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Bigotry + Ignorance = Contemporary GOP Base

Paul Krugman, once again, uses empirical data to expose the flaws in our democracy. He captures the hypocrisy of Republican voters nicely in the title: Moochers Against Welfare.

He mentions three possible explanations for why people in districts that elected the most conservative representatives tend to use more government programs than people in more liberal districts — the very people who seem to be most against social welfare are bigger "moochers" than the voters they rail against. Well, hypocrisy is a truly American value.

But I think the variable that Krugman has overlooked is most important: race. Those relatively poor whites in the reddest districts are opposed to social welfare for people of color, who they demonize as "unworthy poor" unlike themselves. Old fashioned American racism combined with the fundamental attribution error ("my misfortune is due to bad luck; yours is because you are lazy, stupid, evil, etc.") seems to be the best explanation.

Let's not forget that ignorance plays a huge role in this dynamic as well, given that 40+% of the recipients of government programs believe that they have never received government aid. The ideology of predatory capitalism exploits this ignorance to keep relatively less well off whites angry about public spending. It is also why Republicans, when elected, never actually enact the "small government" they blather on about.

Moochers against welfare is a pretty accurate description of the Tea Party.