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 Republican 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 GOP.” That is right. All but the most loyal teabaggers, racists and religious conservatives completely understand that Republicans and their corporatist policies are something to fear, and yet voters’ anger at the President for NOT delivering on his agenda drove them to Republicans.
It is not that the majority of voters approve or agree with many Republican 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 Republican states, voters are more in line with the President’s policies and agenda than they are anything Republicans 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 Republicans.
There is no doubt the midterm elections were greatly influenced by big money, Republican shills in corporate media, and dazed and confused Democrats pandering to Republican voters, but at the end of the day it is the voters who walked into voting booths and dutifully ticked the boxes next to Republican 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 Republicans. Their rationale was based on a fantastical hope that if Republicans 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 Republicans convinced them to believe. Say what you will about vile Republicans, but by dog they understand the stupidity rampant among the voting public; both Republicans and Democrats.
What is stunning beyond comprehension, is that Democratic apathy was part and parcel of why Republicans took control of the House after the 2010 midterms. One often marvels at the gross lack of awareness permeating conservative voters’ minds, and how on Earth they support Republican 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 Republicans 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 Republicans 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 religious-right 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 Republicans. Republicans 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 Republican 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 Republicans 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 Republicans 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 Republicans and against their best interests. They know their lot in life is down to Republican policies, but they are fools clinging to guns, god, and dreams of an all-white America. Why else would a destructive “social conservative” like Sam Brownback, corrupt Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida, win re-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 Republicans 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, Republican-controlled media, or lame-brained Democrats running from the President. But because apathetic Democratic voters are just as stupid as their teabagger, racist, religious right 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.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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