But he hung on for another 13 years. After Madigan was ousted from the speakership–amid a federal investigation–his replacement and the state Senate president drew another gerrymandered General Assembly remap. It was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker, breaking his campaign promise to veto partisan redistricting. Forgive me, I know it took me a while to get here, but House speakers and Senate presidents should be limited to single two-year terms.
Term limits are needed for all elected offices. Statewide, from municipal library boards up to governor, elected public officials should be limited to eight years in office. Just before Christmas, Chicago alderman Ed Burke, after 54 years in the City Council, was convicted on over a dozen corruption charges. A quick look at Madigan and Burke’s careers shows that they weren’t able to amass enough power to abuse it until they had been in office for about a decade. ‘Nuff said.
Illinois’ electoral votes. Liberals hate the Electoral College and Illinois conservatives hate that every four years every electoral vote in the Land of Lincoln goes to the Democratic presidential candidate. Instead, Illinois needs to distribute its electoral votes in the same manner Nebraska and Maine do it. The presidential candidate who wins the most votes in Illinois gets two electoral votes. As for the rest of Illinois, the candidate who wins the most votes in a congressional district–Illinois currently has 15–gains that district’s electoral vote. I suspect liberals won’t be on board because winner-take-all benefits them in the Prairie State, but didn’t I mention that leftists hate the Electoral College? Oh, speaking of Nebraska, the Cornhusker State has a unicameral state legislature. All Canadian provinces have the same system. Just saying, but Maybe Illinois doesn’t need a state House and a state Senate?
Cash bail. The most fundamental duty of any government is to protect its citizens. The SAFE-T Act, which went into effect three months ago, abolishes cash bail. It’s bad legislation. Re-establish cash bail as part of the law enforcement process.
Township government. Illinois has more units of government, despite being only the sixth-most populous state, than any other state. Pennsylvania is a distant second. Illinois needs to remove the deadwood, starting with township government, a 19th-century relic.
State holidays. This may seem petty, but holiday creep is a problem in Illinois. Limit state holidays to federal holidays and Lincoln’s Birthday. Require a 2/3 vote in the General Assembly to add a new state holiday. Sorry state workers, you need to show up to work on Casimir Pulaski Day, General Election Day, and the day after Thanksgiving. As someone with a December birthday, the day after Thanksgiving is an ideal one for me to renew my driver’s license.
Rotten schools. Give parents the right to send their children to private schools with vouchers. Establish home schooling as a parental right. According to the latest Illinois Report Card, only 35 percent of students read at grade level and just 27 percent of them are proficient in mathematics.
Too many statewide offices. The constitutional offices of treasurer and comptroller should be combined, and the position of lieutenant governor should be abolished. Place the attorney general next in line when the governor’s office is vacant.
Corruption. But add one more statewide elected office, that of inspector general, who will be responsible for investigating corruption from the governor’s office down to village halls.
Lockdowns. Permit the governor to issue statewide stay-at-home orders only after a 2/3 vote by the General Assembly.
Pensions, the 800-pound beast. The 1970 constitution has a pension guarantee clause. Drop it and establish a non-partisan commission to resolve state and municipal underfunded pension plans. And compel new state workers to pay into Social Security but make 401(k) programs available to them.
I know, Illinois is a deep blue state and I’m a dreamer. But we have four years–almost five, really–to plan for the 2028 vote for an Illinois constitutional convention.
You have your new year’s resolution.
John Ruberry, a fifth-generation Illinois, regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
In an op-ed from last month that was credited to the Washington Post editorial board–ominously, it was published to mark Thanksgiving Day–readers are warned about the continuous ideological divide among young people.
Ideological polarization is now a mainstay of American politics. Millions of young Americans went home this Thanksgiving and potentially found themselves in uncomfortable situations with relatives — especially uncles, apparently — who love former president Donald Trump, hate vaccination or think the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection had very fine people on both sides.
Of course, the Washington Post doesn’t mention in that op-ed the many failed and unpopular leftist policies of the Joe Biden administration, such as reckless spending and an attack on fossil fuels that have caused the worst inflation rates in decades, open borders that have migrants sleeping in police stations and worse, an American-weakness approach to foreign affairs that has led to wars in Ukraine and Israel, and ramming anti-nature transgenderism down our throats.
Locally, our major cities are becoming unlivable because of rampant lawlessness caused by full-time criminals who are emboldened by catch-and-release Democratic so-called prosecutors.
When, you are a liberal, you are never wrong. Never. Just ask a liberal about that.
More from that editorial:
The problem with polarization, though, is that it has effects well beyond the political realm, and these can be difficult to anticipate. One example is the collapse of American marriage. A growing number of young women are discovering that they can’t find suitable male partners. As a whole, men are increasingly struggling with, or suffering from, higher unemployment, lower rates of educational attainment, more drug addiction and deaths of despair, and generally less purpose and direction in their lives. But it’s not just that. There’s a growing ideological divide, too. Since Mr. Trump’s election in 2016, the percentage of single women ages 18-30 who identify as liberal has shot up from slightly over 20 percent to 32 percent. Young men have not followed suit. If anything, they have grown more conservative.
However, that polarization is the fault of libs. Yes, I said it.
Look at what Axios, in a biased piece, said in 2021. The stats come from a Generation Lab/Axios poll:
Between the lines: Democrats argue that modern GOP positions, spearheaded by former President Trump — are far outside of the mainstream and polite conversation [bold print emphasis mine].
Some have expressed unyielding [again, my emphasis] positions on matters of identity — including abortion, LGBTQ rights and immigration — where they argue human rights, and not just policy differences, are at stake.
Women are more likely than men to take a strong partisan stance in their personal choices.
41% of women would go on a date with someone who voted for the opposing candidate, compared to 67% of men.
A woman named Lyz, who has a Substack titled Men Yell at Me, doesn’t think the Post op-ed goes far-leftist enough. Her post has the headline “Liberal women should not marry Republican men.” Lyz used to be married to a conservative man. And her idea of “compromise” is that liberals–by now a theme will be apparent here–are always right.
The use of the word “someone” here is particularly nefarious, because it’s not just “someone” being asked to compromise. It’s women. It’s women being chided for not partnering with men who do not agree that they should have the right to an abortion, equal pay, a living wage, and childcare for those inevitable children they ought to have. (Because, in case you missed it, there is a moral panic about women not having babies as well.) It’s women being asked to martyr themselves on the cross of heterosexual marriage in order to prop up the status quo.
I’m a conservative and many of my friends are. Not one of us doesn’t believe in “equal pay.” Some conservatives are pro-abortion–but almost no liberals are. I could go on, but for the sake of brevity I won’t.
Returning to marriage: Successful relationships involve compromise. And that does not mean changing your political stances. What happened to, “We agree to disagree?”
Some liberals–maybe most–don’t get it.
“It’s my way or the highway,” leads to traffic jams filled with cars with no passengers.
Dan Bongino often says, “The problem is we as conservatives think liberals are people with bad ideas. Liberals think conservatives are bad people with ideas. There’s a big difference there.”
Indeed, there is.
John Ruberry, who has been happily married for nearly three decades, regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
Blogger on the right with a friend near Augusta, Georgia in 2021
By John Ruberry
Last week my wife was invited to a party hosted by one of my daughter’s friends.
Who wasn’t? Me.
There was some-and-forth, but my daughter explained that the host, who has been to my home and whose mother I’ve known for years through an old job, didn’t think I’d be “comfortable” there. After some probing, it became clear that it was my conservative political views that were the problem for them.
I pressed my daughter, “What kind of ogre do they think I am?” Well, I muscled my way into an invite–after all, I’ve lived all of my life in the Chicago area, so I know all about muscling–and do you know what? I showed up to the party. The guests found me whimsical and charming. In other words–I was lovable myself.
Over on Facebook I’ve been unfriended by many old friends–now unfriends–and at least one relative over my posts there.
In addition to my Sunday blog entries on this site I have my own blog, Marathon Pundit. The rollicking comment threads on my Facebook page–or more accurately, argument threads–bring traffic to my blog, and sometimes, here at Da Tech Guy. Friends–in the flesh ones that is–as well as co-workers, look forward to the next tiff on my Facebook page. I’m reminded of that constantly. And as I am now in my sixth decade, my real career, parts of which involve writing, is winding down. Moreso than ever, as William Shakespeare said to the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who, “Words are my trade.” Well, maybe not completely, but I do earn money blogging and I hope to earn more.
Hey, I gotta eat.
And I absolutely do believe in what I write. And I voted for Donald J. Trump four times–twice in the Illinois Republican Primary and twice in the general election. I’m proud of those votes and I’m still 80/20 in regard to the former president.
About those old friends: Many of them are carrying on without me. Sadly, but I suspect they see me as someone who has transformed himself into an SNL caricature of a conservative, a cross between the Muppets’ Sam Eagle and Archie Bunker, but sans the bigotry on the last one.
I have long ears–and because of the blog–a long tongue. Oh, I stole that last line from Lawrence of Arabia.
The invitations to get-togethers have stopped coming from most of them. I’ve been cancelled.
Bah humbug.
Oh, please don’t worry about me. I have a wife a daughter who love me. And many new friends. And I’m still in touch with some of those old friends. During my most recent vacations, in Alaska and Georgia, I re-connected with two of them–and I met a third friend in Texas, who I met through my blogging. That’s me up there on the right last year, with a high school friend who lives near Augusta, Georgia, who I hadn’t seen since we graduated so many years ago. That moment is my favorite of the current decade.
A new friend–we met through Twitter–invited me for coffee when he visited Illinois this spring.
Even if I was really even partially Sam Eagle/Archie Bunker, your humble blogger is so much more. I work in an industry, automotive, that utterly fascinates people and I have numerous tips in regard to buying a car–without being ripped off. Your Marathon Pundit, currently nursing an injured hip, is really a runner. I’ve run 33 marathons. In addition to the blogging, I have another side hustle, stock photography. On the job, my real one, I’ve showed clients my portfolio, a couple of them are now selling pics online too.
I’m not a one trick eagle.
Yet it is only Sam Eagle/Archie Bunker the liberals only see. Perhaps that is all they want to see. Such is life as a conservative in Deep Blue Illinois.
Maybe I am the bad guy. On the flipside, I don’t believe so. According to a couple of polls, one here and another one here, it is the denizens of the left who are more likely to unfriend someone on social media than conservatives over politics. Oh yeah, liberals. The ones who so often have “Coexist” bumper stickers on their cars and “Hate Has No Home Here” signs on their lawn.
Everyone is welcome in their world. Except for folks who don’t share their political beliefs. As for myself, I’ve never unfriended anyone on social media because of their political views.
Well, this is not the Christmas message you are accustomed to, but please let me reiterate, I am fine–please don’t tell Mrs. Marathon Pundit to hide the sharp objects.
Christmas is a time for welcoming others. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s nephew always invited the miser to his home for Christmas dinner.
Next Sunday is New Year’s Day. As Robert Burns wrote, “Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon.”
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
And God bless us, everyone.
Never forget.
Now it’s time for me to get dressed in my finest and head over to my sister’s home for a Christmas feast.
A special thanks goes to that friend in Georgia for permission to use the above photograph for this blog entry.
John Ruberry regularly blogs from the Chicago area at Marathon Pundit.
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