After the socially liberal and progressive 60’s and 70’s, the 1% got together and realized that for only a few billion dollars they could buy the US government. Ronald Reagan was their Trojan Horse. Who could hate the gipper?
It succeeded beyond their wildest expectations, and each cycle, they have grown more bold. Other than euphemistic bill names, like the CARES Act, they don’t even pretend to give a shit anymore. How does such a relatively small minority wield so much power?
1. Money. Citizens United. Giving money to politicians is now equatable to free speech.
2. Fear. They are going to take your weapons. Your daughter will marry a black man. Gays will recruit your children.
3. Deflection. The us vs. them. Minorities, immigrants, gays, women... they’re all taking your jobs, your security, your taxes. Never mind that ten families hold half the wealth in this nation, the *real* problem is single moms getting AFDC.
4. Propaganda. Wrap it up in a flag, and sell it on Fox News. It is unpatriotic to protest, to question the government, to want equal treatment and opportunity for all. If you don’t like it, go back where you came from!
5. Stupidity. I’m sure the alt-right dudes who get paid to post here all have mothers. I assume they are capable of charity and empathy. But they are batting for a team that despises them, that will never let them have a seat at the table, or membership in their clubs, or god forbid, date their daughter. I’m a former GOP operative. My ex wife was political affairs coordinator for a Republican US Senator. I’ve sat at more $1,000/plate fundraisers than I care to count. They are laughing themselves silly at you. You. The sad people who go out and vote against your interests in every single fucking election, because some website or blonde with a bad boob job makes you feel like you have the “inside information.” Well, you don’t.
The real reason the right hates education is that stupid people are easier to fool, easier to lead. They don’t ask the tough questions. With each level of education, high school, college, masters, doctorate, the percent of people who identify as liberal or progressive increases. The right has been dismantling public education for thirty years, attacking institutions of higher learning, and creating their own institutions where creationism, climate denial, and prayer as a solution are taught. We will all pay the price. But who gives a shit really? Grandparents should die from COVID-19 before the economy is hampered. Our grandchildren should be burdened with a catastrophic national debt, before corporations and the wealthy are required to pay a fair tax burden.
“ Every nation gets the government it deserves.” — Joseph de Maistre