How dumb do you have to be to vote for a Republican?

[Cyrano]

Yeah, I know. Rich people vote for Republicans because it serves their interests. But what about the rest of the idiots who spend their lives getting screwed by Republicans, but vote for them anyway? (Not to mention Dems who vote for blue dogs.)

Can anyone explain why people who have been getting screwed their entire lives continue to vote for those who are screwing them? I know the Republicans play to ignorance and bigotry, but if you've been kicked in the teeth enough, you think you'd “get it” at some point.

Whether they vote for Republicans because of some blind, fanatical religious beliefs, or because they hate black, brown and yellow people, what we’re really talking about here are human beings who lack the ability to think or reason. We’re talking about people who don’t understand what’s in their own best interest. We’re talking about people who are screwing all the rest of us through their incredible stupidity.

It never ceases to amaze me that con artists like Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, and their ilk can keep selling the same snake oil to the suckers over and over again. Not to mention those who buy into creatures like Newt Gingrich who have just a little more polish on the bullshit they’re peddling.

So what can we do about it? At present, not much. Perhaps future generations can be better educated, but given the money being withheld from schools today, I don’t hold out much hope.

About all I can say is, Welcome to the new "third-world country" called America.

[marmar]

1. ......

[MineralMan]

2. "Goverment Healtcare Tryanny"

A perfect moronic trifecta in that photo. It's paying $200 on a $2 bet.

[The_Commonist]

3. They are the "Upside-Down People"

Everything they "think," do and believe is upside-down to reality.
It's because of the brainwashing, mostly by the TV machine, and the demagoguery.
People have fallen for the whole "right vs. left thing" and don't understand that it's really an "up vs. down" thing.

[Tesha]

4. Many of these people are not only ignorant but genuinely stupid.

They readily buy into the Republicans' race-baiting,
women-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-toting agenda and
simply don't have the intellectual ability to realize they're
just being used.

These people are damaged beyond repair and there is
nothing you, I, or anyone else can do to fix them. Edu-
cation *COULD* fix their children, but as you know, the
republicans are doing everything they can to ensure that
the next generation is as poorly educated as these dolts
and they dolts buy into that lunacy as well, thinking that
education is uppity and a waste of time for their kids.

Tesha

[branders seine]

5. less than 0 IQ

like most Americans.

[EFerrari]

6. The answer is in the question.

[Iggo]

7. At least like about 5 dumb.

[Robb]

9. No way, like J-sized.

[Gman]

8. I don't think they lack the ability to think or reason

I think they do it at a very low level. They only have the most basic reasoning skills e.g. there are Blacks on welfare therefore Blacks want something for nothing. Or, all illegal aliens are Mexican therefore all Hispanics are illegal. That type thing. Doesn't excuse it, just saying that's the level they reason on. The problem with this is they are allowed to vote using these very poor skills and influence decisions that affect everyone.

[Ozymanithrax]

10. Politics isn't a matter of logic...there appears to be a difference in brain chemistry.

People vote Republican and Conservative, or liberal and Democrat, because that is what the way their brains works. There are a lot of studies that show differences in brain chemistry.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/09/20/liberal-conservative-brain-differences/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/opinion/11freedman.html
http://pcl.stanford.edu/press/2004/nyt-brain.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11009379/

This is why it is very difficult to change conservative or liberal minds with arguments of fact of logic.(Both sides claim that the other side is illogical, votes against their interests, and do not understand facts.) It is easy to pull out a book full of facts, but what you have to change is brain chemistry.

[unblock]

14. correct, many republican talking points work like addictive drugs in a way

republicans are addicted to talking points that give them an immediate jolt but harm them in the long run. their brain simply overvalues the short term boost and virtually ignores the long term harm.

i once read about a discussion between marty zweig, a (democratic) stock market guru and a republican counterpart. marty asked her, after pointing out how much better the stock market does when a democrat is in office, wouldn't you rather have a slightly higher marginal tax rate but a far stronger stock market such that your over all take-home pay is larger because the positive effect is larger than the negative effect? the republican responded, no, she'd rather have her tax cut.

with a tax cut, you can look and simply see exactly how many dollars you saved against the presumed alternate tax structure.
with a better economy, you can only guess as to how much the market would have been different under the other president.


similarly, my mother has done some trust/estate planning and other tax work for individuals. some of them come in and say they want the government to get as little as possible. well, the trust can invest in triple tax-free debt, but you'll take home more if you invest in something else. they say, i don't care, i just want the government to get less money.

"so, to be clear, you want yourself and your kids to have less money, just so long as the government gets less as well?" "yes."

again, they can see the psychic reward of keeping money from the government, but can't see the larger benefit of keeping more for their family.



ayn rand-ism, conservative libertarianism, and free-market faith are other examples. they get the psychic benefit and comfort of having a logically consistent framework, and sticking to it reinforces their view that they are right and understand the world. meanwhile, they ignore the fact that their theoretical framework has nothing to do with the actual marketplace, as that would be too unsettling, the way an addict rehab because they can't stand to face the truth.

[EC]

11. Why do people send money to televangelists?

They think they are their saviors...that's why they need people who have faith in unnatural things...

[blublu]

12. more

more than you think

[AnArmyVeteran]

13. Their IQs are lower than the calibres of their guns.

That's what I've noticed anyway. The 'smart' ones have IQs of 45 and the rest are lower than 22...

[MilesColtrane]

15. There's a ratio.

The smarter you are, the more greedy you have to be to vote Republican.

Conversely, the less money you have, the dumber you have to be.

[Catshrink]

16. This stupid

[Hydra]

17. The republicans have a myth on their side

A powerful one:

Everyone in America can be rich if they work hard.

If you want to see real changes, tear that myth down. People start seeing the value of regulations, safety nets and taxation on corporations when they realize they will NEVER see the kinds of profits the big club have.

Makes you wonder why the Dems haven't torn that myth down, doesn't it?

[RagAss]

18. I cover this in my latest book "The Cretin Crusade"

[Jim Lane]

19. "God, guns, and gays" is part of the answer.

Republicans are great at distracting people.

[11 Bravo]

20. Steve Doocy dumb.