The Apathy, Ignorance, and Selfishness of the American Voter

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm

Counties voting for Gore (blue) vs Bush (red). Residents of blue counties tend to be the largest users of government services. Typically small in area but large in population. It illustrates the conflict between those in the heartland of America that are producing and those that are taking.

Looking at these colors helps one to understand the wisdom of our forefathers in creating the Electoral College system. The difference in the vote count in just New York City might have elected Al Gore, in a popular vote only system.

"How did the 2004 election map of the United States come to look like a color-field painting by Barnett Newman? In fact, if you adjust the map's colors for votes by county, even the blue states turn mostly red. Pennsylvania is blue, but between blue Philadelphia and Pittsburgh every county in the state is red. California, except for the coastline, is almost entirely red." -- Daniel Henninger, www.opinionjournal.com/, 5 Nov 2004

Some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:
• Population of counties won by: Gore: 127 million; Bush: 143 million;
• Square miles of land won by: Gore: 580,000; Bush: 2,427,000
• States won by: Gore: 20 Bush: 30
• Murder rate in counties won by: Gore: 6.5; Bush: 4.1
In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the tax-paying citizens of this great country. Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off government welfare..." -- http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/tyler.asp

Gore vs Bush 2000

Source: AP 12/22/2000

Gore vs Bush 2000

Source: USA Today, snopes.com

Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm

Counties voting for Kerry (blue) vs Bush (red). Residents of blue counties tend to be the largest users of government services. Typically small in area but large in population. It illustrates the conflict between those in the heartland of America that are producing and those that are taking.

Looking at these colors helps one to understand the wisdom of our forefathers in creating the Electoral College system.

"How did the 2004 election map of the United States come to look like a color-field painting by Barnett Newman? In fact, if you adjust the map's colors for votes by county, even the blue states turn mostly red. Pennsylvania is blue, but between blue Philadelphia and Pittsburgh every county in the state is red. California, except for the coastline, is almost entirely red." -- Daniel Henninger, www.opinionjournal.com/, 5 Nov 2004

"The leftist media elite claim we [Christian voters] are selfish. Yet, as Feder points out, the 10 states which gave the highest amount of money to charity all went for Bush and the 10 states with the lowest amount of giving for charity all went for Kerry. You see, we are generous with our own money. The reason they claim we are selfish is because they value tax dollars over genuine charity." -- Paul M. Weyrich (Vilified Values Voters, 16 Nov 2004)

"The Left sure knows how to recover from an electoral defeat: slander the electorate. For some strange reason, liberal activists believe that after 60 million Americans pulled the lever for George W. Bush, the best strategy to win back power is to call those voters stupid." -- Ben Shapiro

"[T]housands of people were suppressed in the effort to vote. Voting machines were distributed in uneven ways. In Democratic [sic] districts, it took people four, five, eleven hours to vote, while Republicans [went] through in 10 minutes -- same voting machines, same process, our America." -- John Kerry, unwittingly acknowledging that the problems were in Democrat-controlled precincts

"'Disenfranchisement' actually means being denied the vote, but Democrats of late have started using it as a dysphemism for 'losing'." -- James Taranto

"I came here as a slave. I now want the right to vote." -- Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, Jan 2005 (Wow! She must be really old!)

"The Democrats have the blues. Their guy lost the White House. Their candidates lost campaigns for the U.S. House and Senate. The map of the United States looks like someone spilled a full can of red paint upon it; the few blue states now include the State of Denial." -- Rich Galen

"I know a lot of you believe that most people in the news business are liberal. Let me tell you, I know a lot of them, and they were almost evenly divided this time. Half of them liked Senator Kerry; the other half hated President Bush." -- CBS's Andy Rooney

"God may not be a Republican but he heard the fervent prayers of millions of values voters to keep His hand on America one more time despite our national sins of denying the right to life, despite ignoring the Biblical injunction against acts which are 'an abomination unto the Lord' and despite the blatant attempt to remove God from the public square. God gave this President and this President's Party one more chance. Will the President understand why he is still in office? Will Senators comprehend why the Republicans increased their majority? Will the Congress realize why the first sitting Senate leader was deposed since 1952? We shall see." -- Paul Weyrich

"If indeed all those blue states all got together and seceded from the union, think what would be left for those red states -- nothing. There would be no educational system. You would have nothing. What would be left to you? I mean, where is all of this talent in this country? It's on both sides, the Northeast corridor." -- Long-lost "actress" Geraldine Ferraro

"Since most of our military comes from red states, who do the blues imagine will defend them? The French? The Aspen Institute? An elite force of yoga instructors? Liberals have concocted a fantasy version of America, where all of the nation's brain-power and productivity reside in the blue states, while red America is a land of trailer parks, country-music bars, tractor-pulls and Klan rallies. (Quick, someone tell the Texans with their oil reserves, cattle and industrial output that they're a virtual wasteland.) ...Red state residents are portrayed as slack-jawed knuckle-draggers, ignorant, superstitious yokels inflamed by wily politicians and pernicious preachers." -- Don Feder

"Liberals are talking about the Blue States seceding from the Union. There's a map on the Internet of the Blue States joining Canada. ... Secession, if followed by invasion, conquest, occupation and, ultimately, cultural cleansing, is a terrible thing. Trust me, Southerners know about this. We need to help these Liberal hotheads cool down. ... [A]re the root causes worthy of sundering the Great Experiment -- Democracy in America? Apparently, the two most important reasons for secession are partial-birth abortion and homosexual marriage. The Liberals are kidding, right? They can't live in a society that bans infanticide -- as every state did before the U.S. Supreme Court made up law, science and medicine in 1973. And, Liberals can't survive where homosexuals can't marry -- as they never have, ever, from the tiniest tribe to the greatest (and most decadent) civilizations -- until last year in the Netherlands? Ok, maybe we can't make an argument against the sanctity of life and marriage just to keep the Liberals from leaving." -- James Atticus Bowden

"I don't feel like a member of society any more, I'm completely detached from the rest of the country. If it wasn't for my new job and my girlfriend, I'd leave right now. I had made plans, even talked to a Canadian friend about possibly marrying to get citizenship. Can California, the rest of the West Coast and New York secede?" --Chris Jackson, music director for E! Entertainment Network to the London Telegraph

"If you don't like living in a divided country, all you have to do is get yourself appointed to the university faculty somewhere and you will be able to experience the joys of living in a one-party state." -- James Taranto

"America isn't divided by political ethos or ethnic origin. America isn't divided by region or religion. America is divided by jerks. Who wants to bring a bunch of jerks together with the rest of us? Let them stew in Berkeley, Boston, and Ann Arbor....We are all sinners. But jerks revel in their sins. You can tell by their reaction to the Ten Commandments. Post those Ten Commandments in a courthouse or a statehouse, in a public school or a public park, and the jerks go crazy. Why is that? ....[J]erks take issue with every one of the Ten Commandments. Jerks are particularly offended by the first two Commandments....[W]e don't all agree about the meaning of 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.' However, we do all agree about 'Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them' when them is Freud, Marx, and Dan Rather....'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' The jerks have begun praising marriage lately. But only if the bride and groom each have a beard....'Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.' Especially not in return for vast wealth, abundant prizes, and lavish praise from fellow jerks. I'm talking to you, Michael Moore....[T]hink how important the Tenth Commandment is to a community, to a nation, indeed to a presidential election. If you want a mule, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don't be a jerk and whine about what the people across the street have -- go get your own." -- PJ O'Rourke, "An Alternative Inaugural Speech"

"Pollsters are finding that one of the best ways to discover whether a voter holds liberal or conservative value stands is to ask: How often do you go to church? Those who go often tend to be Republican, those who go rarely ot not at all tend to be Democratic." -- Thomas Edsall, Washington Post

"In this election, 61% of Bush's vote came from people of all faiths who attend services weekly (a group comprising 41% of the electorate); conversely, 62% of Kerry's vote came from people who never attend worship (accounting for 14% of the electorate)." -- The Wallbuilder Report, Winter 2005

[T]he two [California] counties with the lowest 'mental health scores' are Alameda, which includes Berkeley, and San Francisco, which is coterminous with the city. What else do these counties have in common? They are the California counties where John Kerry did best: 83% of the vote in San Francisco and 75% in Alameda. You don't have to be crazy to oppose President Bush, but it doesn't hurt. -- James Taranto

"By the time the sun set Thursday and the TV screens went black, Democrats showed they learned nothing from the last election....With their shrill badgering of Gonzales and the pandering challenge to Bush's Electoral College win, they inadvertently proved the wisdom of voters in giving the GOP control of Congress and the White House." -- Michael Goodwin, Jan 2005

"Democrats may be in the minority in Congress, but we speak for the majority of Americans." -- Ted Kennedy, D-Chappaquiddick, Jan 2005 (Huh?)

Kerry vs Bush 2004

Source: USA Today

Vote in 2004 by Church Attendance

Source: http://pewresearch.org/assets/files/trends2005-religion.pdf

Vote in 2008 by Church Attendance

Sources: http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=38850
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1022/exit-poll-analysis-religion