"Fear is Why Workers In Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest"

[applegrove]

Fear is Why Workers In Red States Vote Against Their Economic Self-Interest

http://robertreich.org/post/73471886666

"SNIP...................................



For years political scientists have wondered why so many working class and poor citizens of so-called “red” states vote against their economic self-interest. The usual explanation is that, for these voters, economic issues are trumped by social and cultural issues like guns, abortion, and race.

I’m not so sure. The wages of production workers have been dropping for thirty years, adjusted for inflation, and their economic security has disappeared. Companies can and do shut down, sometimes literally overnight. A smaller share of working-age Americans hold jobs today than at any time in more than three decades.

People are so desperate for jobs they don’t want to rock the boat. They don’t want rules and regulations enforced that might cost them their livelihoods. For them, a job is precious — sometimes even more precious than a safe workplace or safe drinking water.

This is especially true in poorer regions of the country like West Virginia and through much of the South and rural America — so-called “red” states where the old working class has been voting Republican. Guns, abortion, and race are part of the explanation. But don’t overlook economic anxieties that translate into a willingness to vote for whatever it is that industry wants.




...................................SNIP"

[abelenkpe]

1. "People are so desperate for jobs they don’t want to rock the boat"

"They don’t want rules and regulations enforced that might cost them their livelihoods."

I worked as a VFX artist for the past twenty years. We never formed a union for ourselves for this very reason. People were convinced that if we joined a union studios would send all the work out of the country. When I started there were many studios in and around LA and work was plentiful. Today only a few studios remain. All remaining studios have one or more offices overseas and send the bulk of their work overseas to take advantage of subsidies offered by other countries. There is little work left in LA and what is here tends to be insecure per project work with few benefits. You'd think this would make people reconsider the value of unions, but no. Or reconsider the party they support. Again, no.

It's been pretty disheartening to observe much less live through.

[RKP5637]

13. So sad, and as a final result they got what they feared because of their inaction to change the

course of events when they had the opportunity. That, is the future I see for America, victims by not having taken action to change the course of events when the opportunity was present and possible. As the noose tightens, those opportunities will fade.

[RKP5637]

2. Yes, I agree with this, there are a number of factors and I think this is a significant

contributor. I recall well, for example, in many of the corps. I worked in I was always outspoken, but many of my peers kept their heads low talking about when the grass is being mowed, keep your head low.

To me, only massive government intervention will ever get us out of this horrible rut. Then, when you mix in guns and religion with Fox News and the like hatred, and manipulation, and the dumbing down of America, it is a lethal mess.

[applegrove]

3. We've been assuming that the poverty in the South is something all sides of the political spectrum

want to stop. But what if one side actually wanted desperate and cowed people. What if poverty is the goal of the right.

[Brigid]

6. There is no "if."

A fearful and desperate workforce, fighting one another like starving rats over a few shitjobs, is exactly what they want.

[Whiskeytide]

9. You win...

That's exactly what the agenda is, imo. In fact, I don't see how it can be anything else.

[Kingofalldems]

11. GOP wants to make the US like South America in the 70's.

[haele]

4. The other issue is acceptance of the idea of "The Big Man" or chieftain.

There's a strong streak of compliance to social hierarchy in many of these red-state communities. Ostracism from the social order used to mean that one wouldn't make it through the winter because no one would be willing to help the outcast for fear of the wrath of the "big men" (and their families) in the area.

For all their talk of morals, liberties and freedoms, most conservative "Patriots" are perfectly willing to be lead by the nose by anyone richer than them. They actually fear being stuck trying to live on their own with no one to help more than they fear being bullied and taken advantage of.

So long as they're not considered the "lowest" trash in the local social order and are able to get some crumbs from the lying Big Men who are destroying local ecology and communities in pursuit of Mammon, they'll accept all sorts of abuse.

Haele

[applegrove]

5. Very true.

[Whiskeytide]

10. You said "So long as they're not considered...

... the "lowest" trash in the local social order..."

That goes a long way toward explaining the popularity of Honey Boo Boo and similar shows. They feed that "at least I've got more class than that" desire.

This is really an eye opening examination of this topic!

[RKP5637]

14. Yes, this is quite true. And hence they perpetuate the ruts they wander in while

being led to believe they are the "real" Americans and falling for the obscene propaganda they wallow in.

[Brigid]

7. This is why . . .

I remain convinced that there will be no accountability for this chemical spill. None.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

8. I once heard a guy call Ed Schultz about health care

Sounded like a young, not too well educated dude who said he was a laborer from the South. He said he didn't believe he had a right to health care because he was raised to believe if you can't pay for something, you haven't earned it....and if you want it you need to work harder, get a better job, etc.

It was a sad, but pretty stark portrayal of how the lower class in red rural America has been trained to "go along to get along".

[Art_from_Ark]

12. Of course, the caller could just have been pretending to be a Southern laborer,

like the Duck Dynasty cast pretend to be backwoodspeople.

[Douglas Carpenter]

15. one of the most extreme Tea Party types I have ever met - lives on Social Security disability - He

thinks of taxing the rich as stealing from those who worked hard and deserve while also thinking people on food stamps as deadbeats. Sometimes there is no accounting for how people think.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. I guess there are people like that

From my own personal experience as a laborer in the South-- although it wasn't the Deep South by any means, since it was the extreme northwest corner of the Old Confederacy-- was that people would gladly accept this sort of health care, since they were working their butts off. That might be why Arkansas is one of the very few Southern states to provide extended Medicaid.

[RKP5637]

16. +1,000 +++ DD, a brilliant example of delusional beliefs of those thinking, "hey,

they are just like us." What a bunch of foolish suckers. As DD rakes in zillions.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

22. Nope, it sounded totally sincere to me

It wasn't like he was putting on some phony over the top accent or something, if that's what you mean. I believe he was from Virginia or the Carolinas.

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. Spoken like a rich, well educated, northeastern liberal.

It is fear alright, but it is the fear of having one's failures exposed. It's the fear of self examination.

[IDemo]

19. I think loathing is as big a factor as fear

I've lived in a neon red state for decades, and the general feeling about anyone to the left of Rush Limbaugh is disgust. They have been very well indoctrinated by the politicos, hate radio, the church and each other. Fear comes in a distant second with this crowd.

[applegrove]

20. That's part of the aura 'big men' put out around them. Anybody who isn't on the inside

is an 'other' and they need to be constantly attacked, especially by those at the bottom who are not secure in their position or place so will do the dirty work. But you have to 1) make them feel they belong and 2) make them feel insecure. That's how manipulators box you in. They get you coming and going and box you in until your behaviour is exactly what they want. The 'big man's' dreams become the 'little guy's' dreams, so the little guy no longer thinks or dreams for themseves.

[Taitertots]

21. Don't forget the ignorance caused by right wing radio

They convinced poor people that they can become rich by giving rich people tax breaks and letting corporations hurt people.