The Four Quadrants of American Politics (Why Congress Doesn’t Work)

[Bureaucat]

Originally Posted by sprez33

A bigger pile of fetid, steaming horse manure, I have not seen.....

What’s inaccurate about the data, and why does it make you angry?

It’s just data.

[BeerGeek40]

Originally Posted by rjshae

These days the Republicans consistently do well with people who never graduated from high school. I have to wonder what that says about our society.

What it says is that college degrees can be very overrated.
Some of them are very good and prepare you for the world.
Many of them don't.

[Chas863]

Originally Posted by DannyHobkins

The Democrat Party consist of 3 types of people:
- The elite
- Brainwashed white liberals
- Underclass fed by handouts for votes

The Republican Party consists of:
- Patriotic, hard working people of all classes, who do not want the Government to control their lives.

Nailed it!

[Bureaucat]

What the study confirmed was:

If a congressional district has a lower than average minority rate and a lower than average white college grad rate it’s overwhelmingly likely to be a non-competitive R district. (Currently 87% R)

If it’s higher than average minority and higher white college grad, it’s overwhelmingly likely to be a non-competitive D district. (Currently 87% D)

If it’s in the middle with some combination of Hi-Lo, there’s a chance it’s competitive. It’s in those middle two quadrants where the battle for control lies.

[lottamoxie]

Anti-intellectualism, anti-education, anti-everything is where the focus remains.

[SunGrins]

Originally Posted by DannyHobkins

They indoctrinate the weak minds in college. Those without a core set of beliefs fall victim to the indoctrination in college. I have an MBA, and absolutely am not a liberal, because I had my set of beliefs. They tried hard even peer-pressure me, but it didn't work.

Weak minds, eh? Tell me, who is the amorphous "they" who were plotting to indoctrinate you? Sounds like a form of paranoia. If you go to college to actually learn something, you should encounter ideas or concepts that would possibly question that "core set of beliefs" and either make it stronger or cause you to rethink some of your beliefs. If you can't stand the heat stay out of the kitchen.

Originally Posted by DannyHobkins

The Republican Party consists of:
- Patriotic, hard working people of all classes, who do not want the Government to control their lives.

This is joke, right? It's hilarious. Republicans have a twisted vision of patriotism if you pay any attention to them at all. They are all for government control of almost every facet of personal choice.

We need an intelligent and responsible conservative party in America, but I worry about the Republican party's future. We have a thing called the constitution that is not very well understood by many of those on the right. The lack of education in those Republican districts, as portrayed in the census data used for the OP's report, is very likely to be one of the leading causes of that lack of understanding. It might be a contributing factor in how so many fell for the con of 2016 and then again in 2020 and the Big Lie and its consequences. Ignorance has won out. Most of the thoughtful conservative voices in the GOP have been kicked to the curb or branded as RINOs. The current crew that the GOP sends to Congress falls short on the scale of rational and intelligent responsibility. If that is what Republican voters want -- or the only class of GOP candidates willing to run for office -- the party is in real trouble.

[Serious Conversation]

There has to be a more reasonable line of politics.

I'm 36 - never married, no kids, not religious. College educated IT professional. I live in and am from a 90%+ white, 75%+ Republican area, but have lived in larger metros, and spent about a year total in metro Boston on business trips.

I've probably voted Republican 2:1 since I turned 18, especially after 22 or so. I was very active in the county and state Republican Party for about five years in the late 2000s and early 2010s. I ended up moving away for work, came back in 2016, and never really got back into it.

I voted for Trump the first time. Clinton was a condescending ass to people of my background. Trump seemed to be taking a bit of a different tack from previous Republicans. I was never comfortable with the religious wing of the Republican Party, and thought Trump might lead away from that.

We went from the religious right to QAnon. This area has gone from typical Republican with some working class leanings to mega-ultra MAGA. Locals have generally leaned Republican as it is, but now the area is attracting "political refugees" (read - crazies) from all over the country, that are making the politics borderline unstable. You have anti-abortion/faith-based protests that you simply didn't see a decade or two ago.

Meanwhile, you've got the liberals pushing for weird transgender advocacy that only impacts a minority of people, and that even many moderate Democrats are put off by. Many of their social stances are downright bizarre, and won't get them many votes. For the issues they could win (mostly economic) on, they end up pushing many "normal people" into the Republicans' arms, but then the Republicans get on the religious, anti-abortion, anti-rights bit...