Thursday, May 19, 2016

For The Liberal Prognosticator, Every Day Is Fucking Christmas


Donald J. Trump is right -- I personally am bored with winning.

And by "winning" I mean being proven right over and over again.

And by "bored" I mean exhausted and horrified.

Today's case in point:  "Independents"

Back in 2009, when America's Most Elite Political Thinkers like David Brooks were busy fantasizing Travis Bickel-style about the Great Independent Rain which would soon come and cleanse the country of the partisan scum on Both Sides who were ruining everything for people like David Brooks --


-- America's Least Elite Political Pariahs were writing thing like this:
Nobody knows what “independents” want, because “independent” as a modern political category is a textbook example of what Kurt Vonnegut defined in "Cat's Cradle" as a "granfalloon": 
"...a proud and meaningless association of human beings"
Because “independent” can mean any-damn-thing, or nothing at all.

Consider that if you defined “independent” as someone who, broadly speaking, supported a Liberal agenda (not the imaginary, shadow-puppets-made-out-of-Rush-Limbaugh-stool-samples “Liberal agenda” that Conservatives have been using to scare stupid people into committing economic suicide for 30 years, but the real Liberal agenda) but was not welded to a particular candidate, or even to a particular party, then that would describe me pretty well.

But I'm also quite sure that a fair chunk of the the 5% of the voting public which -- just 24 hours before the 2004 Presidential elections -- still couldn't quite make up their minds whether to vote for Kerry/Edwards, or the lying, feeble-minded frat boy (and his homicidal regent) who had fucked up everything he had ever touched ...consider themselves "independents".

Rebel nuns who might just think that letting a rape victim have access to abortion services would not be the end of the world?

Independents.

Snake-handling queer-hating Leviticans who think the GOP is too gutless because it won’t advocate rounding up Teh Gay and putting them in camps?

Independents.

Bunker-dwelling survivalists?

Independents.

Pimple-faced 30-something John Galt wannabees who masturbate themselves blind to “Atlas Shrugged” because that hot chick in accounting won’t give them a second look, but won’t she be sorry when Objectivists stop the engine of the world and people like her will have to stand in line to offer their vajay-jays to the alpha studs wealth producers!

Independents.

Klansmen who want to smoke a little weed?

Independents.

America's compulsive political middle-children who have been taught so thoroughly to compromise their way out of any conflict that they will travel a 1,000 miles just to find a fence to straddle?

The opinionless little ciphers who just want to make sure they line up with a winner?

The moral cowards wouldn’t pick a side with a gun pressed to their heads, because of the terror of then being committed to actually doing something instead of snarking their way through life declaring "Well, ya know, bote sides are juss a buncha crooks anyway!" about every situation regardless of context and circumstances?

If asked, I guarantee you all virtually of those people would tell you that they think of themselves as “independent”.

And based on simple observation, guess who appears to be the largest group of late-blooming independents?

Those fucknozzles who, after giving Dubya the longest tongue bath in modern political history while calling everyone else a traitor, started gagging on the sheer tonnage of bullshit their creepy idolatry of George W. Bush was requiring them to swallow and obediently regurgitate every fucking day, that's who...

Seven years later, in The Nation...
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Independent Voters
Most independents are just partisans who are turned off by partisanship.

...
Both [Clinton and Sanders] supporters—and Donald Trump—have it mostly wrong. While around four-in-10 voters say they’re independents, very few are actually swing voters. In fact, according to an analysis of voting patterns conducted by Michigan State University political scientist Corwin Smidt, those who identify as independents today are more stable in their support for one or the other party than were “strong partisans” back in the 1970s. According to Dan Hopkins, a professor of government at the University of Pennsylvania, “independents who lean toward the Democrats are less likely to back GOP candidates than are weak Democrats.”

While most independents vote like partisans, on average they’re slightly more likely to just stay home in November. “Typically independents are less active and less engaged in politics than are strong partisans,” says Smidt.

Rising polarization—and the increasingly personal and nasty nature of our politics—has had a paradoxical effect on the American electorate. On one hand, the growing distance between the two major parties has contributed to a dramatic decrease in the number of true swing voters. Smidt found that low-information voters today are as aware that there are significant differences between the two major parties as well-informed people were in the 1970s, and people who are aware of those differences tend to have more consistent views of the parties’ candidates. At the same time, says Smidt, many people who vote consistently for one party say they’re independents because they “view partisanship as bad” and see claiming allegiance to a party “as socially unacceptable.”

In that sense, we’re talking about precisely the kind of people who should be encouraged to participate in the primary process. Most Dem-leaning independents have as much invested in the Democratic Party as a typical registered Democrat—they vote consistently for its candidates...
Like Christmas.

Every fucking damn day.

And we here on the Left are getting pretty sick of it.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm an independent. I'd vote Republican if they would:
--stop supporting bigotry
--accept human-influenced climate change as a present-day reality
--get the fuck outta regulating a woman's right to choose
--move towards equitable non-exclusionary access to health insurance
--get out of the sedition-fomenting business

...and a few other things. For starters.

bowtiejack said...

Excellent (if depressing in its accuracy and longevity).

Remember that Bush administration toad who nattered on about creating "new realities" before we've digested the present one? So these Masters of the Universe are always ahead of the curve (and us peasants)? I believe what he was talking about was that if you can warp the veneer of appearance completely away from the underlying reality, then only appearances (commercially referred to as "PR") matter. If I tell you I am an independent, that is the reality you are to deal with and not the Nazi uniform I may be wearing.

In that vein, I have an "independent" friend [non-partisan, "doesn't buy any of this political crap"] who sends me links to Glenn Beck. Nuff said.

Robt said...


As Bowtiejack said,
"If I tell you I am an independent, that is the reality you are to deal with and not the Nazi uniform I may be wearing."

And DG,
"Independents.- Klansmen who want to smoke a little weed?"

Whether it is the desire to "smoke a little pot at the silk sheet only hanging or enjoying the frills of fascism.
It is about not being held responsible for your desire for government to punish others to make you feel better and that you can prosper at others expense.

Even in this state that sent GW Bush back into the White House for a second round of destroying America for the 90 percent of Americans that are viewed as fertilizer.

Ss 3rd party goes, where is the independent party primary. The ability to vote your true indignation without logical reasoning of it's aftermath? The ability to not be held responsible for supporting the life and times of Dick Cheney and continue to pretend you actually like your friends and acquaintances.

Allow you to be, "John Miller". The late '90's Donald Trump still calling it in to the media. Using a false name and pretending to be his own press person to talk himself up and smack those he doesn't like.
John Miller, Trump's alter ego independent.

There is a level of relativity between the political independent refuge and the religious agnostic.
Just another stage of metamorphosing evolution.

How long must mankind wait?

dinthebeast said...

The important bit (to me) is the bit about them being less likely to actually vote. That's the game this time. Make the campaign (and by extension, politics itself) so ugly that very few have the stomach to participate, and the lower turnout allows Republicans to win. Trump isn't playing this clown by accident, as amusing as that might be to believe. He was taught PR by Roy Cohn, so keep that in mind when assessing his performance. Demographics being what they are, the only way to win with the hard core white vote is to keep everyone else from voting, and the restrictions they are enacting just aren't enough to pull it off, so how about making a bunch of people so disgusted that they just don't want to vote, and wish it would all just go away?

-Doug in Oakland

Ed Cooper said...

Any so-called"friend" who sends me Glen Beck Bill O'Really ad nauseum get an enthusiastic block or delete from contacts. I may narrowing my world view, but I am sick and tired of drinking bleach go get the taste of the sewage those people dispense out of my mouth.

Ed Cooper said...

Well said, Doug and truly frightening in the implications.

RUKidding said...

Apparently there are more registered voters than ever claiming to be "Independent." I think it's mainly because voters are sick and tired of the graft, corruption and just plain bullshit and obstruction at all levels of government. Seems worse at the fed level but depends on the state and locality where venality is worse.

That said, most Indies truly are more aligned with one party or the other. Some may choose not to vote for particular open seats, but most vote the way they always did.

There's very few true "swing" voters these days, but I think the propaganda Wurlitzer likes to hype that notion up to flog that dead horse to make it seem like it's still racing. If voters can't figure out who they're voting for, especially at the Pres level, by at least September, then they're simply not paying attention. And they're unlikely to be swayed in some unusual direction at the last minute.

I agree with Doug that there probably is some push underway to make this whole season so disgusting that some voters will simply be turned off and not show up. Certainly the way the voting polls have been set up in many states make it as difficult as possible in order to keep citizens away. And, sadly, it works to a certain extent.

trgahan said...

Yeah, something tells me that, if lighting strikes and Trump wins, all those Bush supporting relatives and friends that because "independents" between 2006-2009 will suddenly not be so turned off by partisanship anymore and we'll be back to "We won, you lost traitor! Permanent Majority Here We Come!."