What makes people vote Republican ? (Mega Barfer)

Edge ^ | 9.9.08 | Jonathan Haidt

[j. earl carter]

I really thought this article was satire for the first few paragraphs. I read a little farther and was shocked to realize that the guy was being serious.

[piasa]

I read the whole thing. In short, he’s trying to tell the Democrats how to put lipstick on a jackass.

[Question Liberal Authority]

Wealth is created through economic activity. In a free market, a transaction will take place if both sides perceive a benefit. The more transactions, the more overall benefit.

In general, businesses are more efficient creating wealth than individuals, governments or (ahem) academia.

If you're employed by a business (and most people are), then it's to your advantage to see that the business is profitable and growing, rather than unprofitable and shrinking.

[kaehurowing]

Imagine. The poor Virginia taxpayers have to pay this guy’s salary.

I used to think U.Va. was a good school.

[Raider Sam]

BRILLIANT!

You deserve a Guiness

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

America lacks the long history, small size, ethnic homogeneity, and soccer mania that holds many other nations together, so our flag, our founding fathers, our military, and our common language take on a moral importance that many liberals find hard to fathom.

Yeah ... duh!

Actually, I found this to be a fascinating article -- though you have to read past the jackassery of the beginning to get to the interesting stuff later in the article. However, the author fails to look past his own prejudices and reach the logical conclusion of all his research and careful thought: namely, that if liberals begin to judge their lives by the same set of morals that Republicans use, liberals will then become ... Republicans! Bwahahahahah!

[Roy Tucker]

“What makes people vote Republican?”

Experience.

[daku]

we can be condescending (that means talking down to people)

in 20 words or less

[sphinx]

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?

Short term vs. long term horizons have something to do with it. Quite apart from clinging to their guns and religion, a good many working class and rural Americans understand that liberalism is a model for producing more Detroits.

[Maximum Leader]

Wow! Didn't see that coming, what an incredibly insightful article! Haidt writes like an professor (that is, not very well) but damn, this in an admitted liberal who makes an excellent point, though he waits till the end to make it.

Namely, societies fall apart without a common culture. In America, that means 1. Obeying the law, 2. Speaking English, 3. Recognizing Judeo-Christian morality (including the "Protestant work ethic"). Republicans win because we get it (pro-amnesty RINOs excepted) and Democrats do not.

Haidt's writing style buries the point and as an atheist doesn't get that if "God is dead", then so is morality; here's how he phrases what I pointed out above:

The Democrats could close much of the gap if they simply learned to see society not just as a collection of individuals—each with a panoply of rights--but as an entity in itself, an entity that needs some tending and caring. Our national motto is e pluribus unum ("from many, one"). Whenever Democrats support policies that weaken the integrity and identity of the collective (such as multiculturalism, bilingualism, and immigration), they show that they care more about pluribus than unum. They widen the sacredness gap...

A recent study by Robert Putnam (titled E Pluribus Unum) found that ethnic diversity increases anomie and social isolation by decreasing people's sense of belonging to a shared community. Democrats should think carefully, therefore, about why they celebrate diversity.

[endthematrix]

All you need is a good Two Minute Hate.

“War is Peace”
“Freedom is Slavery”
“Ignorance is Strength”

[Maximum Leader]

To clarify (or modify) my position, the insightful part isn’t the common sense conclusion (society requires a common culture), but Haidt’s explanation of what’s wrong with liberals that they don’t understand this.

[shortstop]

So many words, so little substance. Remind you of anyone?

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Yes, exactly. He buries his point until WELL into the article ... but it’s such an interesting point. Or at least, it is to me. I thought about this article a lot last night, and realized that this change he talks about is what happened to me on 9/11. I had always taken a very “me first” viewpoint until that day — but literally almost overnight after that, I realized that society cannot stand if everyone takes that viewpoint. My opinions have changed a lot since that day, and I have become much more “society first” since then. So I found this article just fascinating.