Yes Republicans are bastards who do much harm by giving freedom and small government a truly awful reputation, but to me even when Bush was in power they were less of a threat (not the lesser of two evils however)
The better control of the media. No one looks at FOX news as serious, while CNN the NYT etc are considerd hip and cool. The whole hollywood thing falls under here as well
The obvious control of education, and only a half hearted denial of it (usually with a wink) and they get away with it
The coolness factor. Anything that Republicans stand for are I think acceptable targets to make fun of
they blatantly divide into groups and then proceed to buy them off and are far more effective at it than Republicans
The fact that even though they have been (I think) the culturally in control and hip for some time and still make it seem as if they are the struggling crusading underdog.
The fact people associate them with peace and individualism
The fact that they can blatantly switch from a “populist” image to an “elitist” image and still have the same mass appeal to college kids.
The fact that they turned Democracy into a good word. Actually the fact that they have been so succesful with language.
It seems as if all the celebs, artists, rock stars, ans subsidised classical musicians are Democrats
It is treated as a party that is for rebels, non conformists, etc
The average guy who I have run into that is a Republican is much less beligerant and in my face and more willing to not care about politics as the average Democrat I have run into
I don’t think socialism and communism are bad words anymore, just words the hipsters use as ironic sayings when making fun of Republicans, or even worse seen as good ideas
Che Guevera/ Castro are considerd great men. Many people defend Mao/Trotsy/Lenin and I think even Stalin may get off a little light (or turns into a rougue scapegoat) while Pinnochet (rightly so) and Bush (rightly so) get demonized. This is intellectually dishonest yet they get away with it.
I don’t think country music is part of the “in” crowd. Almost everything that is associated with the South gets demonized.
Also if you think of the “Great Presidents” from Lincoln and onward where there is little disagreement on the mainstream look at the list
Lincoln a Republican, TR also a Republican but also a poster boy for the Progressive era
after that Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Truman (to a degree), and JFK all Dems
the closest the Republicans have to modern day mutual worship by the state is Ronald Reagen (who is still demonized by the left even though there is not much difference between him and the “peace president” Kennedy) or MAYBE Ike, but if you think of it the 50’s are an era of constant ridicule and deconstruction while people love to glorify the 60’s.
Now look at the acceptably evil presidents Hoover (the man your grad school history book will call a proponant of Rugged Individualism, Herbert Spencers evil ideas, and a strong supporter of the free market), Nixon (the most evil man ever), and now maybe George W Bush all Republicans
I saw Ashton Kutcher once say “Im fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I can’t find a party for me”…WTF that was the old libertarian theme song. Among the libertarian “few” and Republican “some” they appear just more quiet and humble than the Left fielders. (Also seem far more intelligent in conversation). I did have a hard time finding Neo-Con celebs however. The hippest and coolest (in my eyes) conservative by far now adays is Vincent Gallo, unfortunately he is kinda off the scene like most of the others.
The Che stuff is funny. The “You support Murder?” comment is reliable and proven in provoking a rare and exciting item. A Thought. Or even weirder, an alternative view point.
I agree with the OP’s list. One I’d like to add is how the Democrats have tax-payer funded organizations act as they are almost adjunct party members. I doubt Republicans would be very welcome in ACORN or Americorps.
^ yeah the right to a house idea is real frightening. Govt. funded larceny. (the last sentence is nothing new though).
Right to health care, right unionize, decide what the environment should hope to be. right to set workers pay with a floor and a ceiling, with adjustments in the middle for the “deprived and mistreated”, right to a house, right to food, right to school, right to speak via limiting the others, probably other stupid rights of materials processed via theft taxes.
I don’t think an evil mastermind could script anything better. The Republicans seem to do everything in there power to destroy the free market, the word freedom, “small govt”, and individualism by using them as part of their speech and then proceeding to act like some truly god awful evil people (almost cartoon evil), while the Dems take the opposite position looking like golden boys. It really truly is mind numbingly frustrating how that can happen.
I truly do beleive people think the free market is inherent and the cause of colonialism, fundamentalism, slave trade, the recent crash, the great depression, the death penelty, war, and Africa being in the 3rd world. It’s sad and disgusting, it really is.
democrats/republicans as we know is a false dichotomy. the only thing that matters is wether you are pro-individual or pro-state.
modern republicanism is a branch of liberalism with a few socially conservative trappings and empty small government rhetoric. we live in a one party state. the fighting between the red government (defense dept.) and blue government (state dept) is mostly just over who will get a few more percentage points of gdp this year.
for me personally things started making a lot more sense when I learned to view the two major parties as simply the two dominant sects of christianity. unitarians/calvinists on one side and protestants/episcopalians on the other.