It is not shocking that there are some Republicans who seem bent on destroying the middle class and bent on the dilution of American democracy. It happens for all kinds of reasons. Some are motivated by some vain esoteric delusion that they are right. Others are motivated by acts of political obstruction to a functioning government and sedition bordering on treason to gain political leverage. The rest are just greedy men with greedy and powerful allies who hate the middle class and everyone else who is not wealthy.
What is not so easily understood is the passionate defense of the wealthy with which poor and working middle class Americans seem obsessed. One explanation is that, generally speaking, the masses aren't critical thinkers and just aren't very smart. But included among those who support this internal attack on America and the middle class are educated and seemingly smart Americans who champion their own demise.
In their attack on democracy and the middle-class, the wealthy and their Republican confederates had to convince white Americans of many things that are opposed to democracy and opposed to a healthy middle class.
1. They had to convince a white middle class that it is alright to deny some people their constitutional rights. On this issue, a lack of widespread outrage from the white middle class comes as no real surprise. When any person or a group of people think it is OK to deny other people their personal rights and personal dignity, it is because they believe it will never happen to them. They forget that they can always be next.
2. They had to convince members of the working class that, like the conservative bastardization of the word liberal, the bastardization of the concept of entitlements made entitlements a bad word. They also had to convince working Americans that even white conservative citizens who retired after working 20 - 40 years in the public sector--including teachers, firefighters, nurses, government employees, and police offices-- were receiving retirement funds they did not earn and to which they were not entitled. Many white conservatives in these same groups voted for conservative politicians who espoused this nonsense. But, again, of course, they believed these politicians were talking about someone else and not them.
3. With the promise of jobs that never materialized, poor and middle class white America had to buy into the belief that widespread deregulation of businesses and industries that pollute, steal, and do all kind of nasty things to them and their children is good for them. But regulations are there to protect Americans from businesses and industries that pollute, steal, and do all kinds of other nasty things that hurt American families.
4. Finally, using emotional language that give conservative propaganda an air of authenticity, conservative pundits and Republican politicians had to convince poor, working class, and middle class Americans that they "don't need the government", the very government of which conservative Republicans are a detrimental part. They have even convinced some in the white middle class that they should not put their money in a federal or state retirement fund; nor pay into social security merely by using the phrase: "You can handle your money better than the government."
This emotional garbage may sound good to an emotional thinker. But as a matter of fact, on the whole, public sector retirees have much better retirements plans than private sector retirees. It is the one advantage of working 30 years for low pay and a lack of appreciation by the general public--especially the affluent public. And it is one of the things conservatives hate.
On the other hand, corporate employees have had their retirement funds and pension plans plundered and raped by corporations for all kinds of reasons, including to pay greedy CEOs and other corporate officers millions of unearned dollars to which they were not entitled.
Conservatives want the working class to believe that personally putting all their retirement investments into Wall Streets stock market works for them. Somehow, these people have forgotten the Enron debacle. And they apparently don't remember the millions who have invested in 401K funds only to have them eroded down to nothing when they were ready to retire. Conservatives want poor, working class, middle class Americans and their sons and daughters, broke, without hope, and without a government backed safety net.
Conservatives want poor, working class and middle class Americans wholly dependent on the wealthy who will desert them at every turn. It is the only way for them to have the American Plutocracy to which they believe they are entitled.
On this we can agree; Republicans are wrong and right on one issue. Americans need government; they just don't need abusive conservative Republican government. Poor, working class, and middle class Americans can ignore that fact at their peril.