The genuis of Bush (and certain German progragandists before him)...

[scottxyz]

...is knowing how to appeal to lonely people's (unfulfilled) need to belong to someone.

In this age of TV and cars and suburban sprawl and internet-dating email tag (and high gasoline prices and consumer debt and low wages and short vacations), I would wager that a higher percentage Americans than ever can't even remember the last time they had a decent lay.

Many Americans' innate capacity to be "totally devoted" to someone is going unused, as we twiddle with the remote and open our email and wish there were somebody fun to hang out with tonight or someplace interesting to go to, or that we actually had the time and/or the money and/or the toned body to go out and do any of these things.

Bush (and Rove - and certain German propagandists before them) understand this. Bush's swagger, his snarl, his meanness, his "butch drag," the sock stuffed in his pants on the aircraft carrier (that even had Tweety Matthews all a-twitter) - these are all calculated to appeal to Americans' unused capacity for devotion.

"Most of you suckers ain't gonna get no tax cuts or flu shots! You're never gonna be safe from the terra-ists! You're never gonna have job security or health insurance or overtime pay or clean air! Now get down on your knees and pledge your eternal loyalty to ME!" Bush says, sounding like some kind of kinky dominatrix - and millions of lonely masochists out there, alone in front of their TVs, get a secret thrill: "Finally, SOMEONE out there is paying attention to me," they think.

[puddycat]

1. wtf? every single person I know for * is in a family unit, not lonely

the people I know who are for * are people who have it all--they think only of their narrow little world. And I wouldn't call them lonely at all. I would call them insensitive.

[smirkymonkey]

3. Just because you are with other people doesn't mean you can't

be lonely. Have you ever heard the phrase "lonely in a crowd of people?" True loneliness is and inner spiritual poverty. No amount of companionship can make it go away if one isn't willing to open up their heart to other human beings.

[scottxyz]

4. I understand your counterpoint, and it could be pursued further

It may be true that many Bush supporters are in a "family unit".

However, what if that "family unit" is held together not by love and respect, but by mindless, frustrating enslavement to dehumanizing religious rules?

A lot of Republican family units seem to be based more on phony rules than on real love - and I'm arguing that even though they have other people in the house with them, these people in many cases may be lonely and alienated from the other people in their household, and therefore susceptible to feeling a secret "thrill" when Bush is mean to them or when he struts around in a flight suit.

[smirkymonkey]

6. Yes, I meant to imply the same thing, sorry if my wording was

confusing. I completely agree with you.

[puddycat]

10. I understand what you are saying.

And I think some may have misinterpreted my post. My point was that these family units in right-wing communities do think alike--they have been made into zombies of intolerance. They are not lonely in the sense that they exist in a group that props up this kind of narrow-vision thinking.

The lonely are the ones who dare to think for themselves in the midst of that oppressive atmosphere. We have to find a way to reach out to those individuals in red states to invite them into a community of people who would welcome them and nurture their independence. The left needs to reach out more (note I didn't say compromise).

[smirkymonkey]

2. You know, I think you may be on to something.

In a society that creates a sense of increasing alienation between oneself and one's world, the need to belong becomes even more consuming to those with no true spiritual and emotional groundedness.

I also suspect that this is the same phenomenon that draws people into these fundamentalist religions. The more hostile the outside world becomes, the greater the need for refuge.

[scottxyz]

5. Exactly

I think Americans need to get out a little more and remember how to enjoy life. Have a glass of wine, flirt with the person at the next table, exchange a witticism or two, commiserate about your lack of health insurance or vacation time.

Every time we sit and drift off into a torpor watching some asshole lying to us on CNN rather than talking to a person in real life, we get lonelier and more alienated.

People like Bush capitalize on this.

[OneBlueSky]

7. so . . . to paraphrase Stephen Stills . . .

"If you can't be with the one you love,
Love your Bush" . . .

is that what we're saying? . . .

[B. P. R. D.]

8. The Only Problem With Your Theory Is That It Applies To Us Too.

Lonely liberals who are alienated from the society we love but hate at the same time. Who the hell spends so much time on the Internet praying for a Democratic Savior to come lead us out of the Darkness if not the unfulfilled?

[B. P. R. D.]

9. See This Is What I Am Talking About.

It shouldn't, but it bothers me that no one responded to my message. A positive, or even negative response is better than none at all.