I do think the Republicans own the middle, politically, temporarily. This despite a crazy bunch of deals with nutty extremeist right wing groups, despite getting the votes of the aging white power crowd, despite being the biggest war mongers, and despite being the most dedicated corporate shills. The way they have seized the middle is brilliant, but unless they change dramatically they wont be able to keep it, probably not into the presidential race, even. The method they use is, centrally, Rupert Murdocks FOX news associated media empire. This is used to target a special audience whos mostly conservative worldview requires fewer facts. But there is a gigantic portion of our middle that cannot resist the lure of these simplistic versions. In fact the reason we have a middle is people who do not see enough to be compelled to choose up sides. The middle is made up largely of people who see value in both sides favorite projects, but see no prohibitive corruption on either side that makes them useless. Right and left both consider them naive with varying degrees of impatience. Republicans self identify as 25% of the population, Democrats identify as 31% of the population, but Independents show up as a whopping 42% of America. After the last 8 year stint of the Bush family, Democrats were at 36%, now 31%. Republicans are dropping off faster than Democrats, so the Independents have become the largest group in the nation. These Independents include Tea Partiers who are right wingers, and mostly Republican votes, aloof libertarians who are mostly Republican voters, and some Independent liberals who feel no party is liberal enough for them to claim. The ultimate irony is that when people are polled about specific programs, they overwhelmingly support Democratic, liberal, causes in economic and social areas. But when ideology is inquired about, they are conservatives or conservative leaning. More than any one thing, it is FOX news and the propaganda efforts of the GOP that keep that skew alive. When people realize they have been misled, like in 2008, a small but significant percentage of them switch. R to D switches or the reverse seldom happen. R or D to Independent is where those attainbable votes go. Its why the nobrainer of political experience is to move toward the middle. This based on 2013s figures. The reason the midterms went the way they did is turnout.
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 21:10:05 +0000
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