Where do you stand in the ideological battleground? Most likely than not, you stand with your tribe. If you are like 80% of the voters, it doesn't matter what the ideological arguments are. You trapped in your socioeconomic tribe. You stand with your peer. You stand with your tribe. You will vote based on your self identity and socioeconomic affiliation within society whether that is based on "racial", religious, educational, or any other grounds. The issues such as abortion and immigration are mostly irrelevant pretexts for tribal affiliation. Each political "tribe" will rationalize and spin the issues. Which side is 100% correct? None.
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If you are a MAGA supporter, you may wonder why you find racism and nationalism so appealing and attractive. You may be in denial or in total state of ignorance without realizing that MAGA is a racist nationalist movement. If you are a Biden supporter, you may wonder why you find elitism and globalism so appealing and attractive. Perhaps you are in denial or in a state of ignorance without realizing that the elitist globalist approach.
Pain and Pleasure
In politics, as in life in general, you follow your instincts and emotions into whatever you think benefits you the most. As all other animals on planet Earth, you are evolutionary programmed to avoid pain and seek pleasure.
At a physical level, what you find painful and what you find pleasurable is what your ancestors found painful and pleasurable. By happenstance, those pain / pleasure sensations of our ancestors promoted their survival. As they procreated, their offspring inherited the same pain / pleasure sensations. Eventually, the chain got to you. You inherited those ancestral traits.
Imagine two groups. One finds hunger painful and eating pleasurable. The other group has opposite sensations, finding hunger pleasurable and eating painful. Each group is programmed to avoid pain and seek pleasure. Which group survives? Which group obtains nourishment to stay alive? Which group procreates and passes the programming onto the next generation?
Your ancestors, all they way down in the animal kingdom and father, found hunger painful and eating pleasurable. By avoiding the pain of hunger and seeking the pleasure of eating, happenstance kept them alive. By seeking other pleasures such as sexual intercourse, they procreated. Their offspring inherited the same mechanisms, which by happenstance (not design) made them survive and procreate.
At a psychological level, you also inherited specific pain / pleasure triggers. Those were the ones that helped your ancestors survive. For example, belonging to a pack or troop aids in survival. Again, imagine two groups. Members of one group find it psychologically pleasurable and rewarding to belong to a group while finding psychologically painful to be a social outcast. The other group is composed of individuals with opposite psychological triggers. Which group generates the most survival?
As a primate, you are a social animal. You enjoy feeling that you belong to a troop and that you are not an outcast. When it comes to political decisions, you mostly do and follow what your social group or tribe does.
Once you identify your political tribe, you support it regardless of the rational substance of the issues. It's pack behavior or group think. There is very limited room for individual choice. Perhaps you would be personally against the government forcing a pregnancy on you or your daughter. However, if that is what your political tribe stands for, that is what you support. Perhaps you would be personally opposed to quasi open borders. However, if that is what your political tribe stands for, that is what you support. You want to be part of the pack. You don't want to be an outcast.
Oftentimes you don't realize how your primal need of feeling that you belong to a tribe or pack dominates your political thinking. You may be convinced that you are an independent thinker. You may truly believe that your political views are your own. You may see yourself as one of the "good" guys or gals who happens to be on the correct side. Your brain would not let you see reality any other way.
What are the chances that your political side, whichever it might be, is 100% correct on every issue? Zero to none. What are the chances that your political opponents are 100% wrong on all the issues? Zero to none. Yet, you may believe that your side is 100% correct and the opposite side is 100% wrong. That's a human brain high on politics.
Emotions
Another fallacy about politics is that it is a rational activity or an intellectual exercise based on reason and judgement. That's why pundits waste so much time and effort in rational discussions about the issues. Politics is all about emotions.
Effective politicians are master manipulators of raw emotions. Rational arguments are irrelevant. Emotional arguments are everything. Effective politicians pull your emotional strings to make you do what they want. The two master emotions to control human beings are fear and greed. Savvy politicians exploit your fears and desires.
In terms of greed, people desire power and money. That's why the MAGA base (socioeconomically disadvantaged "whites") is so hooked on racism and nationalism. The MAGA base thinks that there is a path back to whites supremacy and that taking the country "back" will make them better, merrier, and wealthier. On the other end of the political spectrum, the Democratic base is hooked on elitism and globalism. Democrats think that a highly educated and diverse society will make them better, merrier, and wealthier.
In terms of pain, people are afraid of physical pain and mental suffering. That's why the MAGA base is afraid of nonwhites displacing them and leaving them at the bottom of American society. On the other side, that's why the Democratic base is afraid of fascist dictators that may oppress liberals and minorities.
Abortion and Immigration
Besides a national referendum on Trump, two issues for the November midterm elections are abortion and immigration. The party that can mobilize most voters on the emotional responses to these issues will prevail.
The majority of Republican women who are not conservative fanatics are in favor of medically supervised abortions. However, religious fanatics insisting on rules based on an imaginary male god ruling humanity are in control of the Republican party. Republican women need to decide whether to vote for themselves and their children, or to follow their tribe into a fascist Catholic patriarchy. The decision will be based on what option Republican women find less painful and more pleasurable.
The majority of Democrats who are not liberal fanatics are in favor of effective immigration control. However, political and economic interests favor immigration due to the growth (economical and political) that it represents. Our Nation is becoming more "brown" and less "white" every day.
Americans are people of color
All humans are people of color. Human skin tones range from all the way from beige to black. Human skin colors are beige, brown, and black. No one is white. See it for yourself. Compare "white" skin to a white T-shirt or white pair of socks. See the color difference? What we call "white" skin is actually beige.
Human skin is never white. Not even the palest cadaver is white. American skin tones are becoming darker. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is responsible for skin color. Americans are increasing sun exposure and moving to more sunny areas. Florida, the sunshine state, is the new epicenter of America along with other Southern states that receive intense UV radiation.
Blacks and browns also have more babies that "whites". The conservative push to prohibit abortions in the South will only increase the population of blacks and browns. Soon "whites" will be a minority. No wonder there is a MAGA push for fascism and dictatorial inclinations away from democracy. Under a one person, one vote system, "whites" will have less votes. Under a dictatorial system, "whites" would preserve power if the dictator is a white supremacist. Hence the popularity of Trump in MAGA world.
The human race
An alternative to racism is to eliminate the concept of "races". Instead of classifying people by the color of their melanin or the texture of their hair, let's accept that we are all humans. We are all members of the one and only race, the human race.
For the human race, there is no better place to flourish than here in our United States. Our Nation began as a racist experiment that promised equality only to "white" men on the lands inhabited by brown Asians ("Natives") on the backs of Africans forced to work the land. Since real life is stranger than fiction, the most racist and genocide-guilty experiment in human history eventually became the beacon of diversity and inclusion.
We expanded equality to women and to people of other color than beige. Today, we stand united as the most powerful Nation in the world. Our enemies and competitors like Russia and China do not stand a chance because they are homogeneous and exclusionary racist societies.
Quit racism. Free yourself from judging humans by the color of their skin or other outer features. Whether you vote Republican or Democrat, vote. We don't need to think alike. Debating ideas is what makes us better. Diversity of thought is what makes the United States strong.
Food for thought. What do you think?
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