Are Most Republicans Sheep?

http://www.davidcorn.com/2005/01/ar...

Are Most Republicans Sheep?
David Corn
January 26, 2005

I try not to denigrate entire groups of people—like the French, professional wrestling fans or even telephone solicitors. Actually, the French were quite nice to me on a recent trip to Paris, and I find it difficult not to condemn all telephone solicitors to the most unpleasant nooks of hell. But I may have to break this rule altogether for Republicans. I’m starting to wonder: do Republicans know how to process facts and think for themselves? This fall—thanks to a survey conducted by the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes—we learned that 72 percent of Republicans believe Iraq had actual weapons of mass destruction, even after it had been widely reported that the Bush administration’s own WMD hunters had concluded that Iraq had absolutely no WMD or active WMD programs in the years prior to the invasion. Three-quarters of Republicans also said that Saddam Hussein had provided substantial assistance to al Qaeda. Which meant they had either ignored or dismissed the conclusions of the independent 9/11 commission and the CIA. Both found no evidence of any operational alliance between Iraq and Osama bin Laden’s murderous outfit.

Now the Pew Research Center reports that 66 percent of Republicans say "we all should be willing to fight for our country whether it is right or wrong." Think about it. That means Republicans believe it is perfectly fine to sacrifice their fellow citizens (those who volunteer for military service) and to kill people overseas—even innocent civilians (since accidents do happen in war)—for a mistake. In other words—or is it the same words?—two-thirds of Republicans are willing to see others die for no good reason.

Shouldn’t Americans, as well as the citizens of all lands, ask questions (even if politely) whenever their leaders tell them, "It’s time for you to kill and die"? Apparently most Republicans believe only in saluting. (One-third of Democrats agreed with this sentiment.) They will put aside critical analysis and blindly follow. Or maybe only when their own party is in charge. What is particularly disturbing about the answer to this poll question is that it does not measure the respondents’ willingness to trust government leaders. After all, it’s certainly possible that occasionally an administration, through hook and by crook, might be able to convince its citizens that a wrong action is a right one. (You think?) But the Pew Center question was exploring a different issue: would you support your government in prosecuting an unjust war? It did not put it in such blunt terms. The Pew Center used more colloquial terminology—just the sort of rhetoric usually deployed in political debates. Thus, the Pew Center determined that Republicans would spill blood for a mistake if spilling blood was equated with supporting the country.

I’d like to see what these Republicans would say if asked, "Would you be willing to give up your own life or that of a son or daughter for a war you believed was absolutely boneheaded?" But that’s not how these questions get framed in real life.

It’s hard to resist the cheap comparison of the GOPers’ fight-for-my-country-right-or-wrong attitude to the we-we’re-just-following-orders excuse used by you-know-who after World War II. But a large majority of Republicans, out of a distorted sense of loyalty to homeland, say they would should support a war that should not have been waged. They seem to believe it is a citizen’s obligation to say "Yes, sir," and further the wrong. This is not patriotism. This is behaving like sheep.