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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe showdown that exposed the rift between Republican ideology and reality
Heather Richardson at the Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/26/the-showdown-that-exposed-the-rift-between-republican-ideology-and-reality
"SNIP............
But the stark ideology of the Republicans calling for a return to the pro-business government of the 1920s never reflected political reality. The policies Republicans loathed were actually quite popular. So, to garner support for their attack on an activist government, they turned to a mythological narrative that drew on Americas long history of racism and sexism. They won voters not by convincing them of the merits of returning to a world in which businessmen ran the country, but rather by insisting that taxes redistributed wealth from hardworking white people to lazy minorities and feminists who wanted abortions on demand.
Their narrative was simple. Hardworking white Christian men were under attack by a behemoth government, designed by Democrats, that sucked them dry with high taxes funnelled to poor minorities and grasping women, who, in turn, supported Democrats for the government goodies they provided. This narrative of the individual under attack by an empire the same storyline that drove the 1977 hit film Star Wars worked. Voters rallied to Reagans attacks on an apocryphal Welfare Queen, a black woman who had become rich by collecting welfare cheques under 80 different names, and thrilled to his promise to protect regular Americans from the taxes that supported such parasites.
But while white men ever since have embraced the heroic idea that they were independent individuals under attack by a government that catered to minorities, the reality has always been that Americans actually believe that the government has a key role to play in business regulation and social welfare.
Republicans have been able to paper over the vast gulf between their ideology and reality, so long as they could blame Democrats for their inability to put their ideology into law. They could rail about lower taxes and liberty, and then, when Democrats saved the policies that voters liked, could blame the socialistic Democrats for Republicans own failure to enact their ideological vision. This tactic was at the heart of their rage against Obamacare, the symbol of their oppression since it passed seven years ago. Republicans in the House of Representatives voted more than 50 times to repeal the law, knowing they could count on Obamas veto to protect them from voters who would, in reality, be furious at the loss of their healthcare.
..............SNIP"
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)I have often wondered how some GOP I know vote for these people. I asked a lady at church how she could being as how she is old as dirt and needs social security and medicare...she said...the GOP says these things but they don't mean it. They could never do that. I have said more than once ...they would try if they had the power...thankfully there first attempt failed . But we are not out of the woods. Trump is a disaster and we will have to fight him every single day.
PoiBoy
(1,542 posts)...and we will have to fight them every single day...
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)drm604
(16,230 posts)She votes for them because she believes that they're lying to her?
What is it that she really wants that she believes they will do? She must have some reason she votes for them other than her belief in their dishonesty.
Demsrule86
(68,576 posts)works too...she would tell you that Hillary was evil incarnate for example.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)applegrove
(118,659 posts)will just see it reinforced that they are cold, exploitative, men.
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)There won't be the same split on their tithe to their masters (tax "reform" .
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)bane.
LakeArenal
(28,817 posts)Like we had 8 years ago.
Well said Lake!
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Unclear to me why the media is finally waking up in 2017 to the real GOP coalition -- super-wealthy donors for funding plus racism and identity politics for votes.
But, better late than never. I'll take it.
zentrum
(9,865 posts)mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)so, I subscribe. I love seeing my name at the top of the page.
moondust
(19,981 posts)Just blame the other guys for all the world's problems FTW! Amirite Gravediggers of Putin (GOP)?
TheRump is showing the world yet again that business autocrats and megalomaniacs aren't particularly well suited to government that operates democratically. Fish out of water.