Understanding "REPUBLICANS" : My thoughts

[nine30]

Understanding Republicans - who they are

The Republican party is a paradoxical coalition of totally unrelated interest groups that are loyal to each other. The broad categories I see are :

1. The unscrupulous corporate pigs, the wanna be rich, and the pretend rich:

These are the assholes to whom money is the bottom line for everything. The corporate pigs will go any length to line their pockets. To them the big issue is tax cuts and loose environmental
laws. The wanna be rich and the pretend rich can be seen all over in the Fox money shows who often ridicule progressives and progressive ideas that have nothing to do with fiscal policy. The truly rich however don't care so much about personal wealth but are devoted to their causes.
eg: Warren Buffet, George Soros and to some degree even William Gates.


2. The Relegious fundamentalists :

They represent the militant wing of Christianity. Idealogically they have more in common with Bin Laden,Al-Zawahiri, Al-Zarqawi and Al-Sadr,than with the civilized people of the Western world. They bomb abortion clinics, but to their credit they haven't crashed planes into them yet. These are the people who share "values" with the President. Curiously for some odd reason, they also happen to live in the economically, educationally and culturally most backward
regions of the country (as do the Radical Islamists in different parts of the world).

3. Neo-conservatives/Idealists.

These people sit on their asses in the comfort of their rooms dreaming of a New World Order.
They have never fought a day of their lives in war themselves, and have even gone to elaborate lengths to avoid getting drafted. Their principle belief is that "War is the natural state of man" (Victor Hanson Davis).

4. The Gun freaks/Hunters/"Sports"men

Life to them is about owning guns. They would sooner go without food on the table than without guns in their racks. They live in a perpetual paranoia of the govt taking their guns away. Life's pleasure to them is about shooting defenseless animals for sport (hence "sports"men), or baiting them with food before shooting them dead from close range.

5. The Military (or much of it)

They are for drastically cutting govt expenditure and reducing the size of the govt,, except when it comes to the military. After all the first things that a country's citizens need are the latest in high tech bombs, rockets,cruise missiles, Bradley armored vehicles, tactical nuclear warheads and all the other gizmos. Hey, you will survive fine without your annual flu shot, but God help us if our arsenal lacks Daisy Cutters or MOABs.

I cannot think of any other groups at the moment but I am sure they are there . What I find amazing is how each of these groups have accepted and adapted to the others interests and even voice support for them. Just last night Jerry Falwell was on MSNBC talking about how good and moral the war in Iraq is. Thats right. SOmeone whose heart bleeds for the fate of a zygote, defending a purposeless war that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents.

The general understanding among the Republicans is that I will support your war, if you support my belief in the "right to life", and if he supports tax cuts, and if that person supports gun
ownership, and...

In general every group will support the interests of every other group ,loyally. What is laughable is that there is NOTHING in common between them !

[liberal N proud]

1. All true!

And I don't even come close to fitting in any of those.

[Radio-Active]

2. you forgot..

the bigot vote

[Gyre]

3. You forgot "fiscal conservatives"

Probably the most patriotic and practical of all the repube groups you named. Also, the most alienated by the chimps fiscal policies. They are the ones who actually held their noses when they voted for the chimp. They also constitute the "old money" and "original values" of the repube party.

Gyre

[luzdeluna]

4. I was surprised at the fiscal conservatives I know

I have many well off clients and friends who bit the bullet and voted for Kerry because they believed it was the moral thing to do.

On the other hand I find it incredible that so many people in the military walked into voting booths and signed up to be cannon fodder in Iran and Syria.

I just don't know what to make of it.

LDL

[RPM]

5. Great Coalition Building..

I wish we could find a way to do the same.

[nine30]

7. The irony is..

..they failed where it was REALLY needed.

[RPM]

9. True; and it wont last....

Corporatism and fundamentalism are simply incompatible.

first battleground - the $6B/yr Porno industry
In this corner.... capitalist scumbags
In the other corner.... fundamentalists

Should do interesting things to the Republican Party's fabric

[buckettgirl]

6. One thing I notice...

One thing I notice, that I have been thinking about alot lately, is that many people claim to be republicans but they don't know why. I mean, they really can't give a clear, concrete answer as to why. They don't know the issues, some don't care, some are mis-informed, others just plain ignorant.
I know many people who will tell me they are republicans. The funny thing is, they think alot like me. Generally, they don't want to impose on other people's rights. They are against abortion, except in special circumstances (varies, maybe rape, or a life/death situation). They are pro-environment. Many that I know are working or middle-class people who want to live their lives and send their kids to school. Most are Christian and don't understand alternative religions, but they are not fundies and they don't often go to church, nor do they push religion on other people. Religion does not dictate their political values. They want to fight the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and they aren't for killing innocent people. Some of these people are even dependent on welfare or at least have medical cards for their children and some receive food stamps. They see funding of these programs as critical. They don't drive new SUV's and they are very worried about gas prics. They are just typical everyday people who apparently don't get politics.
I have to say that many people who are republicans aren't bad people, they aren't even represented by the current administration. They are democrats and don't know it and wouldn't believe it if they were told so.

[Neverarepublican]

8. I pity

all of them.