> First off not all in the republican party can be characterized this way.

Duh. Do I really need to preface every statement I make with "this is a generalization that doesn't apply to every single person" or can I just assume that you have some intelligence and don't assume everyone speaks in absolute terms and that when I said base, that quite obviously doesn't mean everyone.

> You are painting with very broad strokes.

That's rather the point of generalizing; it's useful.

> Many turn the republican party because they are the closest they can get to their economic beliefs.

Hopefully they're sobering up and realizing how ridiculous that choice was.

> Do you honestly believe this?

I observe this, it's not a matter of belief, I live in a red state and see it constantly.

> Do you get your views of republicans from reddit and articles you read about people talking about fox news?

I see, it couldn't possibly be because I know a lot of republicans, it must be Fox news. I live in Arizona, practically the center of republican crazy these days; I don't have to make shit up.

+1 to gnaritas side here. I'm in the military, home of record is Texas, grew up in Kansas and Nebraska (what got me to read this thread), spent 95% of my adult life south of the Mason-Dixon line. Not all Republicans are crazy, but the disease of "Republican crazy" is rampant. See XKCD #1127 for another perspective. https://xkcd.com/1127/

Also did the military. And yes, not all republicans are crazy, but most crazies are republicans.

What is an "economic belief"? Seeing how broken our financial system and ways of thinking about it are, I take it it's some kind of religion, including all the baggage that comes with such an approach?

> "Many turn the republican party because they are the closest they can get to their economic beliefs."

So did you choose the word "Beliefs" intentionally to evoke an evidence-light position?

Because Republican Party economic reality is further from those stated beliefs than Democratic Party economic reality.

"They kinda come close to my views w/r/t one small aspect of national policy" is a pretty terrible reason to vote for a party. If you're correct that many citizens vote this way, you'd all be better off withholding from participation until you can fix your electoral system.