"It's the social values, stupid!"What today's Republican believes

Interesting post I just saw on DU.

It is funny how some of the most intelligent people you know can be so, well, uninformed.

Today I was talking with a good friend of mine at work. We were discussing politics, and he said, "Do you know what the problem is with the Democrats?" I answered something to the effect that we had a problem with cohesion and that we needed to work more on our message. Plus the fact that we needed to fight back.

He said no. The problem is "social values." I said to please not mention abortion. He said he didn't mean that, because it was already "in the books." I tried to get him to specify, and I knew where he was going. Yep, you guessed it, gay marriage.

I mentioned that not all Democrats were for gay marriage, including our last presidential candidate. Besides, I said, it is really such a non-issue with all of the problems we face in this country.

He stated that "You know, over 50 percent of Americans are against it. And the perception is that the Democratic party supports it." He further stated that he votes first on social issues, and many more are like him. With that, I had to say something like, "John, you would vote social issues over your pocketbook. What if you had no job, and your kids were hungry" etc. etc. Which brought up, you guessed it, welfare!

John mentioned the so called debit cards that New Orleans residents were getting. He also mentioned the same old welfare urban legends. I asked him what about corporate welfare, and what he thought about the rich getting richer and the poor poorer. He said it was always that way. I said "Wrong, in the 90's we had a more equitable tax system. The rich were getting richer, but the poor and the middle class were moving up."

Then I asked him if the minimum wage was moral. Why do the Republicans always have to be against it? Surely, John said, in our community people will get jobs for more than 5.15. I said you're probably right, but even making 7 or 8 dollars an hour isn't going to get you much. And guess what that does? It puts more people on those so called welfare roles when they have to apply for food stamps and govt. housing.

We were wrapping up when I mentioned corporate welfare. Well, that's good, he said, because it brings in jobs. This was the guy who previously had told me that welfare and minimum wage were "socialistic" and yet he believes in nice tax breaks for the already well off sector of our nation. We were butting heads, but at least our conversation was amicable.

This is what I face everyday here in North Texas. I still believe the 39 % of Bush's support is right here in my community. The people here still vote on what they call "social values" even though foreclosures are up, good paying jobs are scarce, and gas prices are ridiculous. Even the war in Iraq doesn't seem to faze them; not too many of our young people in our community are having to serve because of economic hardships, etc.

So, do you want to be without a job and home, or vote to keep gays from getting married? Here, anyway, it looks like the latter.