Reply #4: The problem is the ignorance of the electorate [View All]

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They arent changing to thinking like right-wing idealogues, they aren't changing at all. Poll numbers show that americans in general are overwhelmingly liberal. The problem is that the right-wing has latched onto divisive issues and claimed them as their own.

Tax Cuts - Only those who understand what taxes are actually used for would ever think tax cuts were a bad idea. The rich have been pushing the idea of supply-side economics for decades now. And why shouldnt they? The whole of that philosophy is "If you make me more rich, eventually it will make you more rich" From their point of view only the first half of the statement is important and from any sane person's point of view the statement is patently absurd.

Abortion - the country is evenly divided on this issue. By turning it into some kind of moral war the right wing is able to get a large portion of people to vote for them because these people are only concerned with this one issue

Guns - The NRA has a ton of money to spend on right wingers enabling them to push thier agenda

Religious fundamentalism cloaked as every day religion - people think "What is wrong with my kid wanting to pray in school?" Most of middle america is homogenized as small, overwhelmingly christian towns. When I went to college I met a lot of people who had never met a Jew, never mind an atheist.

The War on Drugs and Crime - Ask anyone what to do with a drug-dealer, they'll say throw him in jail and throw away the key...and this is what is happening now. People don't understand that this means their brother who sold a joint to his best friend. They don't understand that most users eventually sell drugs to support an addiction, then there is the idea of mandatory minimums. People get angry about a crime that happens without knowing the consequences for their own lives to simply locking people up.

Finally the right wing are masters of the isolated example proving the rule. 9/11, columbine two horrible incidents. These scared people and the right-wing takes them and convinces people that terrorists lurk around every corner, that every troubled child is a massacre waiting to happen. It's absurd. It is more likely that you will kill yourself than that you will die in one of these types of incidents.

People havent changes, the republican party and the right-wing have mastered propaganda techniques. Study up on the techniques used and perfected by the nazi party and you will be amazed at the parallels in use by republicans today (and many democrats as well).

Until the media wakes up, this country will be held hostage by these lunatics.