WHY REPUBLICANS WON

Why do workers vote against themselves; a question people often ask in many different forms. They vote for a political party that stands with management, when they know there is a huge and growing income disparity between management and labor. They vote against minimum wage and labor unions. They vote against social programs such as social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA. Some are avid campers, anglers, and hunters yet they vote against protecting the environment. They vote against government regulations even though they know moneylenders, payday loans, mortgage venders, credit card companies, etc are over charging or cheating them in other ways. They vote against raising taxes even though they know that state tax subsidies to universities is what makes tuition affordable. They cry for better mental health care but cut taxes to the point the government cannot afford to support mental health programs; I assume you know that 20% of people on our prisons are mentally ill and should be in asylums. People know all of this but still vote for the political party responsible for all of this. Why? For Gods sake, why?

None of this makes sense until you step back and ask not what for what they are voting in support but what are they voting against. People seem to have an innate sense of mistrust. They intensely hate the idea of being cheated. This is innate and can be observed in earliest childhood and seem to become more intense as they mature. I was mystified by how well people unquestionably received Ronald Reagan’s “welfare queen” mythology over fifty years ago. The mystery is over; I now know they accepted it because they innately wanted it to be the truth even if it wasn’t. I see exactly the same thing happening again in the current political issue of voter fraud. In addition, the idea that welfare recipients are drug users is not only accepted but also, like voter fraud, Republican governors and legislatures pass laws that are terribly expensive to prevent it. Democrats think they can counteract such things by demonstrating that voter fraud is all but not existence, drug use among welfare recipients is very rare, and the so-called “welfare queens” is all but not existent. Unfortunately, a rare case of voter fraud occurs and investigators do find an occasional welfare recipient using drugs, and of course, there are people who cheat on government welfare programs. In spite of the facts, people so readily believe things that they are willing to act counter to their own best interests such as vote for Republicans; that is “what is the matter with Kansas”.  

On occasion, I read Bob Livingston’s Personal Liberty Digest among other publications and write comments about how bad some of their articles are—some are really, really bad. The point in bringing this up is my comments stimulate counter remarks, which is why I do it. It was these counter comments that called my attention to the facts I alluded to in the first two paragraphs. The most common countering arguments have to do with “lazy thieving liberals” living off the public dole that is, “living off their hard work”. Usually, he authors embellish their comments with a flurry of four letter words and a few of the more articulate remark by telling me how hard they “personally” worked for their money and do not like lazy “numb nut” liberals like me taking advantage of them.

I visualize these folks as hard working “duck dynasty types” splayed out on a couch in front of the TV on Sunday with a can of beer in their hands watching a football game. How wrong Democrats are to think these people, these men and women, would care about income disparity or someone else’s ability to buy heath insurance, why someone has to work two 36-hour jobs to eat, or if a health issue would bankrupted some stranger. They are not as concerned about some widow with three kids, or a wounded veteran with PTSD, or a paraplegic who really needs help, as they are concerned that someone might cheat them by living on welfare. They will walks miles to voting stations to vote for any candidate who says he or she will cut welfare, stop voter fraud, stop welfare recipients form taking drugs, cut taxes, and, if you live in Iowa, vote for candidate Joni Ernst, who will make them squeal in Washington by cutting pork  or vote for Thom Tillis in North Carolina who wants to re segregate schools. You know the old saying, you get what you pay for, well, you get what you vote for. 

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