dagblog - Comments for "The "mysterious" 25%"

I was wondering the same

AmericanDreamer — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:28:28 +0000

In reply to Heh heh--wait, who does it

I was wondering the same thing.

It's true. By and large, the

erica20 — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:13:29 +0000

In reply to What if your employer showed

It's true. By and large, the people who were worse off but still voted for the president did so because they just didn't feel it was the president's fault, and putting things on a somewhat better footing would take longer than 4 years.

Heh heh--wait, who does it

erica20 — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:00:46 +0000

In reply to (note: off point - I just

Heh heh--wait, who does it irritate?

What if your employer showed

Richard Day — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:29:22 +0000

In reply to The "mysterious" 25%

What if your employer showed you the books; the real books and it was clear that unless everyone--including management--would have to take a ten percent cut or everyone loses their job; that would be a bad thing.

So you might vote for the pay cut knowing that you might be worse off but WHAT THE HELL IS THE ALTERNATIVE?

The auto unions did just that.

A member of the auto union might note that he is worse off than four years ago BUT HE STILL HAS A JOB!

The repubs were really going to drastically cut SS, Medicare and Medicaid; raise taxes on the middle class (by getting rid of certain deductions) and give them to the rich via tax cuts; let Wall Street rove free from regulations....

The old question used to be:

How ya doin?

The old answer was:

COMPARED TO WHAT?

(note: off point - I just

Aunt Sam — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:09:12 +0000

In reply to Yes, the gloss I'd put on it

(note: off point - I just love the new term Eastwoodian - makes me . Insert it whenever possible please - it may be a bit snarky, but it irritates the heck out of you know who.)

Yes, the gloss I'd put on it

AmericanDreamer — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:45:47 +0000

In reply to The "mysterious" 25%

Yes, the gloss I'd put on it would be that we have over-valued military power and what it can really do for us, we have been in thrall to discredited economic philosophies and policies, we have allowed our political system to become increasingly dysfunctional. We have failed to make the investments and policy changes we needed to make in order to develop a more productive and competitive economy and stronger society more generally. We have also allowed inequality of income and wealth to increase substantially, which is both a symptom and a cause of our under-performing economic and political systems.

I also agree with Aunt Sam's point that part of that 25%'s behavior is accounted for by how unappealing the present alternative is, on many levels in addition to a recognition that at this point it offers more of the same failed policy approaches which have not served us well in recent decades. There is no inconsistency in believing (correctly or not) that one is worse off than 4 years ago yet voting for the incumbent because the alternative is accurately seen as worse. Viewed from the glass is partly full perspective on this matter, it's kind of encouraging to think that so many people approached their voting decision with that reality-based orientation rather than the simplistic, illogical and just plain wrong Eastwoodian view that "things are not so good now; therefore we should fire our president".

erica, I agree with your

Aunt Sam — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:37:29 +0000

In reply to The "mysterious" 25%

erica, I agree with your premise as far as it goes, but I believe that the current status of the GOP and their horrendous stances on social issues, their fiscal focus skewed incredibly in favor of the wealthy and just their overall seeming inability to give needed consideration to or care about the majority of our populace impacted their voting decisions. Of course, their candidate was and is the poster boy for most of what most find abhorrent about the GOP. I think, as usual, it came down to personal cause and effect rationale.