I live in Florida. a red state that is governed by the National Rifle Association, the Tea party, a right to work state, unions keep out enough said.

Written in April 2014 during the Obama administration

When I travel in Florida, I hang out with jocks and retirees. I try not to talk politics with them. When it happens that I have no choice but to hear what they think about politics I take note of it. Here is what I have heard:

Obama is a Muslim. His pastor hates America. In fact, nearly everyone outside of America hates America. If you travel outside of America, go on a cruise, so you won't have to eat whatever it is one eats in those places. You don't want to talk to the people either, but that’s not a problem because none of them speak English. And, anyway, they all hate us for our freedoms. Obama will put Al Sharpton in the cabinet. Dick Cheney was the greatest Vice President in history. The Jews are running the country anyway.

I am not making this up. This is not a caricature. I wish I carried a tape recorder.

Why do these people vote Republican?

It is common to make the assumption that people are informed or maybe misinformed and are thinking when they vote and they are making reasoned choices. I harbor no such illusion. No argument I have ever gotten into with these people, (despite avoiding talking to them, I sometimes can't resist saying something that's true) it has ever convinced anyone of anything. They are not reasoning, nor do they want to try. They simply believe what they believe. What do they believe?

1. They don't like blacks. Forget the rest. It isn't that they are racists. They will be polite if a black person ever appears. (This doesn't happen much, although I am sure they must live here too.) They just don't like them. They have no reason. If you ask them today, as a result of recent remarks by Michelle Obama and their pastor, they will say that blacks hate America. This is not the reason, but they sound more reasoned in their own minds if they say it that way.

2. They don't like wussies. The Democrats are always nominating wussies,— men who are not men. Obama looks like his wife runs the show at home. Kerry? Gore? Dukakis. Wussies. Not real men. Bad people are trying to kill us. We need to kill them first. Those guys wouldn't pull the trigger. (I am not making this up. I wish I were.)

3. They worry about money. Who wants to take their money away? Liberals of course. They want to give it to the blacks. Where I live is not redneck country. There is just a distaste and distrust for people not like them (which I am sure includes me.)

It is all very nice to come up with complex analyses of what is going on. As is often the case, the real answer is quite simple. Most people can't think very well. They were taught not to think by religion and by a school system that teaches that knowledge of state capitals and quadratic equations is what education is all about and that well-reasoned argument and original ideas will not help on a multiple choice test.

We don't try to get the average child to think in this society so why, as adults would we expect that they actually would be thinking? They think about how the Yankees are doing, and who will win some reality show contest, and what restaurant to eat in, but they are not equipped to think about politics and, in my mind, they are not equipped to vote. The fact that we let them vote while failing to encourage them to think for themselves is a real problem for our society.

Republicans do not try to change a voters beliefs. They go with them.

Democrats appeal to reasoning the capacity for consciously making sense of things, establishing and verifying facts, applying logic, and changing or justifying practices, institutions, and beliefs based on new or existing information. ... Reasoning is associated with thinking, cognition, and intellect.. Big mistake.

The question of religion and politics is not the same as the question of church and state. Failure to make this distinction results in confusion.

We cannot determine or control the reasons why people vote or support the policies they do or prevent them from convincing others to do the same. In the voting booth, citizens are a law unto themselves. They can vote for whatever or whoever they want for any reason that motivates them. It is pointless to demand purity of principle on this matter. Voters act out of prejudice, self-interest, racial identity, ignorance, and for all sorts of other good and bad reasons, including their religious beliefs, philosophical commitments, and a devotion to justice based on American principles. Let us be realists about the matter. Democracy is an untidy, often messy, matter. The people can do what they want to be restrained only by Constitutional mandates. But it is better when acting politically in the public arena for believers to translate religiously-based beliefs into the traditions, language, and values of the secular order. This is called for as a matter of principle. It is advisable pragmatically as well, since the tying of policy or voting explicitly to the tenets of a particular religion, denomination, or sect may repel a large number of voters.

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise.

The GOP went wrong when they became the party of God. (Thus becoming the American Hezbollah.) No compromise. Stand on principle. Claim to have God's blessings. Attack your opponents as doing evil. It started when Ronald Reagan embraced Billy Graham. The evangelicals slowly took over and it's been getting worse.

They may believe in the Evangelico GOP because they are against abortion and gay marriage .. it's a smoke screen voters , the GOP only cares for the top 1%, but enough is never enough when you're in a position to acquire more.

Add in a 24-hour-a-day outrage-generating machine like FOX News, and you have the recipe for the rise of Trump. FOX News was created to keep the base angry - and they're good at that. Angry people get out to vote...

I recently added the following

Are the Evangelical Christians No! They are a type of strange double standard group. The belief in their own strange prophets. Look at the comments coming from The Republican Roy Moore, who lost to Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12, 2017, runoff to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The exact opposite of Jesus teachings.

Jeff Sessions, a Methodist who has long enjoyed the political support of white Evangelicals, Scott Pruitt, and VP Mike Pence are Evangelicals

How Conservatives Treated President Obama
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ly8wfEBAz60?rel=0

Repugnant Republicans
https://www.youtube.com/embed/o8QDoYxb2sg?rel=0

Dumb Republicans
https://www.youtube.com/embed/UmtB9Jo7IG8?rel=0

Dumb Republicans Compilation
https://www.youtube.com/embed/t-Ydoh_5EjU?rel=0