Numbers, Part 2
(This would not fit into a comment on Mad Builder's post below, so I had to create a new post. Sorry, man; not trying to steal your thunder, I'm just a bit of gasbag when it comes to writing my opinions. Carry on with your conversation in either thread, please. Additionally, anyone is welcome to make Part 3 if you have more to say than will fit in a comment. Hrm. Perhaps we need to look into a AC forum...)
I believe there was also a significant "I'm not going to bother going to vote because Obama is obviously going to get his ass whooped" mentality among Republicans, which is what I and many others were worried about with all the up-spin and cheerleading happening on talk radio over the last month. But while I agree with Mad Builder's interpretation of the data, the biggest problem doesn't show up in the numbers or even in Republican apathy. Our educational system has, over the last twenty years, successfully raised a generation of voters who have been taught from kindergarten that they are special and deserving of applause simply for the fact that they exist, not for what they contribute.
What you are really seeing in that deep blue of the northeast is a pervasive sense of entitlement. It is the inevitable, final manifestation of LBJ's Great Society. When combined with unionism and racial politics, it has created a nearly invulnerable bastion of electoral college control for the Democrats -- which I believe is exactly what LBJ set out to do 48 years ago. The next election is largely irrelevant at this point; the damage has now been done.
In some ways, you can couch this in a religious analogy. The inhabitants of the center, Red part of the country are, as pertains to the Constitution, the equivalent of the Protestant Reformers of the 16th century. We believe that the Constitution should be interpreted at face value. Like Luther's concept of God's grace as a gift to be accepted freely, we see the Constitution as standing outside of government. It is the source of government, not its servant.
The northeastern liberals are the equivalent of the old Vatican. They view the Constitution as something to be changed and interpreted for their benefit. Like the corrupt clerical structure of the 16th century Roman Catholic church, their focus has turned toward themselves and what it can do for them today. The intent of the document is relevant only inasmuch as they can derive personal benefit from it. If it is standing in the way of their goals and desires, it is the document and their interpretations of it that must be changed, not their goals and desires.
I realize the analogy is not watertight, but it serves to illustrate the difference in mentality that is involved. The entitlement system has successfully tied a large enough voting block to the federal government that they are willing to accept -- nay, enable -- the usurpation of personal rights and self-reliance in order to assure their continued comfort. To extend the analogy, Washington D.C. is, in effect, selling indulgences to the believers.
This is not a situation that will change in the near future, and probably not even in our lifetimes. The inevitable stagflation (which has already been in place in relation to food prices for the last two years) will make some impact on northeast voting patterns in 2016, but again I fear it will be too little and too late. As the entitlements grow, Washington must garnish more and more of the wages of the people who are working within the system. Eventually, that horse will no longer be able to carry the load.
One final return to my analogy: Martin Luther didn't just start a religious revolution, he inadvertently sparked a social one. The Reformers went far beyond his intent and interpreted his writings in a secular as well as religious context. In many ways, the Protestant Reformation was the midwife of the Enlightenment, helping to give birth to a resurgence of interest in the Greek ideas of democracy and republic. (An interesting side note is the fact that Martin Luther remained a devout Catholic and railed against the reformers, even going so far as to encourage the nobles to slaughter them in wholesale lots. He wanted to reform the Catholic church, not the religion. But the masses of peasants and the rising middle class took matters out of his hands. Beware of fire, as they say.)
All other factors remaining equal, including the apparent inability of the GOP to field a credible and appealing candidate, I see a political and cultural schism in America as an inevitability. For my part, retirement abroad or even a change in citizenship is looking more appealing by the day.
As of this past Tuesday, I find that I have very different feelings when I look at the American flag than I did for the first 44 years of my life. That alone scares me on a level I cannot even put into words, because it something I had never anticipated in my darkest nightmares. It has, in effect, removed much of the foundation upon which I built my life and my beliefs. Because it's not enough just to live; one has to live for something bigger than oneself. That, apparently, is not the consensus among modern liberals. Living in selfish hedonism has become the goal for many people in this country. I find that both personally repulsive and socially anarchic. I fear I cannot long exist within such an environment with losing myself, and that scares me even more.
**__UPDATE__**
It appears my analogy of the Protestant Reformation was more appropriate than I had first thought. Post-election analysis and interviewing is revealing an ugly trend: the Republican numbers were down because the evangelicals stayed home. Apparently, they didn't want Obama but refused to vote for Romney because he's a Mormon.
Let me put this another way: these morons just sailed us all right over the edge of the waterfall because their Giant Invisible Man in the Sky wears different clothes than Mitt Romney's Giant Invisible Man in the Sky.
Worse, it's beginning to appear as though it wasn't confined to fringe sects, but rather that there was a "gentlemen's agreement" among even many of the more mainstream branches of Protestantism. A silent wink-and-a-nod that they wouldn't vote for Romney on religious principle. Because he's one dem dere nutball Mormonz! And if the few of them I've heard on the radio are any indication, they're damned proud of the fact. I just got through accusing the liberals of being self-centered and entitled, but they can't hold a candle to you bunch of right-wing religio-twits.
I can't even begin to describe how angry this makes me.
If you're so stupid you can't see the difference between a vote for Obama or a vote for someone of a different cult, then you just got the country you deserve. When the government forces your children onto birth control at 16, you know who will be to blame? Not the Democrats: YOU.
When the government passes a law that you can no longer preach that homosexuality is immoral because it's hate speech, you know who'll be to blame? No, not Barack Obama: YOU.
You know what? Fuck you. Fuck the whole lot of you sanctimonious cracker-munchers. At least the Dems can pull together and vote DESPITE their differences. Apparently the Republican Party is so full of twat-headed idiots, they can't even agree on who the enemy really is.
So you bastards keep your stupid cults and your dreams of gold-paved streets and fight amongst yourselves about when a fetus starts thinking. I'm going down the road. People say voting Libertarian is "throwing your vote away," but going on evidence, so is voting Republican.
I believe there was also a significant "I'm not going to bother going to vote because Obama is obviously going to get his ass whooped" mentality among Republicans, which is what I and many others were worried about with all the up-spin and cheerleading happening on talk radio over the last month. But while I agree with Mad Builder's interpretation of the data, the biggest problem doesn't show up in the numbers or even in Republican apathy. Our educational system has, over the last twenty years, successfully raised a generation of voters who have been taught from kindergarten that they are special and deserving of applause simply for the fact that they exist, not for what they contribute.
What you are really seeing in that deep blue of the northeast is a pervasive sense of entitlement. It is the inevitable, final manifestation of LBJ's Great Society. When combined with unionism and racial politics, it has created a nearly invulnerable bastion of electoral college control for the Democrats -- which I believe is exactly what LBJ set out to do 48 years ago. The next election is largely irrelevant at this point; the damage has now been done.
In some ways, you can couch this in a religious analogy. The inhabitants of the center, Red part of the country are, as pertains to the Constitution, the equivalent of the Protestant Reformers of the 16th century. We believe that the Constitution should be interpreted at face value. Like Luther's concept of God's grace as a gift to be accepted freely, we see the Constitution as standing outside of government. It is the source of government, not its servant.
The northeastern liberals are the equivalent of the old Vatican. They view the Constitution as something to be changed and interpreted for their benefit. Like the corrupt clerical structure of the 16th century Roman Catholic church, their focus has turned toward themselves and what it can do for them today. The intent of the document is relevant only inasmuch as they can derive personal benefit from it. If it is standing in the way of their goals and desires, it is the document and their interpretations of it that must be changed, not their goals and desires.
I realize the analogy is not watertight, but it serves to illustrate the difference in mentality that is involved. The entitlement system has successfully tied a large enough voting block to the federal government that they are willing to accept -- nay, enable -- the usurpation of personal rights and self-reliance in order to assure their continued comfort. To extend the analogy, Washington D.C. is, in effect, selling indulgences to the believers.
This is not a situation that will change in the near future, and probably not even in our lifetimes. The inevitable stagflation (which has already been in place in relation to food prices for the last two years) will make some impact on northeast voting patterns in 2016, but again I fear it will be too little and too late. As the entitlements grow, Washington must garnish more and more of the wages of the people who are working within the system. Eventually, that horse will no longer be able to carry the load.
One final return to my analogy: Martin Luther didn't just start a religious revolution, he inadvertently sparked a social one. The Reformers went far beyond his intent and interpreted his writings in a secular as well as religious context. In many ways, the Protestant Reformation was the midwife of the Enlightenment, helping to give birth to a resurgence of interest in the Greek ideas of democracy and republic. (An interesting side note is the fact that Martin Luther remained a devout Catholic and railed against the reformers, even going so far as to encourage the nobles to slaughter them in wholesale lots. He wanted to reform the Catholic church, not the religion. But the masses of peasants and the rising middle class took matters out of his hands. Beware of fire, as they say.)
All other factors remaining equal, including the apparent inability of the GOP to field a credible and appealing candidate, I see a political and cultural schism in America as an inevitability. For my part, retirement abroad or even a change in citizenship is looking more appealing by the day.
As of this past Tuesday, I find that I have very different feelings when I look at the American flag than I did for the first 44 years of my life. That alone scares me on a level I cannot even put into words, because it something I had never anticipated in my darkest nightmares. It has, in effect, removed much of the foundation upon which I built my life and my beliefs. Because it's not enough just to live; one has to live for something bigger than oneself. That, apparently, is not the consensus among modern liberals. Living in selfish hedonism has become the goal for many people in this country. I find that both personally repulsive and socially anarchic. I fear I cannot long exist within such an environment with losing myself, and that scares me even more.
**__UPDATE__**
It appears my analogy of the Protestant Reformation was more appropriate than I had first thought. Post-election analysis and interviewing is revealing an ugly trend: the Republican numbers were down because the evangelicals stayed home. Apparently, they didn't want Obama but refused to vote for Romney because he's a Mormon.
Let me put this another way: these morons just sailed us all right over the edge of the waterfall because their Giant Invisible Man in the Sky wears different clothes than Mitt Romney's Giant Invisible Man in the Sky.
Worse, it's beginning to appear as though it wasn't confined to fringe sects, but rather that there was a "gentlemen's agreement" among even many of the more mainstream branches of Protestantism. A silent wink-and-a-nod that they wouldn't vote for Romney on religious principle. Because he's one dem dere nutball Mormonz! And if the few of them I've heard on the radio are any indication, they're damned proud of the fact. I just got through accusing the liberals of being self-centered and entitled, but they can't hold a candle to you bunch of right-wing religio-twits.
I can't even begin to describe how angry this makes me.
If you're so stupid you can't see the difference between a vote for Obama or a vote for someone of a different cult, then you just got the country you deserve. When the government forces your children onto birth control at 16, you know who will be to blame? Not the Democrats: YOU.
When the government passes a law that you can no longer preach that homosexuality is immoral because it's hate speech, you know who'll be to blame? No, not Barack Obama: YOU.
You know what? Fuck you. Fuck the whole lot of you sanctimonious cracker-munchers. At least the Dems can pull together and vote DESPITE their differences. Apparently the Republican Party is so full of twat-headed idiots, they can't even agree on who the enemy really is.
So you bastards keep your stupid cults and your dreams of gold-paved streets and fight amongst yourselves about when a fetus starts thinking. I'm going down the road. People say voting Libertarian is "throwing your vote away," but going on evidence, so is voting Republican.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 10:10
4 Comments:
HEH Apathy Curve - The Forum. The Empire of Apathy grows! :)
Honestly (and yes, I realize this is a sad statement) but I would love to get my hands on the the age demographic data to go along with the last 20-40 years of Popular vote. Would be curious to see what trends present themselves.
Part of me hope for a "market solution". We keep draining the swamp (i.e. people with any sense and ambition to be other than a ward of the government, keep leaving states like Ohio, Penn, California) moving population and their associated electoral votes to to states like Texas, Georgia, Arizona, etc.
Of course, if it really really bad, "Go Galt".
Voting for [not the current President] did not work for Dole, Kerry, Romney, and to a lesser extent McCain. We are clearly putting the wrong guy on the ticket. Why? Maybe we had too many conservatives in the primaries. This year, my dad wanted Newt. I wanted Herman and when that fell through I backed Ron Paul. We have similar political ideologies. My point is, during the primaries the conservative vote was split into factions and the GOP (read moderate) backed Romney was easily able to get the nomination. The candidates that could have sparked the masses to actually vote were all on the sidelines. I don't see it changing in 2016.
-jw
Damn...Jar(egg)head beat me to the punch. I've been seeing the same thing on the discussion threads on some Conservative blogs and the like. It comes down to two elements. People justifying not supporting Romney because he wasn't their sort of Conservative and Evangelicals who sat on their hands because he was Morman.
This is really really REALLY pathetic, I don't think I can add much to the sentiments that Jar(egg)head has already expressed over this.
This is the exact same thing that happened to Bush in the '92 election. Evangelicals and some purist Conservatives sat on their hands or went for Perot "in protest" rather than vote for Bush.
I recall mentioning this very fact in an earlier thread. But nobody listens to the Old Man. Romney lost because he was Mormon.
The sad fact is that this battle is being fought by people on BOTH sides who have a lot of money and no clue what it's like to be middle class. The Republicans who sat this one out can weather the Democrat storm of economic despair that's coming. The Democrats, those that are not also rich, live off the government teat so they won't feel the pinch either.
We're headed for a downward spiral of increasing taxes on an ever decreasing threshold defining "rich", just to pay more and more parasites not to work and vote Democrat. And fundamentally, religion is to blame.
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