> Have you met the republican party? Their entire base lives off fear.
First off not all in the republican party can be characterized this way. You are painting with very broad strokes. Many turn the republican party because they are the closest they can get to their economic beliefs.
> It's not fear of death or injury, but fear of "other", of change, of being marginalized.
Do you honestly believe this? Do you get your views of republicans from reddit and articles you read about people talking about fox news?
> First off not all in the republican party can be characterized this way.
Duh. Do I really need to preface every statement I make with "this is a generalization that doesn't apply to every single person" or can I just assume that you have some intelligence and don't assume everyone speaks in absolute terms and that when I said base, that quite obviously doesn't mean everyone.
> You are painting with very broad strokes.
That's rather the point of generalizing; it's useful.
> Many turn the republican party because they are the closest they can get to their economic beliefs.
Hopefully they're sobering up and realizing how ridiculous that choice was.
> Do you honestly believe this?
I observe this, it's not a matter of belief, I live in a red state and see it constantly.
> Do you get your views of republicans from reddit and articles you read about people talking about fox news?
I see, it couldn't possibly be because I know a lot of republicans, it must be Fox news. I live in Arizona, practically the center of republican crazy these days; I don't have to make shit up.
+1 to gnaritas side here. I'm in the military, home of record is Texas, grew up in Kansas and Nebraska (what got me to read this thread), spent 95% of my adult life south of the Mason-Dixon line. Not all Republicans are crazy, but the disease of "Republican crazy" is rampant. See XKCD #1127 for another perspective. https://xkcd.com/1127/
What is an "economic belief"? Seeing how broken our financial system and ways of thinking about it are, I take it it's some kind of religion, including all the baggage that comes with such an approach?
"They kinda come close to my views w/r/t one small aspect of national policy" is a pretty terrible reason to vote for a party. If you're correct that many citizens vote this way, you'd all be better off withholding from participation until you can fix your electoral system.
Not a rant, just an observation: Republicans aren't conservative. They are military-industrial socialists. That's why things like Fox get annoying: they go around pointing fingers at the others, yet push out their own stimulus packages (via military spending increases) and their own flavor of socialism.
A lot of "true" conservatives have left the party.
FTR, I don't classify myself as either liberal or conservative; I've been a member of the Democratic party and the Republican party, and left them both. I can't stand either of them. And I really can't stand hypocrisy.
These true conservatives might have left the party, but they're still voting for the party because I don't see any big shift in representatives yet that mirrors this big exodus you speak of. I know many such ex-republicans, they all still voted Romney and republican despite their vocal protests of the party.
Given that Romney got a lower turnout than McCain, it certainly seems that some number of people have left the party, or are at least witholding support for the time being.
I'll grant you that; but abstaining doesn't help much. They should be splitting the party and separating the real conservatives from the religious right.
That's going to take time- plus I'm not sure they will attain critical mass for a party to succeed. I bet most self-professed 'conservatives' would argue that Republicans are conservative. It seems to be a religion or something.
It's much different; we criticize Obama but don't consider him a DINO and want to kick him out of the party. Republicans tend to eat their own, they want ideological purity in a way Democrats never have. Democrats tolerate ideological differences within the party and within congressional votes vastly more than republicans do.
Have you met the republican party? Their entire base lives off fear.
> I think actual fear would have to come from injuries to someone you know and can feel empathy towards.
It's not fear of death or injury, but fear of "other", of change, of being marginalized.