The dirty secret about the silent majority is that the majority very rarely agrees on how to approach things from a detailed perspective. There may be more Republican voters in America than Democrats at any given moment, but when it comes to election time, you’ll see quite a few of them huff loudly, pick up their toys and go home.
Democrats have been handed elections on more than one occasion because of this issue, including to one tumor-necked man who could hardly string a coherent sentence together during the midterms.
Republicans are divided far more than they’re ever united. Individually, Republicans tend to be far more put together than Democrats, but in a group, Republicans aren’t half as united or organized. This is because Republican voters tend to lean more toward individualism than collectivism. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, individualism is one of the highest American values.
But the fierceness of this individualism causes Republicans to trip over their own feet when it comes to elections. This problem wouldn’t be so bad if that fierceness was tempered.
I’ve been all over the country and have attended countless conservative/Republican gatherings, and I can tell you that there are people out there who believe so rigidly in their ideas about how this country should be run and how we can get there that there is no reasoning with them. The words “I disagree on this one issue” can, in many cases, equal a slap in the face. For all the grief we give Democrats for being over-emotional, it’s not hard to frustrate a conservative when it comes to policy differences.
And nothing makes these policy differences rear their beautiful heads like a presidential election. It’s during these times that a pattern develops.
People decide who they’re going to support for one reason or another. This naturally leads to people making cases for their respective candidates. This then leads to arguments developing, and these arguments devolve into badmouthing opponent candidates. This then leads to bitterness, which leads to hate—which leads to the dark side, Anakin.
Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene brought this up recently with references to the ongoing flame wars being waged between Donald Trump’s and Ron DeSantis’s camps:
The online personal fights between Trump and DeSantis influencers needs to stop.
It makes everyone look bad and helps no one.
We are in $31T in debt, our border is out of control w/ 300+ people dying daily from drugs, our economy sucks, our kids are being groomed and indoctrinated by Pedos, we are fighting a war in a foreign country against a nuclear armed superpower that has caused skyrocketing inflation and changed the balance of world alliances creating BRICS that may destroy our dollar.
Focus on the real enemies causing all of these extremely serious problems.
She’s not wrong. One of the greatest issues Republicans face every election is infighting that gets too personal, and by the time the lever-pulling begins in the general, some voters are so embittered from the fighting during the primary that they refuse to embrace the candidate who won it.
Republicans don’t show up, while the Democrats march lockstep right into the White House.
What I’m not suggesting is that Republicans link hands and sing “Kumbaya.” I’m not even saying that they have to watch their tone around each other. What I am saying is exactly what Greene is saying. It need not become personal. There’s no value there for anyone. It’s just an itch that develops when we find ourselves getting angry over the impersonal and loses us potential future allies when we scratch it.
By all means, debate and argue until you pass out, but remember during an election that friends are far more valuable than enemies, and your opponent today might be your greatest ally tomorrow.