Grim spots an interesting article.
The self-identifying conservative Republicans who make up the base of the Republican Party stand a world apart from the rest of America, according to focus groups conducted by Democracy Corps. These base Republican voters dislike Barack Obama to be sure – which is not very surprising as base Democrats had few positive things to say about George Bush – but these voters identify themselves as part of a ‘mocked’ minority with a set of shared beliefs and knowledge, and commitment to oppose Obama that sets them apart from the majority in the country. They believe Obama is ruthlessly advancing a ‘secret agenda’ to bankrupt the United States and dramatically expand government control to an extent nothing short of socialism. They overwhelmingly view a successful Obama presidency as the destruction of this country’s founding principles and are committed to seeing the president fail.
There's a LOT more at the link--but Grim (a Southern Democrat!!) wraps:
The argument is difficult to counter, more difficult than you might imagine. The reason it's hard is that all of the facts are in their favor, and the only thing against them are unprovable: questions of intention, of character, of the meaning behind observed acts.
It ain't "racism," Keith. It's principles. You could buy a few and actually play the game, but you'd have to think your way out of your masters' agit-propaganda first.
James Carville, whose group put this study together, is also a Southern Democrat. He's not from the conservative wing of the tradition, but nevertheless that's probably why he got the racism part of the study right: he's familiar enough with the South to recognize that this isn't an outgrowth of race, and to know how to bait people into revealing themselves if it were.
ReplyDelete(Not that you have to work hard. I've met some racists in my time, and they're usually eager to tell you what they think.)
A lot of people think the way that's described here, and some very good people. I find it worrisome, because if good people decide they have to fight, they fight very hard. It's important to convince them not to see things this way, but it's hard.