FWIS3

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/ ... gal-action

I'm used to Repubs thinking rings around Dems in terms of electoral strategy, but this makes me wonder if they're complete idiots after all. The Biden admin's forgiveness of student loan debt was incredibly popular, and AFAIK almost everyone with a degree had a ton of student loan debt. Including quite a number of Republican voters.

(An aside: I'm very, very happy with the change in the Biden administration's attitude lately. This is how you win over undecideds and nonvoters IMO - not by digging as deep as possible into the status quo, or spouting radical talking points and then failing to back them up, but by openly and visibly doing things that improve people's lives.)

Yeah, it's been a bit weird lately. Best I can figure is they just think they'll win anyway even if people don't vote for them because they've rigged it so well, but perhaps I'm being too cynical.

Like, one thing that strikes me more and more in the USA is how darn cheap the right wing voters are in terms of policies they get. For example, in Hungary there's a huge push for motherhood and raising the birth rate (of ethnically Hungarian children of course), because autocrats love that stuff, so at least the government brags that they have some of the best maternity leave in the world (six months, and then you have the right to return to your job for some time after), plus a big child tax credit. What do Americans get? A ban on abortion and someone trying to take back your forgiven student loans and they allowed the child tax credit to expire. Like, if you're gonna sell out, at least get something out of it ya know?

Rommie wrote:Yeah, it's been a bit weird lately. Best I can figure is they just think they'll win anyway even if people don't vote for them because they've rigged it so well, but perhaps I'm being too cynical.

Sadly that might not be a bad bet, and if so I just hope they're wrong in their assumption.

Like, one thing that strikes me more and more in the USA is how darn cheap the right wing voters are in terms of policies they get. For example, in Hungary there's a huge push for motherhood and raising the birth rate (of ethnically Hungarian children of course), because autocrats love that stuff, so at least the government brags that they have some of the best maternity leave in the world (six months, and then you have the right to return to your job for some time after), plus a big child tax credit. What do Americans get? A ban on abortion and someone trying to take back your forgiven student loans and they allowed the child tax credit to expire. Like, if you're gonna sell out, at least get something out of it ya know?

Yeah IDK what even goes on their heads at this point. Bigotry rots the brain.

As near as I can figure the standard operating procedure is to tell the people who vote for the republicans that they are better than someone else and that they have it better than "them". Then anytime they need votes they just whip up the base with stories of how "those other people" are going to get something the base doesn't have. It seems the base will suffer and happily live in poverty and third world conditions as long as they have their big screen TV, a big truck, and believe that "those people" live worse than the base does.

Meanwhile, the ones who actually benefit from the republican strategy i.e. the ones who don't care how they get rich, stay rich, and dictate policy such as tax breaks are more than happy to support this strategy because it means they can keep wages and benefits low while telling the base how much better off they are than "those other people" because they have jobs. Jobs they should be so grateful for they don't care how crappy they are.

And just to hedge their bets they gerrymand and change the rules to make sure they stay in power.

Meanwhile they are definitely heading hard right and all but giving up any pretense of engaging in anything resembling a real democracy.

Yeah, sounds about right. Like anyone following the Martha's Vineyard insanity in recent days? Lots of cruelty to some people legally in the country, illegally so, all clearly not caring that these are real people and just to "own the libs." Why would you go out of your way to be so inhumane to others unless you legit thought they don't matter and your base won't care?

Totally what Jesus would have done.