{"id":46449,"date":"2024-02-13T12:12:53","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T18:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/garlandjournal.com\/?p=46449"},"modified":"2024-02-13T12:12:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T18:12:56","slug":"voters-values-and-delusions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garlandjournal.com\/46449\/news\/voters-values-and-delusions\/","title":{"rendered":"Voters\u2019 Values and Delusions"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/texasmetronews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/John-Johnson.jpg?w=880&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"John-Johnson\" class=\"wp-image-69592\" style=\"width:177px;height:auto\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>John Johnson<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>By John Johnson II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Voters are as essential&nbsp; to our republic as&nbsp; the US Constitution is to our democracy. Yet,&nbsp; VALUES are the underlying elements that determine the existence as well as the sustainability\/integrity of our \u201crepublic.\u201d One\u2019s values are&nbsp; the basic human beliefs that influence a voter\u2019s reasons for&nbsp; identifying with a particular political party as well as casting their sacred ballot for a particular political candidate. Consequently, it\u2019s&nbsp; voters\u2019 values that interact with Voters\u2019 delusions to determine how they\u2019ll vote and to whom they\u2019ll cast their ballots. (Definitions extrapolated from Google\u2019s Oxford Languages).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A voter is&nbsp; \u201ca person who votes or has a legal right to vote.\u201d Delusions (persecutory) definition is, \u201ca person believing conspiratorial threats against them,&nbsp; obstructed from pursuing&nbsp; long-term goals, and holding false beliefs or judgements about external reality despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To grasp the interactions&nbsp; between&nbsp; voters\u2019 values&nbsp; and delusions, examine the following vignettes (short narrative\/stories) using fictitious characters Ted and Susan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>VIGNETTE<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>I:<\/strong>&nbsp;<strong>Ted<\/strong>&nbsp;was born into a Christian family that identified as Democrats with progressive values.&nbsp;<strong>Susan<\/strong>&nbsp;was born into an Evangelical family that identified as Republican with ultra conservative values. Both Children as adults remain true to their parents\u2019 religion, political affiliation, and values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s important to note that the Democratic and Republican Party offered&nbsp; distinctly different political platforms. Briefly,&nbsp;<strong>Ted\u2019s<\/strong>&nbsp; Democrats proffered&nbsp; race inclusivity, Workers\u2019 rights, equal pay, regulations, social programs, equality for all, pro-choice, higher taxes on the rich, champion reproductive and voter\u2019s rights, and defend the US Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Susan\u2019s&nbsp;<\/strong>Republicans proffered&nbsp; race exclusivity, reduced taxes for the rich, limited govt. regulations, reduced social programs, extended workers\u2019 rights, free market,&nbsp; pro-life, restricted reproductive and voter\u2019s rights. And defended the US Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The presidential election for 2024 is fast approaching.&nbsp;<strong>Ted<\/strong>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<strong>Susan<\/strong>&nbsp;must decide to cast their vote for the Democrat or Republican candidate.&nbsp; Using the actual prospective presidential candidates, Biden, and Trump, what will determine their choice of candidates?&nbsp; Will their choice be based on their values or voters\u2019 delusions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a given that America is a republic rather than a democracy. It\u2019s a \u201crepublic\u201d because its citizens&nbsp; vote to elect their representatives. As a democracy, it merely means that the people allow their elected officials to manage, in accordance with the US Constitution.&nbsp; However, to destroy either of these essential political cornerstones&nbsp; would give rise to the collapse of America\u2019s existence as a \u201crepublic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>America\u2019s&nbsp; voters have opportunities to examine their party\u2019s political platform and listen to each candidate\u2019s verbal orations regarding the application and implementation of their policies. Will their values influence them to vote as a Democrat or Republican?&nbsp;&nbsp; Will&nbsp; America\u2019s voters\u2019 values&nbsp; cause them to favor maintaining&nbsp; a democracy or&nbsp; will their delusions cause them to support dismantling&nbsp; it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>VINGETTE II:&nbsp;<\/strong>Trump has publicly stated the following: 1) he wants to be a dictator for a day, 2) wants immunity against prosecution for any crimes committed, 3) wants to shred the Constitution, 4) wants loyalty to him, 5) thinks women are chattel to be, insulted, grabbed and sexually abused, 6) exploits white supremacists\u2019 racism, 7) thinks SCOTUS is his property, 8) proposes dangerous policies for selfish political gains( shutting&nbsp; down government; keeping boarders open), 9) extols&nbsp; racial exclusivity and 10) Braggs he could shoot someone and not lose voters.&nbsp;<strong>Do your values align with Trump?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>VIGNETTE III:<\/strong>&nbsp;Biden vows the following: 1) will govern in accordance with his oath to the US Constitution, 2) doesn\u2019t seek any immunity not allowed under the Constitution, 3) respects the rights of all individuals, 4) detest white supremacy ideology, 5) doesn\u2019t attempt to divide races, 6) respects decision of SCOTUS, but recognizes its trend towards staunch conservative positions, 7) uses the veto rather than selfish\/detrimental tactics to score political victories, 8) extols racial inclusivity, 9) hasn\u2019t bragged about shooting or assaulting anyone, 10) recognizes he\u2019s&nbsp; not immortal.&nbsp;<strong>Do your values align with Biden?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>VINGETTE IV:<\/strong>&nbsp;Voters\u2019 delusions constitute a serious threat to democracy when millions tend to believe a distorted&nbsp; view of reality. Trump tried to overthrow the 2020 election but failed. Yet he managed to convince millions that he didn\u2019t lose. For MAGA supporters, their reality is that Trump didn\u2019t lose, despite the Courts concluded that he did lose.&nbsp; They also concluded that&nbsp; the lost wasn\u2019t \u2019 due to fraudulent&nbsp; voting. Is believing that Trump didn\u2019t lose a delusion or beliefs of a white supremacists?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>CONCLUSION:&nbsp;<\/strong>America as&nbsp; a&nbsp;<strong>\u201crepublic\u201d<\/strong>&nbsp; stands at a&nbsp;<strong>juxtaposition<\/strong>. Will voters\u2019, such as Ted,&nbsp; values of and for a&nbsp; democracy influence&nbsp; them to identify with a political party that seeks to defend and protect it? Or will&nbsp; voters\u2019 delusions, such as Susan,&nbsp; allow their&nbsp; values and self-serving concept of reality to embrace the Republican&nbsp; party and&nbsp; vote for their&nbsp; potential presidential candidate, Trump, in the 2024 presidential election?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s profoundly&nbsp; beyond insanity that America, the most powerful democratic nation in the world, yet&nbsp; remains one of the most racist. Despite surviving the Revolutionary war of 1812, Civil War of 1861, two World Wars, and countless senseless struggles, hatred, bigotry, racism, and the abdominal ideology of white supremacy still divides our nation.&nbsp; The&nbsp; Republican Party and MAGA&nbsp; supporters seek to dismantle democracy simply because it now threatens white supremacy due to social and legislative forces&nbsp; moving it towards a more perfect&nbsp; union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>YOU BE THE JUDGE!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cConvince me once to believe your delusions shame on you, convince me twice to believe your delusions, shame on me!\u201d  John Johnson II, 02\/07\/24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":46450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1224,1696,20520,851,516,20521,20154,253,6202],"class_list":["post-46449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-biden","tag-constitution","tag-delusions","tag-democracy","tag-democrats","tag-political-affiliation","tag-religion","tag-republican-party","tag-voters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - 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