Concentric Circles
Iowa in particular is an anomaly. They use an old caucus system that seems a lot more exclusive than newer primary systems. As others have pointed out, about ten percent of the voting public participated in the caucus. So, if Donald Trump got about 50 percent of the Republican vote then he really got somewhere between two and three percent of the state. So, we should hold off before we write off the state of some kind of group of backwards hicks.
To be perfect fair, every state has those folks and it isn’t limited to just two or three percent of the population. Life would be a whole lot better if it was. As teachers, we see this on the front lines. We have a lot of students that are interested in the world around them and finding out more about it works. We also have students that just couldn’t care less.
However, there is a phenomenon that is beginning to cripple our politics. Iowa and New Hampshire are perfect examples. Ask them the issues that are most important to them and they will immediately point out immigration. Why? Is there a flood of immigrants moving into Iowa from anywhere? It’s in the middle of the damn country. New Hampshire is closer to Canada, so I suppose it is possible they will literally have a higher percentage of immigrants move there, but I am reasonably sure those aren’t the immigrants we are fighting over.
The concept of concentric circles is a pretty easy one. The center circle represents the portion of the population that is directly affected by an issue. They themselves are immigrants. So, immigration policy definitely matters to them. As we keep drawing circles we keep moving further and further away in effect. So, the second circle might by a close family member and close friends. Then, we move further and further away from those directly effected.
You will notice that almost universally the people that complain the loudest are the people in that last circle. That also happens to be the majority of the population. On some level it makes sense. If I don’t care about anyone in that population then I also don’t care if we take care of them. I could be convinced that they are a drain on society and if I can’t put a human face on it then it is more difficult for me to push back against that negativity. Yet, there is a logical breakdown. If I live in Iowa or New Hampshire that what immigrant to sucking up my resources or taking my job?
We’ve had hysterical periods where this has reared its ugly head. We use hysterical in both versions of the word. There is a hysteria here that doesn’t make sense and it is certainly more than hysterical to the rest of us. Towns in Montana and other northern states banned refugees. How many refugees are traipsing up to Montana or Wyoming anyway?
We could certainly find other issues with this phenomenon. The LGTBQ+ community certainly faces this issue front and center. People that don’t have any LGTBQ+ amongst their close family or friends suddenly care deeply about the subject and make all kinds of assumptions about how many it represents. It is spreading like wildfire and yet they still don’t know anyone personally effected. It’s a breakdown of logic and reason.
The key is thinking of politics in terms of concentric circles. I need to vote for those issues where I or someone I care about is in the center circle. If I don’t know anyone impacted by that particular issue then why I am basing my vote on it. The secret is in letting go of the hysteria and using our brain. Am I impacted by this? Even if a politician did everything they promised would it make a positive impact on my life?
“ The concept of concentric circles”
Yep. Now arm those anti-immigration folks in Iowa and NH with shotguns, and what I see is a circular firing squad that injures everyone, no matter whether they’re in an outer circle, inner circle, or if they have a gun “to protect themselves” or not.
1Maybe you can explain to us why too many people vote against their own best interests, Nick. You speak of matters with concentric circles. As a math type person that is much appreciated. TFG added layers of polarization to the circles. It seems to be to the point where there’s the “Big Tent” of the Democratic Party with the GOP running in circles to nowhere without a ringmaster.
2024 should be a Democratic tsunami ***if only*** the DNC and the candidates “do the messaging.” Such as why would anyone receiving social security vote GOP. Or, those of us with school age children evuh pull the “R” lever. Basically select the issues most important to each individual Congressional district and hammer on those messages.
Send us a lifeline please, Nick. Really. It seems so simple, yet again why do people vote against their own interests? For example, why are not Republican women in Texas ready to join Democratic women to roll Greg Abbott out of office? In fact, in ALL the states where the GOP has been conducting its war on women, LGBTQ+ and any ‘others’ they perceive as not being white, male and members of the .01 percenter class.
lol For example explain to the folks of Utah why they pay more taxes than Mitt Romney for example. There’s a “message” for every state and every district. There are solutions, but the GOP will nevuh be part of those solutions any time soon.
2The article reminded me of my annual phone call to my maga brother to wish him merry Christmas, happy birthday and welcome to the 70’s club. It didn’t take long for what I hoped would be a non political call to go very R. Long story short, my brother had been on Medicaid for several years because he is disabled and unable to work. Medicaid made it possible to pay for expensive medications to control his health issue. Like many states, Ideeho decided to kick people off medicaid (next to Texas, Ideeho has the largest number of residents kicked off Medicaid- it was a very red state decision, not Joe Biden or Democrats). Here’s where the article reminded me of my brother. He says he was kicked off Medicaid because the government is putting his money into supporting immigrants. That’s his #1 issue now and trumpf will fix it.
3I’ve seen some encouraging ads on social media this week. Today there was a veterans group honing in with no mercy on TFGs LIES about supporting the military. More of this!
4How TF such a miniscule number of Iowan GrOPer, and NH, voters can [continue to] have such an influence on our national politics is just insane.
The total number of those Iowa caucassers was a mere 110,298, of which 56,260, 51.01%, voted for the MAGAotMaster.
So our media has been and is saturated with ‘news’ of this chickenshit non-event 24/7 for weeks on end.
Who gives a damn, we know who the MAGAots are going to run against Biden come hell or high water.
My present SoTX county has 15K fewer residents than Dijiot got votes, my previous RG Valley county, Cameron, has ~450,000 residents. Were they to hold primary elections would anybody pay attention? Hell no.
As far as “immigration” being the number 1 GrOPer-MAGAot issue, that’s ludicrous. Those cretins know almost nothing about the issue.
The ones who profit the most from illegal immigrants are small to medium sized businesses, almost all owned and operated by Rethuglikans.
And I can assert these facts as probably the only person on this forum who has actually employed illegal aliens in the past, and even transported them across the US-Mexico border at times [both ways].
I knew, and interacted with, many others who also employed illegals [but probably didn’t transport them]: such as judges, Border Patrol officers and many others. In our border environment, in those times [’60s-70s+], it was a common, accepted practice by many people.
My ex insisted that we have a gardener and 1 or 2 maids, but I had employed them long before that, at various tasks.
Besides, after decades of dealing with the stupidities of ‘Snowbirds’, Iowans were generally considered the dumbest of the lot. It’s an effing miracle that as many of them survive the long drive down to the Valley, considering how bad their driving was/is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Iowa_Republican_presidential_caucuses
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowbird_(person)
5Steve @3, Amazing how little the average MAGAot knows.
6A MAGAot who’s literally been kept alive by social benefits such as Medicaid [and presumably Medicare], brought to him and us by Democrats, and continually under attack and destruction by Rethuglikans; and he doesn’t have a clue…
Well, perhaps his antediluvian states’ actions will at least remove him and a number of others from the voting pool; and they’ll never realize what actually put them six feet under, still blaming Demonrats and Uncle Commie Joe as the casket lid is closed.
Are massive numbers of immigrants coming into Iowa, Nick asks knowingly?
Yes, as a matter of fact.
In 1975, when ‘boat people’ were in the news, Iowa (under Gov. Robert Ray, Republican, was the ONLY STATE to establish a refugee resettlement office. Iowa ended up with the highest proportion of Indochinese immigrants of any staTe except California.
There were already, at that time, enough Mexican immigrants in Iowa to support a statewide Mexican basketball league.
Anyone who paid attention to the school shooting this month would have noticed that Perry, Iowa, is 30% Hispanic.
7Thank you for the history lesson from 1975. Now, let’s move back to reality and look at the last census information.
White: 83.7 percent
Hispanic or Latino: 6.9 percent
African American: 4.4 percent
Asian: 2.8 percent
Two or More: 2.2 percent
Their own basketball league. Geez, that’s impressive in a state with a population of over three million people. I can form an eight team league with ten players per team. Wow, that’s some impressive math there.
Sorry, but anyone that isn’t a border state complaining about immigration is just pissing in the wind. You’ll notice these folks are the ones complaining the loudest. Thanks for the history lesson though.
8Couple of fun facts. 30% Hispanic is true in Perry. But Nick’s got the
9statewide stats down by every source.
White population down 10 points in 50 years.
That’s not as steep as in California (down 38 points over the same period), but indicates considerable non-white immigration. Understates it, actually, since whites have been leaving for, eg, California.
10