I am a liberal, this should be clear to anyone who has read any two posts I’ve put up here, but still it’s good to be honest. When I started this blog I didn’t know what I would end up talking about. It was an effort to get back into writing, but less fictional and more a deconstruction of my own thoughts and how I came to them. Over time it has developed into a collection of articles mostly framing my ideological stance, and the defense of said stance. Overall I’m satisfied with this kind of output, but at times I get bound by it, which leads to fewer posts. This post is more of a throwback, I hope, to the earlier premise. The question of the day, are conservatives even aware of the kind of people they are voting for?
For starters I know how condescending that question sounds, but I’m honestly at a loss to the answer. It’s a question of piercing my own media bubble bias. I read articles regularly from Salon.com, Slate, New York Times, Huffington post, and the Washington post, I also watch Rachel Maddow, Chris L Hayes, and listen to NPR. I’m clearly aware that I have self-selected into an extremely liberal media bubble. The problem I face is when I stray from my regular sources of information I’m often presented with evidence easily refuted by simple google searches or a visit to politifact and snopes. I chasten at the idea of a trusted media source, but the fact of the matter is I trust what I consume regularly more than the likes of say cnn.
This brings me to my point. I got into a discussion with my co-worker, he’s a conservative and votes that way. As is often the case he made a statement that shocked me. He said he believes what Mitt Romney says more than President Obama. He said he believed Romney was more genuine. Mind you this is two days after Mitt Romney made national news for claiming credit for the revival of the american auto industry after he literally, literally called for its collapse. I tried to point out to my co-worker that the primary critique against Romney regardless of political affiliation has been his stance or lack thereof on any issue. Romney is a liar and not in the all politicians lie sort of way.
But this lead me to ask my coworker a more fundamental question. I asked him if he believed organized labor, unions, should exist. Naturally he said things about how unions have overstepped their bounds, and they often protect bad workers too much. I must point out we are both members of a union that has a host of problems. But i pressed him, i said all his points are well and good, i see problems in unions that should be addressed but i asked again did he think he’d be better off if there were no unions. To which he replied no general they have a purpose in our lives. Which lead to the obvious follow up question then how did he back Republicans who want to get rid of unions and union rights. his answer: he didn’t know that was on the republican agenda.
This isn’t the first time something like this has come up with him. I’ve pressed him on things ranging from climate change to monetary policy and time and time again not only does he not know the generally accepted republican position on the matter but he often sees merit in my liberal stance. Truth be told he’s an admitted low information voter. He doesn’t read up on policy positions our the workings of the Congress or all the incredibly wonky things I’ve been occupying my time with. He mostly watches Bill O’reilly and Sean Hanniity if and when he watches any news, but mostly he is trying to get by. But that’s my point here is a person who formed his political affiliation decades ago and is sticking with them despite disagreeing with them on major policy agendas. When pressed about some of their most extreme positions he dismisses them as things that will never get passed.
Truth be told though if i were to probe an question many democratic voters I’d likely get similar results. Neither party is where they were even fifteen years ago, and while I’ll contend that the republican party has moved a lot more then the democratic party the fact is neither party is the party that your parents would recognize. And my question remains do conservatives no where the republican party is headed policy wise or are they laboring under the idea that its the same grand old party of dare i say it Reagan.