The Partisan Divide on Issues

[Eric the Green]

(10-31-2020, 03:33 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(10-31-2020, 03:05 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: So it was more than the racist vote versus the black vote. There are a lot of concerns around which our current polarization has developed.

True, but the elites are few and they need to address some issue focused around the common people to get power.  In this case, it was the racist vote.  I suspect most Republicans were not so interested in weakening the influence of the worker, in increasing elite power, but the elites and racists made an unholy alliance.

I don't assume that the common people are focused on racism. Some of them are. But it is also the neo-liberal vote. This is not an ideology for elites, even though it was originally created by them. It is the most popular ideology out there. Just give tax breaks and relaxed regulations to the rich, and the benefits will trickle down, so the government won't interfere in my business and I can pay less taxes. Some followers of this neo-liberal ideology are closet or out-of-closet racists, and some are just economic libertarians who don't like to pay taxes. Reagan introduced this ideology to the people, instituted it and made it popular until today, along with his successors I have named.

Lower taxes, combined with religious fundamentalism and gun rights, plus a strong dash of militarist patriotism, make up the right-wing Republican appeal to the common people, along with racism, xenophobia, and closet-versions thereof. Some people do say that this racism and neo-liberalism combo has the aim of white people hogging the wealth. 

The Republicans are definitely interested in weakening the influence of the worker, and passed legislation to this effect. Neo-liberalism respects entrepreneurs, not workers. It is the Party of business-boosters, and the people are deceived by the tempting promise to reduce government (who likes government? It diminishes "freedom" and creates "dependency"), and that giving breaks to "job creaters" will trickle-down. This appeal has been most attractive to the common people in red states and counties, including deceived workers. Anything less than wholesale neo-liberalism in all its aspects is effectively denounced as "socialism" or "communism." It is NOT an elite ideology; it is even mistakenly called "populism." The Tea Party was the most recent neo-liberal movement.