I've written so many times in so many places that modern conservatism seems to be based in large part upon, and modern Republican voters appear to be primarily motivated by, the dual emotions of self-congratulation and resentment that I must sound like a broken record to the four people who actually read my writing and are interested in what I have to say. My question for today is, OK, so what can be done about it?
Yesterday this diary by Cartoon Peril linked to this NRO article by Dennis Prager, entitled "What's Bad for America is Good for Democrats." Because of course that's what Dennis Prager would say and of course that's what NRO readers want to hear.
Until maybe 10 or 15 years ago, "You like bad things" was a taunt heard exclusively in elementary-school hallways and playgrounds. That is, until the GOP and its color war team created their paracosm in which the opposite team is filled with caricatures who like bad things and root for bad people, so the former team can congratulate themselves for not being on the latter team. But that's not what I'm here to discuss today.
I clicked over to the article and immediately saw this comment, by someone called "D2":
I vote Republican because I feel like I have been victimized by American society. My father is a businessman who has been targeted by the unions for my entire life. We cannot expand our office because we would have to add beautification which doubles the cost. Oh and we get audited regularly because of the way the business is structured.
At first, reading that first sentence, I thought this was snark by a "liberal" interloper. This is the kind of thing I would write if I were playing or parodying the caricature of the typical, textbook, self-congratulation-and-resentment-motivated conservative/Republican voter that I envision when I think and write about this topic. But I read through the comment a couple of times and, considering also where I was, realized that this person was actually being sincere.
We've all been through the back-and-forth about which political cohort actually "plays the victim all the time" (this Jon Stewart classic should be on an endless repeating loop somewhere), but it still struck me as a little surprising to actually read an actual "conservative" actually saying, explicitly, directly and without prompting or equivocation, that (s)he votes Republican because (s)he feels victimized, and "by [all of] American society" no less.
Given that this comment so closely matched my own thesis about the motivations of Republican voters, I thought I'd respond to that effect...
[M]ost people I know who vote Republican, when I ask them why, tell me [that] they feel victimized and resentful, and think that voting Republican will have the effect of rewarding them for their own virtues while punishing those they resent[.]
...and ask, indirectly, how voting Republican actually accomplishes any of this, or why anyone who votes Republican thinks it will. I got an initial response from someone else that began like this:
[D2] is saying that she votes Republican because she correctly recognizes that liberals are the party that promotes thuggish behavior by labor unions, takes a general anti-business approach to governance, and is behind abuse by the IRS.
Followed by this little gem:
I have never met someone who votes Republican speak the way you describe.
At this point, I can let it roll of my shoulders when someone complains about being mischaracterized while casually characterizing others in a way that describes no real, actual, living person. Everyone has caricatures of the people who don't share our respective voting preferences, so there's no point in arguing that or even pointing it out.
I'll let you click through to the comment thread and read the whole thing, but here are a few choice excerpts from the responses I got from both parties:
[The unions] are currently in full swing because what ever they wish to accomplish has to be done while the administration swings left.
I don't even know what this means. "[I]n full swing"?
[W]e have to add retention ponds for rain water because runoff is evil.
It is?
[T]he city feels that diverting improvement expenses onto the land owner is justified.
It isn't?
[D]ue to our success we are penalized.
Self-congratulation and resentment in a nutshell. Note also the use of passive voice.
[This is] the socialist agenda espoused by a soceiety that "supports the working man" until he succeeds. Then he is called evil.
Self-congratulation, resentment
and paranoia, all rolled into one. Note again the use of passive voice.
[L]iberals are usually people who choose not to understand or dismiss what concerns their fellow citizen.
Right.
Liberals are the ones who care only about how law and public policy affects them personally, while
conservatives unselfishly advocate for what "concerns their fellow citizen" in the aggregate.
Of course none of this makes any sense; of course every characterization uttered here and in the rest of the comment thread is wholly unreasonable. But it never ceases to amaze me how often this occurs; how I can suggest to "conservatives" that they are motivated by self-congratulation and resentment, and one will respond with an explanation that is positively drenched in one and dripping with the other, often while denying that motivation.
Now, you might be asking, why am I talking about this here, instead of responding to these comments over there? I have often found there is little point in arguing what amounts to an article of faith with someone determined to believe it. I often enjoy discussing things like this with "conservatives" (viz., the GOP's color-war team) and wading into places like NRO, but I always have to be careful because they tend to be very volatile. People who are motivated by self-congratulation and resentment (regardless of their voting preference) tend to take everything personally, read an awful lot into what you say, and make knee-jerk character judgments to avoid whatever point you're trying to make. It can get very ugly and very depressing. Accordingly I have to try to avoid setting off a firestorm; It's not always easy and I don't always succeed.
Sometimes I just don't know how to respond, or find what I'm responding to so disjointed and inscrutable that I don't even know how to frame a response, let alone where to begin. This was one of those cases. The comments here were so chock-full of unreasonable characterizations (of people, conditions and events) and their base premises were so faulty that there was really no way to respond intelligently, and probably no point in trying.
I'm wondering, first of all, whether the resentment expressed by both commenters is the result or the cause of these unreasonable characterizations. Meaning, do they resent the "liberal"/Democratic cohort because they believe these unreasonable things about them and about events/conditions that exist, or do they believe these unreasonable things about the "liberal"/Democratic cohort and events/conditions because they feel resentful? I think this is an important distinction, and I think it has to be made before we can figure out how to deal with it and how to talk these individuals back from the proverbial ledge.
If the resentment comes from these unreasonable beliefs, then I think it can be addressed, if they can be convinced that the beliefs are unreasonable, or at least to go back and examine their reasoning. That happens sometimes. If we're careful.
If, on the other hand, the unreasonable characterizations stem from those feelings of resentment, then I don't know what can be done. I think everyone, to one degree or another, has a desire to feel a certain way about things, and their knowledge and understanding of the world, of the events and conditions surrounding them, may be tailored to validate those feelings. But if those feelings are causing people to perceive and characterize other people (viz., a cohort of imaginary or abstract people), and events and conditions that occur and exist, in unreasonable ways, that says to me that the feelings are more important.
To that, I think in the end what D2 was saying in his/her first response was that No, voting Republican does not solve my problem, but it at least makes me feel better. It "hold[s] them at bay" ("them" being the people (s)he resents and feels victimized by), and having "a conservative administration" would give him/her "a break" and a "reprieve" from feeling like (s)he's "being told" that (s)he's "evil" and being "punished for [his/her] success."
And all along I thought it was liberals who vote based on "feelings."
Anyway, I leave it to you, the reader: How do we deal with this? How do we respond to the self-congratulation and resentment that emanates from the "conservative" side? Are they resentful because they believe unreasonable things, or is it the other way around? Either way, what can we do about it?