This post may be all over the place with 3 ideas that might be unconnected. You be the judge:

  1. Odds are stacked against progressives in the US and in the rest of the developed world: We got the elites of the poor world migrating to the rich world, where they buy property, residency and voting rights, but they don’t turn progressive. Why would they? They’ve always been conservative, it’s always worked for them. The poor ones are refused entry, die trying or become the new underclass in the rich world, working for their new owners who pat them and call them good workers, because they have no recourse and cannot change nothing because they have no voting rights.

  2. Mail brides chosen by an American or Western bachelor, rejected by local women for being ignorant and uneducated, are chosen for being feminine, submissive and traditional, perpetuating conservatism. Suddenly our bachelor has a woman who will cook and do the laundry and won’t question him. Our character doesn’t have to try to mold his views anymore to meet a partner, he has imported a yes maid. He will raise their children accordingly. And for the mail bride, this is the normal state of affairs since she was small. Why would she even think about changing?

  3. Add to that the working class conservatives, proud of not being like ‘those odd and strange looking progressives and feminists. Heck, I’m better than them because I’m not like them, don’t matter I work 50 hours a week and I’m not in an union. I’m not a lazy blob like them’ These working conservatives don’t care about public transport, a public healthcare option, unions, expanded medicaid, access to abortion and family planning or public sex education, things that would lower their premiums and avoid unwanted pregnancies. All that matters to them is being perceived as better than the groups I mentioned before. I don’t understand how this can be so powerful, but so many people believe it and vote accordingly. It’s not rational, it is identity, it is tribe.

Republicans are winning this game.

Happy for you to prove me wrong.

  • @BigMikeInAustinEnglish
    7•6 months ago

    Republicans campaign on “YOU are better than THEM. We will protect you from THEM.” With them being whatever group plays on fears the most. Republicans don’t campaign on tax cuts for the rich, which is what their policies actually are. People are happy to be miserable as long as they think they are better than someone else.

    Democrats campaign on the idea that everyone can be equal and things can be more fair. There isn’t a perfect fair for everybody in all circumstances, so each kink is an attack vector. And people who are miserable would have to actually take a look at their life and have some responsibility if they are equal to others.

    Fear is a powerful motivator, and it can focus a person on just the fear and ignore everything else happening to them. Especially the ones who have purposely been kept dumb.