I think Roger is basically right. I think that people have always been more motivated by tribal loyalty than specific initiatives, and that perhaps explains why people vote against their self-interests (e.g. women whose right were taken away voting Republican, or old folks on SS and Medicare voting Republican. The heavily overlapping tri…
I think Roger is basically right. I think that people have always been more motivated by tribal loyalty than specific initiatives, and that perhaps explains why people vote against their self-interests (e.g. women whose right were taken away voting Republican, or old folks on SS and Medicare voting Republican. The heavily overlapping tribes of wealthy and educated represent a minority. At the same time, there are some hot buttons that the Democrats have put forth which almost have veto power to prevent otherwise moderate voters from voting Democrat. For example, Democrats might believe there are more than two sexes (M and F) but people in the Midwest think you are crazy. Democrats don't need to wildly broadcast their support for LGB but can do it quietly behind the scenes. Adding TG to LGB is a much bigger mistake because TG is widely perceived very as a form of desecration of the body. I suspect that "defund the police" might have cost the Democrats a few million votes. And along with that, the takeovers of cities in the BLM movement did Democrats a great deal of harm. The liberal press has blown up every single incident where police were improperly aggressive toward Blacks, yet far more Blacks are killed by Blacks than by the police. Cogent Black leaders call for more (but better trained) police, not less. The Democrats are perceived as being soft on crime - because they are. In L. A. County, a robbery is not a felony unless it exceeds $950. There was a cartoon of a thief counting out the money in the victim's wallet and stopping at $950 and then handing the remainder back to the victim. The specter of millions of people entering the US illegally and being paid welfare to stay here. Then there is the matter of printing money and handing it out. People like handouts but they wonder where it comes from. Only wealthy and educated people could think of more than two sexes, using surgery to modify the sex of bodies, going soft on crime, allowing groups for whatever cause to violently take over cities, and all the rest which I can't think of at the moment.
I think Roger is basically right. I think that people have always been more motivated by tribal loyalty than specific initiatives, and that perhaps explains why people vote against their self-interests (e.g. women whose right were taken away voting Republican, or old folks on SS and Medicare voting Republican. The heavily overlapping tribes of wealthy and educated represent a minority. At the same time, there are some hot buttons that the Democrats have put forth which almost have veto power to prevent otherwise moderate voters from voting Democrat. For example, Democrats might believe there are more than two sexes (M and F) but people in the Midwest think you are crazy. Democrats don't need to wildly broadcast their support for LGB but can do it quietly behind the scenes. Adding TG to LGB is a much bigger mistake because TG is widely perceived very as a form of desecration of the body. I suspect that "defund the police" might have cost the Democrats a few million votes. And along with that, the takeovers of cities in the BLM movement did Democrats a great deal of harm. The liberal press has blown up every single incident where police were improperly aggressive toward Blacks, yet far more Blacks are killed by Blacks than by the police. Cogent Black leaders call for more (but better trained) police, not less. The Democrats are perceived as being soft on crime - because they are. In L. A. County, a robbery is not a felony unless it exceeds $950. There was a cartoon of a thief counting out the money in the victim's wallet and stopping at $950 and then handing the remainder back to the victim. The specter of millions of people entering the US illegally and being paid welfare to stay here. Then there is the matter of printing money and handing it out. People like handouts but they wonder where it comes from. Only wealthy and educated people could think of more than two sexes, using surgery to modify the sex of bodies, going soft on crime, allowing groups for whatever cause to violently take over cities, and all the rest which I can't think of at the moment.
By the way, I voted Democrat the last 60 years