Serious Question: How is it that a person can support Hillary? (vanity)

I'm looking for serious answers, I really am. I know it's hard to avoid the one line quips and funny stuff but getting to the heart of this matter could save our nation.

I've been sitting here wondering how on earth a person could support and even worse be enthusiastic and cheer for Hillary at rallies? "It's beyond madness" I say to myself. And then I realize they think the same thing about us. "Trump is a Nazi" they say and so on. Yet, we know we're right, but then at the same time they are sure that they are the ones who are right. Yet we know we are right, yet they think the same thing.

To me it seems the answer to this question lies in knowing the truth. First one has to believe that there is such a thing as truth, second, that it can actually be determined, and thirdly one has to be willing to look into the truth even if that might make them uncomfortable, including totally unwinding their worldview entirely.

Back in 92 I actually voted for Clinton. I later then became a Christian in my early 30's, I mean a real awakening of Truth that could have only been of God. It changed everything, including examining what I thought to be true was in fact, not. And not just politically but in many aspects of my life.

I think back to those days and wonder, was I so sure that what I knew was the truth when I pulled that lever in 92 for Clinton? No, I really wasn't, I was a lightweight and I was smart enough to know I didn't really know. I think a lot of people on the left are like that. However, the media, which we now know is one and the same as the left, gives them comfort, reassures them daily that they are right, and just when a moment of doubt pops into their heads another news story on how evil Trump is fills the void.

I don't know what the answer is or if I am totally off base here. I am strongly reminded of C.S. Lewis and the Screw Tape letters.

My sister is one, as well. A former college instructor, married to a long-term public schools teacher. They are all in for Hillary. They believe they are smarter than nearly everyone else, and that the democrats have that intellect to make the correct choices “for the people”. They believe that we are better served by a government that does as much as possible for the citizens. They believe that the democrats and democrat-led government is better about making decisions as to how to spend our money than we are. They believe that republicans are greedy people, only out to keep their own money and not “invest” it to help all of society. For most liberals, they have a litany of rules that should be applied, but not necessarily to them, personally.

This sister and spouse came out some months ago to say they support Hillary, due to she is “honest and trustworthy”. They put up a post on their blog, mocking Trump after the first debate, showing some of his many facial expressions, saying he looks like a 6th grader throwing tantrums. Then they put a picture of Hillary (remember her plastic/botox face for that debate) looking angelic for contrast.

They have a son who is a pilot in the USAF, which is kind of amazing. When my son was in Iraq (2004-5?) with USMC infantry, and I expressed worry about his well-being, since people were trying to kill them every day, this sister lectured me about we would not even be in Iraq if GWB had not lied.

They seem to have an ability to idealize everything, and to expect that everyone else play by the rules of their idealism. They visited me some years ago (when we still spoke to one another), and had not told their son, who was about 6 years old, that I was getting/had gotten divorced. So he came into the house, looking for his uncle “John”. They said they did not know how to explain it to him, but his own dad was on his 2nd marriage to my sister, and he had two half-sisters. It did not fit with what they wanted him to think, is my take on it.

A lot of liberals are dumbasses. I used to vote 'rat myself. At the time, I did not know squat about politics. I believed the usual BS about "the 'rat party wants to help people; the GOP is all about rich fat cats who want old people to eat dog food, blah, blah, blah..."

I finally managed to vote for a 'rat winner in the person of Bill Clinton in 1992. In two years it became crystal clear that Clinton and the entire 'rat party were full of excrement. By 1994, I was voting GOP and subscribing to periodicals like National Review (when it was conservative) and reading books and becoming the political junkie most of us on FR are.

Sure, some lefties are true believing Marxist types. the great majority are probably just stupid. And a 24-hours-a-day media propaganda blitz helps keep them that way.

People vote what they think their interest is.

Most of the time they're voting against the other side.

Politics is a tug of war and people think that if they aren't pulling for their own side, the other side will win and do all kinds of things they won't like.

And they're often right about that.

People like Bill Maher who ask, "How can they vote for Trump?" are idiots.

Leave aside for a minute all the disagreements about Trump and about one's view of politics and the world.

People vote for one candidate because they don't want the other guy (or gal) to get 100% of the vote.

Thank you for posting this, and I hope the thread stays alive for a long time. I have wondered the same thing, and have some insights from social media over this election campaign.

A few observations, in no particular order, and subject to further comments.

1. The sound bite. It can be false, but it is catchy. Once the sound bite is imbibed, anything coming from the other side of the argument — no matter how logical or factual — can be easily deflected by the liberal with NO FURTHER EFFORT. No need to engage the brain. Just spit back the phrase of the day. Whew that was so easy! Deflect the “attack”. Now back to all the propaganda sites that will reaffirm them. That confirmation bias is HUGE with the liberals, as I have observed over the past year especially.

2. Cognitive dissonance. Liberals who are otherwise decent people, who work hard and themselves “care”, entertain in their minds conflicting realities. To make sure they do not have to face their own cognitive dissonance, sound bite deflection and confirmation from others who have been propagandized as they have, are very powerful. Those together will easily keep them penned into the Clinton camp, at least for this election cycle. There is no time to deprogram them.

3. Of course the media having taken up the task to merely repeat the liberal daily talking points and sound bites, enable greatly both of the above causes.

4. The media have greatly overstepped their bounds, and somehow we have to go above it, over it, under it, through it, to get the TRUTH out to as many people as possible. Trump’s own phenomenal determination, the new media that each of us participates in to get the TRUTH out, I believe are making a difference. It is not the Hillary die-hards we have to convince, but some relatively small number of Independents and undecideds. Those are the ones I try to share the TRUTH with on social media.

Without the propaganda and unbalanced media, Trump would be far ahead. His message resonates! Instead I still see a number of my own friends and family who are NeverHillary, but have STILL absorbed the media bias of Trump, an heroic man, as some type of comic character. IOW they are not programmed enough to accept Clinton! but unbeknownst to themselves, have accepted the characterization of the media and the left about Trump, as some kind of unqualified boor.

My approach to them is varied. Communicate the disaster Hillary would be (war, corruption, etc.) to lead them to make their own conclusion that she can only be stopped by Trump. They are now idealistically in the 3d party camp. Which is not an alternative strong enough to keep the corrupt Clintons out of the White House. I do believe some of them will vote for Trump, although they are now holding out hope for the alternative. WHO would ALSO be as savagely attacked as Trump now is (as I point out to them) if he had any chance to win!

Then other part is to defend Trump, to further state that anyone else could have won the nomination with the same principles and the same guts to FIGHT for them.

Then further to remind them that the attacks on Trump are NOT about Morals or about Truth, but ONLY about politics, power, and the politics of personal destruction.

I stay reasonable; I do not call people names; I am gracious. But I stand up to them. I call them out for having only smut and name-calling. I refuse to be “pussy whipped” by other women, who say that as a woman, you have to reject Trump! HA! I call them out, that I am a person who happens to be female, with a mind of my own, capable of making decisions including all factors, and do not appreciate the likes of them to try to shame me!

Sorry this is longer than I intended. For what it is worth.

GO TRUMP!

I have decided that much of the problem can be attributed to the continuum of intelligence levels across all members of society. On the far left end of the bell curve, we have the not bright at all, who nontheless know that they are not bright, so have learned to concentrate on the simple tasks. These folks tend to be without guile and simply respond in a forthright manner.

Next up we have the nearly normal to slightly above normal intelligence. Very little difference in raw wattage in this group. They tend to be "salt of the Earth" types. They are also the most populous group. Generally honest, generally earnest and hardworking, but subject to many common pitfalls (drugs, booze, minor criminal acts, etc). They tend to be easily deceived and typically have trouble coming to terms with errors they may have made. This group is where elections are won or lost.

Next up the somewhat more intelligent group. These people are (using standard IQ tests measure) somewhere between 110-125. This group is easily the most dangerous. They are smart enough to have had some academic or life success, but they aren't quite bright enough to realize they aren't that smart. This breeds arrogance. They honestly believe that their range of vision is as far as anybody can see, thus their interpretations are correct or at least not questionable. These are the folks that write ponderously long articles believing that extra verbage equates to extra brains. They are more difficult to deceive, but once deceived they dig in like ticks on a hound dog. Once deceived, they will follow their deception right through the gates of hell.

Next up, the pretty smart. They tend to revel in deciphering the universe around us. They become engineers and surgeons, and other high functioning occupations. They view the goings on of group two as something to be ignored (like reality TV) or challenged (group three) as long as their primary interest comes first.

The final group is the ridiculously smart. Those that are not driven mad by their intellect (Richard Kazinsky) retreat into esoteric shelters to live separate from others.

The exponent in this continuum is the existence of good and evil. At every level there is both evil and good. However, group 3 is the group least able to see it while the most able to cause great harm.

There is a societal example easily visible if it is simply looked at, but that is a whole other essay.

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