In this 2012 Presidential Election there are two candidates
which views are nearly polar opposite of each other. This has made the job of
voters who vote based on issues very easy. But strangely for some this has made
it oddly difficult. This is due to the tribal effect in politics. (For more on
this topic check out The Tribal Effect in Politics)
When we hear about the undecided voters, it's hard to
believe that they are independent voters, because with the two clear opposite choices we
have, anyone who cares would have been able to make up their mind
long ago. I find it more likely that the undecided voters that are talked about
in the media are actually rational Republicans struggling with the tribal
effect, they want to vote Republican but don't like the stance Republicans are
taking on issues. Republican voters not struggling with this issue are either
voting solely on the tribal effect so they can see the party they have always
identified with win or they are part of the 1% and want a system that is rigged
in their favor despite being unfair to the rest of America.
Republicans seem to think a different way than Democrats. Democrats tend to think for themselves
about issues and come to their own conclusion and then choose who to vote for.
Republicans seem to trust authority more and if they trust that authority the
will simply agree or buy into what they are saying since they assume they know
more about the issues than they do. While it may be true that authorities know
more about issues than others, it doesn't mean they are correct or that
they are right about what is the best for the country.
This way of thinking is similar to how religion works,
followers of any religion tend to trust their Priest, Pastor, Imam, Rabbi, etc.
simply because they are considered an authority on the subject. This is
intellectually lazy. And it's no coincidence that the Religious right is
strongly tied to the Republican Party. Both want to tell us how to think, and
don't encourage critical thinking. The Texas GOP has even come right out and
said, "We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills, critical
thinking skills and similar programs…"
The good news is that there are rational Republicans
thinking for themselves, and they care more about the issues rather than just
staying loyal to their party. The Facebook page Republicans for Obama is good
evidence of this, which has over 22,600 likes.
Labels can be helpful, they give us an idea about what an individual or group stands for, but labels should be the beginning of our
inquiry not the end of it. No matter what party you identify with, if you can't
explain the position of your opposition you should question whether you fully
understand your own. After all, it's hard to disagree with something you don't
understand.
There's a pretty braod based claim. You have your own notion that republicans are just followers of some authority because you believe they are wrong and can't see it. That they are like the religous. You have a point that the religous follow based on authority without evidence. But many republicans develop thier political beliefs based on some evidence of history. And I don't believe for one second that liberals don't follow some authority. Obama is an example. Clinton. Bill Mayher. Michael Moore. John Stewart. Liberals absorb thier information just as much as republicans might absorb Romney, or Rush. Clint Eastwood. There are some of each group that might take the information at face value and others that might dig a little deeper into how that info relates to other information. But everyone has a starting point.
ReplyDeleteIt is a broad based claim, when I said republicans are like religious believers in that they value authority more, I am referring to the republican base. There are of course always outliers, and the outliers on the republican side are the rational republicans, who I think have thought hard about their political position. There are also outliers on the democrat side too who are only democrat because that’s what their parents were and haven’t given it much thought.
DeleteThe point is that the republican base does follow authority more than the democrat base follows authority. How else do you explain so many republican politicians and the republican base denying evolution or even climate change? These things are fact! There is as much evidence for evolution as there is that the earth orbits the sun. I believe it’s 46% of Americans that deny evolution, so let’s be honest that the majority of that 46% is also the republican base. The only reason they deny this is because the value what a preacher says more than a scientist, and they do this with republican politicians as well. Some of these people who value a preachers word over a scientists word end up running for office, such as Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Todd Akin etc etc… and they run on the republican ticket.
I don't think the view of creationism against evolution is that much of a big deal. You're dealing with faith against science on a question of something that happend 4 billion years ago. (Or 6,000 :)) Creationism was the prevailing mood of the nation when a lot of advances were being made in science and technology and we went to the moon. In fact, in most cases I would think that religous people will come up with thier political notions independent of their pastor. Or at least only mildy influenced. (Abortion and gay marriage are the two biggest exceptions to that rule.) The left side of politics still has thier own personal influences. Teachers, friends forming thier activist group on the college campus.... even celebrities. I remember Susan Surandon coming out to OWS to rally that cause before hopping on her private jet to italy while they spent night after night in a park. I've been in classes having nothing to do with politics whatsoever and found myself in a discussion about politics. Didn't mind cause I like discussing politics, but she brought it up to influence her class on the issues. And a lot of us looked up to her... (all that said, I am disturbed that there is such a big push to teach creationism as a science in schools by republicans...but there is a reason for that.)
ReplyDeleteThen again... this may be from my own personal experience too much. I grew up religious but mostly formed my political views independent of relegion. Also never had a pastor that discussed politics at any great length.... But Obama's pastor did, so it can go for democrats as well. Before Obama kind of dissaccociated himself from his pastor when his messages got controversial, he described him as a major influence on his life.
I used creationism and evolution as an example of how the two groups think. There is overwhelming evidence of evolution and many choose not to believe it because they have been told it’s not true or they just rather believe the creation story because they prefer that over evolution. If the republican base can think this way on one issue they will think this way on others including politics.
DeleteWhat makes you think that religious people would come up with their political notions independent of their pastor? Of course all churches and pastors are a little different, but growing up in church all through HS, I went to a couple different churches and I believe both pastors hinted at which political view they thought God would approve of. Plus, any fundamental Christian watching Pat Robertson on the 700 club it is pretty clear who he thinks God wants us to vote. Can you think of any televangelist who supports liberal ideas? And Al Sharpton doesn’t count because he is on a political news channel, not a religious channel talking about politics.
And every side has their personal influences and each side should, people should let personal influences affect their political views along with evidence. A teachers job is to teach reality (those teaching creationism obviously struggle with this) so if you are claiming teachers influence students to vote democrat than what does that say about republican ideas? I agree with the saying that, reality has a liberal bias. So if you think teachers influence students to vote democrat, that shouldn’t be something republicans want to say out loud. And there is nothing wrong with students forming activist groups, that should be encouraged no matter what political view they hold.
I think pastors who are democrat such as Obama’s old pastor can influence church members as well. I find it funny and contradictory that you would say church goers on the right wouldn’t be influenced very much by their pastor but church goers on the left would be. I think they both are influenced by pastors, the difference is churches on the left don't have a strong tie to a political party like the religious right does.