(Libs trying to understand us): WHAT MAKES PEOPLE VOTE REPUBLICAN?

www.edge.org ^ | 9.9.08 | Jonathan Haidt

[Publius804]

WHAT MAKES PEOPLE VOTE REPUBLICAN?

Jonathan Haidt

(Excerpt 1:)"What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies? We psychologists have been examining the origins of ideology ever since Hitler sent us Germany's best psychologists, and we long ago reported that strict parenting and a variety of personal insecurities work together to turn people against liberalism, diversity, and progress. But now that we can map the brains, genes, and unconscious attitudes of conservatives, we have refined our diagnosis: conservatism is a partially heritable personality trait that predisposes some people to be cognitively inflexible, fond of hierarchy, and inordinately afraid of uncertainty, change, and death. People vote Republican because Republicans offer "moral clarity"—a simple vision of good and evil that activates deep seated fears in much of the electorate. Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world."

(Excerpt 2): "But with pleasure comes seduction, and with righteous pleasure comes seduction wearing a halo. Our diagnosis explains away Republican successes while convincing us and our fellow liberals that we hold the moral high ground. Our diagnosis tells us that we have nothing to learn from other ideologies, and it blinds us to what I think is one of the main reasons that so many Americans voted Republican over the last 30 years: they honestly prefer the Republican vision of a moral order to the one offered by Democrats."

[TexasCajun]

God - Country - Guns !

The things every liberal hates!

[KarlInOhio]

Also at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2078185/posts

[manc]

I would like someone ot help me understand why most American Jews vote for a party which hates Israel and would rather side with Islamic nutcases.
I would like to know why many catholics in the north east vote for the DEMS when the religion says they are against homosexuals , contraception and abortion

I would like to know why the working blue collar class vote for the Dems when the party they vote for is an elitist party

I would like to know why many blacks vote against a party which helped to end their slavery and did so much for civil rights

I would like to know why many blacks vote for a party which stands for homosexuals and keeps blacks down by giving them handouts

[Exton1]

"economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies?" This is there first lie. Socialism leads to poverty and misery.

[redangus]

If this isn't satire then these people are more delusional than I thought. All the liberals I know are hide bound ideologues that broker no dissent on even the slightest issue. As opposed to conservatives that are constantly exploring new nongovernmental ideas to solve the worlds problems. If you look at Obama’s position they are the same ones being proffered by liberals since the at least the McGovern days.

[icwhatudo]

"Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business. Republicans?"

LOL

So, where so they think these "working class" types ummmm....work?

What next..Why do people who drive support drilling? ROTFLMAO

[GVnana]

Republicans are independents who grew up.

[vietvet67]

Because the air is better?

[The KG9 Kid]

Because I couldn't bear the thought of going into the voting booth and pulling the lever for the same candidate that some dreadlocked, nose-ringed, flag-burning, gun-grabbing, half-queer, drug-using, urine balloon-throwing, black liberation radical Marxist anarchist asshole supports.

... Even if people like that make up only a fringe 10% of the Democratic party, voting the way they do would be giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

So, what other option is there? The Republicans.

That's why, you nincompoops. Do I have to draw you a picture of why people think Democrats are communists?

[cousair]

The OBAMA man is already moving to the right. Conservative thinking is the landmark of our Constitution, Declaration of Independence and Democracy...America IS BASICLY CONSERVATIVE, NOT LIBERAL. Socialism doesn’t work here and thats why so many of us are outraged at the take over of the Fannymay, Freddiemac mess. The answere there is privatize and break it up, once and for all and NEVER again.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I vote Republican because I need something to do when I’m not “clinging” to my faith and guns.

[DBrow]

“Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies?”

Simple, they have a much better understanding of economics than you [the article author]. The socialist concepts of equality of outcome and the use of the tax code to achieve justice are perceived to be wrong, warped, unrealistic.

Even your words show a reluctance to trust your own economic models- "would seem to be served" rather than "would be served"

[Vigilanteman]

From The American Thinker, this explains it so even lieberals can understand.

[ml/nj]

Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies?

Hey psychologist!

Some of us think there is something immoral about having our government take one person's money at the point of a gun to give it to someone else. You a$$holes see this a noble. We see it as robbery/theft.

ML/NJ

[popdonnelly]

Two major factors contributing to why people vote Republican are:

1. The Democrats.

2. The “news media”.

[Yaelle]

Jonathan,

If you believe in the Constitution of the United States, then you need to focus on which party better leaves things alone that aren’t in there. No party is without corruption. But only one party gets closer to leaving the People alone and minimizing government intrusion into your lives, focusing on national security and letting people determine their own destinies.

Jonathan, think of the people in the covered wagons moving west with all their kids and possessions in back, heading out into the beyond for a better life, at risk of death. Government wasn’t interfering, and wasn’t bribing or patronizing them to stay put so that their votes would help people in power. Would those poor folks have accomplished anything if they’d been swayed to stay put and take welfare or social services?

Do you get it now?

You are welcome.

[Iron Munro]

Democrats, in contrast, appeal to reason with their long-winded explorations of policy options for a complex world."

Freepers: Please stop posting SATIRE as news!!!

This is the second one today.

[NeoCaveman]

I would say that the second rule of moral psychology is that morality is not just about how we treat each other (as most liberals think); it is also about binding groups together, supporting essential institutions, and living in a sanctified and noble way.
When Republicans say that Democrats "just don't get it," this is the "it" to which they refer. Conservative positions on gays, guns, god, and immigration must be understood as means to achieve one kind of morally ordered society. When Democrats try to explain away these positions using pop psychology they err, they alienate, and they earn the label "elitist." But how can Democrats learn to see—let alone respect—a moral order they regard as narrow-minded, racist, and dumb?

This guy kind of gets it

Unity is not the great need of the hour, it is the eternal struggle of our immigrant nation. The three Durkheimian foundations of ingroup, authority, and purity are powerful tools in that struggle. Until Democrats understand this point, they will be vulnerable to the seductive but false belief that Americans vote for Republicans primarily because they have been duped into doing so.

he really does kind of get it.

[Publius804]

This isn’t satire..check out the site...it is a bunch of scientists with overstuffed liberal egos