It's the stock market stupid!

[minx]

I was reading an opinion article in the NYT today.

Subject was a lesbian store manager in NYC (who did not want to be identified by her full name) who was planning on voting for Trump.

To sum up the article, she says that she basically doesn't care about what's happening in Afghanistan or Iraq - that doesn't really affect her day-to-day life.
But, the stock market is at record highs, and her 401(k) is looking really good - she wants to retire one day, and she's relying on that money to do so
And gas prices are lower than they were under Obama
But crime is up in NYC - Trump is a very law and order guy, and Bill DeBlasio sucks as mayor

In terms of Trump's specific policies, she can't name very many.  She just worries about having a job and a secure retirement, and pretty much is willing to write off everything else in return.


It makes me wonder.  If Reagan and his cronies hadn't allowed business to destroy pensions and their responsibility to help finance the retirement of their workers, would we be in this position now?
If Bush the lesser hadn't told people the proper response to 911 was to go about business as usual and let the military handle the rest, would we be here now?
If the draft hadn't been eliminated, would we be here now?

Cause when you think about it, people cared a hell of a lot more about what was going on in Vietnam - many knew or had a tie to someone over there.  And if they didn't, it could very well be that they would soon thanks to the draft.
And the only reason the average person cared about the stock market in the 80s, was because we all dream of being rich-ass hedge fund managers, not because our retirement depended on it.


Not saying we should go back to the 70s or 80s, but it would be nice if we could hold businesses responsible for their actions and require them to take care of their workers.
And it would be nice if we could have some way of making people see the toll that these endless Middle East wars are taking on our military and our budgets (not to mention the toll they take on our credibility and any goodwill the people in that region might have had for us).


Instead we have people focused on how much their 401(k) has gone up (or down) this quarter, and on everyday things like the price of gas (which the president has no control over), or the increase in the homeless in their area (again, out of the president's control).  And they then go vote for the incumbent because they want to stay financially secure.

I have no doubt that this woman voted for Obama in 2012 for the same reason she's voting for Trump this time around.  (and for the record, she did say she voted for Clinton in 2016)

[Dave's Not Here Man]

That's pretty indicative of modern day society. You have half that is only concerned with their own self-interests and half that is concerned about the interests of the whole of society and the country. Granted there are people in both groups that hide from realities of the order of the day. But as we've all mentioned around here, the comfort level people have with either school of thought is almost entirely dependent on their experience, exposure, and what has or hasn't affected them directly. Self-reflection may be a thing of the past, which is why you see so many people willing to bite off their noses in spite of their face.

To that end, I was just reading this article from AP apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-religion-virus-outbreak-race-and-ethnicity-4b9c9d7a7aa46c523047a3a0e932e2a8

So while you see a few defectors, people of conscience that have come to the realization that they made a mistake in 2016, or maybe took a leap of faith then, only to have reached their final straw at some point along the way, still his approval rating has been pretty steady in the upper 80th percentile among republicans.

So as far as the person in the NYT Opinion piece, I'm sure every moral and ethical belief she has is inventoried and packaged tightly, right up until someone grabs her by the 401K or some other proclivity that helps her sleep at night. But at least she was clear about her sexuality, in case anyone needed to have context for her opinion.

[minx]

Yeah, so many people saying "That isn't important to me", without looking at any implications beyond that.

My conspiracy friend actually asked me why I felt Trump wasn't going to protect LGBTQ+ rights.
I pointed to the transgender ban in the military, along with DHS' attempts to say that doctors and hospitals weren't obligated to provide care to transgender people.
"Oh, I hadn't thought about that" she replied "It's not really important to me"
Yup, not important until a court rules that it creates a precedent and medical providers can deny care to people who believe something like Obamagate is real. Or people who work in IT shouldn't be allowed to own guns.

And as many people in the article you posted mentioned, it's the complete refusal to even consider a different position that is so scary and frustrating.

[Dave's Not Here Man]

The religious exemption/liberty laws. Probably the single most oppressive and anti-american thing going on right now, maybe ever. And the hard of head cheer for it all the way because you know... Jesus was all about withholding medical care from people based on all kinds of things, especially race, faith, culture, and sexual orientation. He was very careful to make sure we knew not to invite people in that were without shelter, or feed those who were hungry, or visit those in jail, or turn the other cheek under any circumstances. Or was that Mo? I always get the two Confucius.

[bobathon]

Things like this keep me rooting for the Giant Meteorite/Asteroid 2020 ticket.