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I consider myself to be a fiscal conservative and a social liberal.  I believe in balancing the budget and providing a broad as possible social safety net.

I am a libertarian--but not dogmatic about it.  The government should leave people alone as much as possible within the good order.

I have several "older" family friends who are staunch Republican voters.  They send Rush Limbaugh's talking points around and don't skip a beat when they are shown to be false.  They REFUSE to tell me why they vote Republican other than Obama is wrecking the economy. 

I feel like hiring a black masked hit team, kidnapping them, and caging them until they answer the question.

Same thing happens on this forum.  Republican voters heavy on the opprobrium, light on their facts and analysis.  I can't make you talk, no hit team here.

So I invite you.  I intend this to be a continuous post, amplified as time goes on.   It is often said that any true conservative is more upset with the Republicans than the Democrats are.  So why vote straight Republican ticket?  Why think Obama is significantly different than any moderate Republican from 10 years ago?

Makes no sense to me.  My bottom line is that outside the top .5-2% of wealth holders in America===the Republican platform is against your own long term self interest yet you vote for that Party straight ticket for a variety of reasons, most of them false and manipulated.

"Obama raised my taxes and business won't invest unless tax policy is firm."==I call BS.  Obama kept the Bush cuts in place.  Businesses invest with little concern about tax policy==its all about making a profit before taxes====and so forth.

I have not yet heard an argument that stands up to scrutiny.  Please no Ayn Rand juvenile Objectivists.  Paying taxes is not Slavery. 

If we are bought and captured by international big corporations, why do you vote for them?  Provide cover by being partisan?

When you post, with links?, the response will likely be quick with the proviso that a more in depth considered response will be forthcoming.  All depends.  Thats my goal.

Off to my Second Thanksgiving Meal this year.

Thank you.

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http://vimeo.com/14217484

I like this video, but I use it against all comments/opinions..
a debate is a discussion to SHOW/Prove a point, and has a conclusion..
Its not up to YOU to decide if you made a point...its the listeners.

How many of those elected(not the 99% that arnt) have any education in:
economics?
BASIC business concepts..
FARM business, old and new..
concepts of LAW and regulation...
how many have even READ all the previous laws/regulations created in this country??

 Republicans, just like the Occupyers, they want change, but don't know how to go about it. Protesting rarely if ever effects any change(s).
 The real way to go at it is the way Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper did it. He joined a new fledgling political party and hijacked it, then got the former Progressive Conservative Party to merge with his Reform Alliance Party and called it the Conservative Party of Canada. He has vowed to change Canada into something we won't recognize! And he is well on his way to doing it now that he has a majority in Parliament. Stay tuned while you eat youse Toikeys!

ECA--yeah, that video has a nice cinematic quality but any line by line analysis makes it just a big muddle.  Not much appeal to this anti-theist and its not responsive to the question posted.  Why do Republicans offer up only talking points of no substance and when challenged on it all they can do is run away or repeat whatever they have already said.  The deeper question is why do they do this when in the main their policies are demonstrably agains their own best interests.  I can see the top 1% wanting everything the bottom 99% have.  Its greed.  Thats human.  Repugnant but humans.  What I don't understand is why half of the voting people in the 99% support those policies.

Any other ideas?

Obtuser--stop living up to your nom de flame.  The Republicans are getting what they want.  The wealth disparity growing at the very top at the expense of everyone else is a fact that is still having its consequences and in fact has the OWS growing.  Not a single tax cut increase or we'll shut the government down.  They haven't revoked all regulations---just way too many of them.

but the QUESTION IS--why do Republican Voters vote against their own self interest and support it by spounting mostly lies?

Certainly that should be curious for us all?

Bobbio, it is very simple. Like my deceased father in-law who was an American, but brought up in Canada, they are all brain washed. It is partly the fault of the education system, but also parental nuturing, I mean nurturing! Far too many people cannot think critically, and analytically, especially when it comes to self criticism. they feel comfortable with what they believe and do! Now go back to your stuffing, and cranberries!

ECA--yeah, that video has a nice cinematic quality but any line by line analysis makes it just a big muddle.  Not much appeal to this anti-theist and its not responsive to the question posted.  Why do Republicans offer up only talking points of no substance and when challenged on it all they can do is run away or repeat whatever they have already said.  The deeper question is why do they do this when in the main their policies are demonstrably agains their own best interests.  I can see the top 1% wanting everything the bottom 99% have.  Its greed.  Thats human.  Repugnant but humans.  What I don't understand is why half of the voting people in the 99% support those policies.

Any other ideas?

Because whom is behind it all.
and ANY 1 person/group, that TRYS to tell them the truth.....Its like the video.
they will STOMP you in the dirt.

The demo/reps/gov/CIA/FBI/...  all know the tricks.
And if you keep TALKING they infiltrate your group...and make it look STUPID/terrorist/...
The reps and demo, were infiltrated long ago...and SLOWLY taken over.  really.
its ALL a front.

We are taught, at a young age, to be NICE..mellow..congenial..  that we must SHARE and be ....SUCK UPS..
that ISNT what has been MADE of this country.
They BLACK balled the ideas of alternative groups...be it that they CREATED the situations from the past, or WILL do it again and again..  NO communists...NO anarchists...  NO this, no that...WHY?  there was a big thing about a FEW spys(?) in the past.  and they got out of HAND.

NO other democracy in the world has only 2 parties..  1/3 of the people in the USA belong to those parties.  The other 2/3 dont even VOTE, because of incidents in the past.Voting incidents)
This nation is segregated by opinion.  we cant stand up and TALK to them, they WONT listen.  Those elected mostly listen to their OWN group...NOT the other 2/3 of the people.  WE dont have a big enough VOTE.
and its getting so bad, they want to take our GUNS away.

those in charge keep dividing the 2/3 up..
education
religion
Black/white/mex/Chicano/.../...
Min wage..
East/west north south..
ANY WAY they can.  so that we cant/dont fight back.
They dont want a conscientious(?)..  they want us confused..and its HARd to clean out the CRAP that is said with what is REALLY happening.
1st trick..KILL the cable/SAT TV and start watching LOCAL.  know what is happening AROUND YOU.  And I suggest you start at FARM LEVEL.

Obtuser--brainwashed huh?  Certainly when you try to talk to them, my Father's Age Group of friends, they certainly come off that way.  But "young" republicans do it to.  Is there any stranger political group than the Log Cabin Republicans?  Why don't they say Log Cabin Conservatives?  Brainwashed has a connotation to me that it is an involuntary process, that the victim doesn't have a choice.  Thats not true with our fine Republican Voters.  They CHOOSE this madness WHILE the alternative is right in front of them.  I agree with you, I think the same thing, but it doesn't go deep enough.

ECA--right you are.  I apologize.  I had the "Us vs Them" division confused as I watched/listen to the harangue.  Seen the way the video is meant, as you had to emphasize for me, thats right:  "Bring me any conflicting Facts and YOU aren't a Good American and we will Kill You because you are Anti-God."  Thats the animus behind the lack of thinking.  Another way of saying the are Brain Washed.  What else is Religion:  Dogma repeated until the Truth is Driven Out.

Somehow, I don't think Republicans would agree with our hateful elitist analysis, but we are stuck with it as long as they uniformly refuse to discuss any topic outside their own tight little groups.  But then they Vote.

Its Killing American, themselves, their kiddies.  Dogma does that.

ECA, do you not remember what happened to Ross Perrot? When he ran as the head of a newindependant  party and the prioblems which arose! The threats on his life were real and credible! Just look at the problems in the Arab /Muslim world with their uprisings and demomstrations. Firmly entrenched powers that be, are very hard to dislodge without outside help, and some times that help is more of a hinderance than not!
The baasic problem is to get people to think logically, and not emotionlly! There in lies the key to effecting change. The lesson here in Canada in our political most recent history, is that if you advertise loud and long enough that your program is better, more cost effective, and prudent, then you will get elected, especially if you create enough illogical talking points. Now we are going to have 4 years of this administration's lies, cover ups, and false advertising before we get a chance to change the regime. By that time they will have over spent, over borrowed, and shut down all the programs which do not suit their ideology.
Frankly we, like you, are euchred! But I may not live that long to see the next show down, so Fukette!

Ob,
yes I do..poor guy.
As I said about this video..think about it Without religion mentioned.
Think of the all powerful GROUPS...

Anyone for a Pirate party??  Honor among thieves..

No pirates......bad connotations! How about a We the People Party?  [WePP!]

Sorry I'm late to this thread. Sounds like the premise for a book. I believe the title is "What's the Matter with Kansas?"

http://www.bestwebbuys.com/What%27s-The-Matter-With-Kansas-How-Conservatives-Won-The-Heart-ISBN-9780805077742?isrc=-rd

And, yes, anyone who is not a billionaire, or at least a millionaire many times over, probably at least 20 or 50, and votes republican is voting against their own financial interests. They are probably voting against their own rights as well.

Issues like abortion are wonderful for getting an increasingly religiose nation to vote against their own self-interest. And, it probably doesn't hurt that repugnicans are against education. Educated people are far less likely to vote republican. Then there's this wonderful strategy the repukes have come up with. Fight to destroy government. Stop it from doing anything useful. Bankrupt it. Blockade it from getting anything accomplished. Then, claim government is the problem and get people to vote to further bankrupt the government.

Of course government is the problem ... republicans have deliberately and with malice of forethought made it so.

So, for those who can see reality, repugnicans are the problem.

http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779

Scott--thanks for reminding me of that excellent book but it goes to a slightly different issue:  why the heartland went Republican but my question is now that they are voting republican, why can't they ever argue why they have?  Good old family friend says:  Obama is ruining this country.  I ask:  "How?"  He says:  "He's raising taxes and destroying our economy.  I say:  "Obama kept all the Bush tax cuts in place and did not raise any new ones."  He says:  "Obama is ruining this country."

Its all you ever get.  Nothing but a rotation from one talking point to another.  Its very obvious, uniform, unthinking, and irritating.

bobbo, I'd love to disagree ... but I can't.