Why do people vote Conservative / Republican?

Add another one to my "things that confuse me" list...

Why do average, ordinary people vote for Conservative / Republican / (insert your right-wing party here) politicians?

I can see voting for them IF:
  • Your household income is more than $500,000/year
  • You are a majority shareholder in a corporation that employs more than 500 people
  • You are a senior management in a major corporation
  • You have the majority of your net worth invested in energy and "defense" stocks
But honestly, unless one or more of the above applies to you, it just doesn't make sense.

For the average Joe, voting for Conservative politicians is basically the equivalent to shooting yourself in the foot -- over and over again.

Their modis operandi is to systematically underfund and dismantle public institutions, and replace them with private corporations they can profit from.

The result is an ever increasing divide between rich and poor, creating a cheap labor force at the bottom (more profit!) and increasing conflict (more profit!).

These are the people that enable corporations like BP ruin a 600,000 square mile ecosystem without oversight, and let banks bet their money at the racetrack and keep the winnings, but get bailed out by the government when they lose.

And yet, a huge number of people vote for them each and every election because they say stuff like "No new taxes".

Somebody please explain this to me.

Comments

  1. Because many people still honestly believe in the trickle down theory of economics. And as far as I can tell they haven't been proven conclusively right or wrong, making it very hard to convince otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Simple answer. The Conservatives are marketing geniuses and the average citizen is too focused on American Idol and the NFL to care about politics.

    Just look at how the Conservatives name their legislations:

    Defense of Marriage Act - Should be called the "Gay people are not covered by the Constitution Act"

    Patriot Act - Should be called the "Big Government Spying on Every Part of Your Life Act"

    Obviously no political party will mirror our views perfectly but Conservatives have done a great job creating "Wedge Issues" like Abortion, Gay Rights, Gun Rights, etc and getting people to vote based on their 'fear of the unknown'.

    Until we get the $$ out of our political system we will always have the battle between the General Welfare and the "I got mine now leave me alone" crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree and I think that a large part of the bible belt, blind faith public are not smart enough to decipher what is bullshit and what is good for them. All they hear is, more jesus, guns, war, less tax, gays and abortion.
    That is good enough for them. For a population that actually think they are in the greatest country on earth, if they actually opened their eyes and took a look at the rest of the world, they would see that USA is only good at one thing. WAR and over funding the military. The things that make for a good society, like education, health care and safe economic practices are second to that, because they are all afraid that the boogie man in a turban will kill them in their sleep.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Because they are stupid and don't realize that the scumbags they want to get rid of is the middle class.

    ReplyDelete

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