House of Eratosthenes

Scientists, for instance, have been looking for a grand theory of the universe; some theory that would completely answer all questions regarding the formation and operation of our universe from day one to the present.

Well I’ve been looking for theory – some grand theory – to explain why people vote Democrat. Why, in this election, would they vote to retain a ruler dedicated to the proposition of “fundamentally transforming” the greatest nation, the greatest system of governance, into a centrally governed behemoth destructive of liberty and everyone’s sense of individualism. Just WHY would people vote for this guy?

Some people will vote Obama because he’s a Democrat and they’ve always voted Democrat and that’s just the way it is. Others will vote for Obama because they’re black, he’s black, and they’re going to vote for the black guy. Period. End of story. Others will vote for him – and this is getting closer to the Unified Theory – because they think he will put more money in their pocket than the other guy. And then there’s just pure mental illness to consider.
:
…I think I’ve found it. Here it is:

People vote for Democrats because they believe that Democrats will give them access to other people’s money.

I’m working on this theory .. ironing out all of the wrinkles. Soon I’ll write my paper and submit it for peer review. I’ll keep you posted.

Hey, he asked for feedback. So Morgan The Lurker signed in, and posted a rebuttal.

It’s true, and you’re on the right track, but it falls short of a Unified Grand Theory because there are some people voting democrat, thoughtlessly as all the rest, who really don’t care about money…If there are many case studies that fall outside your UGT, then it doesn’t work as a UGT.

Thing I Know #401 says: “People who refuse to work with details don’t fix things.”

I believe this comes closer to that for which you are seeking. Voting democrat, is all about going through the motions of fixing something, without working with any of the details. You see a lot of this behavior with complex appliances, such as personal computers: “Oh I don’t know what this thing is doing, let’s just get rid of it and go Apple.”

I’m sure you’ve noticed some people take great pride in going the other way, figuring out the motherboard is the problem or the memory is faulty, replacing only the troublesome part and keeping the rest. Well, a lot of other people take pride in the opposite: Replacing the entire thing, “solving” the problem without learning the tiniest detail about what was amiss. Lots of people go through life that way, fixing things without really fixing things.

And, yes, you’re right, a lot of them would like your money, too. But my UGT explains your UGT; that is the evolution of the thought process.

Sadly, Boortz’ website stripped out the <a href=""> HTML tag, so the “Thing I Know” linky goodness didn’t find its way through. Which, in addition to making my comment look a little bit silly, is Boortz’ loss; four hundred things represents a lot of stuff worth knowing.

But the facts back up what I said, I think, and it does fall within the Architects and Medicators split. Some people see a complex system is not functioning as it should, their first impulse is to start testing the simpler components to find a root cause. They’re frustrated if they are prevailed upon, by some higher authority or perhaps by a looming deadline, to throw it all out. See, they’re in the middle of a lifetime process of building a knowledge base about how things break, so they can continually accumulate and refine the skills involved in fixing them. Others are more inclined toward the throw-it-out-start-again approach. It can be a challenge to pick them out when replacement makes sense — sometimes, replacement does not make sense, and you’ll find they’ll still counsel toward it, in fact their speeches and screeds start to grow in length when they have less to say. Ultimately, when they start repeating things they’ve said many times before, it becomes evident they’re just displaying their personality type, grasping for an identity. They want to become “Mister Throw It Out Guy.” Or alternatively, “Captain Change.” Remind you of anyone? It should…

People vote Democrat for lots of reasons, but the ugly red thread running through them all is sanctimony.

Most of the big problems in society are largely intractable — you can bend the numbers up or down a few percentage points, but really affecting them requires the kind of widespread cultural change that takes lifetimes. There’s simply no way to “fix” our failing school system, for instance, without addressing the huge cultural and structural issues that have rotted it through. We’d have to start with the fact that “education” degrees are useless (95% leftwing propaganda; 5% instruction in “pedagogy” that anyone who has ever sat in a classroom at any level past 3rd grade can figure out)….

But addressing that would bring up the issue of teaching jobs as sinecures for educated idiots, and the woeful economic impact of loosing millions of unemployables into the wild….

Which in turn brings up the fact that “education” is a union racket through and through, of such size, scope, and impact as to make Jimmy Hoffa tumesce if he weren’t encased in concrete in the south end zone of Giants’ Stadium….

Which points the finger at the fact that we want “education” to be a union racket, because our so-called school system is really just taxpayer-funded daycare for a great number of people….

Which lands us squarely on the social pathology of illegitimacy, which correlates strongly with just about every known antisocial behavior….

Which brings us to race….

Which brings us back to our shitty, taxpayer-funded daycares that we call “schools” and the type of day care provided therein…..

&c.

So you’ve really got two options: beaver away at whatever tiny corner of that huge monolith you have access to, try to be a good person and citizen, take care of you and yours to the best of your very limited ability, and hope for the best;

or 2) wring your hands about how we have to “do something!” about “our” failing school system, and vote for the guy who promises to throw the most money at it, because he’s consulted “experts,” who of course have determined that it’s “under-funding” that causes everything.

1) is hard, and takes real commitment, and the results are uncertain at best, because human beings are flawed creatures who routinely go wrong even with the best intentions and infinite opportunities.

2) is easy, and feels great, and lets you hold up your nose at anyone who doesn’t “care” as much as you do (i.e. doesn’t vote the same way, or shop at Whole Foods, or use Apple products, or listens to popular music).

Which one do you pick?

Lather, rinse, repeat, with every national question, and you’ve got the enduring appeal of liberalism. It’ll be with us until the barbarians are literally at the gate.
- Severian | 07/06/2012 @ 08:48
Or, shorter version:

They’re narcissists.

To them, everyone else is a bit player in the movie of their lives. Heroes in summer blockbusters don’t volunteer as den mothers or boy scout troop leaders or little league coaches or library aides. Heroes in summer blockbusters make grandiose theatrical gestures as the music swells. Hence “for the children!” and all that namby-pamby bullflop. And if they can’t themselves save the day, they’ll do it by proxy by voting for someone who tells them that he can.
- Severian | 07/06/2012 @ 12:13
I liked the longer version better. More thorough, and you worked up a good head of Severian Steam 😉
- philmon | 07/07/2012 @ 07:53
Still a great comment, Morgan, if the actual TIK quote came through. But you’re right about whose loss the NBLWF is. Well, in this case, anyway.
- philmon | 07/07/2012 @ 07:58
Yeah, the thing about “bit player in the movie of their lives” is solid gold. That’s why they all wanted “to be a part of this thing.”

Can’t blame Boortz for having a link-whore filter. It does make sense…
- mkfreeberg | 07/07/2012 @ 08:05
Noticed someone left a reply to your comment –
————————

Posted by brendasinfl at 1:26 p.m. Jul. 6, 2012
Report Abuse

@ mkfreeberg at 10:18 a.m. Jul. 6, 2012

There is a lot in what you say. We have the best politicians that money can buy in DC, yet they can’t fix anything, learn anything, and keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
Yet, another problem is the lack of core values. We all know that rino politicians talk one way, and then act another. It’s all about getting elected. True conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians actually have a set of values, and would attempt to apply these concepts to the problems at hand. Now, do they all agree on everything? No, because one size does not fit all. However, their differences are actually ideological, rather then a result from looking at the latest polls. And most their basic beliefs are NOT that far apart. Their “platform of ideas and beliefs” should be given a chance to fix our problems. But, this is an uphill fight, as we all know. Why? We have to elect them first, and some Americans don’t want to hear the truth they speak. The Democrats, on the other hand, have developed a “collage” of talking points that only resonates with their individual targets, but is very successful at election time.

1: To the women, it is abortion.
2: To the Latinos, it is immigration.
3: To the teachers, it is government unions.
4: To the unwed mothers, it is more government programs.
5: To the large corporations (who donated to the Democratic Party, like GE), it is huge tax breaks (and then they still outsource jobs?).
6: To Wall Street, it is you’re too big to fail (bailouts).
7: To the unemployed, it is extending the unemployment benefits for years.
8: To the environmentalists, it is suppressing our energy resources, and wasting money on those failed “green” energy startup companies.
9: To those not making more than a certain amount of money, it is bleeding anybody making more, through taxes
10: To those looking for more social programs, it is the defunding of NASA and our military.

All of this “pandering” will get votes, but not fix ANYTHING!
———————

Nice.

This was pretty much the only substantive comment on the 84 on the thread. Most of the rest were written by a sockpuppet troll using 2-3 handles, and a bunch of other people rightfully throwing mud at the guy but not addressing the salient points of Boortz’ argument.

I hate comment threads like that. It’s why I usually don’t bother with the ones on Yahoo, Fox News, or Townhall. The intellectual level of discussion simply is….subpar.
- cylarz | 07/07/2012 @ 22:46
I’ve come to feel that the reason people vote Democrat is is the same reason they fall for socialism, communism, affirmative action, radical environmentalism, comtean ethics, etc….

They’re childish. They have a primitive, childish understanding of the world. And all of the above appeal to a primitive, childish understanding of ‘fairness.’

A child expects a dominant authority figure to organize their life.
A child expects an ever present nurturer to provide all their needs.
A child believes it is only “fair” that little Billy be MADE to share his candy with the rest of the class.
A child believes that if anyone else in the group has more, that means everyone else in the group has less.
A child believes that you can always solve a problem with another child by “making friends.”
A child believes that trees and animals are people too.

And take note: A child is taught every last one of these things as absolute truths in our media, our schools and our culture.
- rhjunior | 07/08/2012 @ 04:31
Yeah, thanks for taking the time to separate the wheat from the chaff. I tried, a couple times, and just couldn’t stick to the task.
- mkfreeberg | 07/08/2012 @ 07:27
And rh, just Facebook’d that. It’s awesome. Don’t be too surprised if you see it on a tee shirt before summer is over.
- mkfreeberg | 07/08/2012 @ 07:41
Well said, rh.
- Severian | 07/08/2012 @ 08:50

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