Monday, December 29, 2014
False Consciousness
I think I've said before that I'm baffled by all these low and moderate income white people who vote for Republicans and think liberals are the Antichrist. You see pickup trucks belonging to carpenters and house painters festooned with "Save America: Vote Out Liberals" and "Obama Sucks" bumper stickers. Sometimes I get this when they also have a confederate flag decal (and what exactly is that supposed to mean in Connecticut?), but it's hard to believe that racism is 100% of the explanation.
These are the people who couldn't get health insurance until the Affordable Care Act. They're the people whose parents are covered by Medicare and who expect to depend on it themselves. They're the people who get workers compensation and unemployment insurance. Their bank accounts are insured. These are all programs passed by Democrats and constantly attacked by Republicans.
If their kids are lucky enough to go to college at all, they depend on the state college and university system. Democrats want more support for public higher education, Republicans want less.
They didn't like the Wall Street Bailout but it's Republicans who want to bail out banks in the future, not Democrats.
I could go on but you get the idea. Do they really believe that Democrats want to confiscate their guns and impose Sharia law? I heard one of those voter on the street interviews just before the election and some codger explained that he was going to vote Republican because "Benghazi, ebola, they just can't do anything right." Is this really the depth of thinking that goes into party loyalty for white working class voters?
It seems to me that there ought to be some progressive politicians who are willing to stand up in public and defend progressive ideas. Some people might just get the message, and the progressive politicians they might just win elections that Democrats lose today. Lots of people say this, of course, I just thought I'd take this opportunity in slow blogging season to put my own gram on the scale. It's time more people try it.
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1 comment:
You know, it is amazing how a little bit of truth spoken out loud dissolves bullshit! It's like when I go to a great concert, and for that period of time, there in that place, everything is right with the world, and everyone there feels their molecules lining up, like metal filings over a magnet, and there's just no place for lies and deception . . . yeah, some politicians ought to try it. Every day in this society, it's as if--in the words of Patrick Carnes--we're asked to "disbelieve the obvious and accept the improbably." We're living in a dying empire, and the emperor has no clothes! The fact that Dick Cheney is free and roaming the earth is proof that our society has gone terribly wrong.
Speaking of which--as Antonin Scalia gets ready to try to dismantle Affordable Care--it's working great for me. I recommend it heartily! It is indeed affordable, at least here in Michigan, where, despite having a Republican governor and legislature, it's working anyway!
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