- After WWII one of the whole reasons behind the European Union was that the countries in Europe should be interdependent. Why? Because when you're interdependent it's a lot harder to go to war. Europeans realized they were strongest when they were part of an alliance, not when they were standing alone. Interdependence isn't the same thing as dependence. The Germans found that out when they realized they depended on Russia for natural gas supplies, but Russia didn't really need them. It's probably not a good thing how much the US depends on production in China, but that doesn't mean that all manufacturing should be done in the US and the US should be an isolated island. That leads to weakness. Look at North Korea, for example.
- The US is the furthest thing possible from an empty cup. The US is incredibly wealthy and powerful. It was easily able to donate food aid to the poorest places in Africa without hurting Americans at all. In fact, this was a major subsidy for American farmers. In exchange, there was a lot of goodwill towards the US in Africa. The best African scholars wanted to study in American universities, and often to move to the US and provide the US with their talents. Now they're going other places. And, if you're going to prioritize your own people, you should actually do something for your own people. Prioritizing your own people isn't tax cuts for the rich, which is the MAGA agenda. Maybe the reason it felt like an "empty cup" to some people is that the richest of the rich have been getting obscenely rich while the poorer just keep getting poorer, but that's the MAGA agenda.
- The election process is secure. Illegal immigrants can't and don't vote. In some places legal immigrants can vote in city and state elections... and why not? They're here legally, they pay taxes. Why shouldn't they also get a vote? The idea that illegal immigrants vote or that elections are insecure is just MAGA propaganda. Occasionally people have been found to have been voting illegally, but it's often Republicans. Trump voted many times in places he didn't live, but nobody on the right raised a stink about that. But, this happens in small enough numbers that it very rarely has any effect.
- Sure, veterans should be taken care of. Both parties failed there. Just look how hard Jon Stewart fought to get 9/11 victims health care problems covered by the government. It's more typically the republicans who cut off aid to veterans because they hate the idea of anybody getting government benefits. And, again, the US can take care of US veterans and take care of the poorest and least well off in the world. And, often, that benefits the US. When the US spends money fighting the spread of Ebola in Africa, that means it's less likely that someone will travel to the US and spread it there.
- I don't think most people are fans of illegal immigration. But, it's incredibly difficult to stop. The only realistic way is to turn the country into a police state. Even Trump didn't go that far, he only went after the dark-skinned people who might be here illegally. But, that's going to miss any light-skinned illegal immigrant. Of course, most people would say that's the point. It was really more about race than about illegal immigration. In any case, most people who are in the US illegally aren't the ones crossing the southern border. They're people who arrive on a plane and then overstay their visa. It's very difficult to track them down. Having said that, most people in the US illegally work extremely hard and are never going to get any of the benefits that legal residents have. No social security, no medicare, etc. They are almost always net contributors to society, often because they have to send money back home. They do jobs that Americans wouldn't do, at least for that wage. Also, it would be a lot easier to crack down on illegal immigration if they actually prosecuted business owners who hired illegal immigrants. Too many business owners are effectively cheating the country by hiring someone who doesn't have the right to work in the US, then exploiting them knowing they have no real options, and raking in profits because they don't have to pay payroll taxes, healthcare, or any other benefits to someone working illegally. Those are the people who should get prosecuted. If they were being prosecuted and were afraid to hire illegal immigrants, there would be a lot fewer people wanting to stay because finding work would be so hard.
- Great. Now shut up about it too?
- You say that, but you wouldn't say that when someone passes as the other gender. If someone who was born a woman but now has a thick beard and a deep voice goes into a women's bathroom, you'd be the first one screaming about it.
- Schools are for learning, and the only people interfering with the curriculum are Republicans.
- The US has mental health issues, so do most countries. The US is worse off because there's no safety net. People worry about healthcare because it isn't automatic. They worry about retirement because the system is broken. They worry about their own safety because of all the guns and violence. The US should address its mental health crisis, but that will require the government spending a lot of money, and traditionally MAGA people somehow want this problem solved, but don't want to pay for it.
- Guns are the problem. Every other country regulates them for a reason. Of course background checks are a good idea. But, that's not enough. Does someone who is granted permission for a gun need to go for a re-evaluation every year? Are MAGA people really going to accept the word of a government official about who passes the background check? Are MAGA people really going to support checking the home of someone who has never had a background check to ensure they don't have guns? Somehow I think this is a smokescreen.
As for just wanting a government that protects your rights, secures your borders, defends your freedoms and then gets out of the way, what about point 1? Should the government get out of the way and allow free trade between countries, or should it be policing what's going in and out? Should it be spending money to prop up American companies so that they can compete with foreign companies? If American companies are making shitty computer chips for $100 when Taiwan is making great ones for $10, there will be a huge black market for the much better Taiwanese product. So, are you going to spend a lot of tax money ensuring that no Taiwanese chips get into the US, or are you going to get out of the way and allow people the freedom to buy what they want from wherever makes it cheapest? Are you going to eliminate all farm subsidies? That's the government getting out of the way, and then the US becomes dependent on food being grown elsewhere. Or, are you going to pay for subsidies out of tax dollars to ensure that Americans are eating American-grown food?
What about point 2 and 4? You seem to also want a government that takes care of veterans and Americans. Which is it? Is the government supposed to take care of Americans, or just get out of the way? Also, does getting out of the way mean that Americans get scammed and the government does nothing about it? Does it mean that foods and medicines aren't inspected? Does it mean that the stock market is unregulated and Ponzi schemes are rampant? Or, is some regulation good?
What about 7? You also want a government that polices bathrooms.
What about 8? You want a government that ensures that schools don't teach students something that you find offensive.
What about 9? Do you want the government treating the mental health crisis or not?
What about 10? Is the government going to do background checks, and ensure that anybody who hasn't passed a background check doesn't have guns? Or, is it the status quo where even the mentally ill have the freedom to shoot stuff?
Also, how much do you want to spend securing the borders? It used to be about 0.1% of GDP, now it's 1%. Should it be 10%? 20%? Whatever you spend, some people will slip through. It's impossible to completely eliminate illegal immigration. And, it's not just the poors. Elon Musk violated the immigration rules. At what point are you spending so much to fight illegal immigration that you're just wasting money? Is the 85 billion being spent on ICE really money well spent? And, aside from spending, do you want the government to ensure your freedom, or police the country for illegal immigrants? Even if you spend 1 year of the US GDP to build a perfectly secure wall at the Mexican border, you're still going to have people coming in legally on a tourist visa or something and then just not going home on time. So, to catch those people are you going to have checkpoints spread throughout the state where people have to present their papers? That's going to catch some of those illegal immigrants, but that's going to conflict pretty strongly with merely defending your freedom and getting out of the way.

