What is it that Repuglicans have against people who work hard for a living

[Dees]

Repugs seem to have pure contempt for people who day after day do the hard work in this country. The people who don't try to scam their way through and who simply work hard for a wage. I'm sorry, but I've never met a Repug yet who I thought worked honestly and hard. Howard is right. Very few Puggies make an honest living.

[wryter2000]

1. People who have to work hard are genetically inferior

If they had the right genes, they'd have been born into wealthy families.

I'm only half joking. The whole thing comes down to social Darwinism. As far as I can tell, Paul Krugman is the only one to have picked up on that.

And on edit: The very same people who don't believe that natural selection had anything to do with creation of different species believe that lower class people have inferior genes. I'm not making this up. I know a person who holds those two contradictory views.

[Dees]

3. I was once told that "Republicans don't do that kind of work.

We're above that". I believe it is a class-gene thing. And, why are the class creating Repugs entitled to great wealth by lying, scamming and bullshitting their way through when they will not do the effort it takes to create wealth (bootstrapping)... the very philosophy they expouse?

[Art_from_Ark]

24. They only espouse that philosophy when it suits their purpose

That is, the say "Work like a dog for Da Man (that's us), and someday, maybe someday, you can become Horatio Alger (ha ha ha, snicker snicker)"

[lawladyprof]

21. It's social Darwinism married to the Calvinistic doctrine of the elect

People believe what they want to believe, and they want to believe what makes them comfortable. That said, I have long believed that some of the basis of social Darwinism/doctrine of the elect is rooted in a need to have their self-worth confirmed. That is, being prosperous reflects on you (your personal qualities, your worthiness) rather than outside forces that may have contributed to your success or the other person's lack of success (in financial terms). This is why, in my opinion, they resist attributing poverty to the structure of society rather than personal failings or weaknesses. If you admit that another person's poverty may be a/the result of a "stacked deck," then your prosperity, success, or wealth might also be the result of your good fortune or society's making it easy for you rather than any innate virtue that you yourself possess.

[wryter2000]

26. Exactly

And the tradition of blaming people for their own poverty, based on their inherent inferiority, goes way back before Darwin. Darwinian theory only provided a "scientific" explanation for what everyone already "knew."

Hey, my sister's a law prof. Is that you, Lea? :)

[coloradodem2005]

2. They are not rich. That is their problem.

[TahitiNut]

4. The poison of 'aristocratic' thinking.

The presumed superiority of "ladies and gentlemen (lords)" (so-called by the imprimatur of a monarch) is embedded in our culture. "Some day my Prince will come." Soft hands are good; calloused hands are vulgar. The most Important Thing™ in life is to aspire to be an aristocrat -- living off the labor of others and being increasingly enriched by riches, not work.

[Dees]

8. Well said my friend.

[stepnw1f]

5. Those Who Say They Believe in Social Darwinism Are Lying To Themselves

The truth is they just want to believe they deserve what they have. They wish to cleanse their hands of any social responsibility... that to me is a human weakness.

Aristocratic=Undemocratic

[Kansas Wyatt]

6. Repugs feel inferior to honest hard working people, because....

Repugs know that they truly are corrupt lazy dishonest cheating manipulative parasites who feed off of those who just do what is necessary to survive by working for a living.

Repugs can't do it, so they need servants to do it for them, and then they blame the servants for the Repugs inability to WORK.

[stepnw1f]

7. I'll Second That (nt)

[sojourner]

9. They don't hate us, they think they are "above" us, and all working class.

They do espouse Social Darwinism (and many of them, even though they publically reject evolution DO ascribe to the "survival of the fittest" in a genetic sense. And one does not "look out for" interests of the "inferior", rather one who is "superior" -- in keeping with the dictates of "survival of the fittest" -- is obliged to benefit from the utilization/appropriation of whatever resources the less fortunate class may provide: hard work = earnings = tax base, but also hard work = GNP = increased wealth for the Corporatocracy.

So the inferior "working" class provides for the fatness of the wealthy "owner" class. What do they have against us? Nothing personal -- just need to keep us from attaining anything like their superiority; keep us pumping out those man-hours; keep us reproducing our replacements who will serve their offspring.

[Dees]

10. So true. I don't have your gift for wording

but our thoughts are identical.

[sojourner]

12. Forgot to add...

they DO resent our efforts to upset the "balance of nature" by trying to keep some of that wealth for ourselves and organizing to revolt against their policies.

[sojourner]

13. and

thanks for the compliment.........(blushing)

[earth mom]

11. Rethugs think they work HARDER for their money...

No Joke! I've argued with them on another board and they always came up with how "hard" they work for their money. They think someone making 20K a year just doesn't work hard enough and that's why that person makes so little! I'm not kidding! :crazy:

[Dees]

14. I have worked with Repugs, employed Repugs and owned

two businesses with a Repug. I have not seen an ounce of productivity out of any them yet. Most of their time is spent figuring an angle, or a scam or an easy way to enhance themselves. There hasn't been one that didn't tell me how hard they work and why they deserve so much.

[TahitiNut]

18. Heavy Is The Head That Wears The Crown

I've watched people as they become more and more materially wealthy ... and have seen them increasingly obsess about 'protecting' that wealth, There's a LOT of Truth in the notion of being enslaved by our possessions. There's a pathology of material narcissism in a materialistic society - the fundamental presumption that EVERYONE covets what the rich possess. The wealthy don't see others as deprived of the means to survive ... they see impoverished people as a THREAT to their own wealth. It's zero-sum thinking - an abdication of "win-win" and a total immersion in adversarial paradigms. What's appalling is that, in thinking in such terms, they create the very conflict they blame on others.

Thus, while the wealthy owe absolutely everything to people whose labors perpetuate their wealth and privilege, they persist in seeing them as "the enemy." Those poor people who accept the projection of blame tend to devote their time to ingratiating themselves and pointing to their neighbor as a way of deflecting the animosity of the wealthy they support. (It's almost like battered wife syndrome.)

[ellenfl]

15. so how does this explain all the lower

income people who vote republican? i'm not sure that wealthy republicans aren't a result of their success. iow, once they get some $, they become republican because the repugs want so desperately to get and keep as much $ as they can. i think it's greed versus social conscience.

i also think that the lower income repugs think they can and will be among the rich one day . . . and they won't want to share their $ either. that's the only logical explanation in my mind.

ellen fl

[CatholicEdHead]

16. Many do it for unrelated social issues (abortion, gay marriage)

But some still think they can jump classes from the lowest to the highest. While it is not completly impossible, it is VERY, VERY difficult.

[Vickers]

17. Two seperate issues for the most part...that side is the God Guns and Gays

angle, although I'm sure that some are delusional enough to think they will one day join the rarefied heights of richboy George, et al.

I have met hard-working Republicans, but they are not the same species that has taken over the Republican Party.

[sojourner]

20. These are just part of the propaganda that the Repugs in leadership

use to manipulate them. That's why everything is framed in those terms.

[sojourner]

19. Republican Leadership is who/what I'm talking about re: social darwinism

-- and they don't care about working class whether they are Republican or Democrats. They work to manipulate those in lower SES by keeping them out of higher education (most especially anything resembling exposure to critical thinking and knowledge about history, philosophy, etc.) -------- people with High School education tend not to know about the machinations of the politics of their nation. They believe the "myths" we were fed in high school about "opportunity".

Not until in college does the average person learn about the reality of how our national government operates, has always operated. (I know there are exceptions to this statement but generally speaking I think the data support my assertion).

And not until college does average person learn to critically examine their own beliefs. Just not something we do very well without being challenged to do so.

So as stated in comments by others, republicans w/o money keep thinking they can make it up the ladder. And, in keeping with their party fealty, they hate the enemy of their leaders - which would be us. Democrats tend to have been educated, and know how untrue the lies the Republicans tell really are.

[ellenfl]

22. well put. eom

[Yupster]

23. Maybe it's because

they know so many Democratic activists on internet sites have no respect for them or the hard work that they do? Maybe they don't like to be dismissed, insulted and looked down upon?

[hemp_not_war]

25. No thats not right

Have many hard working republican relatives. The problem I see is out in rural farm country, people just are more nieve. If you talk to them they are the nicest people, but so gullible they will believe what ever they get in the newspaper or on tv. It makes them so easy to dupe.