The results of last months elections remain a sore subject with me. If the only people who voted for them had been the ones that actually benefit from Republican rule they would have gotten about 2% of the votes. That won’t win elections for anyone. Every one else who voted for Republicans was voting against their own well being, and what could possess voters to be so foolish has puzzled me. I’m not the only one. The same question shows up in our comments section from readers day after day. Then yesterday, a friend with whom I do volunteer work in prison sent me a video. It’s not even about voting Republican per se. I don’t even know the political persuasion of the people who made it, although I suspect they may be selling something. Nevertheless, watching it was a light bulb moment of insight into many who voted Republican.
What do you think?
26 Responses to “Why Do People Vote for Republicans?”
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Any comment that could be made would be a redundant repetition of the video. We bought into a Hollywood movie line and the “great communicator” greed is Good and Wealth will trickle down like a waterfall. There has not been an honest government since Carter and even his had some shady spots but for the most part we are herded to the right by the Madison Avenue designed, market tested, sound bites that flood us into the corral. People don’t understand still one of the lessons of the holocaust was they Jews were told they were being relocated to work camps where they would be fed, housed, and given work to do. Poor bastards weren’t even given a final meal.
The other part of the equation is complacency and ferocity about things the individual has never bothered to look into beyond the 15 second sound bite. WOW THIS GUY ON TV SAID IT 100 TIMES AND YOU CAN’T LIE ON TV! SO IT HAS TO BE TRUE.!
Yes madam President Palin…
Beck actually made that argument recently. Has he never seen an Extenze commerical? The Republican Party is the Extenze of politics.
The video’s apocalyptic drivel about the future, contempt for common people, and general paranoia (as well as the tell-tale references to gold) suggest that it was made by some extreme splinter fundamentalist cult or other fringe-far-right group. I suppose they might be voting Republican, but I doubt they’re typical of most of those who do.
I think most non-wealthy votes for Republicans come from two sources:
1) Ignorance about economic self-interest. A lot of people really believe the line that jobs and prosperity flow from the government getting completely out of the way of big business so it can do its thing. There’s very strong evidence against this, but a lot of people don’t know that and aren’t interested in investigating the question dispassionately.
2) Religious fundamentalism and the bigotry it generates. Statistically, church attendance is a better predictor of party affiliation than any other factor is. Fear and hatred of gays, abortion, and people with non-traditional lifestyles in whatever sense, is a strong motivating factor with a lot of people.
There are tens of millions of people like that. They’re not so out-there as to call crowds of (largely black) people “animals” or to declare a few isolated disruptions in stores to be the essence of our whole society, but they’re quite capable of voting Republican.
Infidel, are you saying that Americans, by and large, have not sold out to consumerism?
Ha! I don’t know what I think! A great lead-in and the punch line is a video I can’t view! Hurrah. Dial-up’s are people too! LOL.. ❓
Sherry, the key part was a consumer riot with shoppers doing battle to get items on sale.
It looks like we are still following George Bush’s advice, “Just go shopping.”
Cute, Jerry. 😉
In this year of Orwell, 61 G.O.. to punish the even more halfascist, Obameh.
And that means?
Now, I suppose you’re going to tell us that the way to overcome this madness is to send all our money to people like Pat Robertson, or some other Christian organization who are even greedier than the people who run Walmart! Plus, now Obama is sending all our tax dollars to “faith based” organizations which is a clear violation of the constitution.
Not to mention the fact that we have two “Christian” wars going on right now where Muslims and our own men and women are being, not just trampled, but shot down.
I suggest christianity and Islam and not solutions to this greed, but part of the problem. Let’s just learn some simple lessons of love! As the Beatles said… “All you need is love”. That’s what all the great religions… and atheists teach. Too bad nobody gets it.
Rob, normally I say welcome, but in your case I’ll make an exception. Before you go accusing me of shilling for Supply-side Jesus, you might want to read what I’ve said on the subject. Click Supply-side Jesus in the Tag cloud. You well find few people more opposed to the American Taliban than I. I’ll happily accept your apology.
Where is the “Tag cloud”. I don’t see the link you’re referring to.
I’ll give the Republicans credit — they wouldn’t be able to do the awful things they do without good propaganda.
That’s their specialty.
Why do people vote Republican? Money talks. Big Money talks the loudest. People can’t hear anything else.
That’s what the mob scene demonstrated to me, Dave.
That was abhorrent. I went shopping on Black Friday once with my ex-MIL; it was horrific. It was just as bad as that video – every year people are trampled to death to get $10 off a sweater. These are the people who pay more attention to what’s on sale than who’s running the country while their rights are being taken away.
And there are 2 kinds of people – lookers and shoppers. Looker like to go slowly through every store finding what they like. Shopper are there to get what they need and get the fuck out. My mother is a looker – she inspects every green bean before she puts it in the bag – I grab 3 hand fulls and throw the bad ones out when I get home. Really is it worth that .0001 of a penny to look at green beans while you have two toddlers in the cart whom are going to have a thermonuclear meltdown in 45 minute? Nope, not worth it. 🙄 I’m so happy I can leave them at home (I’m still a shopper) so I don’t have to hear “Are we almost done yet?” Yeah, well we would have been done an hour ago if you guys didn’t eat so much! 😉
I’ve seen similar scenes here, Lisa. I won’t go anywhere near a store on Black Friday.
I’m like you. I shop mostly online, but when I do actually walk into a store, I know exactly what I want.
There are two major points buried in this expose of consumer frenzy that should be covered further. The first is the announcement by the Chinese and Russians that they are abandoning the dollar. It was such an announcement by Saddam regarding Iraqi oil sales that spurred the invasion which the US has yet to conclude. China and Russia are both too powerful to threaten militarily, so we have to come up with another way to deal with issue. Unfortunately, this brings up the second point.
As the world is already leaning toward following this move by China and Russia (check out the common Gulf currency plan if you doubt), there will be a reduction in foreign money flowing into the US to keep our government awash in blood. As we already know that the Pentagon budget is more sacred than God to Republicans and Blue Dogs, no adjustments will be made there. It will be We the People who pay those increased costs with our jobs and our freedoms. The warning about hyperinflation should be heeded, as consumer riots will lead to the imposition of the New World Order via the Patriot Act. It could make Auschwitz look like summer camp (and I apologize to those victims for this reference).
Lastly, I urge everyone to read Martin Luther King’s last speech, given in Memphis the night before he was killed. In that speech, he urged blacks to give up on having any piece of the economic pie. Instead, he advocated that blacks develop a separate economy that promoted their issues instead of the entrenched interests of the day. Had he not been killed, he would have led this movement of no-confidence in the dolloar out of the US economy.
I raise this memory because the divide between have and have not is not due to race anymore. It is now due to economic class, and our class is stuck in a race to the bottom. We all need to split off from corporatism as much as we possibly can before the bottom drops out. The time is short, so don’t delay.
Good points Realist. If they could, Republicans would paint all poor people black and call the KKK.
Question: Why ARE people still voting republican?
“Answer”: Was the corrupt Diebold programmable voting machine scandal ever cleared up? 😈
No, but Republicans did not control enough statehouses to rig the ones they would not have won anyway this time.
I think it is because their parents did and they can’t think for themselves.
Most of the people who I know who are Republican’s have no real clue what is going on in the world.
All they seem to care about is themselves.
You may be right, Ted, but how can there be democratic government if people cannot think?