Thucky: Textbook Case of a Neo-Religious Conservative

Posted by Bob Lord

One of our readers and frequent commenters, Bess, suggested that we just ignore ole Thuckarooskie. That would be the conventional approach. But I actually think we may be on to something, so let's not stop just yet.

In Thing Two About Thucky, I guessed that the Thuckster is a religious dude, based on his conservatism and his blind faith in the economists he reveres. Turns out I likely nailed it, because he would have been the first to tell me if I had not. 

Upon further reflection and discovery (Thucky gives us new insights into his pathology on a regular basis), I realize the religious aspect of him is tied far more closely to his persona than I first surmised. 

The economists Thucky cites are not the only humans to whom he ascribes God-like qualities. He speaks of the "titans of industry" and the so-called "job creators" with similar reverence. In a recent comment, he actually defended the wealth accumulation of both Cornelius Vanderbilt and Sam Walton. By all appearances, Thucky is so enamored of Sam Walton that he thinks it okay that his bratty great-grandchildren live in opulence because of old Sam's great deeds. 

To Thucky, imposing stiff taxes on folks like Sam Walton and Cornelius Vanderbilt would be blasphemy. He wants to lower the capital gains tax rate to a measly five percent. Yet he rarely speaks out against taxes that apply to little people, such as sales taxes and employment taxes.

So what's going on here? Follow me after the jump.

Very religious people tend to have authoritarian mentalities. So do right-wing conservatives. John Dean writes about this in Conservatives Without Conscience. Dean explains that there actually are two types of authoritarian mindsets, one associated with the masses (the follower mentality) and one associated with the leaders (the leader mentality). 

The followers, the research shows, are especially submissive to established authority and aggressive towards others when they perceive such behavior to be sanctioned by established authorities. The authorities can be parents, employers, governmental officials, religious leaders, or others in a position of perceived authority. Authoritarian followers, Dean explains, are "intolerant of those who criticize their authorities, because they believe those authorities to be unassailably correct." Furthermore, "targets of right-wing authoritarian aggression are typically people perceived as being unconventional, like homosexuals."

Some other characteristics of authoritarian followers:

• Religion tends to influence their attitude towards sex
• They embrace the ideal of the traditional family
• Their thinking is more likely based on what authorities have told them rather than in their own critical judgment, causing their beliefs to be filled with inconsistencies
• They are hostile towards so many minorities they seem to be equal-opportunity bigots, yet they are generally unaware of their prejudices.

What about the leaders? They exhibit what's known as "social dominance orientation." As Dean explains, they are "people who seize every opportunity to lead, and who enjoy having power over others." They see the world as a competitive jungle, in which only the fittest survive. They tend to reject notions of equality, believing that "natural forces inevitably govern the worth of individuals and that people should have to earn their place in society."

The follower mindset and leader mindset are not mutually exclusive. Dean describes those who exhibit both mindsets together as "double highs," because they score highly on the respective tests for both the leader and the follower mentality. More on double highs later.

Now, consider the impact of authoritarian personalities on religious dogma.

First, we've seen the development of Prosperity Gospel. In a nutshell, Prosperity Gospel is a bastardized form of Christianity, rooted in Calvinism, the central tenet of which is that God rewards those God favors most with material wealth. Sort of the opposite of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, which taught that "You cannot serve both God and money" and, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

In hindsight, looking through the mindset of the authoritarian leader mentality, the development of Prosperity Gospel was inevitable.

Now, consider what the confluence of supply-side economics, the authoritarian mindset, and Prosperity Gospel bring us. We get a doctrine, which I call "neo-religious conservatism," that says the wealthy are God's favored people who have behaved as God wished. They should not be subject to high taxes. The rest of us, the slothful masses, should bear the burden of taxation. Thus, we have the authoritarian religious masses, the folks who fill the mega-churches, blindly believing that we can't tax the wealthy, even though they themselves will never have a pot to pee in. In other words, some of inequality's worst victims act as it's most staunch defenders. 

Finally, consider our friend Thucky. Thucky is a textbook example of the neo-religious conservative mindset. Does he exhibit ultra-religious tendencies. Well, besides what I pointed out in prior posts, consider this gem of a comment:

It was Charles Darwin, hero of the left, who named the Germans the master race, not Adolph Hitler. His theory wasn't natural selection but the domination and differentiation of the "favoured races." Thus was born Eugenics and the moral permission to feed 3 million Jews into the furnaces and 3 million babies into the abortion mills. Darwin specifically gave approval to the eradication of Jews and Africans.

Now, check out how he scores on some of the traits of the authoritarian follower mindset:

Embracing the ideal of the traditional family? Consider this one, in the wake of the Newtown tragedy:

Divorce is more common killers are much more likely to come from fractured homes. More wealth easier to buy a gun.

Thuck's reaction to the tragedy was to blame gun violence on divorce. I'd say he shows that trait. 

How about being an equal opportunity bigot, yet being unaware of his own prejudices? Check out these pearls of wisdom:

• People aren't as anxious to work anymore. The flat screen tv, a beer from the fridge,, cheap movies from netflixs. Why do that bothersome thing called work.

• Really? Really? Bilingual voting, thats what this controversy is about? People who can't understand English being able to determine our leaders?

• The evidence never made it to trial. Results go to motivation and constitutionality. Saving over 100 lives a year, the lives of 70 kids, saving the economic lifes of over 20,000 families by keeping the famiky car from being stolen, has a presumption of constitutionality, asking people for their papers has no presumption. Arpaio obviously targeted crime correctly given his results, not hispanics. Thats why low income hispanics support his work, they are the victims of brown on brown violence and they were the huge beneficiaries. Half the childrens lives saved were hispanic. [Contending that Arpaio did not engage in racial profiling]

• Murders in Maricopa county are down 50% in the last five years. Auto thefts are down 50%. DUI fatalities are down 50%. Thirty of those DUI fatality reductions are Hispanic children. As are most of the murders and car thefts saving Hispanic victims. Arpaio saved Hispanic families. A story untold. [Also in defense of Arpaio]

Not convinced yet? How about this?

As for Huppenthal hating public education and hispanics, that's not going to wash. Huppenthal grew up in south Tucson, all of his friends were Hispanics. He was the only Caucasian in his social group. Jimmy Ortega, Manny Gonzales, Luis Rodriguez, Charlie Praciado, Marcelino Lucero. Just because he won't support the "we hate Whitey" curriculum of extreme Chicano activists doesn't mean he can't do well among Hispanics.

How about thinking being guided by what authorities tell him, not by critical thinking? I've covered that one ad nauseum in prior posts. 

So, Thucky demonstrates the authoritarian follower mindset.

But that alone wouldn't be all that remarkable. After all, the flock at megachurches, and many Catholics, fit this description.

What makes Thucky special is that he demonstrates the authoritarian leader mindset as well. 

They are "people who seize every opportunity to lead, and who enjoy having power over others." They see the world as a competitive jungle, in which only the fittest survive. They tend to reject notions of equality, believing that "natural forces inevitably govern the worth of individuals and that people should have to earn their place in society."

We don't know enough yet about Thucky to comment on the first sentence of the description, but the rest of the description fits Thucky like a glove. Moreover, Thucky demonstrates a trait that distinguishes double highs from ordinary authoritarian leaders -- religiosity.

So, by all appearances, Thucky may be a "double high" authoritarian. These folks, Dean, explains, are the most dangerous. They are essentially sociopathic. Bill Frist, once considered presidential timber by the right, was a double high. He also purchased animals from shelters and conducted experiments on them. Double high authoritarians see the world through the lens of themselves in charge. Thus, they believe in submission to authority, because they believe others should submit to them.

Here's Dean summarizing Bob Altmeyer's observations about double highs:

Altmeyer observed that if Double Highs were “in control of a school prayer, or anti-homosexual, or anti-immigration, or anti-feminist, or anti-abortion, or anti-gun-control movement – not to mention a military force,” they could pose a serious threat. This not only because of their own ideology and nature, but because “they lead people who are uninclined to think for themselves” – submissive, gullible right-wing authoritarian followers, who “are brimming with self-righteousness and zeal, and are fain to give dictatorship a chance.

That brings us full circle to where I started this post, Bess's suggestion that we just ignore the Thuckmeister, as we would any troll (Dang, for example). My analysis, however, tells me that Thucky is no ordinary troll. He exhibits the worst of the worst of the authoritarian, neo-religious mindset. It's a mindset we want to be able to recognize whenever we encounter it. To be forewarned, as they say, is to be forearmed. 

Comments

[Arizona Eagletarian]

It also sounds a LOT like the mindset of the GOP caucuses in each chamber of the AZ Lege. They demonstrated an incredible level of groupthink with the passage of SB1062 and subsequent television interviews defending it.

[Thucydides]

This commentary does not honestly portray my positions, in fact, once you understand the reality of the situation, your comments are the opposite of the truth.

Sam Walton, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Vanderbilt (transported to the modern era) would never pay a dime in capital gains taxes. Only the small investor pays those, not the 1% and especially not the .1% and their children. Warren Buffet's entire empire is built around never, ever paying taxes. He has earned $55 billion without ever paying a penny of tax on it.

The illusion of your column is that we are currently taxing them and that I want to somehow give them a break is completely false.

[Donna Gratehouse]

Great post, Bob. Anti-choicers are for sure double high authoritarians. The idea of women being independent beings able to refuse a man's "seed" makes them boil with anger.

[Bob Lord]

Well, your comment is telling. If your biggest beef with my analysis is that you disagree on whether the Waltons and Bill Gates will pay capital gains taxes, then I did rather well. After all, that item was minor, minor part of the post.

And you're wrong to boot. For stockholders in publicly held corporations, dividends and capital gains are practially interchangeable. If yuu lower the cap gains rate, you pretty much have to lower the rate on dividends as well. Otherwise, corporations simply forgo dividend distributions and buy back shares instead. Truth is, one of the few things W Bush did that made sense was equalize the capital gains and dividend rates.

And for folks like the Waltons and Bill Gates, dividend income is a fairly large chunk of their income. So, taking your lead and lowering the cap gains rate to 5% indeed would help our nation's plutocrats, not to mention the hedge fund managers whose incomes, derived from their carried interests, are largely comprised of capital gains.

[Bob Lord]

Anti-choice politicians do indeed tend to be double-highs, although the thumpers that flock to the mega-churches tend to be authoritarian followers.

And, in the context of choice, the hypocrisy of double high authoritarians surfaces whenever they are faced with an unwated pregnancy.

A perfect example of anti-choice double-highs would be the C Street house.