Both sides have cult tendencies. As a staunch moderate, the big difference I see between the two from a "cult" perspective is, republicans tend to not care if other republics don't toe the line. IE a repub supports gay marriage, who cares. Whereas democrats tend to get very upset if you don't follow every single party talking point to a T.
I find this an interesting perspective, because as is evident in the replies you received, most Democrats would say the exact opposite. I think it is because the two sides see very different views on what parts of the line are important.
Democrats see their base as being very diverse, both culturally and ethically, which leads to very diverse political view and beliefs. Are you a black gay wiccan? Welcome, have a cookie! They will tolerate a wide range of belief's as long as you are civil to one another about it. This is what the right calls being 'Woke'. But be an asshole to one another and it will not be tolerated.
The Republicans on the other hand see themselves as being guardians of the American culture and do not allow much deviation from what they see as those cultural norms, but they don't really care if you are civil to one another about it or not. As an example, some types of racism is accepted in the GOP because it does not deviate from the cultural norms, so while many Republicans find it objectionable, it is tolerated because it does not interfere with their primary group standards. But be an atheist and they might literally throw stones at you (not an exaggeration. I'm an atheist. It happened).
Your view here tells me that you are way farther along the conservative's side of the spectrum than sitting in the middle. Something you might want to consider.
...I want to even extend that concept by saying that almost all forms of belief are the product of cult like thinking.
Be very carful here. We often use the word 'belief' very loosely, but there is a major difference between believing that the sun will come up tomorrow and that a loving god is going to punish you for masturbating. While we use the same word for both, we mean very different things by it.
I think instead that size and popularity equates to integration via a sense of normalcy and tradition that simply obviates the need for individual control over the personal lives of members. The success and social integration of mainstream religions mean they can drop the behaviors that define a true cult and likely for the sake of being palatable, I would say.
I disagree, all that has really changed is the tools used to exert that control. The need for control has not be obliviated, only thing that really changes is who is doing the enforcing. Fall outside the lines of that normalcy or break those traditions, and society will punish you for it. All that has changed is the scale. You can see this clearly with cults that have reached that middle size where they have more than a few thousand people they start to use a mix of individual and societal pressures to control their members. You can still see that in some of the larger religions as well, the aforementioned Mormons try really hard to exert individual pressure on a local level and are largely successful.
He didn't tell anyone to protest at the capital?
Once again, you are clearly listening more to right wing media then anything else. He literally did tell them to protest, even even suggested it should be violent. Don't take my word for it, go read his speech on January 6th. The transcripts are not hard to find. Look for the official ones written by his administrations. Several times, and again right at the end, he tells them to walk down Pennsylvania avenue and fight for our country.
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