Sean McElwee Jason McDaniel
Recently
the online Magazine Vox published a piece entitled “There’s Powerful Evidence that Racial
Attitudes Drive Tea Party Support” (http://www.vox.com/2016/2/10/10943196/trump-racial-resentment-vs-economic-anxiety)
that would lead a reader to believe that (1) there is significant and reliable
data about the motives (thought processes of various voters) and (2) that
journalists (English Majors) actually understand math and statistics...MOST DON’T! Neither do most Poli Sci professors...sorry.
The
primary problem with the piece in question is that there’s NO reliable MATH, which
means there’s NO “reliable evidence”
that much Tea Party support is driven by racial animus, at least no more so
than that of most “paternalistic white Leftists.”
There are no studies, nor even enough anecdotal
evidence to support the view that, “The Tea Party is racist," or, in any
way, motivated by race. I made a similar mistake a few years ago writing about
various signage at some Tea Party rallies. Various Tea Party groups claimed
that those signs were "plants" from outside groups...and well, in the
end, that simply couldn't be proven otherwise.
Worse yet, in a number of cases, well-meaning
Left-of-Center advocates DID admit
to bringing nazi signs, etc. to such rallies...an epically DUMB idea. It would've been far better to focus on what I did (I'm
an engineer, NOT an English Lit major)
and that was on the numerous absurdities and incongruities of many of the real
Tea Partiers, people with slogans like, "Get the government out of my Social
Security," etc.
Moreover, it turns out that the majority of those
who support Trump are NOT Tea Party
people, NOT even Conservative, they
are mostly Independents and disaffected Democrats, more angry at the innate
unfairness of today's Corporatism, also called "Crony Capitalism"
(when government seeks to help certain favored, "socially conscious"
companies. Yes, an increasing amount of the American people are angered by
that. This refusal to acknowledge what's really going on by largely unqualified
"journalists" is a huge problem today. You really need a heavy math
background to write effectively about politics and economics, because those
subjects always come down to quadratic equations with multiple variables.
Without a strong math background it’s impossible to
determine what motivates people who are viscerally opposed to affirmative
action’s race/gender preferences. The math tells us that the vast majority of
those people oppose it because they DO
NOT want to see various ethnic groups marginalized and handicapped by such
preferences and many argue that our standards across the board are already too
low. The math seems to agree, but it is not as yet conclusive on that last
point. Certain fields of endeavor have maintained standards better than others.
The problem with pieces like this is that they cheer
up ONLY those already in the choir, while they not only further anger the
swelling opposition, but alienate Independents as well.
WHY
do that?
I believe it comes down, once again, to NOT understanding the math involved.
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