Here's one example, but it's only an example. Don't get hung up on it. This is a poll that asks people "Whom do you trust more: Donald Trump, or CNN?"
I saw a very similar diagram last week, for a poll that asked people something like "Do you believe in the Trump-Russia collusion connection?" and I've seen similar diagrams for the health care bill, Supreme Court nominees, James Comey's firing, and so on. Let's paint a generic picture of the results of these polls:
Now, I'm going to use some math here. If you're not very good at math, that's okay. You may have a lot in common with the majority of the people I'm going to talk about here. And if you're offended by my condescending attitude, that's your problem, not mine. Don't look here for an apology.
Let's dissect that figure above. First of all, look at the line marked "Independents". These are people who vote, but who don't consider themselves Democrats or Republicans. Most of them don't identify with any political party - not because they're politically apathetic, but because they prefer to do their own research and weigh the pros and cons of an issue (or a candidate) before making their own decision. The party line does not exist for them.
So you can use the statistics on the Independents as a bellwether: politically, they're atheists, logical, dispassionate, and not swayed by labels like red/blue, liberal/conservative, or Democrat/Republican. In this example poll, you can see that 40 percent of the independents lean pro-Trump on the issue, and 55 percent lean anti-Trump. Let's round that 55 percent up to 60 percent, to make the math easier for this example.
(Those of you who don't understand math and statistics may cry "Not fair!" at my rounding. Relax. 40 vs 60 is being kind to Mr. Trump. I saw a poll in June, where 30 percent of independents leaned pro-Trump and fully 70 percent of independents leaned anti-Trump on the question being asked. How about I use 30 vs 70 instead? No? Then stop whining.)
Now, I'm going to propose a theory. I think that political parties are composed of two kinds of people. One kind actually thinks about an issue or a candidate before they make a decision or form an opinion. The other kind always toes the party line. They only need to know what the party line is - no thinking required.
I'm going to pose a second hypothesis. I have nothing to base this suggestion on, other than my belief in the basic goodness of people, and humanity's natural gifts of logic and reason. I'm going to suggest that, if only the thinking Democrats AND the thinking Republicans were polled, their split would be very similar to the Independent results, as shown above.
This means that it takes some independence of thought for a Republican to lean anti-Trump, or for a Democrat to lean pro-Trump.
So let's give those 9% of Republican respondents who leaned anti-Trump credit for thinking for themselves. Using the 40/60 ratio from the Independents, let's also give 6% of the Republicans credit for using their heads, thinking it out, and coming out pro-Trump.
What does that say about the other 83% of Republicans, the ones who voted the party line without bothering to think? It says that they're stupid.
Is stupid too strong a word? How about sheep? Blind followers? Willfully ignorant?
On the Democrat side, let's give those 5% who leaned pro-Trump credit for thinking for themselves. Again using the 40/60 ratio from the Independents, let's give 8% (I rounded up; so sue me) of the Democrats credit for using their heads, thinking it out, and coming out anti-Trump.
EDIT: The following two graphics have an error. The 8% should be labeled "anti-Trump (thinkers"). One day I may get around to fixing the graphics.
EDIT: The following two graphics have an error. The 8% should be labeled "anti-Trump (thinkers"). One day I may get around to fixing the graphics.
What does that say about the other 83% of Democrats, the ones who voted the party line without bothering to think? It says that they're stupid.
Is stupid too strong a word? How about sheep? Blind followers? Willfully ignorant?
Wow. According to this and other public opinion polls, 83% of Democrats and Republicans are mindless party loyalists. THEY ONLY THINK WHAT THE PARTY TELLS THEM TO THINK.
Democrats think that they are the party of "thinkers" and the Republicans are the party of "stupid". Republicans think that they are the party of "thinkers" and the Democrats are the party of "stupid". Both parties are wrong. As the results of this and many other polls show, they're both the party of "stupid".
If you are a Democrat or a Republican, and you think you're one of the thinking minority, there's an 83-percent probability that you're wrong, that you are one of the party loyalists. The sheep. The stupid ones.
If you disagree with me, there are a couple of articles on Wikipedia that you need to read. The first is about fundamental attribution error, and the second is about self-serving bias, both of which are logical mistakes to which we mortals fall victim, over and over again.
The acrimony, the political divisions in this country will continue to get worse until people stop blindly supporting their party and learn to think for themselves. The poll results will get more and more extreme, and the divide between the two major political parties will get wider and deeper. Polite
political discourse has already ceased; inflammatory rhetoric has taken over. Violence is stomping through the door, and oppression is not far behind.
If you are a Democrat or a Republican, you have to do something to fix this. You don't need to abandon your party affiliation. You do need to abandon your mindless loyalty to your party. Use your brain to figure things out. If your party, or your party's representative, is wrong about something, then separate yourself from the majority on that issue, and make it known.
I don't pledge allegiance to a political party. I pledge allegiance to a flag, the nation that it symbolizes, and the Constitution that it is built upon. I don't vote for party leaders, political appointees, or lobbyists and influence peddlers, and I don't want them running the country - I mean, dictating how people think. That happened in the Soviet Union, but it should not happen here.
5 comments:
I agree that far too many people vote (or in this case, opine) without thinking. My one question, though, is how do you know that doesn't apply to a lot of independents, too. If you are right, I would expect that any given independent will typically fall on the "red" side sometimes and the "blue" side at other times, probably with roughly equal frequency in most cases. But how do you know that it's not always the same independents showing up in red every time, and the same ones showing up in blue? In other words, are you sure most independents don't end up toeing one party line or the other, even if they're not officially affiliated with that party?
That's a great question, @Ryan. I had to make some assumptions about the independents, and one of the assumptions I made was that the Independents that don't think, don't vote. I have no data upon which to base that assumption. But it seems logical that if a person not affiliated with a political party is too lazy to put a lot of thought into an issue, they are probably to lazy to vote - or to form an opinion. As for always falling on the "red" or "blue" side of an issue, all I can say is that (in my experience) the independents that I know are very complex people. Their political (and social) views jump back and forth across the red-blue line all the time, and that I haven't yet met an independent who is consistently "red" or "blue".
Perhaps I should have said that the majority of Democrats and Republicans are BORING. Because of their varied opinions, independents are some of the most intellectually stimulating people I know, whereas I get tired of listening to diehard Democrats and Republicans, because they all say the same thing - over and over and over again.
Maybe that's why I dislike going to priesthood meeting. Our high priests quorum is almost unanimously Republican, and the discussion in every meeting drifts into the political arena. These guys say the same things over and over, and it gets boring quickly - in fact, it gets tedious in the extreme. The only thing I can do to keep from being bored is watch the lone Democrat in the room sit there and stew. He blew up once. THAT was an interesting priesthood meeting.
Oh, I would have loved to see that. I hope you're right about people who take the time to actually register as independents also taking the time to think.
For the longest time I've been registered as a republican because I lean slightly that way and wanted to have my say in primaries. I recently learned that Texas has open primaries, so I think my party affiliation is at an end.
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