Palin recognized that being a mayor and Governor didn’t give her the experience she needed to be President.
She’s going to Chicago to be a community organizer to fill the hole in her resume.
ThurmanHart
· 3 months ago
This "lifestyle conservatism" isn't counter-culture at all. It is comprised of various incarnations of the rural culture that has been in America for a very long time. It isn't that conservatives oppose gun controls because liberals support them - it's that people in rural America have always had guns, and always had a very different relationship with them than people in cities.
The rank opposition, I think, can be understood through fairly straight-forward "In-group/Out-group" psychology. As rural consevatives have become identified as a group, their views towards out-groups have hardened to the point where any opposition seems to be a direct attack to them. Coupled with anti-intellectualism and a shared religious paranoia (if believing The Revelations doesn't lead someone to paranoia, nothing will), it's a fairly easy culture to understand.
The thing is that the rural lifestyle was never purely conservative. In fact, there is a very strong component of "live and let live" that fits with liberalism fairly well. You just don't have a dedicated "news" channel to represent liberal rural voters.
jchem
· 3 months ago
The thing is that the rural lifestyle was never purely conservative. In fact, there is a very strong component of "live and let live" that fits with liberalism fairly well.
I grew up in the middle of absolute nowhere on a farm in South Dakota, and I will say that this sums it up quite well. My family has lived their as long as I can remember. The "live and let live" mentality is very strong up there, but it works both ways. Most folks don't like it when others come to the door telling them to repent and come to church. At the same time, you won't find many advocating a gay pride parade on main street. Most folks simply don't care one way or the other; they just don't like having things thrown in their face. Now, if you start talking gun control to a community who's economy depends primarily on pheasant hunting, you won't get many people to listen to what you have to say.
DLS
· 3 months ago
"The thing is that the rural lifestyle was never purely conservative. In fact, there is a very strong component of 'live and let live' that fits with liberalism fairly well."
1. This is classical liberalism, now called "libertarianism."
2. Actual liberal (leftish) US politics is nothing new by farmers, since the Grangers and Progressives.
DLS
· 3 months ago
J. West -- I believe other things need work, but in Palin's case, it's _exposure_. What if Obama had remained in Hawaii?
Note that that is true not only for political progress but for media and market exposure, book deals, etc.
DLS
· 3 months ago
Note to Dennis -- the issue switches to Palin because what you're saying about the Republicans is not correct. There is no counter-culture phenenomenon in the GOP; it's the Democrats that were peopled by Sixties radicals, and political offices after Watergate. There is no bizarre aspect to the Republicans; they happen at this time to be incoherent as a party (they have an incoherent population and political agenda) and dysfunctional, as well as out of public favor as of 2006 and 2008.
anniemargret
· 3 months ago
Bravo. Well said. It is about time someone from the other side (me, a left of center Democrat) finally speaks the truth. I keep reading in blogs that liberals are 'afraid' of Palin. What in heaven's name is there NOT to be afraid of? I am not afraid of her because she epitomizes 'God, apple pie and America" from the right wing of the GOP, but because they are utterly senseless, even craven, to think they could foist this woman to the highest office of the land, even if they know in their heart or hearts, that she is fabulously unfit for it. They want to do this to get even. They want to do this because they want to be right and liberals wrong. They want to do this because they hate Barack Obama. They want to do this because it is just another version of the 'me vs them' attitude that has swept this country down the yellow brick road after GW Bush was elected. What it's all about is a culture war...Republicans love it and if they could keep it going, they will. Forget about America! For all their 'patriotic' talk about America, John McCain and Sarah Palin would have been far, far worse for America than President Obama even on his worst day could be. This is a woman who loves rancor, creates drama, divides the classes, divides Americans every chance she gets. So for the GOP to tell the rest of us who dislike her so intensely that it is because she is small town, homey America...no! It is because she is unfit for public office. She is not worthy to be president of this country. She has no proven skills for the national or international scene other than to scrunch up her pretty little nose and be proud she is a 'pit bull with lipstick.' Palin as President? If that thought doesn't scare you witless, you are sufficiently brainwashed.
sinz54
· 3 months ago
The "lifestyle" or cultural conservatives were always part of the grand coalition that kept Republicans in power since 1980. But they were just a part. The other parts were non-lifestyle: Foreign-policy hawks and economic conservatives.
As the non-lifestyle Republicans have fled the party due to its extremism and incompetence, the GOP has shrunk back to what amounts to a regional party in the Red States, dominated by the lifestyle conservatives.
The only way to restore the GOP is to grow it outside the Red States. And this will be difficult, because the culturally conservative GOP base won't support moderate Republican candidates, even if moderate Republicanism is the only type that can win in the Northeast, Oregon, etc.
flashoverride
· 3 months ago
Global warming is *not* a myth. Anthropogenic global warming is. I know we humans love to believe that we can totally pwn the planet!!!1!, but it's just not so. Even if we detonated every single nuclear device simultaeneously, which would probably wipe all almost all of humanity, it wouldn't kill all life on the planet. I find it odd that the people pushing the "global warming science" theme the hardest are people who forget that mammals only rose to dominance all those years ago because of a massive meteor from space smacked into the planet and the cold-blooded dinosaurs were not able to adapt fast enough.
My view is that the Republican party needs to return to actual, you know, Republicanism - the ideals of freedom and fiscal conservativism. Nanny-state nonsense - regulating what others say and do with their bodies in a consensual manner - is stupid and ought to be avoided. I know what the bible says, and I know what the Q'uran teaches, that why I follow it. I don't think that the state has the ability *or* the authority to be the final moral judge, that comes on judgement day. As the prophet Isa said, "render unto Caesar"....
bal314
· 3 months ago
Wake up! Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. They are not entitled to their own facts.
All Comments
Palin recognized that being a mayor and Governor didn’t give her the experience she needed to be President.
She’s going to Chicago to be a community organizer to fill the hole in her resume.
The rank opposition, I think, can be understood through fairly straight-forward "In-group/Out-group" psychology. As rural consevatives have become identified as a group, their views towards out-groups have hardened to the point where any opposition seems to be a direct attack to them. Coupled with anti-intellectualism and a shared religious paranoia (if believing The Revelations doesn't lead someone to paranoia, nothing will), it's a fairly easy culture to understand.
The thing is that the rural lifestyle was never purely conservative. In fact, there is a very strong component of "live and let live" that fits with liberalism fairly well. You just don't have a dedicated "news" channel to represent liberal rural voters.
I grew up in the middle of absolute nowhere on a farm in South Dakota, and I will say that this sums it up quite well. My family has lived their as long as I can remember. The "live and let live" mentality is very strong up there, but it works both ways. Most folks don't like it when others come to the door telling them to repent and come to church. At the same time, you won't find many advocating a gay pride parade on main street. Most folks simply don't care one way or the other; they just don't like having things thrown in their face. Now, if you start talking gun control to a community who's economy depends primarily on pheasant hunting, you won't get many people to listen to what you have to say.
1. This is classical liberalism, now called "libertarianism."
2. Actual liberal (leftish) US politics is nothing new by farmers, since the Grangers and Progressives.
Note that that is true not only for political progress but for media and market exposure, book deals, etc.
As the non-lifestyle Republicans have fled the party due to its extremism and incompetence, the GOP has shrunk back to what amounts to a regional party in the Red States, dominated by the lifestyle conservatives.
The only way to restore the GOP is to grow it outside the Red States. And this will be difficult, because the culturally conservative GOP base won't support moderate Republican candidates, even if moderate Republicanism is the only type that can win in the Northeast, Oregon, etc.
My view is that the Republican party needs to return to actual, you know, Republicanism - the ideals of freedom and fiscal conservativism. Nanny-state nonsense - regulating what others say and do with their bodies in a consensual manner - is stupid and ought to be avoided. I know what the bible says, and I know what the Q'uran teaches, that why I follow it. I don't think that the state has the ability *or* the authority to be the final moral judge, that comes on judgement day. As the prophet Isa said, "render unto Caesar"....
scienceblogs.com/illconsidered/2008/07/how_to_talk_to_a_sceptic.php
www.newscientist.com/article/dn11462
www.realclimate.org
Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future, by Chris Mooney
Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free, by Charles P. Pierce
Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter, by Rick Shenkman