Why do any Americans vote Republican?

Lack of critical thinking skills? Homophobia? Denial of scientific discoveries? Hard to say . Not all Republicans are like this, but a majority of them confuzzle me.

 

Geez. You have to go back to the 1860s to find a Republican who did anything for the blacks. And the so-called emancipation they got was largely a mirage.

 

The Pew poll (above) indicates that Republicans have the thinking capacity of garden gnomes.

Their voting behaviour confirms it.

 

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 couldn't have been enacted without conservative support. It was the era of the Solid Democratic South. You have a short historical perspective.

 

Actually, that's not necessarily the case with regards to thinking . This from an economist professor's blog at the University of Oregon http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2007/09/brain-study-lib.html.

And here is this economic professor explaining why most Democrats are not anti-market. http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/01/democrats-are-not-anti-market.html.

 

I was obviously joking about Democrats not thinking.

He's basically saying "nuh-uh!" Are Democrats communists? No. But they're more socialist than most economists think is rational. Yes, I know there are very liberal Democratic economists. There are also, apparently, white penguins and black swans. They're not the norm. All the economists who've worked for Obama have been more conservative than your average Democrat. That's not coincidence. A proper understanding of economics means rejecting a large part of Democratic economic nonsense.

 

So you don't believe discussing why people vote against their own best economic interests is worthwhile?

What a curious attitude.

 

Because your opinion means nothing because of where you live. And your argument means less than that. Anyone who deals in absolutes about a political party only displays their own ignorance. There are voters for both sides and arguments for both. Only children run around claiming their side can do no wrong.

 

For anyone who thinks that republicans are war hawks and democrats are bleeding hearts the tallly so far between who has started more wars is as follows AFAIK Democrats: 16 Republicans: 10

 

I am not a republican, so I can only speak as an aware citizen of the US.

Most of us feel very tied to the core values of conservatism. We believe that hard work achieves better results than dependance. We are strongly individualistic and fear laws that interfere with our freedom. We have a reverence of our history and take attacks on our heros personally.

The Republican party for many people personifies these values.

The democratic party often appears to be representing people who want to belittle our history, take away our freedom and give the rewards of our labor to undeserving masses who despise the very people who sponsor them.

Though I believe they are often misguided I do understand why people vote Republican.

 

The right side of the argument would be that Republicans want to demolish social expenditure while keeping the tax cuts for the rich, would it?

Don't you think it's a bit odd that poor people vote for that sort of stuff?

 

This is why it isn't worth our time. You are dealing with 2% of the issues and making general statements about both sides. Its that kind of ignorance and of course where you live that makes the debate irrelevant.

 

50% of the "poor people" don't pay taxes as it is. Last I heard everyone making over 250 grand pay taxes.

 

At last, something that makes some sort of sense.

By way of explanation. Not by way of commonsense amongst voters.

 

Good post, but, I disagree with some basic tenets you express. For me voting depended on where I was in my life whether I wanted my elected representative to be proactive regarding business and a favorable taxation which spoke to my needs at the time. But never did my voting reflect belittling US history or the core values that make the US a great country.

 

We are free citizens and allowed to vote how we see fit.

 

My opinion was stated pages ago and that is that although I am not consider rich I vote for what I feel is best for the country based on my values and economic knowledge not for myself and what I can get from te government like the tax issue we have been discussing or for spite because I do think it is kind of crazy that the CEO of a company gets billions of dollars in bonuses. Taxes are just a small part of the issues.

Do you see liberty, freedom, resposibiliy, accoutibility, and hard work, as delusional values?

I don't always vote republican just whichever candidate fits my views best. I couldnt care less about the party infact as long as I have been voting I voted for a democrat for governor every election.

 

With certain exceptions established by Senator McCarthy, of course - but as in the old USSR, nobody confuses people with stuff like that.

 

Be more precise. They pay no FEDERAL INCOME tax. Not no taxes at all. Talking points sound good, but it doesn't take a lot of research to determine that unless you are specific with what taxes you mean, the statement is false.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/leonard...ncome-americans-dont-pay-enough-income-taxes/

 

I do not see those things as peculiarly conservative. Depending on what you actually mean by them, of course.

Progressives also value them, even in my country.

But we, for example, do not implement "freedom" using Patriot Acts and such stuff; or allow the rich to escape punuishment for crimes they commit.
.

 

Yeah, the Democrat's renewal of the Patriot Act and actually strengthening it was disgusting.

 

So far the best, and really the only, explanation comes from TBryant.

The odd thing is that every society, conservative or progressive, values those sorts of things.

The strange thing about America is that there is the belief, largely wrong and largely operating against the best interests of most Americans, that these values reside only in the Republican party.

My guess it represents engrained, and largely irrational, historical resistance to change. It is the Catholic church versus Protestantism; Protestantism v enlightenment.

It is the same sentiment you will still find in the intensely nationalistic countries of the Balkans.

 

The only reason to support the republican party is because they at least pay lip service to free market principles and letting people decide what to do with their own money. However, almost the entirety of both parties are now corporate-owned, especially any candidate who would be allowed to be president. The trend is big government holding hands with their favorite big corporations, and screwing the competition and individualism. Bailouts, favoritism, subsidies, federally-backed loans. Those aren't free market principles, they are principles of failure.

You have a mistaken lofty view of the democratic party. They aren't liberals. They are authoritarian statists. There is no reason to vote for democrats. Obama is a banker-bought crony and is shredding the Bill of Rights. See, we kind of value our rights in America and don't appreciate them being trampled upon by statists or corporatists. In this case, it is the collusion of these two, on a loose definition see - fascist.

 

Republicans suck, they are old out of touch backwoods fools with 8th grade educations and little to no understanding of the modern world; however, they do feel they have the right to tell all people how they should live their lives and are willing to bring the entire county down to get their way. Not to worry, most Republicans are old white men who are slowy dying off and finally the world will be free of the plague that is the American conservative.