What makes otherwise good people become repuglicans?

[Gringo]

We all know them. They seem nice, decent, fun, reasonable, but there's that one, little thing...

[amazona]

1. it's racism

When it all comes down to where the rubber meets the road, these nice kind people who are so generous and so on etc....are not all that nice and kind to people who are different.

The GOP got where it is today by playing the race card. The Democrats lost their majority by doing the right thing and trying to get into civil rights. There is just something wrong with a substantial number of "nice" people who are for whatever reason incapable of empathy with a person who has a slightly different skin tone or accent.

[wuushew]

3. White males are the true minority

If women, minorities, etc. voted in proportion to their numbers I see no reason why the rightwing slide of the past 30 years should have occured. Some complex interaction of money and psychology is at play.

[union_maid]

2. I voted for misguided religious fervor

It's not always the case, but two of my favorite conservatives are that way because of that. Wonderful people, as you said, fun, not even holier than thou and definitely accepting of all kinds of other people. But their churches have them convinced that the Christian right is all right with Jesus.

[Iris]

4. Seems like "Intellecutally lazy" and

"inability to focus on the big societal picture" are pretty closely related.

[FreedomReload]

5. It is the right wing shows

Too damn many of them. When you keep hearing the same lies over and over on every show, some become convinced it is the truth.