Dr. Medulla wrote:And internal enemies—liberals, pinkos, homosexuals, Jews, nigras, drug dealers, Muslims, Catholics, illegal immigrants, atheists, abortion providers, etc ad nauseum. The essence of right wing politics in the post-WWII years is: "Something bad is out there. Evil. They want to kill you. They want to take your money. They want to ruin your life. We know best, so just let us protect you."Wolter wrote:That's about where I'm at. I think most people are decent but capable of deep irrationality if made to feel threatened.Dr. Medulla wrote:It's yet another reason why our traditional "spectrumed" sense of politics is so meaningless. Far too many dimensions to consider when figuring out one's politics, but the degree of contempt one feels for basic human nature is certainly a valid one. I'm still convinced of the basic decency of human nature, of our higher brain functions, but we're still too prone to defaulting to that reptilian part of our brain, and those of an authoritarian bent succeed by pushing those buttons.
Which takes us full circle to the fact that almost every U.S. election (and probably most other ones) of the last 25-30 years has been won on the idea of keeping outside enemies from hurting us, whether those enemies are legitimate threats or not.
Nothing new. Tribal politics since the beginning of time.