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What makes me so sad is that roughly 35-40% of the people in this country who vote for and identify with Republicans cannot see that there is anything wrong here! They have literally left the real world for the comfort of the right wing media bubble and they really do not have the ability any longer to distinguish fact from fiction or reality from sadistic money grubbing propaganda.
These people really do think that:
- gays have an "agenda" that threatens them and threatens "marriage" in the abstract
- tax cuts create jobs the same as people need oxygen
- climate change is a scam to tax people unfairly
- health care is just fine with people being denied coverage and premiums rising by double digits every year
- unemployed people are all lazy and unwilling to work
- Barrack Obama is not a "real" American
- abortions cause cancer
- the Earth is 6,000 years old
- science is evil
- education is best handled by isolating children from diversity and conflicting opinions or facts that do not support your myths
- war is a first response to diplomatic issues
- Iran must be invaded yesterday (because we left Iraq but didn't "finish the job over there"
- corporations ARE people and must be protected against the evil lefties who are just envious of their money
- speech DOES equal money and if you want a voice you must kow-tow to their principles or buy it
- the internet is a threat to the nation and SHOULD be limited, patrolled and controlled
These people believe these things independent of facts, reality or debate. They are unshakable in these issues because they are reinforced in their homes (Fox), their cars (Rush and radio feces like him), their readings (Wall Street Journal, op-ed pieces, religious books on the 'prosperity gospel') and on and on. They NEVER allow a contravening opinion or REAL debate to occur and as soon as they are challenged, it is an affront to humanity in their eyes.
This has become not just a divided nation, but a dangerously divided and CONTROLLED nation. The people who are actually doing well have decided that in a two-party system or government, if you can buy and control one side, then you can effectively stop all progress, control the pace and reality of change in legislation and if given enough time, can buy the entire functioning reality of government. The current election is just the latest in a string of record breaking and increasingly expensive campaigns. In truth, as seen with the GOP front-runner Romney, the LAST election cycle never really ended!
When overt racism and hostility to even the most basic and fundamental facts becomes the norm, then the system is broken beyond a simple fix and needs to be completely rethought. These kinds of differences are not tenable for a healthy nation - they are the seeds of genocide and civil war. The Hutsi and Tutsi of Rwanda did not immediately start murdering each other...it was a carefully orchestrated and exploited plot by those who wished to extract wealth for themselves at any price. We need to end this cycle of endless campaigns and reality bubbles before this goes any further down this dangerous and slippery slope of demonization.
People are not characters in a morality play, and allowing them to be depicted as such cheapens us all.
