Do you know how difficult it is to be a Republican right now? Have you ever had the rug pulled from under you, and had the sensation that you were in free fall? For those who are unequivocally empathetic, it is not hard to turn what would naturally be disgust (if not hate) for these folks into pity. You know the facade that they are putting on is paper-thin.
Most people, regardless of ideology, are smart. But to be a Republican today requires the suspension of logic and the acceptance of idiocy.
The suspension of logic began long ago. But there was much help provided, for it was a psychological coup. Under the direction of the Powell Manifesto, the American plutocracy created an institution designed to mislead, confabulate, and outright lie to American people. The Heritage Foundation, one of these misleading think tanks, gave many Republicans the corroboration they needed to support otherwise disproven ideas and theories. Right-wing radio, right-wing television, and right-wing websites (e.g., Breitbart) gave them reinforcing refuge.
Living within the right-wing system, where the first order of teaching was that all other sources of information were biased or intent on destroying conservatism, created a false loop—a bubble.
And the bubble’s skin is pretty thick. It masked truth for a very long time. Keynesian economics boosted America prosperity between World War II and the 1970s. Wages were rising. Wealth was increasing for all. Then Reagan’s trickle-down economics, aka voodoo economics, caused the most massive transfer of wealth from the masses to the few. Moreover, wages haven’t budged since.
Kansas enacted the experiment of cutting taxes to the bare bones, real trickle-down economics. Meanwhile, California raised taxes and invested in people and infrastructure. California’s economy boomed, and Kansas’ economy cratered. Why is the reality not enough to convince Republicans that they are following a failed economic ideology? Because living in the right-wing media bubble merely ignores what is happening as the likes of Laffer continue to promote the fallacies.
The Republican Party took on the family values and pro-life mantra. The problem is that their policies continue to hurt the poor and middle-class, and even kill people.
In times when income and wealth inequality is exploding, when wages are stagnant, how can one support cutting aid to the needy? How can one deny access to health care? How can one make education, one of the avenues to improved wages, much more expensive and difficult to attain? In the past, households could survive on one income. One parent could stay home and take better care of the kids. Today, many kids are pretty much raising themselves. Do those sound like policies that support family values?
One must not forget that since the Southern Strategy, the GOP has become a xenophobic and racist party. The dog whistles abound and were even called out by some of the most devout Republicans (here, here).
And then came Trump. He is the instantiation magnified of what the Republican Party has become. Reality does not matter. Truth does not matter. Moral values are fungible. What constitutes a crime is now debatable. Overt sexism, misogyny, xenophobia, and racism are tolerable. Even pedophilia is acceptable as long as the man doing it proclaims God as his guiding light.
It has got to be hard being a thinking Republican There is so much one must ignore, forget, or make-believe to pretend things are not what one is seeing.
And hence the opportunity for progressives. Many who strayed from thinking are looking for an on-ramp, but don’t want to lose all of their dignity to get there. We can be that tool if our approach is firm but empathetic. I’ve seen it work in my very red tea party-type town. It is just tedious because one must do it on a personal level. But then each person who decides to rejoin reality can, in turn, become a conduit.