“Did you think you could cross the bridge without paying the toll?”  — Lily Morse, author

Here is an encyclopedia definition of “straw man”: It is followed by two examples found on Nov. 19, 2016, in Townbroadcast.

“A straw man is a common form of argument and is an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent’s argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not advanced by that opponent.

The so-called typical “attacking a straw man” argument creates the illusion of having completely refuted or defeated an opponent’s proposition by covertly replacing it with a different proposition (i.e. “stand up a straw man”) and then refuting that false argument (“knock down a straw man”) instead of the original proposition.

First example: (From Army Bob) “The good folks on the liberal, progressive side of the divide just don’t get it. For the last four years, we have been bombarded with people telling us we are the problem, white middle class folks need to be ashamed for even being born. We are all passive aggressive and suffering from a severe case of white privilege and male privilege, we are unfair, racist, sexist, and every label they can conger up.”

Did a “liberal progressive” actually say that? Where is the attribution? Who said white “middle class folks need to be ashamed for even being born?”

Second example, from another Townbroadcast piece (Free Market Man): “I know why Democrats protest. Because they are usually the folks who either don’t have jobs, aren’t looking for jobs, or don’t want a job and are living in mommy and daddy’s basement, or they are idealist college students (minds full of mush) called to protest by their left wing professors with time to create chaos. Evidently, they don’t have anything better to do. Think of all that wasted emotion and energy that could be put to good use – like working and making a living.”

This is another straw man argument. We’re told what democrats are, so that we can look upon them with scorn. A straw man is set up, and then knocked down. Is there evidence for the argument? Why is that evidence not included?

I can offer countering evidence. I am a Democrat. I’ve not protested the election of Donald Trump, unless you count writing to Townbroadcast. I own my home. It has a basement, but no one lives there. I had a long career of which I am proud. I served our country honorably in the military, as did one – at least one — of the writers noted above. I always vote. I always pay my taxes. I have never gone bankrupt. I pay workers who provide services to me, and have not needed to settle lawsuits for defrauding people. I married one time, to my college sweetie, and that marriage is a long and loving one.

Am I setting up a straw man here? No. I am reporting facts. The contentions I make can be documented and/or supported by evidence.

I could do a straw man argument. I make an effort to avoid doing so, but it might be a fun exercise. Let’s give it a go:

“Republicans are all racists. They are the party of hate. They say, “Make America Hate Again.” Republicans always say they hate blacks. Latinos. Jews. Muslims. Atheists. Homosexuals. Liberals. Immigrants (with some exceptions, including Trump’s first and third wives). They tout freedom – as long as it has to do with guns, but not the freedom of a woman to control her own body. They tout the constitution, but failed to uphold it after Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 13, 2016. President Barack Obama named the moderate, eminently qualified Appellate Court Justice Merrick Garland to replace him. The constitution says nominees shall be given a fair hearing; he was not. Those on the right say that the constitution, regarding hearings for presidential appointments, is written as “might want to, or, then again, maybe not.” Most of them can’t read at a sixth grade level. Those few who can, choose not to do so. They watch Fox TV and never access anything remotely related to journalism. Their ignorance is exacerbated by their inherently low intelligence.”

I could go on, but that’s more than enough to provide an example. My rant, my straw man attack, was wrong. There are no attributed quotes. There are false generalizations, based on prejudicial stereotypes of conservatives. For the sake of argument, I made broad, unsupported generalizations not based on fact. I don’t pretend to represent the right. I don’t speak for the right. When I’ve denigrated President-elect Donald Trump in the past, I tried to use his own words to bolster an argument, or quote others with attribution. I note that some of those quotes I used are from Republicans, including, quotes from Sen. Linsey Graham, Gov. Mitt Romney, George Will, Sen. Susan Collins and others.  

President-elect Trump did win the election. But Hillary Clinton received more votes that he did. One might note that there was a great deal of voter suppression in several states, most notably North Carolina, but also in Ohio and Wisconsin. The dismantling of the Voting Rights Act seemed to strengthen such actions. Voter suppression is un-American.  

While I’m speaking of President-elect Trump, Ivanka Trump should not be sitting in on with her daddy when he meets foreign leaders. If she’s running the business, it’s wrong for her to be play a role within the administration. If she’s part of the administration, she shouldn’t be making business decisions for Trump, Inc. It is a clear conflict of interest. She may be more capable than her father, but she wasn’t (sort of ) elected to the presidency.