On MetaFilter, someone posted an essay with the following summary:
"What makes people vote Republican? Why in particular do working class and rural Americans usually vote for pro-business Republicans when their economic interests would seem better served by Democratic policies? We psychologists have been examining the origins of ideology ever since Hitler sent us Germany's best psychologists, and we long ago reported that strict parenting and a variety of personal insecurities work together to turn people against liberalism, diversity, and progress."
251 people (so far) have commented on this posting.
Lot's of thought-provoking arguments.
Here's one:
"Haven't been too many of that kind of Republican since the pre-Goldwater days. At least that's not what Republicans run on anymore. They win on defense (read: fear) and wedge issues. Some of the old guard talk about the importance of the whole Constitution, but that's not anyone's policy. I can appreciate what conservatism claims to be, but it's really not anything like that in practice these days by those who have power and claim to speak for conservatives.
You see problems with social welfare, but I see real issues with creeping authoritarianism and a strong anti-intellectual religious streak in the current Republican Party, which is a dangerous combination. Given the right set of circumstances, and given what we've already seen them do, it wouldn't take much more to descend into an honest-to-god police state infused with capitalism and fundamentalism. We're not very far from it. Socialism doesn't scare me. I don't see any militaristic leftist groups in the US of any significance. Al Gore is not going to go around the world and make excuses for torture. Barak Obama is not going to spend all his time trying to blow smoke up my ass by claiming that Iraq is a great success and worthwhile use of an enormous amount of our resources and their lives, or that cronyism and money politics is OK when you call yourself a "maverick."
All I'm asking is some straight talk, right? ... like that guy likes to talk about, because the way we've got things set up right now is not going to be sustained for long. But I'm not stupid. I'm putting my weight behind the guy who doesn't worship at the altar of authority, who isn't afraid of boogeymen, and who doesn't take me for a damn fool."
Here's the link for the other 250 comments and the original essay:
http://www.metafilter.com/74780/What-makes-people-vote-Republican 
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