Why do so many of America's poor vote Republican?

Into the Google window, I typed,"Why do so many of America's poor vote Republican?"  What I found (and pasted) below may not totally answer that question, but it shines quite a bit of light on the problem.

Gary Yongue, writer for the UK Guardian says:
"The first thing to note is that most of them don't.  In 2008, 73% of those who earned less than $15,000…voted for Obama. But if someone's core conviction is that abortion is murder or gay marriage is wrong then their decision to vote for a candidate who is against abortion or gay marriage is not an act of delusion but conviction."

Raymond Freeman, for the VCReporter, wrote:
"America is a frightened country.  It has lost its confidence.  The white population will soon be a minority.  Republicans are experts at appealing to nostalgia for a simpler past.  Simple folks feel more comfortable voting for simple candidates, such as Palin.  They believed she 'understood' them and rejected attempts to point out her ignorance.  Religious arguments are easier to make.  America is the country of that old-time religion.  Almost half of the population believes the Bible is literally true.  They will vote for someone professing the same belief."

Jonathan Haidt, professor of Psychology at U. of Virginia, says:
"Conservative positions on gays, guns, god and immigration must be understood as means to achieve one kind of morally ordered society."

Roger Schank, psychologist, says:
"It is common to make the assumption that people are thinking when they vote and they are making reasoned choices.  I harbor no such illusion.  They are not reasoning, nor do they want to try.  They simply believe what they believe.  What do they believe?

1. They don't like blacks. It isn't that they are racists.  They will be polite if a black person appears.  They will say blacks hate America.  They sound more reasoned in their own minds if they say it that way.

2. They don't like "wussies."  Kerry? Gore? Dukakis? Not real men.  Bad people are trying to kill us.  We need to kill them first. Those guys wouldn't pull the trigger. (I'm not making this up. I wish I were.)

3. They worry about money.  Who wants to take their money away?  Liberals, of course.  They want to give it to the blacks.

It is all very nice to come up with complex analyses of what is going on. As is often the case, the real answer is quite simple.  Most people can't think very well.  We don't try to get the average child to think in this society, so why, as adults, would we expect that they actually would be thinking?  They think about how the Yankees are doing, and who will win some reality show contest, and what restaurant to eat at, but they are not equipped to think about politics and, in my mind, they are not equipped to vote.  Adult belief systems rest on childhood beliefs instilled by parents mostly and by assorted other authorities."

Quality vs Hyperbole

I wish I could explain to you in one paragraph how to tell the difference between a solid piece of media and something you can wipe yourself with, but it's not that easy.  As with any skill that can be measured and evaluated, the really good writers in America are in a 5-10% range, and then there are a lot of mediocre writers.  And at the far end of the scale are the really despicable, egregious impostors like Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck. 

If I had to divide everything into two groups, it would be writing that is clearly, honestly created to explain and inform, and other stuff that is intended only to arouse, and I don't mean that in a sexual sense.  Yes, there is writing that calls men to action that is legitimate in nature, but most of what we're seeing these days is tinfoil hat crap.

Here is a contrasting example.  First, Joshua Holland, senior digital producer for BillMoyers.com on "Cops, Gun Culture and Anti-Government Extremism."

Holland writes,"Because there are so many guns out there, police officers are trained to live in fear of the very people they are supposed to protect and serve.  Anytime a police officer pulls over a car, he or she must worry that the person inside that car will have a gun that could be turned on them.  The U.S. features a unique and toxic mix of gun culture and militant anti-governmentalism.  As a result, police officers aren't entirely wrong to believe that they're operating in a potential combat zone.  No other police force in a functional democracy has experienced something like the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada, where federal agents found themselves outgunned by heavily-armed militias…"

Then, you have the fear-mongering style of writing, like "The Rise of Robocop" from Huffington Post. "If you outfit police as soldiers their outlook changes.  They cease to see the people in their communities as those they have vowed to protect and serve…"

Or, an article at Salon.com that claims,"When a person wears clothing that carries some symbolic meaning, the clothing 'primes' people to act consistently with the way the person is dressed."

Or a Fox news feature, where an activist says,"Don't trust the police."

Or Glen Beck saying,"We are moving towards a society where the authoritarian with the uniform gets away with murder, gets away with anything they want to say."

And when you say or prints things like that, what you do is play right into the fear, the mistrust, right into the hands of people like the Bundy Ranch militias, who think they can take the law into their hands. 

C'mon, people.  Let's get real here for a second.  Today, you can see videos that use fear and mistrust to advertise weapons in the same way that we use sex to sell perfume or sports cars. 

I could go on with more clear examples of legitimate writing vs crap, but the point is, a truly intelligent, mature person understands what I’m talking about, and those who are given to more knee-jerk reaction, will deny it. 

Sorry if this sounds elitist:  you don’t have to have a college degree in literature to identify good writing from bad, but it sure helps.

Your homework assignment:  Google yellow journalism

The Truth is Out There

This is one of the best articles I've seen in a while.  I'll just give some of the best excerpts here. Link to the full article is at the bottom.

"We are all entitled to our own opinions and can believe what we want to believe.  But if we can't agree on what the nature of reality is, then we can't really have a conversation that goes anywhere.

So…why do people believe bullshit when they have all the information necessary to discover the truth sitting in front of them?"

The writer quotes Phil Plait from Discovery magazine -
"In a sense, the loudest proponents stick to their movement the way a racist sticks with their prejudices. You can tear down their specific claims about a particular group of people point by point, but in the end the racist simply hates people in that group.  It's not rational, or logical, or reasonable.  It just is."

The writer suggests that news has become infotainment and that contributes to a society where no one has to accept reality as it is if they don't want to.
- My political philosophy didn't really lose.  The election was rigged.
- My team didn't really lose.  The refs and league fucked us to get the win.

If no one can accept reality, there can't be any growth.  People are supposed to learn from their mistakes.  But in a world where existence is a multiple-choice option, there are no mistakes.  There's just a bunch of people screaming at each other about how the other side is wrong or part of the conspiracy."

Full article:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/08/1326196/-Information-and-conspiracy-in-the-age-of-the-internet?showAll=yes

The Worst of Both Genders

Just my opinion, folks.  We all have our own individual shit lists; the things we really find distasteful, egregious and beyond the pale.  But this is my version of the worst personalities of both genders; people who are just so out-of-touch with reality that they've let loose of the last blade of grass connecting them to planet Earth.

Men:  There is hardly a worse common male crime than rape. I don't think there's any disagreement on that, but I think that the whole underlying, contributing attitude is one of power and condescension that is best exemplified by men who think it's ok to act like assholes in the presence of women.

I'm talking about guys who think it's cute (at least, to their male buddies) to catcall, whistle or otherwise make inappropriate noises or comments at women.
Basically, what we're talking about is a total lack of class.

One has to consider the source (something my mom always said), but a few days ago, Fox News aired a piece about catcalls, where asshat Arthur Aidala told a panel of women that he thought it was acceptable and classy to just stand there and applaud when an attractive woman walked by, and these women on the set - attractive Fox airheads - all agreed and laughed about it!

Jessica Williams (The Daily Show) explains why Aidala is an asshole in this video:  http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/v7vq7r/masters-of-sexism---claps-and-catcalls   She explains that the sidewalk is not a runway.

It's one thing if a woman chooses to be a waitress at Hooters or chooses to be an exotic dancer, but a woman walking by in a public place doesn't deserve to be treated like a stripper.

Class.  You either have it….or you don't. Rude & crude.  So many guys have no f*g clue.

Women:  Now, without question, there is nothing worse than a mother who neglects her children, but I think that a more common feminine issue is that of the spoiled bitch; the woman who thinks she's some kind of princess and that life is all about her.  Most of these kind of women are attractive; that's actually part of their problem.  Too often, they've just been told they're pretty girls and because of their beauty, they've been lavished with material things (usually clothing and related accessories).  But even if they weren't spoiled brats as children, they haven't totally matured as adults.  They're still materialistic people whose favorite hobby is shopping and tending to their appearance.  Consistent with their lack of maturity, they throw a tantrum when things don't go their way and make life hell for everyone else.  And, because friends and family around this person don't want to deal with the spoiled brat, they tend to avoid arguing with her, never giving her the reality check she so sorely needs.

So, unless the princess has a profound revelation - a severe, negative, life-changing event - or unless a professional counselor tells her that she's living in a selfish fantasy bubble, she goes through life primping, pouting and bitching. She's high maintenance and a total pain in the ass. 

And there you have it - my version of people who need to be smacked upside the head.

Dick & Jenni's Secrets for a Happy Marriage

Secret No. 1

"Your Cash Ain't Nothin' But Trash"

You may be wondering, what's the significance of the second photo ("Huck Finn" - Mickey Rooney, William Connolly, William Frawley)?

Well, I couldn't find just the photo I wanted, so you'll have to rent this 1939 movie starring these three men.  If you're familiar with the film, Connolly and Frawley - two classic film-flam artists - masquerade as two lost brothers of a rich man.  At one point, they are in bed together with a small money sack tied to their wrists, between them.  Obviously, the point is that neither of them could make off with the money without waking the other, because they didn't trust each other.

This scene perfectly exemplifies the situation with married couples who are just too focused on money.

You know, having a little extra change is nice.  You can buy better cuts of meat.  You can buy better wine and whiskey.  You can have cake and ice cream once in a while.  But the biggest problem with having disposable income is that there's too often disagreement on what to do with it.

When we got married, we hardly had a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of…but we were happy…because we had love.  And 44 years later, we're still happy…because we have love…and not a lot of money.  You see how that works?

I don't have a problem with money per se.  Get as much of it as you can, short of robbery or scamming.  But be careful with it, because what happens is, you can get infected with a case of I want this and he/she wants something else.  When all that really matters is that you have each other, and you love each other, which is the reason you got married in the first place. 

The minister that married us was a very likable, down-to-earth kind of guy and we'll never forget his counseling.  He had come to know us fairly well and said that two of the things that couples have the biggest problems with are (of course) sex and money.  He said that we shouldn't worry about the first; that he doubted we'd have any serious disagreements about sex, but that if we could manage to not argue about money, we'd be very happy together.

He was so right.