misterpeace:

itsonlylife:

balltillifall:

Can anybody that’s voting for John McCain expain to me in an intelligent and non-rhetorical way why you’re doing that?

Good luck. I emailed a Republican tumblr with some questions, because meeting any Republicans in my city is fairly difficult. He answered my questions amicably enough and seemed genuinely interested in seriously talking about the issues. I thought I could finally have a reasonable intelligent conversation with someone on the right, until I responded with my views. He never got back to me. My initial questions involved Iraq, abortion and gay marriage. He gave reasonable answers about life beginning at conception, agreeing with gay Marriage but not gay adoption and how he didn’t agree with the Bush Administration but leaving Iraq now was worse than staying. I said it was great and all that he believes life begins at conception (personally, I’m torn on the issue, I have no idea what I’d do in that situation, but I love that I have the choice), but asked when it became the government’s place to restrict a woman’s right to choose. I asked whether or not it was better for a child to be raised by two fathers than going through the system for 18 years and/or feeling unloved and/or resented all the time. I asked why we should have a troop surge when Iraq’s running on a surplus.

Never heard anything back.

Admittedly, I give the right a lot of crap, but I honestly do want to understand that point of view, without judgment, especially from younger generations. I want to believe there are a lot of great Republicans out there who were just raised with different values and do want to make a difference. So far, however, everyone I’ve encountered just calls me dumb, idealistic, gets angry for no reason, or doesn’t respond when I push back a little.

It’s honestly quite difficult finding Republicans who can justify what is essentially a really cynical worldview and I should know because I’m surrounded by them.  I’m from (and, unfortunately, still live in) a small town in central PA.  The area is populated largely by life-long conservatives, including my family… of which, I’m the obvious black sheep.

The truth from my perspective?  Abortion, gay marriage, and race are huge issues for many Republicans and many Republicans base their opinions on bigoted distortions of Christianity.  This is unfortunate but definitely a reality, especially in rural or post-industrial areas.  You could pull aside any of these life-long GOP’ers and say “Republicans are bad for the economy, bad for international diplomacy, bad for the health and well-being of the lower rungs of the economy (which are populated by the person you’re talking to), bad for national morale, bad for the military, bad for the environment, and generally problematic for everyone except the highest income brackets, which will receive fat tax breaks” and they simply don’t care.  Their response:  Democrats are for gay marriage, for a woman’s right to choose, and for tolerance towards cultures and religions that are not Christian, therefore Jesus could only approve of their voting Republican.

Rationality and logic have no place in the discussion for this group.

Granted, the kind of people I’m talking about do not necessarily make up the entirety of the conservative base, but they make up the grass roots.  The strong support for Republicans in rural areas that you see every time a vast majority of the U.S. map lights up RED is based on religious bigotry.  This is absolutely the case.

Of course, there are other reasons people support Republicans.  A lot of theorists and ideological purists are Randian Objectivists and are deeply influenced by the negative and cynical view of humanity fed to them when they read Atlas Shrugged for the first time.  For others, it’s about $$$ and that’s all they care about.

Probably the simplest and arguably best reasons why people vote Republican can be found in THIS CARTOON.

Anyway, I could go on and on.  I’ll stop rambling now.

I’m a Republican, and I don’t vote based on Abortion, Gay Marriage/Adoption, or Race. I do believe life begins at conception, but I don’t believe abortion will ever be illegal again in this country and the issue rarely drives my vote. In fact, I have voted for pro-choice candidates in the recent past. Gay Marriage/Adoption isn’t an issue I feel strongly about either way. Racism is something I’ve been strongly against since I was a child. I think the urge in Iraq was necessary and has been shown to be a good choice. I would love to see as many of our troops come home as soon as possible, but I don’t want withdrawal at the cost of stability. I like Obama as a person. I think he is a good man, but I disagree with on too many points and issues to consider voting for him. I don’t agree with McCain on everything…I didn’t initially want him as the Republican nominee, but I think he is a good man and have a lot of respect for him. I agree with him on enough of the issues to feel confident in voting for him. I think the Republican party has strayed away from its roots in recent years and there is a movement to try to reclaim Republican ideals that were once a strong platform for the base.

Like “itsonlylife” (“everyone I’ve encountered just calls me dumb, idealistic, gets angry for no reason, or doesn’t respond when I push back a little”) I feel a lot of hostility out there. Reasons for our beliefs and world-views are often deeply ingrained and personal. Those on both sides too often assume that people with views different from theirs are ignorant, biased, idealistic or cynical, elitist, or unintelligent.