Stop trying to figure out why I tend to vote republican, you condescending idiots. It's not, for one, out of any sense of loyalty or for moral clarity or for lack of self-interest, as one scientist suggests:
"What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies?"
I'm not a rural republican (I'm an urban independent who on some issues leans right and on others leans left), but I do have some in my family and my social sphere (yes, they're even here in NYC, and I really think this study is already on the wrong course. Aside from the crazy evangelicals that have infected the party like a rash, there's a huge chunk of Americans in every social class that basically just want to be left alone and see as little of the government as possible in their lives. Whether that's "against their economic interests" or not is up for interpretation, but these people will vote for the party that seems the most likely to interfere the least and require the least amount of taxes.
Unfortunately, when I say I voted for Bush, I'm suddenly an evangelical from Alabama with a gun in one hand and a bible in the other, who wants LA and New York to secede so we can send all the gays there.
"conservatism is a partially heritable personality trait that predisposes some people to be cognitively inflexible, fond of hierarchy, and inordinately afraid of uncertainty, change, and death. People vote Republican because Republicans offer "moral clarity"—a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep seated fears in much of the electorate. Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world."
I'm sure there are plenty of republicans like that. And there are plenty that aren't like that at all, who don't think the government should be involved in your sex life or your pregnancy, and frankly think those issues don't warrant the amount of weight we give them in an election season.
Unfortunately, with the primary system the way it is, we'll probably never have a socially liberal fiscal conservative candidate for president, at least from the republicans. The system takes SL/FC candidates like McCain and Romney and makes them prostrate themselves and their positions before the mighty evangelicals to win votes in Iowa and South Carolina.
Until someone comes along to claim them, I guess the South Park Libertarians (few of whom would wish to be called South Park Republicans anymore) will just float outside the party system, or be lumped in with all the fearful, morally certain republicans.
2 comments:
Um, Romney is not socially liberal. He tried to present himself as such in order to get elected in Massachusetts. (where I live) But he's a dyed in the wool Mormon with very fundamentalist positions on social issues. While I think McCain has gone quiet on social issue to pander to the fundamentalists, Romney actually is showing his true colors.
Beyond that, I think you have a point here. I'm a liberal, I suppose, and I thought that article was insulting to people of all stripes. As a liberal, it's not that I don't see the need to have a tribal identity, it's that I think anyone who wants to participate should be included, regardless of race, ethnicity, creed, sexuality, etc.
And I know Republicans such as yourself, who are more about fiscal responsibility and keeping government out of our private lives.
The difference tends to be that I think government should have services to protect the most vulnerable amongst us, because humans to tend to be so self-oriented they will not give up their desires for the sake of others whom they do not know. It's the size of our population that urges me to think government has a role, as the vulnerable tend to get segregated into groupings where they're stuck together without the resources to help themselves.
I could go on, but I think that's really the big difference between most liberals and most conservatives. The religious fundamentalists on the right are fringe and the communists on the left are, as well. Yet, sociologist, psychologists, etc want to define us in the extremes. Oh, well.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment...and congrats on being the first commenter. I'd send you a blogstomp tshirt if there were such a thing.
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