Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Paranoia, American Style

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

There was a brief bit at Daily Kos  (www.dailykos.com) yesterday regarding a survey by Farleigh Dickinson University which put forth this interesting premise for a response:

"In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties."

Twenty-nine percent of respondents agreed with the statement, 47% disagreed, and 24% were unsure.  These numbers got dicier, however, when they were overlaid with the respondents' political party affiliations.

Eighteen percent of Democrats agreed with the statement (which is shameful), 61% disagreed, and 22% were unsure.

Independents were a bit more paranoid than Democrats.  Twenty-seven percent of them felt that an armed revolution might be necessary in the next few years in order to protect our (their) rights, 45% disagreed, and 27% were unsure.

And of course it should not surprise anyone that the most truly paranoid segment of the American political spectrum is the Republican party.  A whopping 44% of Republicans surveyed agreed with the proposition, 31% disagreed, and 25% were unsure.

Forty-four Republicans out of every one hundred believe that an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.  How many of those liberties do you suppose they can even name?

The biggie, of course, would be liberty number two - the one they interpret as the right to keep and bear any and as many arms that they damned well please.  And, not surprisingly, other research shows that Republicans are also more likely to be armed than Democrats or Independents.

Research conducted by the Gallup organization for the Gun Owners of America and released earlier this year shows that men are more likely to own guns than women by 43% to 35%, whites are more likely to own guns than non-whites by 44% to 27%, those with a high school degree (or less) are more likely than the more educated to own guns (barely), residents of the south are more likely to own guns than those in any other region of the country,  conservatives are more likely to have guns (49%) than moderates (37%) or liberals (22%), and, of course, Republicans are far more likely to own guns (49%) than Democrats or Independents (35% each).

If you're an under-educated, conservative, Republican, white male in the south - you're probably paranoid and packing.  The rest of us need to recognize that and deal with it.

1 comment:

Xobekim said...

Your conclusion seems sound, and refutes the shameful tag you gave to those 18% Democratic respondents. They may believe that the armed action will be needed if the radicalized Republicans seize the White House and both chambers of Congress.

We are seeing, state by state, the assaults on the rights of workers, women, education, and the dismantling of society's safety net by radicalized Republican Governors and their kowtowing legislatures.