Why Does Myrna Continue to Vote Republican?

From time to time I like to talk with members of the working class, usually whites, to try to understand their political concerns, which are often directly opposed to mine.  I don’t want to argue with them or lecture them; I do my best to try to understand them.  Myrna is representative of these acquaintances of mine.  She is a poor, yet feisty senior citizen. I see her on occasion at the gym, where our discussions take place.

I would like to say at the outset that Myrna is not her real name; she is a composite of several people I know. I would never flout the privacy of anyone, especially in a publicly posted article.  Myrna’s identity is safe here, because she doesn’t exist.  But her opinions do, and they are widespread.

You mention President Obama to her and it’s as if you had conjured up Satan.  She is an avid Trump supporter—still.  What good did Obama ever do?  The Affordable Care Act, health care for millions of Americans who were previously uncovered, I reply.  How can you defend that disaster, she exclaims. It’s awful, it’s a complete failure, it’s a fraud…

Myrna is convinced that governmental social programs—with the exception of Social Security—are there to coddle those who are too lazy to work.  She tells me with pride that no one has ever given her handouts, and if they did, she wouldn’t accept them. She claims to have worked hard to support herself through a long, difficult life that was anything but a multi-decade stroll through a rose garden. 

The last thing I would ever do is mock Myrna. She is fiercely independent and has worked hard all her life. In fact, I like her a lot.  Many of her views, however, seem to me to be poisonous Republican memes which have infected her brain.  She is totally ignorant of how she and those like her have been exploited; she has no idea that virtually the only importance she has for Republican elites is the fact that she votes. Unfortunately for them, the rich are not in the majority; in order to stay in power, they must convince members of the working-class to vote against their own interests. (I am referring here mainly to the white working-class; minority workers are generally immune to Republican lies, since the Party’s disdain for minority members of the working-class has been painfully obvious to them for decades).

Why are these whites so hostile to federal programs that benefit them?  I read somewhere that non-professional whites believe they are headed on the path to success; hard work will inevitably lead to material happiness. They believe that the government is giving minorities unfair advantages; they are getting ahead of them on the line to success not by their own merit, but by liberal largesse.  If you’ve ever waited a long time on a line and witnessed others come from nowhere and get ahead of you, you know how Myrna feels.

The Republicans have been such masters of propaganda that it is very difficult to get Myrna to change her beliefs.  Saying nice things to her about immigrants, for instance, is like saying, take our jobs away and rob us while you’re at it.  Racism is, of course, an underlying contributing cause, but not a sufficient one. We must not forget that a significant number of whites who voted for Trump had voted for Obama in 2012.

There are at  least  two additional factors that led to the political disaster of 2016. First, there has been a troubling lack of progressive legislation; inequality is undoubtedly getting worse. Whites who have not gone to college feel especially affected.  The Democrats, for instance, may talk about the importance of a living wage on occasion, but have done little to realize this goal. The votes in Congress that oppose them are many, but they could have tried harder, no doubt about that.  The second and primary reason for the current Democratic malaise is their refusal to fight fire with fire. Many voters are woefully ignorant; they must be informed, in ways they understand, that voting for Republicans is almost always voting against their own interests.  In the war of memes, Republicans are winning, hands down.

What’s the matter with Democrats?  I will give here one startling example of their failure to fight back: their miserable defense of SNAP (The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program), which provides food to those who can’t afford to feed themselves and their families on their own.

The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program

The Farm Bill originated during the New Deal, but has changed a lot since the 1930s. The allocated funds entail subsidies for farmers and nutritional assistance for those in need of it. It is renewed approximately every five years, when alterations can be made. (Republicans, as usual, are currently planning drastic cuts to the program). At present, approximately 20 billion dollars are designated for "farm relief" that support for the most part big business interests; the bulk of the program, approximately 75% of it, is spent on nutritional assistance for low income people.  Approximately 44 million are currently covered, or 14% of the entire U.S. population.  About 45% of those covered are children; 9% are elderly; a significant portion are disabled. Approximately 33% of families receiving benefits have at least one member who is employed. The average benefit for each person is $125.00 per month.  Families receive a card in which a designated sum is deposited by the federal government monthly.

SNAP provides a much-needed service to those on the lower end of income distribution, especially under current conditions of inequality.

What do Republicans say about the program?

They don’t like it-surprise! Senate Majority Leader McConnell has said the following: “We want to move in the direction of a healthy, vibrant, productive society. And you don’t do that by making it excessively easy to be non-productive.” (O those lazy children.) Speaker of the House Paul Ryan wants to limit funding by making it a block grant program. He believes the program encourages dependence and fraud.

Myrna, I think, would wholeheartedly agree.   (She may well be on the SNAP program herself, but would never admit it).  What have the Democrats said in their defense of the program?

I am saving the most important statistic for last.  The Department of Agriculture estimates that for every $5 spent on the SNAP program, $9 is returned to the economy.  Moody”s Analytics, hardly part of a liberal think tank, says the same thing somewhat differently: for every dollar spent on SNAP the economy is enriched by $1.70.

The SNAP program stimulates the economy! The SNAP program creates and maintains jobs—think of the grocers—think of food stores everywhere which accept SNAP funds.  It has (reasonably) been asserted that the SNAP program stimulates the economy better than tax cuts. The rich generally keep and invest the money they receive through tax cuts; recipients of food stamps tend to spend all the benefits they receive every month.  This means that every SNAP penny improves the economy; it provides 70 billion dollars of fiscal stimulus annually and it works.

Republicans must know this, but they certainly don't want the public to know it.

Why aren’t Democrats making voters aware of the fiscal benefits of the program?  “If it weren’t for food stamps, I wouldn’t have a job”—why hasn’t the Democratic Party made one ad in which a grocery worker makes this obviously true statement?  This applies to workers in large chains as well; Walmart, for instance, gets a lot of business from SNAP

Why do Republicans hate the program so, despite the fact that it benefits the economy? Hatred of the poor?  I'm not sure. Disdain for them? Certainly. Hatred on the part of supply siders for any government program that does not involve the military?  Probably.

If Myra understood that the nutritional assistance program is not merely for “those people,” but also for those willing to work hard, she might well change her mind. Presenting the SNAP program in this way smacks of propaganda, since its purpose is to supply food to those in need, and not primarily to keep grocery workers employed.  But it’s honest propaganda, not comparable to the lies of Republicans, since the SNAP program does indeed create and maintain jobs as well.

It will be difficult for Democrats to obtain and maintain a majority without reaching out to working-class whites.  At present, the latter group has been so poisoned by Republican memes that its members consistently vote against their own interests. Fancy pundit talk is a form of preaching to the choir.  It’s not going to reach those with limited education.

The SNAP Program creates jobs!  If we got this meme into Myrna’s head, as well as other “honest memes” regarding other issues, she just might undergo a much-needed tergiversation before the next election, and vote Democratic from then on.