Why Americans Hate Democrats—A Dialogue

Well, some of the other boards I visit the Bush reelection has people thinking of moving out of this country. :rolleyes: I post this article because this is the same type of thing I\'m hearing from my lefty buddies. Quite sad if you ask me and another example why a D gaining control of the White House is going to be a long time coming.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2109218/#ContinueArticle

Why Americans Hate Democrats—A Dialogue
The unteachable ignorance of the red states.
By Jane Smiley
Updated Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004, at 3:24 PM PT


The day after the election, Slate\'s political writers tackled the question of why the Democratic Party—which has now lost five of the past seven presidential elections and solidified its minority status in Congress—keeps losing elections. Chris Suellentrop says that John Kerry was too nuanced and technocratic, while George W. Bush offered a vision of expanding freedom around the world. William Saletan argues that Democratic candidates won\'t win until they again cast their policies the way Bill Clinton did, in terms of values and moral responsibility. Timothy Noah contends that none of the familiar advice to the party—move right, move left, or sit tight—seems likely to help. Slate asked a number of wise liberals to take up the question of why Americans won\'t vote for the Democrats. Click here to read previous entries.

 
I say forget introspection. It\'s time to be honest about our antagonists. My predecessors in this conversation are thoughtful men, and I honor their ideas, but let\'s try something else. I grew up in Missouri and most of my family voted for Bush, so I am going to be the one to say it: The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry. I suppose the good news is that 55 million Americans have evaded the ignorance-inducing machine. But 58 million have not. (Well, almost 58 million—my relatives are not ignorant, they are just greedy and full of classic Republican feelings of superiority.)

Ignorance and bloodlust have a long tradition in the United States, especially in the red states. There used to be a kind of hand-to-hand fight on the frontier called a "knock-down-drag-out," where any kind of gouging, biting, or maiming was considered fair. The ancestors of today\'s red-state voters used to stand around cheering and betting on these fights. When the forces of red and blue encountered one another head-on for the first time in Kansas Territory in 1856, the red forces from Missouri, who had been coveting Indian land across the Missouri River since 1820, entered Kansas and stole the territorial election. The red news media of the day made a practice of inflammatory lying—declaring that the blue folks had shot and killed red folks whom everyone knew were walking around. The worst civilian massacre in American history took place in Lawrence, Kan., in 1862—Quantrill\'s raid. The red forces, known then as the slave-power, pulled 265 unarmed men from their beds on a Sunday morning and slaughtered them in front of their wives and children. The error that progressives have consistently committed over the years is to underestimate the vitality of ignorance in America. Listen to what the red state citizens say about themselves, the songs they write, and the sermons they flock to. They know who they are—they are full of original sin and they have a taste for violence. The blue state citizens make the Rousseauvian mistake of thinking humans are essentially good, and so they never realize when they are about to be slugged from behind.

Here is how ignorance works: First, they put the fear of God into you—if you don\'t believe in the literal word of the Bible, you will burn in hell. Of course, the literal word of the Bible is tremendously contradictory, and so you must abdicate all critical thinking, and accept a simple but logical system of belief that is dangerous to question. A corollary to this point is that they make sure you understand that Satan resides in the toils and snares of complex thought and so it is best not try it.

Next, they tell you that you are the best of a bad lot (humans, that is) and that as bad as you are, if you stick with them, you are among the chosen. This is flattering and reassuring, and also encourages you to imagine the terrible fates of those you envy and resent. American politicians ALWAYS operate by a similar sort of flattery, and so Americans are never induced to question themselves. That\'s what happened to Jimmy Carter—he asked Americans to take responsibility for their profligate ways, and promptly lost to Ronald Reagan, who told them once again that they could do anything they wanted. The history of the last four years shows that red state types, above all, do not want to be told what to do—they prefer to be ignorant. As a result, they are virtually unteachable.

Third, and most important, when life grows difficult or fearsome, they (politicians, preachers, pundits) encourage you to cling to your ignorance with even more fervor. But by this time you don\'t need much encouragement—you\'ve put all your eggs into the ignorance basket, and really, some kind of miraculous fruition (preferably accompanied by the torment of your enemies, and the ignorant always have plenty of enemies) is your only hope. If you are sufficiently ignorant, you won\'t even know how dangerous your policies are until they have destroyed you, and then you can always blame others.

The reason the Democrats have lost five of the last seven presidential elections is simple: A generation ago, the big capitalists, who have no morals, as we know, decided to make use of the religious right in their class war against the middle class and against the regulations that were protecting those whom they considered to be their rightful prey—workers and consumers. The architects of this strategy knew perfectly well that they were exploiting, among other unsavory qualities, a long American habit of virulent racism, but they did it anyway, and we see the outcome now—Cheney is the capitalist arm and Bush is the religious arm. They know no boundaries or rules. They are predatory and resentful, amoral, avaricious, and arrogant. Lots of Americans like and admire them because lots of Americans, even those who don\'t share those same qualities, don\'t know which end is up. Can the Democrats appeal to such voters? Do they want to? The Republicans have sold their souls for power. Must everyone?

Progressives have only one course of action now: React quickly to every outrage—red state types love to cheat and intimidate, so we have to assume the worst and call them on it every time. We have to give them more to think about than they can handle—to always appeal to reason and common sense, and the law, even when they can\'t understand it and don\'t respond. They cannot be allowed to keep any secrets. Tens of millions of people didn\'t vote—they are watching, too, and have to be shown that we are ready and willing to fight, and that the battle is worth fighting. And in addition, we have to remember that threats to democracy from the right always collapse. Whatever their short-term appeal, they are borne of hubris and hatred, and will destroy their purveyors in the end.

Some guy in my class night was saying how he was planning on moving to Canada when he\'s done with school, I said go ahead and leave now, the borders are open man. If you don\'t want to be here please leave now don\'t waste your money in our country.

How much you wanna bet he won\'t? A lot of these people are talking out of their collective asses.

Before I\'m even going to read the article, I like how this guy subtely point out that democrats are somehow now considered un-American for their viewpoints in the title.  I guess that "you\'re either with us or against us" Bush mentality really is as widespread as so many say...

Something tells me that none of this is going to matter 2-3 years from now.

[clips]

Originally posted by Ryu
Before I\'m even going to read the article, I like how this guy subtely point out that democrats are somehow now considered un-American for their viewpoints in the title.  I guess that "you\'re either with us or against us" Bush mentality really is as widespread as so many say...

i agree..freedom fries!..indeed!  :rolleyes:

The article above appears to be an amazing overanalysis of what happened.  The author went a little too far out of his way in emphasizing the alleged "ignorance" of the republican voter.  I believe there is ignorance on both sides of the fence.  Still I think it\'s only a general spasm of frustration that is causing people to suggest leaving the US, and posting articles like this.  They should not be taken seriously.

I found a more interesting and slightly less insulting analysis in a recent Rolling Stone article:

"Bush like me."  By MATT TAIBBI

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/_/id/6539082?

One of the great cliches of liberal criticism of the Christian right is the idea that these people are wrongheaded because they profess to know the will of God. H.L. Mencken put that one best, and perhaps first: "It is only the savage, whether of the African bush or the American gospel tent, who pretends to know the will and intent of God exactly and completely."

These criticisms sound like they make sense. But I think they are a little off-base. The problem not only with fundamentalist Christians but with Republicans in general is not that they act on blind faith, without thinking. The problem is that they are incorrigible doubters with an insatiable appetite for Evidence. What they get off on is not Believing, but in having their beliefs tested. That\'s why their conversations and their media are so completely dominated by implacable bogeymen: marrying gays, liberals, the ACLU, Sean Penn, Europeans and so on. Their faith both in God and in their political convictions is too weak to survive without an unceasing string of real and imaginary confrontations with those people -- and for those confrontations, they are constantly assembling evidence and facts to make their case.

But here\'s the twist. They are not looking for facts with which to defeat opponents. They are looking for facts that ensure them an ever-expanding roster of opponents. They can be correct facts, incorrect facts, irrelevant facts, it doesn\'t matter. The point is not to win the argument, the point is to make sure the argument never stops. Permanent war isn\'t a policy imposed from above; it\'s an emotional imperative that rises from the bottom. In a way, it actually helps if the fact is dubious or untrue (like the Swift-boat business), because that guarantees an argument. You\'re arguing the particulars, where you\'re right, while they\'re arguing the underlying generalities, where they are.

Once you grasp this fact, you\'re a long way to understanding what the Hannitys and Limbaughs figured out long ago: These people will swallow anything you feed them, so long as it leaves them with a demon to wrestle with in their dreams.

[Evi]

There\'s nothing wrong with Democrats...what the funk.

Exactly people have a set of beliefs so be it, but we are all free to decide and debate here all we want some of these articles are over the top, you just gotta take them for what there worth.

I\'M SICK OF BUSH IM GONNA MOVE OUT OF THIS DAMN COUNTRY IM GOING TO ALASKA I SWEAR IT, I AIN\'T KIDDING THIS TIME IM MOVING MAN

A simple plan indeed, THX!

[Evi]

Originally posted by THX
I\'M SICK OF BUSH IM GONNA MOVE OUT OF THIS DAMN COUNTRY IM GOING TO ALASKA I SWEAR IT, I AIN\'T KIDDING THIS TIME IM MOVING MAN

Alaska is still in the US...so *chuckle* But you shouldn\'t go there cuz that\'s where Bush is going to drill for oil...

[Living-In-Clip]

I think the main problem is America is still a Christain country and due to that, the main America public doesn\'t like to think ahead and approve subjects such as abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage and so on. As long as this country stays mainly Christain and the goverment goes hand in hand with religion, I think we will see the Republicans being the most popular party.

However, with the current generation growing up and being less religious than ever, here in say twenty years this could all change. There is room for a big change, a change that America needs in my opinion.

I also think so Clip. Half of the US is the same way western europe was some time ago (100-200 years ago?). Luckily all this God bs is really toned down here and all the messed up views and "MORALS" it carries with it.  A leading political bsing about God, non-rational and non-logical things... well it would never happend because that guy/girl would never been in a leading position in the first place.

80-some-odd% of the world believes in a higher power or deity.  Can\'t let the minority speak for all of us. :O