It is mystifying why the so called “average citizen” so often votes Republican! The Republican Party has no real interest in the lives of average Americans, as they only care about PROPERTY and WEALTH, not PEOPLE, as stated in an earlier entry on this blog!
So why do people vote against their own self interest as middle class or poorer people?
1. Fear, instilled by the Republican Party–fear of “illegal” and legal immigrants; fear of Muslims; fear of African Americans; fear of Latinos and Hispanics; fear of native Americans; fear of Asian Americans; fear of liberals and progressives; fear of labor unions; fear of socialism; fear of communism and Marxism; fear of educated people; fear that guns will be taken away from them!
2. Belief that Christianity must rule the nation, so as to outlaw abortion rights for women; forbid gay relationships; condemn those who are other than “good” Christians, meaning including Catholics and Mormons and only accepting Judaism in the guise of the protection of the Holy Land from the infidels, but advocating that unless Jews accept Jesus Christ, they are going to hell; promoting their sense of morality, despite how hypocritical it is; claiming to have all right on their side!
3. Promoting America as a special nation, better than all others, and therefore, promoting extreme nationalism, jingoism, and imperialism in the name of defending America from evil forces overseas, and therefore, connecting big business industrial interests to the military, what President Eisenhower warned against–the military-industrial complex! So patriotism is a major method to gain public support, with many of the middle and poorer classes being sent as cannon fodder for our military adventures overseas, which enrich the military-industrial complex!
4. Lack of education about government, which allows Republican propaganda to mislead people and get them to vote for what is against their self interest, and the goal is NOT to educate people properly, as ignorance benefits the GOP! They want to “pull the wool” over people’s eyes, and they are very effective in that regard!
The hope is that soon the middle and poorer classes will come to realize that it was the Republican Party which got us in this economic mess, and that it is time for the wealthy and corporations to pay up their fair share of taxation, and stop exploiting the masses and making them pay for the corrupt policies of Republicans on the national and state levels!
I think it’s because people who vote Republican think they will be rich too one day. You look at the term middle class as some fixed, static group of people from which upward movement is impossible, or at best just not worth it.
It’s the progressive attitude toward money and wealth that is really self-defeating. Money is just money and wealth is just wealth. Think about all of the things that the human race has accomplished up to now and that Americans have accomplished. I think a nation that can send a man to the moon and has a GDP of 14 trillion dollars can have room for the so-called middle class and poor to become rich, no?
Just because you can’t see the opportunities or are content with your “place” in society doesn’t mean that other people will think the same way.
I’m sure that even at the seemingly few times “public servants” have tried to be altruistic and actually serve the higher good,
they’ve been appalled at how “the people” act like frightened cattle and are easy targets for manipulation. They can see their
best efforts evaporated by a well-funded smear campaign that drags the issues into barroom or gutter terms. I wonder how men
and women aspiring to public office learn how to deal with governing this kind of electorate, that can take so much satisfaction
out of serving them, just by being more like a skittish mob drunk on fear and anger than the vaunted Americans we all imagine
ourselves to be. It seems many of those who seek office have fatalistically murdered any notions of intelligence among their
constituents, and just join the flow towards “power”. They’re like looters during a riot ; going for personal gain during a time of
confusion they didn’t start, can’t stop, but see easy inroads to power within. They get cheered by huge crowds, money is made
available to them, they’re told they’re brave visionaries, and all their dreams as political figures come true. Meanwhile, the noise
machine they contribute to smokescreens the true movements of power, made by men they’ve chosen not to challenge, in favor
of their own tiny careers.
Others see the Tea Party Congress as a ready-made distraction from their own activities, such as Wall St billionaires wielding credit
swap derivative traunches and industries taking all their work overseas to avoid taxes, big payrolls and regulation. The complexities
of Wall St transactions have consequences as great, or greater, than any Government action. Big things are possibly thus made able
to happen more quickly, but at what price ? The current recession was caused by private markets kept dark by vigorous actions at
the highest levels of government. Big Government is at it’s Biggest when it is fighting against new regulatory laws. These men don’t
want to ski behind 3 yachts at once, or dive naked into bank vaults filled with riches and do the backstroke ; they want to watch how
their money can distort Washington, or have a discernible effect on where we deploy the aircraft carriers, or buy a few Congressmen
who will never ask them tough questions at hearings. The notion of a former corporate CEO becoming a President is thus rendered
truly obscene. In the presence of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution, it’s like they’re taking a middle management position, and
having to deal with the rank and file personally. Much better to stay in the shadows, and have prepaid, prearranged venues waiting if
and when they’re called on the preconditioned carpet. Greed is based on the Power the money gives you, and that power was not
elected to office, even by the sheople. It is the Second Estate bypassing, or manipulating, the Democracy the little people want to
believe is in power. Democracy has never looked more like a mere puppet show put on for the benefit of the chumps.
So, power addiction at all levels, and thoughtless, frightened searches for scapegoats among the little people, who are cheap and
easy to bamboozle, thanks to Citizens United, American Crossroads, and Karl Rove. We’re getting what we deserve.