Is The GOP’s Internal Battle Between “The Grassroots” and “The Elites?”

I think the problem the serious and intelligent faction will have is that the base is being ginned up 24/7 on Death Panels and such nonsense by Fox and talk radio.
Until they can get a handle on people like Beck. Limbuagh and the rest, the republicans will be haunted and even controlled by the circus freaks and their antics.

Its not the grassroots and the elite, its more the moderates and the conservatives (although that isn't 100% true either). There are people in the grassroots who are concerned about real matters of policy and not hyperbole as well as among the powerholders, there are also idots and blowhards in both groups as well.

I would also add that another problem (at least for the general populace) is that in order to get past the baloney, you must first have a desire to learn more about the issues in a sincere way, and not just with the intent to prove yourself right. This requires an open mind and an acknowledgement that you might be wrong about some things. Then, you have to actually educate yourself, which is difficult and time consuming. It's a lot easier to just agree with whatever everyone around you thinks, especially when you live, as I do, in an area dominated by one way of thinking.

For example, I just had lunch with seven coworkers. The topic of the proposed health care reform came up. The general feeling among my coworkers seemed to be that the health care reform is essentially just a way for Obama to redistribute wealth from the middle class to the poor. He wants to rob the middle class. Blah, blah, blah, wah, wah wah...

Many of you will judge these people harshly, but I don't think any of them are bad people. They are educated and contributing members of society. They aren't "white trash" or "rednecks" or "hillbillies" or anything of the sort. You would probably think rather highly of them if you only looked at most other aspects of their lives. Most people simply don't think, and don't want to think. They want someone else to do the thinking for them. Many Democrats do this too, but I personally think Republicans are a little worse at it, but maybe that's just because I know more Republicans. Around here, being a Democrat requires you to think first.

"He wants to rob the middle class"

Certainly it's dishonest of the Dems who complain about the Baucus bill to say they object to the middle class having to pay so much in that bill. After all, the new federal entitlement has to be paid for somehow, and "the rich" aren't that large a group or tax base, and looting Medicare is simply a gimmick (which places Medicare, a failing program, in even worse shape, while offering nothing to offset the loss of revenue to Medicare and nothing convincing that promises any cost savings in that or in the new federal entitlement other than cram-downs on providers who will then be less likely to accept federal payments and patients).

Well, that's not all they said. It's one thing to say, "I expect that the middle class will end up paying for this bill." It's another to claim that the President wants to rob the middle class, as if he has some kind of contempt for us, and that this program is intended mostly to help poor minorities that are already on welfare, and "why don't they go make an honest living instead of mooching off of us hard-working middle-classers?"

My point isn't that if you disagree with Democrats, you must not be thinking. There are plenty of good arguments to be made. My point is that people in general (not you, obviously DLS) don't like to have to think hard about things to come up with the good reasons, because the poor ones are much easier to give and are often generally accepted as okay by others around them.

What you are complaining about is what was called "bumper sticker statements." They sound good and usually appeal to common sense. Unfortunately they are simple enough to miss the entire point which works to the advantage of the party that wants you to turn off your brain and repeat the bumper sticker statement and both sides have them.

For instance a classic one that was pretty popular until a couple of years ago "democracy=two wolves and a sheep voting on whats for dinner." I eventually had to come up with a counter to this as it began to annoy me which was "Republic=a sheep being forced at gun point to vote on which wolf will eat it for the next four years." Both statements are totally silly but when I came up with a counter statement I stopped seeing the bumper sticker statement popping up.

I think there is a reason for this. We may like to think we are unimportant nobodies but in reality we are all the most readily available group to market test in history, we meaning internet posters/bloggers. All a pol or their supporters need do is pop onto a blog make a comment and see how it floats. If it floats they may send it to a larger audience and then go viral with it, if it does not the meme dies.

Bumper sticker quotes is how the old guard(baby boomers) fought the political wars in the past via sound bites and literal bumper stickers. Most people I know have mostly let them go as short snippets of info do not inform they just make you look stupid, I also now live in one of the highest educated and left wing areas of the country right now though, so I may have just left it behind in IN and am under the delusion that it is coming to an end. That being said if you see one of these that annoys or upsets you, come up with a counter that makes them look as bad if not worse and post it in every response to them. From my experience it will come to an end.

A few weeks back the tax=theft meme caught on here at TMV, so I pointed out to those that posted it that it was the exact extremist equivalent as the 1970's left saying property=theft. It is not only silly, its political suicide. After a few days I have not seen that bumper sticker come back. Peoples comments may say as much but they let go of the stupid statement as they obviously saw that it did look a good deal like the old one they likely despised.

Sounds like fun, coming up with a counter bumper sticker. I will have to try that some time. I liked yours.