The sad fact is that the stupidity that drove the results of the
midterms is not reserved to the repugican base, or Democratic voters
would not have stayed…
Just in case any reader is unaware of what stupid means, it is a person
that lacks intelligence and shows absolutely limited ability to learn
and understand things; even when something is explained in the clearest
sense, or they experience it firsthand. The results of the midterm
elections, from Senate races to governorships, have revealed that
Americans are, if nothing else, fundamentally stupid. The sad fact is
that the stupidity that drove the results of the midterms is not
reserved to the repugican base, or Democratic voters would not have
stayed home in a repeat performance of the devastating 2010 midterms.
In a headline in a large regional newspaper in California, the Thursday morning front page headline read; “Voters more angry with Obama than afraid of the repugican cabal.”
That is right. All but the most loyal teabaggers, racists and religio-wingnuts completely understand that repugicans and their
corporatist policies are something to fear, and yet voters’ anger at the
President for NOT delivering on his agenda drove them to repugicans.
It is not that the majority of voters approve or
agree with many repugican policies, they are just angry at President
Obama for not raising the minimum wage, enacting immigration reform,
forcing manufacturers to relocate back to America, or anything he called
on Congress to address in his last four State of the Union speeches.
The results of over a hundred state ballot initiatives, measures, and
constitutional amendments revealed that even in deep red repugican
states, voters are more in line with the President’s policies and agenda
than they are anything repugicans propose; whether in private or
publicly. So who is angry with the President? Stupid people are, and
they are more likely Democrats than dyed-in-the-wool repugicans.
There is no doubt the midterm elections were greatly
influenced by big money, repugican shills in corporate media, and
dazed and confused Democrats pandering to repugican voters, but at the
end of the day it is the voters who walked into voting booths and
dutifully ticked the boxes next to repugican candidate’s names. Except,
that is, for some Democratic voters. They either stayed home in protest
that the President’s successful achievements did not go far enough, or
unbelievably voted for repugicans. Their rationale was based on a
fantastical hope that if repugicans controlled both chambers of
Congress, they would have a change of heart after nearly six years of
sheer obstructionism and work with the President’s agenda. It is so
incredibly illogical and defiant of any reason, but that is what repugicans convinced them to believe. Say what you will about vile repugicans, but by dog they understand the stupidity rampant among the
voting public; both repugicans and Democrats.
What is stunning beyond comprehension, is that
Democratic apathy was part and parcel of why repugicans stole control of
the House after the 2010 midterms. One often marvels at the gross lack
of awareness permeating wingnut voters’ minds, and how on Earth
they support repugican policies they know are a detriment to their best
interests. But there is no reasonable excuse for any Democrat to have
witnessed, firsthand no less, the devastation repugicans wrought on the
nation after the 2010 midterms and then sit out another midterm just
four years later.
Over the course of about a month leading up to the
midterms, while encouraging Democratic voters not to repeat their 2010
performance and be sure to vote, one was flabbergasted at the outrage
aimed at the President. Not because of his agenda and policies, but for
not “forcing repugicans in the House and Senate to go along with his agenda.”
At least half of the Democrats complained that despite calling for a
minimum wage hike, immigration reform, gun control, and action on
climate change, nothing had been accomplished.
Now it is true that over 47% of Americans could not
name the three branches of government if their life depended on it,
slightly more even know there are three branches, but one expects that
Democratic voters would be slightly more informed than racist
religio-wingnut teabaggers. That is clearly not the case and it is a
damning indictment, and pathetic commentary, on the voters who sat out
another midterm and handed Congress over to repugicans. The repugicans
understand that when the population is struggling, wants better wages,
gun control, better access to healthcare, clean water, and American jobs
brought back home, they blame whoever is sitting in the Oval Office and
it likely drove their obstructionism. But they are only able to succeed
because the majority of voters are so ill-informed about how government
works, they blame the President for repugican malfeasance and
obstruction. That explains exactly why voters that support the
President’s policies are angry that he is not giving them what they
want; something Democratic voters bemoaned he perpetually calls for in
his speeches but just will not deliver.
For example, one “citizen” in particular who boasted
that they voted for the President in 2008 and 2012 complained that
“Obama just won’t raise the minimum wage, make corporations pay their
fair share, or stop the obvious racism ruining America.” When the voter
was asked if they understood it was Congress that passes laws, and that repugicans were obstructing the President’s agenda, they went ballistic
and said “if he was a good President, he would force them to pass laws.” The voter’s solution was voting for repugicans because they promised “that if they controlled Congress, they would force Obama to do what’s right for the people.”
These are the morons President Obama claimed in a letter to supporters
were “practicing good citizenship” because they went to the polls.
Voting based on sheer ignorance does not make one a good citizen any
more than sitting home in protest does.
One understands, in the perverse country that is
America, why racists and religious fanatics dependably vote for repugicans and against their best interests. They know their lot in
life is down to repugican policies, but they are fools clinging to
guns, god, and dreams of an all-white America. Why else would a
destructive “social wingnut” like Sam Brownback, corrupt Scott
Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida, steal another election despite
the disastrous consequences their policies produce? In part it is
religion, guns, and racist tendencies, but it is likely as much down to
low-information voters and their masochism to opt for four more years of
devastation. However, there is no excuse for Democratic voters to
either sit home in anger at the President, or worse, actually vote for repugicans based on an insane belief that handing them control of both
Houses of Congress they would work with the President and raise the
minimum wage, pass immigration reform, or start repairing the crumbling
roads and bridges.
America may have been exceptional at one time, but
those days are long gone and whether Americans want to admit it or not,
they are not coming back in their lifetimes. At least not as long as
this nation’s population is steeped in ignorance about their own
government, or worse, stupid enough to believe a President has a magic
wand he can wave at will and produce everything he calls on Congress to
enact.
The results of the midterms were disgusting and a
reason to wallow in despair, but not for the voter suppression, Koch
money, repugican-controlled media, or lame-brained Democrats running
from the President. But because apathetic Democratic voters are just as
stupid as their teabagger, racist, religio-wingnut cohorts if for no
other reason than they repeated the same stupid mistake they made in
2010 and once again the entire population is going to pay.
