Half the Republicans You Know Are Insane

[WilliamPitt]

(Photo: Max Whittaker / The New York Times)

Half the Republicans You Know Are Insane
By William Rivers Pitt
Truthout | Op-Ed

Thursday 03 October 2013

If I may, I would like to go over some figures with you regarding the current situation in America. I know numbers are boring and often perplexing in the main - I was an English Major, so if you put a pistol to my head and demanded I do long division, the pistol would have a better chance of coming up with the right answer before you painted the wall with my literature degree - but these numbers, I think, speak volumes, and have an unfortunately dramatic bearing on the state of modern American politics.

Public Policy Polling did a survey on the preponderance of belief in conspiracy theories among American voters, and the results are telling. For example, a question was posed about whether the respondents believe the Obama administration is coming to take their guns away, and 62% of Republicans answered "Yes." If you know five Republicans, that means three of them believe this, and a fourth has doubts. This, despite the fact that no gun legislation of any impact whatsoever has shadowed the president's desk since he took office.

When asked if they believe that Mr. Obama is secretly plotting to remain in office when his term expires, 44% of Republicans answered "Yes." If you know five Republicans, that means two of them believe this, and a third is halfway convinced. This, despite any supporting evidence whatsoever, and the fact that the man will be arrested and detained if he tries to enter the White House again after the inauguration in January of 2017.

When asked if Muslims are working to implement Sharia Law in America - the harshly medieval seventh-century Islamic code best represented by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Wahabists in the ranks of al Qaeda and (shhhh) a significant portion of the rebels in Syria - 44% of Republicans said it was true. If you know five Republicans, once again, two of them believe this, and a third is halfway convinced. Um...how? Where? In what way? Because women can now get free contraception and gay people have the same rights as you do? You think the Taliban is down with that?

Is the US government secretly staging "false flag" mass shootings all across the country in order to blame others and distract the country from their gun-grabbing, office-staying, Sharia-implementing ways? A full 26% of Republicans believe this, so if you know five of them, one is convinced of this, and another is well on his way. I'm sure all the left-leaning folks who believe that 9/11 was a Cheney-orchestrated "inside job" are thrilled to know their gospel has been co-opted by people who think 26 children were massacred in Connecticut so Mr. Obama could give everyone's guns to the Syrians, because that makes sense, too, apparently. Or something.

In short, and not to put too fine a point on it: if you know five Republicans, two of them are around-the-bend crazy, and a third needs a stern talking-to. That's not a majority, but it is pretty much half the crowd, and is a definite majority every time the crazy two convince the third to go their way, you know, just in case.

The rest: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19201-half-the-republicans-you-know-are-insane

...the article goes on to explain why these nutbags swing so much weight in American politics. Read on.

[hobbit709]

1. Only half? I'm willing to bet it's more like 90%.

[Mopar151]

5. I think Will's figures are pretty close to right

A lot of the old "Main Street Republicans" (at least in my family) are aghast at the extreme tactics of the teabaggers, and they think a lot of the anti-government rhetoric is just stupid.

[Scuba]

2. Great Will, congratulations. Here's a very important notice for all of us here on the left...

Why do these people swing so much weight in American politics? That's easy: maybe 55% of the voters in America turn out for presidential elections, and maybe 30% turn out for the midterm elections, y'know, the incredibly important elections where a third of the Senate and all 435 seats in the House are up for a vote. That means, come November of 2014, less than a third of the country will choose all 435 members of the House, and a sizeable percentage of those voters are flat-out loons in gerrymandered districts where their impact on Congress is amplified by orders of magnitude.

[bklyncowgirl]

3. Good analysis

I fear as conservatives wall themselves off in their own alternative universe where up is down and down is up this will only get worse. The problem, as you aptly said, is they always, always vote.

[phantom power]

4. for some reason, I never before now connected...

that our voting cadence, where *all* the House gets re-elected on off-cycle elections, probably has something to do with why the House has more Teh Crazy in it than the Senate.

It's always going to be driven by a higher percentage of the hard-core base.

[Old and In the Way]

6. That same 26% thought Bush was an excellent President when he left office.

It's the core stupid vote that the GOP base is built upon.

[11 Bravo]

7. You, my friend, are among the last of a dying breed ... a real, honest-to-God wordsmith.

Last edited Thu Oct 3, 2013, 02:37 PM - Edit history (1)

Great analysis, and as always, brilliantly written.

[wandy]

8. Actual sir, I think you may have pointed out that it is we who are insane...........

Frequently during midterms we get complacent and forget to vote.
This is something we should become more careful of in the future. Especially on a local level.
In some places you can do it by mail. Who Hooo, you can get on the net and research the heck out of those local propositions.

I really don't like the all too often choice of "lesser of two evils" but if it has a "D" after it I will likely vote for it.
At least you can be almost sure that the one followed by "D" doesn't foam at the mouth and eat puppies.
Well, sometimes.

[jsr]

9. It's a misunderestimatement

[RagAss]

10. I call the insane half of that party - "mouth breathing elephants".

[Zorra]

11. What's the difference between a conservative and a fascist?

About two hours, tops.

[IrishAyes]

12. Yes, half the Republicans are insane.

And the other 50% are crazy.

[blkmusclmachine]

13. 100% of the Republicans I know are nuts.

[beerandjesus]

14. Wait though, where's the part where you blame Obama??

Great post, thanks!

[ctsnowman]

15. K & R

[etherealtruth]

16. I would have to agree n/t

[WilliamPitt]

17. Up

[bigwillq]

18. or down vote

Exactly. There should be an up or down vote on the CR.

Thank for pointing that out.

[0rganism]

19. generally agreed with the article, lol'd at some of the comments

You sure rubbed a lot of the readers at truth-out.org the wrong way.

[progressoid]

20. Yeah, I know a few Repubs like that.

Frankly, it's frightening.

[antigop]

21. statistically speaking...not necessarily correct

Last edited Fri Oct 4, 2013, 10:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Your assertion is only true IF the Republicans I know (or any individual knows) are a representative sample of the overall Republican population.

You cannot necessarily assume that the sample (one's Republican acquaintances) represents the entire population.

For example, I can know 5 Republicans who are not insane (by your definition). You can know 5 Republicans who are insane (by your definition). For the population of those 10 Republicans, half are insane (the five you know), but ALL of the Republicans I know ARE NOT insane.