…and Democrats walk like *this*, y’know what I’m sayin’?
Everything’s okay…happy place…everything’s okay…
A game I play with myself is trying to determine what instrument someone plays (or would, if they had the chance). It’s interesting to see how different personalities are attracted to different instruments. I remember from Debb’s high school marching band days, the drummers would get involved in some problem, or they’d come back with busted drums or something, and she’d say “well yeah, drummers.” I don’t remember whether that was the first time I started thinking about it, but it was probably when the correlation between personality and music got my attention.
A similar question I’ve had for myself, obviously a bit more topical, is the personality difference between Republicans and Democrats. I mean, you can usually tell, right? Long hair, plays bass guitar, reads Wired–probably Democrat. Suit and tie, big house, investment banker–probably Republican. But wait a minute, what about Kansas, pickup truck, hunts deer on weekends–also a Republican? How do you stand that guy next to the suit and say they’re the same?
The “big government/little government” distinction never made sense to me, especially since Republican presidents since WWII are more responsible for the rate of increase in national debt (christ, especially George W…those graphs are really depressing, especially the one lower down where it compares to %GNP). So if that broad generalization doesn’t work for me, what does?
A few days ago I worked out something that makes sense to me: Republicans have faith in the system, while Democrats feel a responsibility to the people. I’m saying this without value judgment at this point, because each has its benefits and downfalls. But it makes sense to me for grouping personality types by political affiliation. Investment Banker is an investment banker because he works with the system. Kansas Hunter thinks that if people just do their work, live a good life, then everything falls properly into place. Kansas Hunter is also disdainful of Long Hair’s desire to make governmental programs to help people, because if the people were just doing their jobs like they should, then the system would hum along like it’s supposed to.
And now here’s the judgmental part that I worked out last night: I wonder if this is why there’s been such a godawful run of Republican scandals recently. If you believe in the system, then once you’re in charge of the system, you feel like you’re safe. Then those who were open to temptation are more likely to feel like they can get away with it. I’m not saying Democrats are free of corruption, obviously, but I’m wondering if the personality type is more prone to think about the consequences of its actions on other people. If my correlation holds, then I would much rather have people in power who feel a responsibility to the public, rather than ones who have faith in the system.
November 7th, 2006 12:30
Maybe they’re self-hating fags.
November 7th, 2006 13:42
Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
:-)
November 7th, 2006 15:40
interesting take on republicans and democrats. it’s all starting to make sense
November 7th, 2006 16:24
Reminds me of Al Franken’s comparison of how Democrats love America versus how Republicans love America. It boiled down to: Democrats love America like an adult loves their spouse. You have your disagreements, things you wish were better, but you value the relationship and want both of you to improve as people. (He doesn’t mention the important corollary that there are things your spouse could do that would make you leave.)
Republicans love America like a toddler loves their mother. Mommy is perfect and everything she does is wonderful, and if you say otherwise you’re lying and a very bad man.
November 7th, 2006 18:51
I think it’s more like:
Democrats want to be your Mommy.
Republicans want to be your Daddy.
Lots of things are said to try to make it a big difference, but in the final analysis, there’s not a lot of difference.
November 8th, 2006 11:55
*nods* I completely agree with your general analysis of how Republicans and Democrats view the government in such ways.
There are problems however with each of these viewpoints that REP’s and DEM’s have. I believe the Democrats rely don’t put enough faith into the system, and their over-reliance in the peoples’ causes a lack of order and can lead to a disfunctional government that is unable to serve the general populace’s needs.
Republicans put too much faith in the system, and as a result allow it to just sit there. This causes it to lose its functionality, and government stability will falter as a result. This lack of stability leads to an insecure government, where the people are not protected properly, and once more the needs of the general populace are not met.
It would seem that there is currently a lack of balance in the system, and it is causing the scales to tip too much in one direction. This has lead to a lot of harsh comments made by both parties as a result of what boils down to a mere misunderstanding between two factions of society.
What needs to happen is for a realization that this has occurred; The Republicans did the right thing by taking action, however the wrong action seems to have been taken. Democrats don’t seem to recognize that the course of action which was taken seemed to be the best solution at the time for a quick fix, and due to the circumstances, the people wanted things done immediately. However as a result of responding to the majority of peoples’ wants at the time, our government was put into a situation that was, and still continues to be, difficult to remove ourselves from. At the moment, it is unclear what should be done to cause any further damage to be minimal, and so there is a lot of dispute between DEMs and REPs as to what needs to occur.
Personally, I feel that Bush needs to step down from office immediately, and allow for someone else to ease the damage that has been done by means of careful diplomacy. It is impossible to fully repair the current damage, however the amount of damage that the previous mistakes cause in our near future can be minimized if action is taken right away.
November 8th, 2006 12:27
And Americans like their Manicheanism like Democrats like their … oh, nevermind.
This would be a much happier world if we could all discard that worldview and see everything with the nuance it deserves. Too bad our brains are hard-wired not to work that way by default. I know mine isn’t.
For an interesting take on the mother/father political view, read some of George Lakoff’s stuff – “Don’t Think of an Elephant” is a good place to start.