"I was poor, but a GOP die-hard: How I finally left the politics of shame "

[BainsBane]

I was a 20-year-old college dropout with no more than $100 in the bank the day my son was born in 1994. I’d been in the Coast Guard just over six months. Joining the service was my solution to a lot of problems, not the least of which was being married to a pregnant, 19-year-old fellow dropout. We were poor, and my overwhelming response to poverty was a profound shame that drove me into the arms of the people least willing to help — conservatives. . . .

Even though we didn’t take the food stamps, we lived in the warm embrace of the federal government with subsidized housing and utilities, courtesy of Uncle Sam. Yet I blamed all of my considerable problems on the government, the only institution that was actively working to alleviate my suffering. I railed against government spending (i.e., raising my own salary). At the same time, the earned income tax credit was the only way I could balance my budget at the end of the year.

I felt my own poverty was a moral failure. To support my feelings of inadequacy, every move I made only pushed me deeper into poverty. I bought a car and got screwed on the financing. The credit I could get, I overused and was overpriced to start with. My wife couldn’t get or keep a job, and we could not afford reliable day care in any case. I was naive, broke and uneducated but still felt entitled to a middle-class existence. . .

To make up for my own failures, I voted to give rich people tax cuts, because somewhere deep inside, I knew they were better than me. They earned it. My support for conservative politics was atonement for the original sin of being white trash. . . .

I finally “got it.” In 2012, I shunned my self-destructive voting habits and supported Obama. I only wished there were a major party more liberal than the Democrats for whom I could vote. Even as I saw the folly of my own lifelong voting record, many of my friends and family moved further into the Tea Party embrace, even as conservative policies made their lives worse.

http://www.salon.com/2014/07/16/i_was_poor_but_a_gop_die_hard_how_i_finally_left_the_politics_of_shame/

[riversedge]

1. I can never figure it out............

"Rich people vote their self-interest in every single election. Why don’t poor people? '

[BainsBane]

2. I think he does a pretty good job of explaining the psychological factors

that motivates him to vote Republican.

[C_U_L8R]

3. Poor people dream of being rich people

GOP cons them

[Bill USA]

7. I think it's the "Stockholm Syndrome" where captives identify with their kidnappers.

it's a way the mind tricks itsself when a long period of trauma has been endured - to keep from going completely insane. you accept a marginal insanity to get along.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other."[4] One commonly used hypothesis to explain the effect of Stockholm syndrome is based on Freudian theory. It suggests that the bonding is the individual's response to trauma in becoming a victim. Identifying with the aggressor is one way that the ego defends itself. When a victim believes the same values as the aggressor, they cease to be a threat.[5]

... and, it's a way the victim can redefine themselves to no longer be a victim (consider 'victim' as "perpetual sucker", with the deck relentlessly stacked against you. i.e. - you "can't get ahead" no matter how hard you try.)

I also think a lot of the GOP base are people who 'wake up' one day and realize they aren't going to be one of the 'winners'. They aren't prepared to admit to themselves that they may have not put forth the work and sacrifice that gaining certain goals (career with high remuneration and status) requires. They feel somehow cheated. If someone tells you it wasn't YOUR fault. It's because of that nasty old Government helping black people, illegal immigrants, etc. which taxes you too much to help out these groups you feel you are better than - this relieves you of the responsiblity for your disappointing performance or "failure". It is a human weakness to not accept responsibility for our own shortcomings and a preference for putting the blame anywhere but on ourselves.

So it's the bad ol' Government and those damn Democrats (who are college educated in cushy jobs - clip-boards and lab-coats ... or actors!) voting for programs to shower blacks and immigrants with money - YOUR money!.


It's the same thing the Nazi's did. We Democrats and anybody with eduction (the suspect 'intelligentsia') are the new Jews.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. I just saw this and read it. It somewhat explains the GOP poor

Why they vote against their own self-interests.

The way I look at it, it's a bit like someone who is not attractive latching on to the coattails of someone who is popular and attractive. They figure that if they admire the rich, somehow some of that will rub off on them, but it never does. What they don't like to do is associate themselves with the people they are like - the poor. It is a sort of fantasy. They live in a dream world. They're poor but hope it's a temporary state, and that they're not like the rest of the poor.

[Cal33]

5. It is extremely difficult for anyone to move against family tradition (right or wrong). It takes

Last edited Thu Jul 31, 2014, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)

maturity, intelligence, a willingness to be open-minded, and especially great courage to be
able to question what has been one's model from earliest childhood on. Not many have
been able to achieve what he has done.

My hat off to Edwyn Lyngar!

[Bill USA]

6. great post! recommended!

[Garthem]

8. Read it two weeks ago

Great article!