Are Republicans living in bubbles?

We all live in bubbles.  Some bubbles are imposed on us (e.g., small towns) but most are of our own making.  I grew up in a small factory town where almost everyone was very religious and very conservative.  If you were not religious or conservative you had trouble making friends.  This was my bubble until I joined the Air Force.

After training I was sent to an Air Base in Germany for three years.  I soon found myself building a new bubble of friends who, like me, preferred reading and discussing life to the bar scene.  However, much to my astonishment, my new bubble contained people of different races and different politics. Few were religious and many were liberals.  Exposed to different ideas and being exposed to new parts of the world, I became more liberal (and less religious) myself.  From that point on my bubbles were pretty liberal: college, government job, PTA, etc. and I just began to believe the majority of people outside the south pretty much believed like me.

So imagine my surprise when Ronald Reagan was elected President in 1980. And re-elected in 1984!  "Whoa Nelly," I thought, "what's going on here?"  What was going on was that I had mistakenly projected the beliefs of the people in my relatively small bubble onto the rest of the country because I had not had a chance to leave my bubble.

Why do I mention this?  Because I suspect many on the right are living in bubbles in their conservative towns, counties, even states, where the vast majority of people believe the way they do.  If they go online, they do as most of us do - seek out the news providers and blogs who agree with them.  Judging by their comments on news outlets like washingtonpost.com, they appear certain that the vast majority of Americans share their far-right philosophy (based largely on the 2010 elections) and that only a small group of silly, misguided liberals - mainly in the big cities and on the coasts - believe otherwise.  They are certain of a huge Republican victory in 2012. 

From my vantage point I don't think this is going to happen.  Yes, the Republicans might take the Senate and/or even the Presidancy, but it will be close and hard fought, and it will become apparent to all that the tea party influence will only be helpful in the most conservative states (like South Carolina).

Normally I don't worry about people who suffer defeat in elections.  We've all been disappointed, even shocked, by election results, but the level of anger on the right worries me.  Many on the right now see politics as a battle between the real Americans and the evil others who want to destroy America.  When angry people believe the country has been stolen by those who want to destroy the (mythical) country they love, watch out!

--Trakker

Comments

[Dan D. Doty]

Trakker, nice to see that you are least trying to do some analyst, but you keep using the wrong method to come up with answers.

Instead of talking to people, you instead the Narcisstic approach of just superimpossing you beliefs and acts; I live a bubble, so they must live a bubbleas well.

Gallup polls showed in 2010 that 43% of Americans identified themselves as Conservative, 35% as Moderate and 20% as Liberbal.

From your writings, you shown yourself to be a Statist, and more to the point a State Socialist. Shown by the history you've revealed, you have only worked for the government and perhaps believe that everything should be run that way.

It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.

- Sherlock Holmes, A Study In Scarlet

[Dagny T]

Dan you wrote:

"Shown by the history you've revealed, you have only worked for the government and perhaps believe that everything should be run that way."

Thank you. Did not know that. It now, all makes sense to me. Worked for the government, huh? :D

Even more reason for me to abandon this place.

Is a waste of time to "tilt at windmills!"

~ Dagny

[Dagny T]

Dan ... will miss you in here.

Just came in to add ... that I didn't even take time to read the above topic.

Just went straight to your comment.

~ Dagny

[Dan D. Doty]

Thanks Dag :)

Of course I was a bit puzzled by Trakker's comment of ( mythical) country. Does he think the United States is but an illusion?