AMA: Fuzzy Bear

[YE]

Favorite Democrat?

Do you regret voting for Bush in 2000?

I've long advocated that the Democrats de-nationalize guns, abortion, and immigration (if a Democrat is for those things, great, if they're more moderate/somewhat conservative on them, great, and leave banning types of guns and abortion out of the Dem platform) largely since wedge issues like those have contributed to polarization. A strategy of which I'd assume you'd like. Would you be more of partisan Democratic voter if say the GOP caused an economic meltdown and the Dems mostly went the route lised above culturally with the Bernie Sanders route on economics or would you stay a swing voter?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Favorite Democrat?

Do you regret voting for Bush in 2000?

I've long advocated that the Democrats de-nationalize guns, abortion, and immigration (if a Democrat is for those things, great, if they're more moderate/somewhat conservative on them, great, and leave banning types of guns and abortion out of the Dem platform) largely since wedge issues like those have contributed to polarization. A strategy of which I'd assume you'd like. Would you be more of partisan Democratic voter if say the GOP caused an economic meltdown and the Dems mostly went the route lised above culturally with the Bernie Sanders route on economics or would you stay a swing voter?

Off the top of my head, my favorite Democrat is Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH).  Of the prospective Democrats running for President, I like Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) the best.

The problem for me is that the Democrats have gone so far down the road of nationalizing the social liberalism and making those issued defining issues that I don't know if there's anything going back.  That being said, I am leery of the practice of the GOP pushing "booms" that go bust, mostly for political reasons.  I thought Obama, for example, created a slow, steady recovery to where we really did recover from an economic event which did structural damage to the country.  While I see some regulations as a bit unnecessary, the massive repeal of regulations is something I am concerned about, especially for businesses that play with other people's money.

I regret my vote for Bush because of the unnecessary wars he got us into.  Those wars undid the national unity from 9/11 because they were about a personal aganda and not the national well-being.  I'm not sure what kind of President Al Gore would have been, however. 

[Torie]

How when it comes to policies that the Democratic Party tends to embrace, as opposed to what individual Democrats say (including some on this forum), do you believe the Democratic Party manifests its hostility to Evangelical Christians, to the extent that it caused you after prayer to change parties, even though on economic issues, you tend to be quite "liberal?" Has the degree of this hostility stayed the same, or increased or decreased, since you changed parties?

[Fuzzy Bear]

How when it comes to policies that the Democratic Party tends to embrace, as opposed to what individual Democrats say (including some on this forum), do you believe the Democratic Party manifests its hostility to Evangelical Christians, to the extent that it caused you after prayer to change parties, even though on economic issues, you tend to be quite "liberal?" Has the degree of this hostility stayed the same, or increased or decreased, since you changed parties?

The hostility has ramped up from where it was a few loose cannons sending up trial balloons to a Mainstream Posture, expected of its candidates. 

The only Evangelicals exempt from this are, of course, black Evangelicals, who vote Democratic as a group, and some of whom participate in "Souls To The Polls" efforts.  Here, the double standard for Democrats is shining its brightest.  Democrats rightly call out Evangelicals for taking postures that are callous toward the poor, but liberal churches (and even some black Evangelical churches) bend their doctrines to accomodate abortion and same sex marriage.  Whatever one's position is on these issues, I will state that Scripture does not support the pro-choice, pro-SSM position.  Now I do not believe that the Bible mandates employment discrimination, government jackboots kicking down doors, Draconian sodomy laws.  I do not believe that the Bible sanctions wanton cruelty to gay persons, or the bombing of abortion cliinics.  I do believe that abortion is a matter of many folks truly not knowing what they are advocating or what they are doing (as opposed to, say, a hired killer or a person who shoots someone in a robbery), but I believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and I believe that  what it says on these topics.

(I would also like to point out that Scripture NEVER condemned interracial marriage.  Never.  Scripture DOES command Christians to not be unqually yoked to unbelievers, but this is a wise commandment.  The most frustrated people I know are believers who deliberately married unbelievers, knowing the warning, and are frustrated because they married someone who thinks the most important thing in their lives is foolishness.  Any Christian who asserts this is in error; there is NO Biblical basis for this.)

What the Democrats have done over recent years is actively seek to frame Fundamentalist preaching of the Word as "hate speech" because the Word of God is at odds with their secular beliefs.  Their goal is to get the average, secularized voter, to believe that what is going on in your local Assembly of God or conservative Baptist Church is only one or two degrees removed from a KKK Rally or an alt-right Volksfront event.  Hillary Clinton's "Deplorables" comment brought that out into the open; she DEPLORES Fundamentalist Christianlty, and she views its adherents as "Deplorables". 

And this crowd isn't going to just let this happen.  No, siree.  One of the gifts of last campaign was the e-mail revelations of John Podesta and Jen Palmieri, two of the lowest forms of scum ever to rise to the top of a political campaign.  They actually discussed ways by which they could infiltrate the Roman Catholic Church with liberals to where they could, by popular force, attempt to alter its positions on the social issues, abortion in particular.  They talked about a "Catholic Spring".  (No talk about a "Muslim Spring" or a Muslim Reformation; the enemy of their enemy really is their friend!)  Think about it; a political covert action designed to "correct" theology.  Isn't God the one to bring about "correction"? 

And I dread the sort of implications this would have on other public policy.  Would legal doctrines be developed to ensure that Biblical Christians would be at a disadvantage in Family Law because of their "Hateful" views?  Hillary Clinton hasn't made much of a secret that she'd be OK with that; it's how you get this to come to be.  This is why controlling appointments to the Federal Judiciary is so key for this crowd; they need to accomplish their agenda by judicial fiat because in the light of day that is the legislative process, their positions could not carry. 

Not all Democratic pols are this way, but the Hillary Clinton crowd definitely is; their goal is to create a majority of social liberals, while allowing liberals to sign off on the "global economy".  Thomas Frank noted this in What's the Matter With Kansas? where he called this Bill Clinton's "criminally stupid strategy".  And Hillary has quadrupled down on this strategy; she was always a moderate-to-conservative on economics, but she has always been as leftist as she dared on social issues.  Our society has rendered these positions less daring these days. 

I have voted for socially liberal Democrats at times when I found the Republican repulsive for other reasons.  Bill Nelson over Katherine Harris and Connie Mack IV.  Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio.  (If he were running higher in the polls, I'd have voted for Kendrick Meek over Marco Rubio.)  Any breathing entity over Rick Scott.  I will do so again, in all likelihood.  But I will never be a person that has real influence in the Democratic Party; they'll take my vote, but they won't listen to my case.  The GOP is a bit better on that, all things considered. 

[junior chįmp]

Fuzzy, no joke and disagreements aside, what are some of your favorite albums?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Fuzzy, no joke and disagreements aside, what are some of your favorite albums?

Sha Na Na "The Night Is Still Young

Commander Cody "Live From Deep In The Heart Of Texas"

Carman "The Champion"

The Guess Who "Share the Land"

Abba "Arrival"

The Kendalls "Just Like Real People"

The Hues Corporation "Rockin' Soul"

The Plastic Ono Band "Live Peace In Toronto 1969"

Belinda Carlisle "Runaway Horses"

I have a number of vinyl Doo Wop anthologies, and I love REAL doo-wop music of the 1950s.  I view  doo-wop the way Bill Monroe and Ricky Scaggs view Bluegrass; it is the Folk Music of their people.  Doo-Wop streetcorner melodies ARE the folk songs of Urban America of the 1950s, and I hope that as much of that music can be preserved.

My favorite religious music is varied.  I love all of Carman's albums, and I think that most of the skeptics at Atlas would like him as well.  Carman is an artist who is also an Evangelist; his works proclaim the Gospel in modern genres, with song and dance, and they are true to Scripture.  For easy Gospel listening, I'll go on YouTube and listen to hymns by The Chuck Wagon Gang; it's a Southern Gospel genre, and it's enjoyable.

I have listened to very little new secular music since the mid-1990s.  That includes country, most of which encourages drinking and behaviors other than what I'd want my sons to emulate.

What a lot of folks don't realize is that in the 1970s, Sha Na Na wrote and recorded a number of modern songs in modern genres that were excellent and creative.  I consider "The Night Is Still Young" to be one of the most underrated albums of pop music ever.  If folks get it, they'll be surprised.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Forgive me if you've already mentioned this, but who did you vote for in the 2016 primaries (presidential + Senate)?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Forgive me if you've already mentioned this, but who did you vote for in the 2016 primaries (presidential + Senate)?

Trump for President.

Whoever the guy was that opposed Rubio for Senate.

[BBD]

Who is your least favorite politician currently in office?

[Fuzzy Bear]

Thanks for taking questions!

What shifts do you think we'll see with the two major Party's platforms and coalitions by the time the 2030's are upon us? Do you think America will be well positioned for the future by this time?

I believe that the parties will each become more moderate.  Not to the degree they once were, but I think we're at the breaking point with where we are.  The "Religious Right" will decrease in force as old folks die out and a less religious millenial generation comes to power.  I think the platforms will stay the same, but I see the parties taking on more moderates over time, as was once the case.

I see Jews becoming more Republican on the order of how Italians and Irish have become more Republican since Ellis Island. 

I think the demographic struggle between the parties will be for the votes of the middle class and upper middle class Hispanic, Asian, and Muslim voters.  Muslim voters, like Jewish voters, are not especially numerous, but are strategically concentrated in our larger states.  Asians are economically prosperous, and there is tension between their Democratic loyalty and their conservative family outlook.  Hispanics, too, will be wooed to the GOP as they become more upwardly mobile.  I do see some kind of Grand Bargain on immigration coming forth from Trump that will at least ratchet down the level of intensit on the issue.

Something, somehow, will cause the hyper-partisanship to ratchet itself down.  America needs a new "Era of Good Feeling".  Perhaps that will come about by 2030, as people finally tire of the partisan wars we have now.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Who is your least favorite politician currently in office?

FL Governor Rick Scott (R), without question.

MI Governor Rick Snyder (R) probably ought to be first; there's no excuse for how he handled the drinking water problem of Flint, MI.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is my least favorite Democrat; a blithering idiot.  She doesn't rent too much space in my head because she's so insignificant. 

Let's not forget Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI).  He epitomizes the war on the middle class in his treatment of public employees.

[fhtagn]

What would you consider to be your drink of choice?
And if there is a single politician you could share said drink with,  past or present, who would it be and why?

[Fuzzy Bear]

What would you consider to be your drink of choice?
And if there is a single politician you could share said drink with,  past or present, who would it be and why?

I've been a sober alcoholic for the last 34 years and counting.

If I were to have my favorite coffee, I'd have it with Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who I consider the most dedicated House member on behalf of the working class over the last quarter century.

[fhtagn]

I've been a sober alcoholic for the last 34 years and counting.

Whoops, my apologies.

Congrats on getting off and staying off it for so long!

[Fuzzy Bear]

I've been a sober alcoholic for the last 34 years and counting.

Whoops, my apologies.

Congrats on getting off and staying off it for so long!

No problem. 

I do give God the glory for this.  My life, at one time, was very much centered around the things that went with drinking (bars, parties, etc.) that I once could not imagine life without.

[libertpaulian]

What denomination do you belong to?

Thoughts on Mainline Protestantism?

Thoughts on people like Rachel Held Evans and Jen Hatmaker?

[Meclazine for Israel]

Abba "Arrival"

Right on. Great album.i didn't think Abba cracked it in rhe USA.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I really respect your deeply held convictions and think you are a good poster, but I do want to ask why you speak about movement conservatives with almost a disdain for them?

[Fuzzy Bear]

What denomination do you belong to?

Thoughts on Mainline Protestantism?

Thoughts on people like Rachel Held Evans and Jen Hatmaker?

Currently, I am a member of the Church of God (Cleveland, TN).  That's that name of the denomination; it's a Pentecostal denomination.  I have been a member of the Assemblies of God.  I am a Trinitarian Pentecostal, so there are a number of denominations I could easily be a member of.  Indeed, I could comfortably be a member of a Baptist or a Nazerene Church in some instances. 

As to Mainline Protestantism:  To the extent that a "Mainline" denomination truly accepts the doctrine of "Justification by Faith, Alone", it's a Christian denomination.  This is the doctrine of Eternal Significance, the doctrine that states how one achieves Eternal Life with God. 

My concern with Mainline Protestantism is that it is slowly, but surely, compromising on this doctrine by watering down its stances on Creation, the Virgin Birth, whether or not Jesus actually rose again, whether or not Jesus is actually the Son of God and a member of the Godhead.  These issues are CENTRAL to how one gets to Heaven, and why people need Jesus as the ONLY way to get there.

If man evolved, there is no original sin, and no need for a Savior.  If Jesus is not the Son of God, His Death had no effect on the Eternity of any person.  If Jesus did not rise from the dead, after living a sinless life and giving his life for us, there was no point of his dying, because there was no Victory.  Mainline Protestantism is compromising on THESE doctrines; not all of it, but a significant portion of it.  A Gospel that says we'll all get to Heaven, or implies that we'll get there if we only behave and do good works is, as the Apostle Paul said to the Galatians, "really no Gospel at all".  These are issues of ETERNAL significance.  Much of what is talked about on Atlas regarding Christianity is of little or no Eternal significant, but the doctrine of Salvation, of "Justiifcation By Faith, Alone" is the watershed doctrine of Jesus' Church; the Doctrine upon which His Church stands or falls.

As to Rachel Held Evans and Jen Hatmaker, I have conflicted views. 

Jen Hatmaker is just flat-out wrong on her position on SSM and LGBT "inclusion".  I say this not because of what I think, but what God Says in Scripture.  My concern is not that LGBT will be in the church.  I want them to be in church.  My concern is that when a church sanctions activity that God has UNQUESTIONABLY (according to Scripture) declared to be sin, that church creates a barrier to an sinner's reconciliation with God, and THAT has Eternal Significance.  A person who, while engaging in sin, is informed of what Scripture says, but does not repent and seek to have that sin removed from their life is a person in willful rebellion to God.  Now if this person is TAUGHT by their church leaders that SSM is OK, SOMEONE is going to have Eternal consequences, and Jen Hatmaker is tops on that list.  The Bible puts special responsibility on Teachers in the Church; Teachers that willfully teach False Doctrine will be held responsible for the effects of that on those they teach.

Rachel Held Evans voted for Hillary while being pro-life.  That's in the permissive Will of God; I voted for Obama in 2012.  I don't think the abortion question is the litmus test for how a Christian shoudl vote, given current circumstances.  I do think that when you move into the area of questioning Creation, you get into the area of questioning the Fall of Man, and Man's need for a Savior, and THEN you have opened the door to a false Gospel that leads not to Heaven, but to Eternal Separation from God.  She's on shaky ground.

[Fuzzy Bear]

I really respect your deeply held convictions and think you are a good poster, but I do want to ask why you speak about movement conservatives with almost a disdain for them?

At a certain level, they are no better than latte' liberals.  Their policy initiatives are designed to shift more wealth to the wealthiest in the name of Freedom.  They really don't have regard for the working class beyond some gratitude for their going to work so that they don't have to pay taxes for their welfare.  And they seem to have disdain for what it takes to build and maintain a middle class society.  Their goal seems to be solely to provide cheap labor for industry, with maximum power over that workforce, all in the name of "Freedom" and "Liberty".  They are really not concerned with our oligopolistic economic system; they talk "Free Enterprise" without being intellectually honest enough to acknowledge that the concept involves an economy with minimal barriers to entry.

"Movement Conservatives" are also some of the biggest culprits in the "Cash Out America" program that created our "Global Economy".  Dan Quayle, a guy that I basically like, was, while VP, chairman of the "Competitiveness Council".  Was that "Competitiveness Council" in the interest of American Workers, or of corporate interests that provided campaign cash to the GOP?  Wealth and Jobs left the country, but the wealthy got wealthier, compared to the rest of us.

Rick Scott, a man I loathe, said in his Inaugural Address as Governor of FL:  "Prosperity comes from the Private Sector.  Only from the Private Sector.  Scumbag that he is, he's not wrong on this.  But Nelson Rockefeller, the arch enemy of Movement Conservatives, governed because he realized the corollary to what Scott uttered, that STABILITY comes from the PUBLIC SECTOR, and ONLY from the Public Sector.  There are many reasons for this, but the single biggest reason for this reality is that the things that stabilize society and create a middle class culture are things that, by and large, are not profitable for private enterprise, but are NEEDED, nonetheless.  Schools, law enforcement, corrections, public safety, and even public parks and facilities; these things stabilize a middle-class society.  Movement Conservatives have disdained these things; they have become reflective of the thin veneer of rich folks that run small Southern towns.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Abba "Arrival"

Right on. Great album.i didn't think Abba cracked it in rhe USA.

People laughed at me in the 1970s when I suggested that ABBA was the most popular group in the World, until one of the guys in the conversation pointed out the YUGE number of fans that ABBA had OUTSIDE the United States.  They were the biggest rock group in the world for a while.

[courts]

fun music.ignore snobs

[Calthrina950]

I have a few questions for you. You are a Obama-Trump voter, as I have noticed from your posts. Why did you vote for him? And why do you continue to support him? Also, what do you think about the "partisan" behavior and "lack of decorum" that seem to mark many of the users on this forum? Are they reflective of the problems within our political culture at large?

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

What do you think about William Jennings Bryan?

[Fuzzy Bear]

I have a few questions for you. You are a Obama-Trump voter, as I have noticed from your posts. Why did you vote for him? And why do you continue to support him? Also, what do you think about the "partisan" behavior and "lack of decorum" that seem to mark many of the users on this forum? Are they reflective of the problems within our political culture at large?

Perhaps my taste in music offers a clue:

fun music.ignore snobs

My vote for Trump in the primary was a rejection of the Globalist agenda of the GOP Establishment, period, and that includes the Open Borders agenda of the GOP Establishment.  My vote for Trump in the GE was a rejection of Hillary Clinton, who represents the worst of the Democratic Party; a Feminist Leftist on social issues who personally loathes Evangelical Christians, coupled with the kind of neoliberal economic policies that were tempered by questionable flip-flopping.

I have not decided to support Trump for re-election.  I will likely not support another Republican, but I might vote Democratic for President depending on the nominee and circumstances.

I continue to support Trump because of the nature of the opposition.  The "resistance" is an un-American concept that suggests Trump is some kind of abomination.  He is not, and folks who are making him out to be are, quite frankly, ridiculous, even more ridiculous that many of Obama's strident critics during his tenure of office.  He's someone folks disagree with, but he's not the Antichrist.  He's irreverent, and sometimes downright disrespectful toward some folks, but some of these folks have, quite frankly, compromised the public interest and got away with it because of their "respectable" image.  (The entire Bush clan comes to mind.)  I find the Mueller case against him rather underwhelming and unconvincing, and I see the investigation against him as folks investigating Trump, and not investigating a crime, and folks should be concerned about that concept.  America is a place where we don't investigate folks just because we're curious. 

The partisanship and lack of decorum is typical of younger politically active types.  When I was younger, I was an uber-partisan Democrat, and quite biting.  In some of the campaigns I was involved in, I was considered something of a bomb-thrower, writing flaming letters to editors and stinging press releases, exaggerating complaints about other candidates no end.  What happened to me was that I moved from NY to FL and stopped being active in partisan politics and campaigns.  I also frequently found myself where I was the most liberal person in a conservative environment (when I was a mortgage broker) and when I was the most conservative person in a liberal environment (when I was a substance abuse counselor).  When I was a Democrat, I was considered something of a conservative Democrat; nowadays, I'd describe myself as a moderate Republican if you asked me what kind of Republican I was. 

I've lived a very different life than the one I envisioned for myself when I was 21 (forty years ago).  I've come to see life from both sides in ways that can only come with time and experience.  It's why the younger Fuzzy Bear was quite the partisan, and why the older Fuzzy Bear is not.  The lack of decorum is part of our culture, to be sure, but it's also a part of youth.  I assure you that the younger Fuzzy Bear would have a lot more reported and deleted posts than what I've racked up to date (3 or 4 reported, none moderated).