I've got it, I think. The republicans and teabaggers hate democracy.

[warrior1]

They hate that they are losing power. Even with the vast $$ they get from the handlers and keep losing the big elections.

So to kill democracy they have to shut everything down. They really don't care if the kill America in the process.

[barbiegeek]

1. They don't want a democracy, they want us like china or a 3rd world country

[grahamhgreen]

2. About sums it up.

[lastlib]

3. Yup.

They're authoritarians in heart and soul. They want things their way or no way at all. They don't grasp the concept that democracy is not Burger King, you don't always get to have it your way.

[CanonRay]

4. I think a lot of them truly believe

either that a) the collapse of America will hasten the end-times, and for them that is good or b) they themselves can survive quite nicely with no government, and the hell with everyone else. So why not collapse the government?

[jeff47]

5. They can't win at the ballot box, so they have to "win" by other means. (nt)

[starroute]

6. It doesn't even have to be as visceral as hate

They simply know that under a democratic system they have no hope of retaining power, so they've set out to change the system into one where they can maintain control.

Much of this is the result of their own greed, of course. As long as the American middle class was growing and increasing its standard of living, many of them were perfectly happy to vote Republican, seeing that as in their best interests. But the more you impoverish the middle class, the less the Republicans have to offer them.

I really believe it's that, and not the threat of white people becoming a minority, that has them spooked.

Of course, there are other factors -- such as their willingness to make a devil's bargain with the evangelicals in search of people who would vote against their own economic interests -- which have further alienated ordinary middle class voters. But in almost every case, the starting point is their inability to offer anything meaningful to most Americans.

[rock]

7. Well, duh

They can't get enough votes legitimately so they have to use non-democratic means to get and stay in power.