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applegrove

(118,622 posts)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:32 PM Mar 2017

The 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 America’s 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 Reagan’s 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 Obama’s veto to protect them from voters who would, in reality, be furious at the loss of their healthcare.

..............SNIP"

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The showdown that exposed the rift between Republican ideology and reality (Original Post) applegrove Mar 2017 OP
Great article. Demsrule86 Mar 2017 #1
The Republicon party is a disaster... PoiBoy Mar 2017 #2
I agree we need to fight them everyday. and the article was very interesting. Demsrule86 Mar 2017 #13
I don't understand answers like that. drm604 Mar 2017 #12
It is lifetime habit...and the GOP hate heaped on Democrats Demsrule86 Mar 2017 #14
Republicans have no cover now. They are laid bare in all their avaricious depravity. WinkyDink Mar 2017 #3
That they did. If they follow with rabid tax cuts or a vicious budget they applegrove Mar 2017 #4
They don't care Cosmocat Mar 2017 #5
I hear ya, but the people have awakened and will now pay attention, and attention is a Republican's WinkyDink Mar 2017 #15
You know, what we need is someone who can make America Great Again.... LakeArenal Mar 2017 #6
... FakeNoose Mar 2017 #8
This could have been written in 1972 sharedvalues Mar 2017 #7
++++ zentrum Mar 2017 #9
I love the Guardian. They let us read for free, mountain grammy Mar 2017 #10
Duopoly is easy. moondust Mar 2017 #11

Demsrule86

(68,552 posts)
1. Great article.
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:48 PM
Mar 2017

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.

drm604

(16,230 posts)
12. I don't understand answers like that.
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 11:53 PM
Mar 2017

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

(68,552 posts)
14. It is lifetime habit...and the GOP hate heaped on Democrats
Mon Mar 27, 2017, 10:36 AM
Mar 2017

works too...she would tell you that Hillary was evil incarnate for example.

applegrove

(118,622 posts)
4. That they did. If they follow with rabid tax cuts or a vicious budget they
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 10:30 PM
Mar 2017

will just see it reinforced that they are cold, exploitative, men.

 

WinkyDink

(51,311 posts)
15. I hear ya, but the people have awakened and will now pay attention, and attention is a Republican's
Mon Mar 27, 2017, 11:03 AM
Mar 2017

bane.

sharedvalues

(6,916 posts)
7. This could have been written in 1972
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 10:43 PM
Mar 2017

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.

mountain grammy

(26,619 posts)
10. I love the Guardian. They let us read for free,
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 11:35 PM
Mar 2017

so, I subscribe. I love seeing my name at the top of the page.

moondust

(19,972 posts)
11. Duopoly is easy.
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 11:36 PM
Mar 2017

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.

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