The new, new, new, etc...Trump

Let's be honest, Bruce. We know that many people, in general, will vote for a candidate just because of his or her party affiliation. That does not just apply to Democrats. Many people who disagree with half or more of what Trump says are supporting him just because he is running on the Republican ticket. A lot of Texans talked about how they didn't like Rick Perry and how he was an embarrassment, but they continued to vote for him just because he was a Republican.

If Donald Trump wins, will it be because he's a man? We all know that men still have the advantage in our society. All of our presidents, so far, have been men. Clinton was beaten in 2008 by a man with very little experience. If Clinton wins, it'll be because Trump is such a horrible candidate. Any serious Republican candidate would have had an easy time beating her.

 

Come observe Massachusetts politics in action. I've lost count of how many people I've met here (including my father-in-law until he started thinking on his own) who have said "I'm a good Democrat, I vote straight party", but when I ask them how they feel on specific issues, their answers are straight out of the Republican or Libertarian platforms. They vote (D) because they were told to as children by their parents or grandparents, and are still delusional enough to be think that the current Democrat Party is still the party of John F. Kennedy.

 

Corporations are a creation of the state.

 

sanantone: We all know that men still have the advantage in our society.

Reblog: Research find that as a group, only men pay tax

 

True enough, but there are others ways to kill us all.

 

Come to Texas. There are many people who have Libertarian or liberal views when it comes to social issues, but keep voting in social conservatives with whom they disagree. Did you know that the majority of Texans wanted the Medicaid expansion?

 

As sanantone says there are plenty of Republican voters who do the same thing. Just a few years ago I was talking to a neighbor who told me she wasn't voting for a candidate because "He's a democrat. I don't vote for pro-abortion candidates."

He was running for Sheriff a position which has absolutely zero impact on providing abortions. Second, he was a lifelong Republican. He was only running as a Democrat because he came to the county to serve as Undersheriff with the promise from the Sheriff that at the end of his term he would step aside and endorse him for the job in the next election. Next election, the Sheriff decided he was running for re-election as the Republican candidate. So his undersheriff went up against him as a Democrat.

No abortions anywhere in the mix.

He lost, by a rather stunning margin, despite the fact that he was incredibly well qualified and the incumbent was fairly unpopular. But there was a Republican sweep that year. Lowly Family Court judges who were unknown to the voters were unseated after decades on the bench because people voted party lines. It was universal. All of the Republicans in the area won. Even for offices that no reasonable person cared about (such as one town that still had an elected dog catcher). People went in and voted GOP and didn't think twice. There was a fair amount of blowback when people realized that they unseated incumbents they actually liked. But people just blindly filled in their GOP bubble and didn't actually look at who they were voting for.

I realize this might impact your fantasy about every single GOP voter being a well informed patriot with the largest penis in the district and every Democrat voter being some sort of gay Commie Nazi welfare queen but party line voters are basically the backbone of municipal and state voters in many many areas.

 

The fantasy is yours and you should apologize for this.

 

Which fantasy is that? That our current political landscape is largely an illusion of choice? That both parties routinely preserve the interest of a handful of special interests?

All you need to do is look up the political giving for some very high net worth individuals. You'll notice that they give to members of both parties. This is especially true when they have a particular interest in mind.

As for apologies, I will not be offering one. And if I did it would absolutely not be because you demanded it.

 

The fantasy is in projecting your puerile thoughts onto Bruce.

I did not demand an apology but merely stated that one is owed.

 

I'm sure that if you search the deepest, darkest depths of the internet you might find someone who cares, even the slightest bit, about your opinion of when and where apologies are owed.

Best of luck in your search. I'm unable to assist you.

 

Here is an interesting article on uninformed voters voting straight party line. The trend is not broken out by party. But with such low turnout for primaries I think it's safe to say that both parties have their fair share.

 

"real Texans"

That made me laugh out loud. Part of that "real Texan" identity is enforced by us nearby non-Texans. Our current Governor, Susana Martinez, has made her family and career here in New Mexico. She was District Attorney in my county for two terms before winning two terms in the Governor's Mansion. She is a Mexican-American beyond any doubt and speaks Spanish. Nevertheless, during the last election, folks in Northern New Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley printed bumper stickers sneering at Gov. Martinez as "Susana la Tejana" because she was born, raised and educated in El Paso, Texas. El Paso is by far the most Latino of U.S. cities and is generally viewed as being closer to us than to Austin in every way but political. No le hace; to some New Mexicans, the Governor is, and will die, a TEXAN.

 

I've actually heard quite a bit from some Texans that you aren't a Texan unless you were born in Texas. Does it really make a difference if you were born here or came here when you were five years old? I was born overseas because my father was in the military and was brought to Texas when I was a few months old. I'm definitely a Texan.

 

I have a vague memory of there being a King of the Hill episode all about the whole "not a real Texan unless you were born in Texas" narrative.