Republicans would argue that the Democrat positions on social welfare, government oversight and constitutional freedom don't truck with reality either. In some cases (social welfare) maybe they're right? On things like government oversight (and therefore the size of government) I think most would agree they're wrong. Constitutional freedom.....well...that's pretty much what every American makes of it themselves. Some people think it's freedom to see the 10 Commandments in front of your court house, some think it's freedom to not. Some people think it's freedom to have an AK-47 in their closet to shoot on weekends or in self-defense, others think its freedom to not have to worry about your neighbor being part of a radical militia or a pack of gun toting drunken idiots.
People are so deep into their own personal world views these days that it's hard to convince them what reality actually is. So I won't go claiming democrats automatically peg their politics to reality.
Especially now, with the Internet bill, the new NDAA, and all this other loathsome shit democrats seem to be lining up to support.
Everyone's always been wrapped up in their own perspectives. The upper class has always wanted more wealth and power and prestige above all, the lower class has always wanted enough food to survive, and the "educated" middle class has always had some fanciful philosophy that was going to bring everyone together to live happily with one another.
They've always viewed the rich as the enemy and the poor as their allies, and they've always been wrong on both counts. The rich provide jobs and keep the peace. Anyone who's read enough history knows what happens in a time of "permanent revolution", like some Egyptians were calling for. And the poor don't care. They just want food and shelter, and as long as they have that they don't get caught up in any of these movements. They've got more important things to worry about. It's bored young middle class students who have time to make the world a better place.
The only thing the poor care about is God. And the poor who care about God, care about him a lot. The middle class doesn't care about God, they don't need him as much and they're more interested in movements that they think are the "next big thing". Of course, they think the movement is going to replace God in the hearts of the poor, whether it's Communism or socialism or Nazism. But the only thing that motivates the poor is hunger. Or God.
The Democrats want to build a better world using government as a tool. The Republicans want to revert to an idealized better world of the Industrial Revolution. Neither side is right. Neither side is rational or irrational. They both have agendas, they both have special interests, they both are driven by ideology, and there's nothing really wrong with any of that.
They each need to get the poor on their side. So the Democrats give bread, and the Republicans use God. The Democrats giving bread makes a lot of sense, the Republicans using God makes no sense at all, but everyone pretends it does because it gets their dude into office, and it can't be done it without the Evangelicals.
That's my theory, anyway. Please feel free to smash it all to smithereens. Obviously, it's a very simplistic model of a more complex world, but I think it works pretty well.
Enjoying this conversation, by the way. I actually lived in Zuccotti for a week and half, so I kind of got to see this at work- the middle class working hard to save the poor, the poor leaching off of them because they're hungry. I say it cynically, but it was actually very heartwarming to see how they took care of the homeless. I don't mean anything I said in a bad way, it's just an observation about human nature. Humans are still my favorite people ever.