Sun Mar 26, 2017, 08:32 PM
applegrove (111,247 posts)
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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15 replies, 5712 views
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Author | Time | Post |
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applegrove | Mar 2017 | OP |
Demsrule86 | Mar 2017 | #1 | |
PoiBoy | Mar 2017 | #2 | |
Demsrule86 | Mar 2017 | #13 | |
drm604 | Mar 2017 | #12 | |
Demsrule86 | Mar 2017 | #14 | |
WinkyDink | Mar 2017 | #3 | |
applegrove | Mar 2017 | #4 | |
Cosmocat | Mar 2017 | #5 | |
WinkyDink | Mar 2017 | #15 | |
LakeArenal | Mar 2017 | #6 | |
FakeNoose | Mar 2017 | #8 | |
sharedvalues | Mar 2017 | #7 | |
zentrum | Mar 2017 | #9 | |
mountain grammy | Mar 2017 | #10 | |
moondust | Mar 2017 | #11 |
Response to applegrove (Original post)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 08:48 PM
Demsrule86 (65,378 posts)
1. Great article.
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.
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Response to Demsrule86 (Reply #1)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 08:57 PM
PoiBoy (1,523 posts)
2. The Republicon party is a disaster...
...and we will have to fight them every single day...
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Response to PoiBoy (Reply #2)
Mon Mar 27, 2017, 09:34 AM
Demsrule86 (65,378 posts)
13. I agree we need to fight them everyday. and the article was very interesting.
Response to Demsrule86 (Reply #1)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 10:53 PM
drm604 (16,230 posts)
12. I don't understand answers like that.
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. ![]() |
Response to drm604 (Reply #12)
Mon Mar 27, 2017, 09:36 AM
Demsrule86 (65,378 posts)
14. It is lifetime habit...and the GOP hate heaped on Democrats
works too...she would tell you that Hillary was evil incarnate for example.
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Response to applegrove (Original post)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:15 PM
WinkyDink (51,311 posts)
3. Republicans have no cover now. They are laid bare in all their avaricious depravity.
Response to WinkyDink (Reply #3)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:30 PM
applegrove (111,247 posts)
4. That they did. If they follow with rabid tax cuts or a vicious budget they
will just see it reinforced that they are cold, exploitative, men.
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Response to applegrove (Reply #4)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:37 PM
Cosmocat (14,274 posts)
5. They don't care
There won't be the same split on their tithe to their masters (tax "reform"
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Response to Cosmocat (Reply #5)
Mon Mar 27, 2017, 10:03 AM
WinkyDink (51,311 posts)
15. I hear ya, but the people have awakened and will now pay attention, and attention is a Republican's
Response to applegrove (Original post)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:38 PM
LakeArenal (25,385 posts)
6. You know, what we need is someone who can make America Great Again....
Like we had 8 years ago.
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Response to LakeArenal (Reply #6)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 10:05 PM
FakeNoose (27,774 posts)
8. ...
![]() ![]() ![]() Well said Lake! |
Response to applegrove (Original post)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 09:43 PM
sharedvalues (6,916 posts)
7. This could have been written in 1972
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. |
Response to applegrove (Original post)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 10:35 PM
mountain grammy (25,139 posts)
10. I love the Guardian. They let us read for free,
so, I subscribe. I love seeing my name at the top of the page.
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Response to applegrove (Original post)
Sun Mar 26, 2017, 10:36 PM
moondust (18,936 posts)
11. Duopoly is easy.
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. |