Because of human nature.... needing something to feel superior over. This quote from Mississippi Burning always stuck with me: Anderson : You know, when I was a little boy, there was an old negro farmer that lived down the road from us, name of Monroe. And he was... well, I guess he was just a little luckier than my daddy was. He bought himself a mule. That was a big deal around that town. My daddy hated that mule, 'cause his friends were always kidding him that they saw Monroe out plowing with his new mule, and Monroe was going to rent another field now he had a mule. One morning, that mule showed up dead. They poisoned the water. After that, there wasn't any mention about that mule around my daddy. It just never came up. One time, we were driving down that road, and we passed Monroe's place and we saw it was empty. He just packed up and left, I guess, he must of went up north or something. I looked over at my daddy's face. I knew he done it. He saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he *was* ashamed. He looked at me and said, "If you ain't better than a ******, son, who are you better than?" Half my family is poor whites from East Texas/Southern Louisiana. "Black folks use welfare".
You've summed up how I feel politically. I want to start a political party and call it OK, Boomer. It would basically be a group of politicians that would stand on their own merits and pledge not to take lobbyist dollars. This is probably the only way to get it done, but obviously, it would never work.
You must admit 40 years is a long time. I am sure other groups have similar alliances. Self Interest is definitely a driving factor . . . one I can understand However, it seems some Republican planks are very much against alot of people who are voting for it. There are some planks that are just more important than others. Rocket River
This seems like the most logical statement that anyone can agree on. Hopefully the newly elected members who've run on this promise come through. It may take a generation though.
Have you ever seen "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia"? - For some, being declared disabled is a goal. For many, years of drug addiction lead to mental disability. I have a distant family member who fell into it bad.