Poor, White, and Republican

[tblue37]

5. The hardline Republican governors (Brownback, Walker, Scott, Daniels, etc.)

are using their power to get rid of the programs that their working class supporters depend on, and it is creating a lot of confusion among those supporters. They notice that they are under attack, but they still can't seem to direct their anger effectively at those who are actually attacking them. Even a lot of the wealthier Republicans are dismayed at Republcian policies, but they cannot let go of their identification with "their" team, even when that team is destroying everything.

The owner of our local newspaper here in Lawrence, Kansas, rails constantly against Brownback for slashing essential programs and for trying to restructure both the tax code and several state agencies (like HHS) in ways that will really screw those who depend on them. Also, Brownback made Kansas the first state in the union to completely defund arts programs--thus causing Kansas to lose over a million dollars in federal matching funds. Needless to say, this seriously hurt the state, because those funds created jobs and acted as a real stimulus to the state's economy.

Yet even as the newspaper's owner complains about all the serious damage Brownback is doing and the about fact that he spends a lot of Kansas taxpayers' money bringing in outside consultants (like Laffer, of the long since discredited Laffer Curve!), that same man simutaneously harps on how important it is to get rid of Obama and any other Democrats in office.

Republican supporters see--and sometimes even squawk loudly about--the damage Republican policies are causing, and yet they still insist that the only way to fix the country's problems is to get rid of all the Democrats (especially Obama) who are trying to prevent or undo the worst effects of those destructive Republican policies.

Yes, the newspaper owner is one of the wealthier citizens of our city, not a poor working class Republican, but I see the same cognitive dissonance in him that I see in working class Republicans. His sharp criticisms of Brownback's worst policies indicate that, although he is clearly oblivious to the fact, he should actually be supporting Obama and the Democrats, not the Republicans.