I am working for a Democratic State Senatorial Candidate running against a GOP incumbent….and it looks like the incumbent will slide to an easy win despite the fact that he is opposed to what most of his constituents want and need. I am working for the Democrat, not because I expect him to win, but because I want him to present a real contrast with the GOP incumbent. I want to be able to point out to my neighbors that these are their choices to send a clear message: You get what you vote for and if you vote GOP you are not getting what you want and need.
I live in a rural area. A poor rural area, 23 percent living in poverty. A lot of the folks I know are hard working and barely making it. Many of them combine work as small farmers with on-the-side minimum wage jobs.
A good number have health insurance for the first time in their adult lives thanks to ACA. Many more are hoping to see Medicaid expanded since you have to earn 15 percent of Federal Poverty Guideline as it now stands to qualify.
As a group-
- They depend on social programs to assist them with basic needs: food, and utilities.
- They count on the assistance that comes from Federal programs that provide limited crop subsidies, guarantee crop insurance, and assist with conservation projects.
- They need for their local schools to provide the kind of education that will prepare their kids for the future.
How does the Republican respond to these needs:
- The Republican is an ardent supporter of the so called Health Care Compact which promises to support the complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act and, failing that, to make sure that Missouri does not extend Medicaid to the working poor.
- The Republican has taken the No New Taxes Pledge and supports the Tax Reduction Initiative which keeps passing bills cutting taxes to the top 25 percent of wage earners because they are the job makers.
- The Republican is one of the strongest critics of “wasteful spending” in public schools especially in regards to teacher salaries. He also wants the schools to emphasize values based education by which he means that he opposes sex education, and supports teaching “biblical science.”
- The Republican is opposed to the concept of a minimum wage saying that the market, profits and losses in business, competition should drive all wage levels.
- The Republican opposes the Farm Bill (which funds Food Stamps, provides crop insurance guarantees, supports conservation).
And the Democrat? A well spoken, local business person who is running “because someone should” running his campaign on a shoe string budget and is clear that every position held by the GOP incumbent is one he opposes.
Best guess right now….the GOP incumbent will win by 20 or more percentage points. Why? Voter turnout will be very low, lowest in the poorest areas in the district. The churches, which are very important here, are clearly for the party of “christian values”, and every democrat wears “that black guy in the White House” around their necks.
I’m originally from Southwest MO and I know what you’re talking about. I was very fortunate to have been raised by Democrats. My Grandfather on my Dad’s side was a Baptist Minister and a Democrat. My Mom was from a well educated family (Doctor Grandfather, Teacher Father) in the Huntington, WV area…also Democrats.
Later in my life my Father’s “girlfriend” converted him to the Right Wing, not just Republican. One of my brothers went that way too. My dear, but confused, brother moved to Texas which solidified his right wing position. He became ill, the company he worked for had JUST closed and he had no insurance. He died. I can’t say it was because of no insurance but I feel it could have gone the other way if he had insurance. I’m certain he would have been against the ACA.
He always told me he didn’t watch FOX but I found a picture of him at his home and guess what was on the television…FOX. I miss him so much and I’d like to think he would have finally seen through the Republicans/TeaParty. FOX BRAINWASHES.
Greetings-this, I think, is our first time talking, good to meet you. I hope you spend some more time here at the Planet.
In response to your comment”
I wonder how your grandfather managed to be a Democrat. Was he a “Dixiecrat”- i.e. what would pass for a Southern Republican or was a Roosevelt/Truman Democrat? Very interested in your response to this. I suspect they were the latter.
As to your Father and your Brother…..the power of our peers is extraordinary and so easily misleads. I am a token liberal/progressive in a very RED area but I am also the organizer of a local coop that has done the area a world of good, and I trained to be an ACA Navigator and had the privilege of helping more than two dozen people get affordable insurance. I am also part of a group pushing our state legislature to reverse its stance on ACA.
Fox has a lot to answer for and there will come a day when Fox News and all of the GOP hate mongers that have plagued the American landscape will be generally condemned- or they will have triumphed and American fascism will be the order the day.
Your brother would certainly have benefited from the palliative care to relieve his suffering
Murph, I believe my brother might have actually lived if he had the ACA and was given better care but perhaps I’m just bitter because I don’t think he got the care he needed or deserved. He was always such a hard worker.
Most of what I know about my Grandfather is from my older cousins but they say he cared about people no matter what their status. They were in the very southwest part of MO and I’m guessing there wasn’t much diversity in that area back then but I do know he helped the poor even though he had 9 children of his own. I never got the impression he was a Dixiecrat but can’t say for sure.
I’m sad that that area has not progressed overall in the social side of Democracy. I have wonderful family there who are on my side of the aisle including an Aunt who is a STRONG Democrat. I wish I had more direct knowledge of my Granddad but I don’t. I agree with your last statement, FOX and friends are going to have to answer for their misdeeds. Have a happy Sunday!
GirlOutWest, it is nice to meet you. I’m a grandfather. I like that you wish you had more direct information about your granddad. We older guys have lived through a lot of experience and can share our knowledge with you younger folks. You have only to ask.
My 11 year old grandson has asked lots of questions about the Vietnam war. I made a box and put my medals in it and gave it to him. He shares his interests with friends.
Welcome to the Planet GOW, I hope to see more of you here.
Murph, I have asked many times, why the lower income republicans vote the way they do? They vote against their own best interests?????? I have decided it is because they don’t learn or educate themselves.
I am just a high school graduate, but have learned a lot from experience and researching both on the web and reading. These people could do the same if they wanted to.
Nirek,I know folks with PhD s with stellar stupidity.Apparently critical thinking was not part of their Curriculum.
PhD can also mean pile it higher and deeper.
OH!!!! I LOVE it!;)
Most of those who are Missouri GOP today would have been Democrats prior to the mid 60’s when the Dems became the party of civil rights. Their parents and grandparents fled from the Democratic Party as race traitors.
That memory lingers and it is not a good one. It “colors” everything and Obama is the ultimate “n word” in so many minds. Beyond that….
At its root their belief in the GOP is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, as you say…Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.
Education definitely plays its part in this with poor schooling, and more tellingly, a distrust of education, especially historical and scientific education as leftist propaganda. The presumption that GOP are truth tellers and that Dem are liars fits in very nicely.
Hello Murph,
Thanks for doing all you can to try to educate voters in Missouri, don’t think the problem exist only in the Show Me State. There are many that I am working with here in Ohio that have a hard time understanding the facts you have presented.
I read an article in the Guardian during the 2012 elections and it stayed in my memory. The article addresses your topic perfectly IMHO. I was able to locate the article again on the web, and the following is a few paragraphs from the article:
“There is nothing more vexing to liberals than poor Republicans. Their very existence rankles. It turns their world on its head and their assumptions inside out. The effort to explain them is understood not just as a political paradox but a psychological disorder. They have been duped. They must have been. How else would one explain putting your cross next to the man who derided them as “victims” among the 47% “I don’t worry about”. To many liberals these are turkeys voting for Christmas or lemmings off for a leap; the condemned tying the noose for their own execution.
At times the contradictions are striking. In August 2009, when opponents of Obamacare were disrupting town hall meetings with claims of death panels, Kenneth Gladney and other members of St Louis tea party got into a fight with Democrats at a public meeting. He had to go to the emergency room with injuries to his knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face and ended up in a wheelchair. It turned out Gladney, who had recently been laid off, had no health insurance. He appealed for donations.
Trace a map highlighting government dependency and those most reliant on benefits live in Republican states and often Republican counties. In Floyd county in Eastern Kentucky, 40% of the income comes from the government. In 2008 Floyd, where almost 20% live below the poverty line and the median income is almost 20% lower than the country, voted for McCain – a 27 point swing against the Democrats and the first victory for Republicans in living memory.”
It is an excellent article, one I am sure you will enjoy. The article to which I refer has helped me gain a better understanding of how these people who are voting against their own best interest are led to do so by politicians, the MSM, and other factions including the Supreme Court and some government policies themselves, not to mention ancestral prejudices they have been taught and adhere to whether they know the information is right or wrong. It appears for them it is better to be one of the crowd rather than think on your own and do the thing that would improve your life. The article speaks of the poor, but I personally know that there are many middle class and wealthy people who because of their prejudices often vote against their better interest.
Here is a link to the article: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/29/working-class-voters-america-republican
Enjoy! 🙂
BTW: I love the picture you decided to use as the header for your article….perfect!
Monica, you write so well. I only wish I could express my thoughts as coherently as you do. Thanks for the link to the article, too.
MA, here it goes:Multiple Scientific Studies Confirm: Extreme Conservatism Linked to Racism, Low I.Q.
http://aattp.org/multiple-scientific-studies-confirm-extreme-conservatism-linked-to-racism-and-low-i-q/
More than a rejection of people’s epidermic color, racism is a denial of that people’s history and civilization; a rejection of its ethos, its total being. Diversity, however, is the universal condition of human existence, and the richness of human experience derives largely from interaction, intercommunication, and interchange… The truly revolutionary goal is not to eradicate differences … (but) to see that they are not made the cornerstones of oppression, inequality of opportunity or economic and social stratification.
Despite progress, racism and discrimination are not yet dead nor are their consequences. They persist as sources of suffering, violent conflict, poverty, social tension and wasted resources—human and financial—in Brazil, South Africa, the United States and around the world.
It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see –
~~~~~~~Henry David Thoreau
My dear heart never think you are better than others.
~~~~~~~~~~ Rumi
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
~~~~~~~― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
And finally this one of my favorite Navajo proverbs:
“You can’t wake a person who is pretending to be asleep”
“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. One man thinks himself the master of others, but remains more of a slave than they are.”
The Social Contract.J.J.Rousseau……
Excellent quotes, Monica.Hope you have a lovely Sunday.I have tons to do this afternoon….about November.Stay safe.
Excellent. I am cutting and pasting and posting elsewhere. Hats off to you. It certainly names and frames my experience.
Some additional thoughts on the subject here in Mo. I think they fit nicely into your closing paragraph.
Most of those who are Missouri GOP today would have been Democrats prior to the mid 60’s when the Dems became the party of civil rights. Their parents and grandparents fled from the Democratic Party as race traitors.
That memory lingers and it is not a good one. It “colors” everything and Obama is the ultimate “n word” in so many minds. Beyond that….
At its root their belief in the GOP is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, as you say…Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.
Education definitely plays its part in this with poor schooling, and more tellingly, a distrust of education, especially historical and scientific education as leftist propaganda. The presumption that GOP are truth tellers and that Dem are liars fits in very nicely.
HI Murph, Glad to see you back again, I hope things are going well for you in most things.
WHY do these people VOTE for the GOP??
More GOP republicans are in the low income bracket yet they do not deserve a minimum wage hike by their GOP officials??. WHY VOTE for the GOP
Republicans that are out of work for more then 99 weeks have to go with out money because the GOP will not grant unemployment extension and say your lazy even republicans. WHY VOTE for the GOP?
The GOP party does not want Republican women to get equal pay . WHY VOTE for the GOP?
Republican women must never have an abortion but if they need one they will die. WHY VOTE for the GOP?
75% of republicans pay twice to three times as much as the rich republicans. WHY VOTE for the GOP?
More republicans need food stamps and welfare. WHY VOTE for the GOP?
GOP presidents create less jobs & create MORE DEBT. WHY VOTE for the GOP???
The tax the rich less does not work it is a spiral to the poor house.
Red states are the lowest earning states and use more federal taxes in general.
From Forbes
Most of the 10 poorest states in the country are Republican. following the reduce taxes of the GOP
Mississippi is the poorest… followed by Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Louisiana, Montana, South Carolina, Kentucky, Alabama and North Carolina.
Texas, where one in five people lives in poverty.
#22, Missouri | States with the Most Debt | Comcast.net
xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/news-StateDebt/23/
Debt 2010: $21.94 billion Pre-budget Deficit 2011: $730 million GDP 2009:v $236.46 billion Debt/GDP Ratio: 9.28 percent On the chopping block: Social serv.
Missouri state budget – Ballotpedia
ballotpedia.org/Missouri_state_budget
Ballotpedia
Jump to State debt – State debt. According to a January 2014 report by the nonprofit organization State Budget Solutions, Missouri had a state debt of over $76 billion. Its state debt per capita was $12,702. The report revealed that state governments faced a combined $5.1 trillion in debt, 33 percent of annual gross state product.
If your a fine LGBT citizens why would you vote GOP and not get equal rights in america.
ALL these thinks may help , so he may not lose by 20 may 12 points.
YOU see most people even democrats who are Caucasian do not like an African american president.
Of course the candidates in the state on the democrat side are mostly white correct? Why do they hold them up by Obama?
Obama one of the best presidents in modern history
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/12/1336103/-Rolling-Stone-Calls-Obama-Most-Successful-President-In-History-Krugman-Reiterates-In-New-VIDEO?detail=facebook#
Bush 1 smashed the record for lowest job creator at 0.51.
Bush 2 then crushed that record at 0.01
Also 1/2 of Americans lost 40 % of their total saving in the biggest recession under bush 2. SO if you had 250 K saved up in stocks or a 401k or IRA it was then worth 150 k.
Obama job creation 4.1 and going up also the highest in 60 yrs.
So yes Murph, racial differences still exist and yes republicans/conservatives vote against their best interest.
Far right Conservative churches fan the fire of fear like a tornado across Missouri.
Well said, Rod.But you know the n****r in OUR WHITES ONLY HOUSE!!!
HI fine Friend I agree. Hugs from Del and i!!
Hugs to you both.Enjoyed your post tremendously!XX
Thanks Exfan,
I do not think you are ready for
( Ghost instrumentals ) CD project LOL just kidding.
Yep hugs back also!!
Most of those who are GOP today would have been Democrats prior to the mid 60’s when the Dems became the party of civil rights. Their parents and grandparents fled from the Democratic Party as race traitors.
That memory lingers and it is not a good one.
Hi…I have been spending a lot of time at Yabberz. I always take part in Vox Populi on Friday evenings. Writing articles takes time that I have not had since the fall is very busy for farmers.
Things are slowing down.
As to this….you make a very compelling case…so compelling I intend to copy and paste it into my archive for further use…thank you for this. Big Thank you.
Given all of those facts….why, yes, why?
Most of those who are GOP today would have been Democrats prior to the mid 60’s when the Dems became the party of civil rights. Their parents and grandparents fled from the Democratic Party as race traitors.
That memory lingers and it is not a good one. It “colors” everything and Obama is the ultimate “n word” in so many minds. Beyond that….
At its root their belief in the GOP is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, as you say…Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.
Hello Murph, Yes this post is also good.
Ya i am glad you are logging this for future use. Use it well my friend.
Actually your correct about irrational.
Here is my look at that. Far right/right Christians worship a liberal GOD/Jesus. the only thing is they do not practice their teachings and philosophies. SO that is why they are backwards or irrational.
Religious biased law in these USA is not constitutional.
THe GOP is saying my religion is the only one that counts . If your not Conservative christian get lost! Or any other religion!
The first amendment.
NO religion can pass a law against another religion or non religion with the bias of that religion thus the separation of church and state.
http://www.nobeliefs.com/jefferson.htm
Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of
the common law.
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper,
February 10, 1814
—
Believing with you that religion is a matter
which lies solely between man and his God,
that he owes account to none other for his faith or
his worship, that the legislative powers of
government reach actions only, and not opinions,
I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of
the whole American people which declared that their
legislature should ‘make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof,’ thus building a
wall of separation between church and State.
Well if not for the most corrupt Supreme court in history. The GOP is trying to create what they left England for. A religious government.
Most conservatives hate what is posted above about the laws created. GOD and Jesus are not in the constitution they where left out for a reason. The constitution is the laws , The bible is not law.
RSG, lots of excellent information in your post, thanks, my friend.
Thanks,Your welcome friend Nirek.
IN math the median value defines why the GOP has more low income worker. They are supposed to have the higher median value incomes. SO the smaller wealthy group is off set by the larger low income group.
Prosper always!!
Murph, wouldn’t it be nice if the people you are talking about were to educate themselves instead of listening to idiots on the radio or foxsnooze?
I was thinking about the same. Murph, why can’t you guys have a vote driving? Meaning teaching those with a lesser IQ exactly what they will lose????
Edited.
At its root their belief in the GOP is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, as you say…Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
Efforts to enlighten are met with an equally irrational resistance. Having voted for OBama, and worse having worked for him, I am beyond redemption. I am in league with the prince of liars. It is that simplistic.
SMH…so true! I have worked my butt off for him as well on both campaigns.Faced horrible, fanatical racist people.Much worse: they live in a very rich neighborhood, are well educated still, cannot make the differences between socialism, nazism or communism…I am still quite stunned I didn’t get the boot after I spit my coffee to the CEO of my company when he mentioned POTUS wasn’t “born” in the US and is in fact, a “mushlum”.As AdLib pointed out, ignorance is worst and more contagious than Ebola……
They only listen to that which reinforces core messages.
At its root their belief in the GOP is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, as you say…Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.
The facts are as snow flakes in a Missouri Summer…..they melt right away.
Hey, Murph, it seems to me that there are a lot of folks in the heartland who live in the illusion that they are independent and and are making it without help — despite all the help they get.
They see no connection with people in the cities, who also are stringing jobs together to make ends meet. To them, city folk are a collection a lazy near-do-wells (being polite here…), who do nothing but take, take, take. And, oh yes, many of those city folk do not look like “real” Americans to them.
Add to this a media onslaught (Fox is everywhere) that constantly promotes this division between “traditional America” (whatever that is) and non traditional America, and you have exactly what Barack Obama described in 2008:
“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
You are correct. Obama was correct. And the reaction to his statement was as angry as it was because it hit raw nerves (since it was true). It is true here.
Most of those who are GOP today would have been Democrats prior to the mid 60’s when the Dems became the party of civil rights. Their parents and grandparents fled from the Democratic Party as race traitors.
That memory lingers and it is not a good one.
At its root their belief in the GOP is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, as you say…Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.
Murph, The mentality is just baffling to me. Did these folks always vote Republican? Or are they voting Republican now because they hate PBO. Republicans have always pretty much been against social programs. They hated FDR for Social Security and LBJ for the Great Society. Have cultural issues always been more important than pocketbook issues. And when did the people come to believe that Democrats are the spawn of Satan. I guess if people are more concerned with gays, God and guns then they don’t complain much when Republicans cut social programs that help them.
Most of those who are GOP today would have been Democrats prior to the mid 60’s when the Dems became the party of civil rights. That memory lingers and it is not a good one.
At its root this is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.
Murph, why do you think that all these poor rural people who depend on programs that Republicans want to destroy, vote Republican? Just because of the social issues like abortion, race and religion? Or is it a cultural thing? Have they been indoctrinated into voting Republican like a religion, believing in them no matter what as an act of faith?
Meanwhile, they are voting to have their health care, food and homes taken away from them and their children. And voting against better paying jobs, a healthy environment and all of their futures.
As I often say, you can’t reason people out of a position they didn’t use reason to acquire. I think it may take appealing to emotion and…unfortunately, their desperation once their Republicans further destroy their lives.
One has to wonder if even then, such obliviously self-destructive people won’t just double down on their misguided faith in the GOP as their saviors.
Ignorance is a deadlier disease than ebola.
You are correct.
This is fundamentally irrational.
Church-Family-Patriotism-Republican
They are melded together. And the TV news of choice, Fox, along with the internet right wing zone, reinforces the message shaping current event to support their voting the “right way.”
I see this again and again.
AND, one of the “niftiest tricks” is to actually find creative ways to blame the Dems and their Demon Leader for a lack of health care for ex. “We GOP want good health care for all of our citizens but we have been saddled with this job killing, socialist death panel monster.” And because they are disposed to believe, because the narrative fits what they want to be so…then it is so.