What will it take for people to turn away from the GOP

[edhopper]

I daily see stories of GOP polit6icians, many in leadership positions, saying and promoting the most vile, corrupt and just plain ignorant things.
They brought us a unmitigated disaster of a war and almost destroyed the economy. Yet they control both Houses and have a shot at the WH.

It seems the GOP has succeeded in making Americans worry about the most trivial nonsense while ignoring the true problems.

What will it take for the voters of America to wake up.

[F4lconF16]

1. They don't want to wake up.

They are actively pushing further rightwards. I'd say it will take them until they have nothing left to realize that they just got screwed, and unfortunately, I think when that happens they're more likely to set up a new nationalistic Nazi-ish state than they are to turn around and help each other out.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I don't think we'll ever see that

Especially amongst the Far Right Christians who believe in end of times scenarios. Read - Republican Gomorrah if you get the chance. That's one group that will always be with the Republicans.

Because they love a 'redemption' story. These are the sort of people who voted for Vitter. As long as you praise Jesus and claim to be saved they will lock step and goose step and support you.

[edhopper]

3. These responses

are so depressing.

[YoungDemCA]

4. A better question to ask, IMO, is "what will it take to get more Democrats to the polls?"

When Democrats turn out -as we saw in the 2012 and especially the 2008 presidential elections - Democrats win. Simple logic, right? Unfortunately, the last two midterm elections saw a big drop off in the number of Democratic voters. I blame this on three things:

1) Democratic voters being disproportionately working class/poor, lower-income, and as a result, having a lot less time to even think about politics, or pay attention, because of the stresses of daily life - especially since the Great Recession and the deeeply uneven recovery.

2) Republican lawmakers in many states being acutely aware of who votes for them - and who doesn't (What do you think all those Voter ID and other restrictive voting laws were about? ).

3) Intense negative media attention directed at President Obama - and by extension, the Democrats. A lot of Democratic candidates for office last time around weren't even willing to say that they had voted for the Democratic President. Pathetic!

That's how I see it. Furthermore, we can't just go home once the elections are over. Elections are but one part of the democratic process. And the right-wingers have been pulling no punches, and are showing us no quarter.

All of this is why building truly grassroots social movements, organizing, agitating, etc. is the only way forward. You can't just passively rely on politicians to "do the right thing." That never happens!