Current Events > A Progressive Arkansas Republican primary challenger appears

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://theintercept.com/2017/05/19/meet-the-pastor-running-as-a-progressive-republican-to-get-big-money-out-of-politics/

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY wasn’t always an organization dominated by the ultra-wealthy. While today most of its federal representatives in Congress are trying to pass a gigantic tax cut for the rich disguised as a health care bill, it was once a party that liberated American slaves, established the Environmental Protection Agency, and broke up enormous business monopolies.

That’s the GOP that 42-year-old Arkansas pastor Robb Ryerse is trying to revive. He is the first Republican to be endorsed by Brand New Congress, a grassroots group started by former Bernie Sanders staffers to encourage Democrats and Republicans who have never served in office before to run for Congress.
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Yeah but what are his stances without me having to click on the article likes lazy sack of shit
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He's a pastor so it sounds like he's liberal but so religious that he sides with Republicans.

(First instinct without reading article)
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anti border wall
pro public option (medicare for all)

With freedom from the need to fundraise from the Kochs and the fossil fuel industry, Ryerse also realizes the threat of climate change. “My faith tradition teaches that God has given us this world to enjoy and steward,” he proclaimed. “We need to take action on climate change. We need to make sure we are investing in green energy.”

On social issues, Ryerse sounded notes closer to Republican orthodoxy, describing himself as a supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights, as well as pro-life. But while many pro-life Republicans have sought to criminalize abortion, Ryerse has a different approach.

“I don’t think that criminalization of abortion has been proven to reduce the number of abortions,” he said, offering alternatives to reduce the number of abortions without punishing those who have them. “We’re actually seeing over the last eight years with an increase in funding for health care and education and fighting poverty we’re seeing abortion levels at their lowest rate that they’ve ever been even before Roe v. Wade so I think that’s the path to be on.”
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inb4hescrushedintheprimary
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Gojak_v3 posted...

inb4hescrushedintheprimary

no doubt

the biggest problem is probably the fact that there is gonna be a democratic primary most likely

we have open primaries here so if there weren't democratic interest I'd probably be in talks to pack the primary
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gal durn democrats

their leading candidate in this race is a dude who lost a fuckin primary in a county-level race in 2016 lmao
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Was this the race the party wanted to recruit you for or am I thinking of someone else?

Also it's good to see some progressive/liberal Republicans popping back up
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you're thinking of me, but I was being looked at for state level races, not federal (and I don't live in that district)

I agree that it's good to see. Republicans in this state used to be much more progressive than the Democrats, like up until Reagan maybe. Even after that there were plenty of centrists and moderates, though.
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Hopefully this can get done.
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Balrog0 posted...

you're thinking of me, but I was being looked at for state level races, not federal (and I don't live in that district)

ah I see

Balrog0 posted...

I agree that it's good to see. Republicans in this state used to be much more progressive than the Democrats, like up until Reagan maybe. Even after that there were plenty of centrists and moderates, though.

Huh that's actually pretty interesting. I always assumed that the liberal Republicans were mostly confined the the northeast/east coast.

And also to go back to your other comment

Balrog0 posted...

their leading candidate in this race is a dude who lost a fuckin primary in a county-level race in 2016 lmao

i never would've thought a year ago, in terms of Democratic candidates

that a washed up country music star with healthcare debt would be competitive in Montana

or an indie filmmaker who worked for al-Jazeera would be competitive in Newt Gingrich's old district

who the hell knows anymore. may as well toss shit at the wall and see what sticks
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Doom_Art posted...

Huh that's actually pretty interesting. I always assumed that the liberal Republicans were mostly confined the the northeast/east coast.

That's true.
We got an export: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winthrop_Rockefeller

"Rockefeller Republicans" were a very real thing in Arkansas until sort-of-recently. It was Democrats that were against integration and Republicans who eventually pushed it through.



Doom_Art posted...

i never would've thought a year ago, in terms of Democratic candidates

that a washed up country music star with healthcare debt would be competitive in Montana

or an indie filmmaker who worked for al-Jazeera would be competitive in Newt Gingrich's old district

who the hell knows anymore. may as well toss shit at the wall and see what sticks

Oh yeah, I get it. And usually they need to pay hefty fees to file their candidacy, so it helps the state party even if they end up doing nothing but filing.

Still, though, you'd think that like someone else... even the candidate who beat him in the primary but then lost in the general election for example... might step up
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What a weird Republican. Sounds promising. Any step to push out the crazies of the Republican party is a good step.
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M-Watcher posted...

What a weird Republican. Sounds promising. Any step to push out the crazies of the Republican party is a good step.

Yeah they're not going anywhere when yer basically a democrat calling yerself a republican. Ultimately the label doesn't really matter. The ideology is what defines them politically.
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Gojak_v3 posted...

Yeah they're not going anywhere when yer basically a democrat calling yerself a republican. Ultimately the label doesn't really matter. The ideology is what defines them politically.

it's really just more about incumbency and money
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I've seen the case made that Republican entryism is the way to go in the south, given the GOP's dominance in the region, but frankly I'm skeptical.

I read somewhere that when the South was a Democratic stronghold, conservatives would run in Dem primaries to keep the ideas relevant.
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Antifar posted...

I've seen the case made that Republican entryism is the way to go in the south, given the GOP's dominance in the region, but frankly I'm skeptical.

Me too.

Antifar posted...

I read somewhere that when the South was a Democratic stronghold, conservatives would run in Dem primaries to keep the ideas relevant.

What do you mean? Like, before or after the southern strategy?

Because I would say that, pre-southern strategy, it would be incorrect to assume conservatives would feel out of place in the state Democratic party. Like I said, Rockefeller Republicans were really a thing and even before that, during reconstruction and Jim Crow, it was Republicans who let blacks vote in their primaries (for instance) at least here.
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Honestly, until after the 2016 election, there were still a lot of democratic state representatives who openly (though not exactly publicly) talked about how they were democrats purely for legacy purposes -- e.g., "my great grand daddy was a democrat so I'm a democrat, but I don't like abortions or this racial equality stuff"

All of them have now officially switched parties now though, with one or two exceptions
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Balrog0 posted...

What do you mean? Like, before or after the southern strategy?

Like, during even. We talk about the big southern switch from the civil rights era, but Democrats still controlled a lot of those states even through the 90s.
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Antifar posted...

Like, during even. We talk about the big southern switch from the civil rights era, but Democrats still controlled a lot of those states even through the 90s.

yeah, that includes Arkansas - it was actually run by democrats up until 2012

I guess the part I don't get is that you're saying conservatives would run just to keep the idea relevant... I would say conservatives ran because southern democrats were mostly conservative. It wasn't an entryism kind of thing, just normal politics
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tag
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Seems like a smart and respectable man. Wish we had more people like him in office.
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