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How the GOP got hijacked by Right-Wing Authoritarians
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As we are witness the unfolding of a rather bizarre health care debate, one can't help but be amazed at the jaw dropping lunacy of the folks on the right who are amply represented by an assembly of "creationists" "birthers", "teabaggers", "screamers" and now "deathers". It seems that the Grand Old Republican party is now firmly controlled by a new breed of leaders exemplified by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney. It is little wonder that only 6% of American scientists, those who make a living pursuing the truth, admit to be members of the GOP. My hunch is that the 6% confessing allegiance to the GOP are employed by right wing think tanks and/or by industries that have a vested interest in hiding the truth to advance their own selfish economic advantages.
The problem that most of us in reality based communities are having is trying to understand how these current GOP leaders are able to convince a substantial minority of Americans to join forces directed against their own best interests. Somehow the leaders of the GOP seem to have convinced a majority of their followers that;
1. President Obama is not a naturalized citizen and therefore his presidency is illegitimate (birthers).
2. Obama's healthcare bill will put seniors to death by their government (deathers).
3. Obama's socialist administration will come and get your guns (teabaggers).
4. Obama hates God (creationists).
5. Obama plans for the government to take over Medicare (screamers).
6. Obama plans for America are similar to Nazi Germany. (Limbaugh).
7. Obama's death panels will kill my baby (Palin).
8. Obama's defense policies put the country on the edge of catastrophe (Cheney, Gingrich).
My first thought was that since the majority of southern whites believe the Obama birther lie (along with about every other lie that the human mind could possibly conceive), perhaps that region just has a lower IQ than the rest of the country. One web-site which ranks IQ by state (using a formula.....), reflects the bottom 10 states (states with IQ's of 98 or less) as voting for George Bush in 2004. However, that same site also shows that New Hampshire is the state with the highest average IQ (104) and, as most of us who follow politics know, but for New Hampshire, Al Gore would have beaten George Bush in 2000 (thank you Ralph Nader).
After ruling out low IQ as the reason of such ignorance, I remembered and retrieved from my library a book that my daughter gave me a couple years ago for fathers day. That book is "Conservatives Without Conscience" by John W. Dean, prolific author and former Watergate figure. In a stunning tour de force, Dean's book answered all my questions regarding the apparent success of the right wing to mobilize the pathetic remnants of a once proud confederacy. In chapter two, Mr. Dean postulates that these new conservatives, both its leaders as well as its followers, fit into a distinct personality type described as "Right-Wing Authoritarianism".
In the book, Dean highlights the work of social psychologist and researcher Bob Altemeyer of the University of Manitoba. According to Altemeyer, Right-Wing Authoritarians are especially submissive to established authority and show a general aggressiveness toward others when such behavior is perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities.
At the end of Chapter Two appears a list of those traits that are typically found in Right-Wing Authoritarians. When reading this list, think GOP leaders Limbaugh, Gingrich, Cheney and Palin.
Right-Wing Authoritarian - Leaders:
- Typically men (Palin is the exception but think masculine phrases used to define her such as "hockey mom", "basketball point guard", and "field dress a moose")
- dominating
- opposes equality
- desirous of personal power
- amoral
- intimidating and bullying
- faintly hedonistic
- vengeful
- pitiless
- exploitive
- manipulative
- dishonest
- cheats to win
- highly prejudiced (racist, sexist, homophobic)
- mean-spirited
- militant
- nationalistic
- tells others what they want to hear
- takes advantage of "suckers"
- specializes in creating false images to sell self
- may or may not be religious
- usually politically and economically conservative/Republican
When reading the below list of follower traits, think of those angry white faces (actually more red than white) at your typical "teabagger" party and recent Town hall "screamer" secession.
Right-Wing Authoritarian - Followers:
- men and woman
- submissive to authority
- aggressive on behalf of authority
- conventional
- highly religious
- moderate to little education
- trust untrustworthy authorities
- prejudiced (particularly against homosexuals, woman, and followers of religions other than their own)
- mean-spirited
- narrow-minded
- intolerant
- bulling
- zealous
- dogmatic
- uncritical toward chosen authority
- hypocritical
- inconsistent and contradictory
- prone to panic easily
- highly self-righteous
- moralistic
- strict disciplinarian
- severely punitive
- demands loyalty and returns it
- little self-awareness
- usually politically and economically conservative/Republican
While reading this list you may have asked yourself why these current followers, who display a deference to authority, are not following the head guy; the President of the United States. The answer is a simple one. The glue that binds the current out of power leaders to their pathetic followers is clearly and unambiguously RACE.
Fortunately, because of demographics (and despite lack help from the main stream media) these southern white right-wing followers are slowing dying off and are become a fading power within our democracy. Unfortunately, frustration with their apparent lack of political power (which has been exacerbated by the election of a black president), coupled with the extra motivation from the NRA(think guns and ammo) and other right-wing authoritarian groups, we are in for a long dangerous and painful ride back to an enlighten and reality based America.
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