Exactly, the Republican make an attack on a minority or marginalized group. The Democrats work to defend this group from the Republicans, then the right wing media blathers on about how the Democrats can’t stop talking about this group.
But seen, Republicans don’t attack a group directly. They propose policies that they purport to apply equally to everyone, but in reality often marginalize or disproportionately impact specific groups. Then when Democrats point this out, Republicans cry “look they are woke progressive racists trying to take away YOUR freedoms!”
The majority of Republicans probably think emotionally, and thus it’s easy to get them riled up into action. You just need to know what buttons to push. Patriotism, race, etc.
The majority of Democrats probably think rationally, so it is very difficult to get these people riled up into action. They don’t act on emotion as much, in general, so it takes a hell of a lot to get a movement started.
That’s my guess.
One aspect is also that liberals seem to be more concerned about external issues while conservatives are more concerned with their own interests. People are more motivated about personal issues (e.g. keep my money in my pocket) rather than fixing the world (e.g. making life better for less fortunate). Like with the ACA, I think it’s a good idea, but I’m not going to really be passionate about it since it’s mostly to benefit other people. But to conservatives, the ACA is taking their money out of their pockets, so they get really passionate about stopping it.
Agreed, except for:
Benefitting others wouldn’t even slightly be an issue for me - it wouldn’t even have crossed my mind to point it out, to begin with.
I think conservatives are passionate about stopping the ACA because:
- A black president signed it
- Some of the beneficiaries of the law are people that they don’t like
It seems the coal miners in WV are asking Manchin to reconsider his position on BBB. Perhaps the Dems should capitalize on this al la Lincoln project. The threat of losing the coal miner vote would probably hurt his chances for re-election. The threat of losing office seems to be the only thing that motivates some (most) pols.
“What’s wrong with Democrats is that they think that being smart and morally right will get them elected by a nation of morons” - I agree with this whole heartedly. Very well put msmith537.
I think bigger reasons are:
-
the Republicans pursue a scorched Earth strategy ie they stop the Dems from achieving anything at all, if they can. They know damn well that fixing US healthcare would be of substantial benefit to most people and consequently would boost the reputation of the Dems.
-
the mindboggling financial resources of the current US healthcare industry were thrown behind stopping ACA and the Republicans were in the industry’s pocket
The Republican constituency contains a large proportion of gullible, tribalistic fools. If the R’s had proposed ACA they could have sold it to most of their constituents, and most of their constituents would have followed along like sheep.
The decision to stop ACA came from the top down. The passionately believed reasons for doing so came second.
The same efforts to stop ACA would have been made even if Obama was white.
Yes. The efforts would not have had as much success though. There remains a substantial portion of the population that was “Ain’t no uppity black man gonna tell me what to do!”
I just watched a piece on getting the vaccine amongst southern rednecks. Their message was “ain’t no Dem president gonna’ tell me what to do. Even if I have to die!”
I don’t doubt that you are correct to some extent but I’m not convinced Obama being black made the difference.
The thing is, they don’t care about “most people”; they only care about certain people.
Not really relevant to my point. They may not care about most people but they need votes. What the R’s try to prevent at all costs is the Dems achieving something for the average Joe or Josephine. One of the reasons Trump won was a feeling in formerly Dem blue collar constituencies that nothing ever changed, and that the Dems (who nominally represent them) never actually did anything for them.
Do they, tho?
Or maybe more importantly: are you sure they think they need votes?
Yes they do. I appreciate they will cheat as required but that doesn’t mean they aren’t also trying the strategy of winning votes.
The Republicans also give money away.
The difference is that the Democrats like to give money to poor people with the hope that it will improve their lives and take them out of poverty. If you called them naive, I wouldn’t argue with you.
The Republicans like to give money to the super-rich (top 0.01%) and huge successful corporations, because they contribute to their campaigns & enable them to stay in power. If you called them cynical, greedy, & corrupt, I wouldn’t argue with you.
I dream of a Democratic party that gets cynical enough to run on giving people money to regular people, get votes based on that and then give money to regular people.
The Democrats think that politics is a professional boxing match under The Marquis of Queensbury Rules. The Republicans know that politics is a street brawl.
Just this morning on NPR there was another story about the coming end of democracy and the Dems lack of urgency. The Pubs are changing the rules on voting, placing (through elections) their people in high places that can, literally, overturn other elections. They’ve also loaded the Supreme Court that has the potential to overturn precedent in all kinds of cases. The questions is - what can the Dems do about it? Changing the filibuster rule is one thing but that doesn’t appear to be happening. What else? In my opinion, they need to, somehow convince their voters to turn out in such numbers that elections aren’t even close. Turnout was high in 2020 but they need to reinforce the message that this time its for all the marbles. With both houses and a USSC firmly controlled by the conservatives, you can kiss any hope of real reform goodbye. The Dems will likely lose the 2024 presidential election, especially if Trump doesn’t run again. The Dems need to move through the January 6 hearings quickly, using every tool available and expose it for what is was. Sadly, while far worse than shooting someone on Fifth Ave., I believe that Trump and his followers will get away clean. Hundreds of thousands gave their lives in defense of this democracy. The least people can do is get out and vote. Even if it means standing lines for hours while unable to get a drink of water from someone who wants to offer it. If fascists win (fairly) elections despite being in the minority, you get what you deserve.
P.S. - The story cited a poll that showed 78%(!) of Pubs still think the election was stolen. To me, that’s almost unbelievable. I asked Trumper I know what it would take to change his mind. He said, “NOTHING could change my mind. It was stolen”. That’s the mentality that controls the Republican party right now. I now understand why college educated voters are feared by the Pubs. They don’t want critical thinkers voting.
I think that this is why some of the Republican party leaders are hesitant over overturning Roe v Wade. They don’t think it will affect their turnout by much. But they are afraid that it will motivate Democrats to come out to vote.
I agree. Dems need to have a massive voter turnout drive underway yesterday. With Stacey Abrams in charge, ideally. Infrastructure isn’t going to impact average people until too later for 2022, if at all. Even if they do pass BBB, it will be so watered down it will be useless as a campaign tool. Big items like minimum wage, and immigration reform aren’t even being considered. It is unlikely Dems will succeed in passing a voter’s rights act, and even if they do, Republicans will probably just ignore it. So Dems need to accept that 2022 has a lot of roadblocks, and find a way to get the voters targeted by those restrictions to the polls anyway. For example, if Sunday voting is no longer allowed, what needs to be done to get those Sunday voters to the polls on a different day.