Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Great Googly Moogly...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/us/politics/despite-rifts-gop-has-election-edge-poll-finds.html?hp&_r=0

This is the great conundrum of American politics.  And it comes down to those feckless "Independents" and "undecided voters."

When you ask the electorate, "Would you like the person you vote for to agree with you on most of the issues or the candidate with the best chance of winning?" not surprisingly, 70% of Americans want someone who agrees with them on the issues.

And when you ask about immigration reform, raising the minimum wage and increasing taxes on the wealthy, you get majority support for those positions.

Which is why the GOP currently has a slight edge in voter preference.  Wait, what?

A lot of this is the "six year itch" as people have Obama fatigue.

But there is a lot of just plain stupid out there, too.

People support the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, but hate "Obamacare".  People support the provisions of immigration reform, but hate "amnesty".  The derp is strong among the American people.

The last four years have shown a complete and utter abdication of the responsibilities of governing from the GOP.  They have embraced a legislative nihilism that is equal parts cynicism and bug eyed craziness.

And yet, they will likely get rewarded at the polls because Democratic voters are too stupid to show up at the polls during Winter Olympics years and Independent voters are too enamored by their faux-savvy "both sides do it" bullshit.

We get the government we deserve, I guess.

No comments: