re: #106 LudwigVanQuixote

OK quick poll here.

Everyone who thinks that the GOP has lost all touch with reality, from top to bottom, and only uses religion as a vehicle to whip up the masses and distract them from the aims of the corporate masters of the GOP, please ding up.

So I feel like I have to explain my down ding. While it’s undoubtedly true that the corporatists rule the GOP and pay lip service to religion as a means of motivating the base, I feel that turning this all into a conspiracy to confuse the American people about what they’re voting for is going to far. Most people know what they’re voting for, both socially and economically. Saying that pro-corporate party operatives are misusing the religious fervor of the American people to enrich their corporate masters misses the fact that many people agree with them, even when it isn’t in their best interests.

A couple of years ago I was having a conversation with my then roommate, a socially liberal pro-gun independent from a tea-bagger family, about taxes. I mentioned that prior that from the 1950s through the 1970s the top tax brackets where in the 70 to 90 percent range. He said “no, that’s too much”. I asked “what about a fifty percent rate?”, to which he replied, “no, that’s still too much, I don’t care how much you get for it; taking half of someones income is just wrong”. My friend is by no means a conservative, but he still felt that there were moral lines taxation should not cross. This isn’t an uncommon viewpoint, I won’t claim to guess at what percentage of GOP voters give us shit about fiscal issues, but it’s non-trivial. Conversely, there are some members of the GOP establishment (i.e. elected officials) who care primarily about social issues. Sarah Palin is a good example of this, as is the Texas school board members.

Saying that the tail is wagging the dog minimizes the role of the dog in all this. The republican base isn’t stupid, they know what their voting for.