It's been 40 fricken' years..

[Old and In the Way]

Why do 40% of Americans still vote against their best interests? If we could get everyone to vote their economic needs and allow each one of us to pursue our own religious/philosophical bearing...we'd kick ass in this world.

[elleng]

1. It wasn't the case so much, in the past,

but now that we've got ever more close to media monopolies AND well-crafted repug propaganda, we've been screwed.

[xxxsdesdexxx]

2. Right

A lot of people simply believe what they want to believe. Facts don't matter. How many people think that the president has already raised taxes, that he's not an American, that he was born in Kenya, that he hates America, that he is a muslim, that he is the anti-Christ, that he's an Arab, that he's an alien from another planet, that he is a communist, that he is a socialist, that he wants to destroy America, that he stole the election, that he fudged the unemployment numbers, that he's "not one of us," that he ate the turkey that he pardoned, that he really didn't order the Osama Bin Laden raid and kill, that he hates white people, that he wants to create government run health care with death panels, etc... All of these things have really been said about the president. When they're called out on it, they either say that it's what they heard somewhere or that the rebuttal to their allegation is a lie. All we can do is counter their nonsense with facts one person at a time -- regardless of whether they listen or not.

[Old and In the Way]

3. Great comment.

Last edited Sat Dec 1, 2012, 10:58 PM - Edit history (1)

We've been demonized as a political label 40 years...when will these people figure it out?

[freshwest]

4. They don't vote against their own interests. They've redefined who they and the others are.

A great deal of their voting to kill government regulation and programs, directly benefit the corporatists who employ them. This is the thing many Democrats refuse to believe. Privatization and reducing government is their reward, so they don't see it as their problem.

Taking more from 'the others' puts more money in their own pockets. There is no better example of when such people organize for their own narrow interest than the privatization of public schools and services and healthcare. I've run into many people like this, and religion is often their excuse, the other one is libertarianism.

[Joe Bacon]

5. It started with George Wallace in 1964.

I remember Wallace running against Johnson in the 1964 primaries in Wisconsin, Maryland and Indiana. In each state, Wallace wrapped up dangerously high numbers. That only encouraged him to bolt and form the American Independent Party that split the Democrats and formed a bridge for social conservatives to go over to the GOP.

[Jamaal510]

6. Here's your answer straight from the wingnut's mouth:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsIOWVfZ8lbDYXYlIyJe7TAjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20101231170444AALQYWD

Also here are the entire search results I did:

http://answers.yahoo.com/search/search_result;_ylt=AmqULplnqKmYBga_6QQ2sIIjzKIX;_ylv=3?scope=all&category=0&fltr=_en&question_status=all&answer_count=any&date_submitted=all&crumb=HN58B%2FP3zgu&p=why+do+poor+people+vote+republican&orderby=rank&filter_search=true