Why do people keep voting against their self interests?

It's called shooting yourself in the foot I think it's called. Don't feel bad Ohio is just as stupid.

I have lived in Ohio for 57 years and can confirm

Thank you for the confirmation 50 going on 51 years here.

We left OH. We had 3 income taxes on OH. TN has no income tax and 50% lower property tax.

But you still have to deal with the maga Nazis

Just like Ohio!

Unfortunately yes and it's worse than what you think.

What's worse? The Nazi assholes that were marching in the streets of Columbus or the evil shit that's coming? Because where I'm sitting, they coinside. The nice thing about Ohio, stand your ground state. I thought it was a bad idea when conceal carry became legal, but now I'm glad.

Both. You might not know but they repealed that.

You're misinformed on the gun issue in Ohio.

I was partially misinformed I seen where it's at. Thank you

We lived in Nashville when our sons were young. Mini Pearl belonged to our church. She drove her green metallic Rolls Royce to church. She sang in our choir. We have many GOP friends from Pre-Trump days. We donated to Obama/Biden, HRC, Biden/Harris, Harris/Walz, and George Conway's PSYCHO-PAC.

Sounds counter productive

But insanely high sales tax, which is worse.

TN sales tax is the same as OH

As a bonus they will probably pass laws to make initiated measures or referrals harder to get on the ballot.

They have already been trying

Missouri is one of the few states we Ohioans can feel superior to.

That's right we're trying to create a modern day Mason Dixon line with lots more Bible beating. Excelling in public corruption. We're probably on a constitutional crises but no good lawyer can get through it.

Republican voters vote for brand, not policy. It is a very consistent pattern. Democrats need to attack their brand and rebrand themselves.

Rebrand how? How to you drive home the fact that Dems protects the working class?

It will take time. There's an abundance of evidence that Republican voters and working class voters like Dem policies so they aren't voting on policy. We need to attack the Republican brand hard, hard, hard and push us as the opposite.

Do what they do: message discipline. Never defend."I support (this action) and I oppose the Republican Billionaire's party that is of, by, and for rich people." Say that formula in response to attacks on trans kids, immigrants, anything. Call out their lies. (Republicans LIKE illegals.)

That is heartbreaking.

They will always take away and take us back.

I think that many voters (and non-voters) are so very under-informed. They must be else why keep voting against their own interests. I know people like you and others are shouting into the politisphere daily and I thank you for the hard work.

Would it mill people to vote for Democrats?

They have to be on the ballot in order for you to vote for them. Most Rs run unopposed in MO.

We just moved here 6 years ago from Colorado. I have never seen elected officials go against the will of the people before. We voted for these things.

I heard about that. The republican governors n the GOP are undoing anything that goes against what they believe and just happens to be blue. It’s sad. It’s turning into a red v blue and us v them war. Stand up, Missouri. My dad is from there so I have your back.

BOTTOM LINE= TRUMP HAS DIRT ON ALL OF HIS PEOPLE, THEY SHARE THE SAME MORALS AS HIM AND THEY ALL NEED HIM FOR TAX BREAKS AND TO PASS THE REGULATIONS THEY NEED!! THE MAJORITY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS GOTTEN RICH FTOM THE NRA. THEY WOULD RATHER GET RICH AND LET OUR KIDS DIE BY MASS SHOOTERS😡

Make it make sense

Mother effers

It's the republiKKKan way. 😡

I’m so sorry. It’s very frustrating when you work so hard for things and then a corrupt party destroy it all. I’m originally from MO, currently live in NC. We voted largely for Dem leadership and the current gop held general assembly just stripped their powers come a January.😐

open.substack.com/pub/jesspipe...

thank you for all your hard work! good luck. 💜

The people need to vote for local, state and federal representation that align with and support their values and will. Hiring a fix to watch over the hen house is a bad idea.

Unravel? They want to stomp them into dust and throw the dust in front of fans to obliterate them completely.

Make it make sense🥹

The stupid is strong in mizzery

The Utah state legislature has been found guilty of changing up what the voters voted for by the Utah State Supreme Court. Here is an article regarding gerrymandering. apnews.com/article/utah... Utah Supreme Court sides with opponents of redistricting that carved up Democratic-leaning area

Isn’t Missouri’s current governor, Mike Parsons, a Republican? I think you meant to say Missouri elected “Trumplicans.”

Here in Florida, we voted for high speed rail and purchase of land for conservation. I think the republicans thought we wanted to purchase land for construction and no rail line.

People just don’t understand …. Voting directly by the people is so smart …

One the hardest parts of being from Missouri is watching innocent people in prison being denied their freedom and sometimes their lives.

Same MO here in Ohio.

Oops. Sad. Good luck!

So strange that a state will continually pass democratic leaning initiatives, but also continue to vote for republicans. The Democratic Party has a PR problem..

I can tell you what a major part of that PR problem is. Democrats pay way too much attention to the GOP clowns, post numerous pictures of them —ie “what would be name of their cologne?” instead of pushing the Democratic candidate at all. Dumbest marketing I ever have witnessed. No wonder lost 2024.

But do they? My view: Democrats refuse to lie to manipulate the population. Dems share mostly facts and plans. MAGA: “they will make your kids trans; migrants will eat your pets, take benefits and may even kill you; Kamala is dumb; all our money is going to Ukraine; Dems hate Jewish people….”

The right was so excited about moving to a post fact world. We have arrived.

Because Missouri is a populist state, not a progressive one. Missouri has always been fairly socially conservative. Remember that Tom Eagleton was a pro-life Democrat.

I disagree that we’ve always been Conservative. We’ve had 13 Dem governors out of the last 20. Gerrymandering and a decline in union support are just 2 of the reasons we’ve turned deep red

Again, I find myself asking, how does gerrymandering affect anything when every single rural MO county is 65% Republican minimum? That's not gerrymandering. That's the Democrats being tone deaf, and the MO Dems have been that for a LONG time!

They cut KC in two so the northside can't change the vote of the rest of Northern Missouri., which is very conservative. I feel they throw away my vote and votes of thousands of others.

Welcome to fascism on the state level also.

That tracks, unfortunately

Two steps forward, one step back. At least your state's electorate will see the stark difference between progress and regression. Sometimes it takes a stark contrast to really bring home the lesson.

Hard to believe

This is what I was screaming to everyone the month before the election. That to choose Republican isn't just a choice to go in another direction, it's a choice to unravel so much of the progress we've made.

Tribalism and bigotry matter more to people than the things they actually need from their government.

Sad !

I'm not from Missouri, but what I can tell you, is that you've got people around you being hypocrites while trying to have it both ways. And in the end, they chose the protection of whiteness over the issues that mattered to and for everyone across America.

Grrrrr….

Maybe what we need in Missouri is Democrats that claim to be Republicans to run for all the major positions.

Representative Democracy is outdated and corrupt.

I wonder how much of all of this is related to the human tendency to accept one definition of a word, and subsequently apply that definition every time they hear that word for the rest of their lives. Specifically thinking of “conservative,” as in, “conservative approach.”

Make it make sense🤦‍♀️

Absurdity of the highest order.

Dem politicians shy away from popular progressive policies because... reasons

100%. Missourians vote for traditional D policies when up for votes but against D politicians. I suspect MO is not alone in that. That leads you to question campaign strategies and/or candidates and the power the R brand. D's have to use pre-election cycles to break through.

It is the power of disinformation.

That's ok. Perhaps the citizens of Missouri are thinking, show me, Republicans, what you're really all about.

A few things popped into my head when I read your essay. 1. How do you stay? 2. What do the R's tell themselves that makes it ok to override the will of the people they represent? Not rhetorical, I actually would listen 2 someone explaining that 2 me. 3. Do they have to fight about it @ home?

It's so disappointing.

Spoke with a few who voted for the Amends and voted GOP for reps. Why? Said they are "balancing" the state. I just about blew a gasket. I asked them why they did not trust the voting process to "balance" things? If everyone voted what they truly wanted, there would be no need for their "balancing."

The only way stupid will learn is to suffer. You have to let them, Jess. Prepare yourself as best you can and watch the chaos unfold.

Agreed. Thinking about how Dems can connect in our little deep red community and help each other.

The LIBRARY. It is like the Temple of Democracy.

Make it make sense.

No notes!

In Ohio, we voted for medical and recreational marijuana. And got it. In Ohio, we voted for abortion rights. We got them. We've written it into our constitution. We pissed off Mike DeWine, and I think if we ban together, we can turn this state blue again. We're working on gerrymandering.

What happened with the gerrymandering ballot question last election. I thought that was going to pass

The very best of luck to you.

I live in PA now, but grew up near Dayton.

Ban gerrymandering & maybe you can finally get rid of Gym Jordan.

The Democrats are going to have to shut up about guns before Ohio, Missouri, and a lot of other states become blue again. Because that's the biggest reason those states turned red in the first place. I've been involved in rural politics most of my life, and it keeps coming back to that.

The gun issue can’t be swept under the rug. I hear the AR weapons being used for target practice by the “sportsmen” near my home. I am not anti-gun. I AM anti-weapons of war in the hands of people who only want to control those who have opposing views and look at violence as a way to solve problems.

Like the US government?

Fair point, but I think you know that I mean the Magats out there who will intimidate neighbors because they’ve been brainwashed by the far right.

Not my opinion. How many doors did you knock who said that guns were the issue?

This is before we get into the problem of how it's political suicide to run as pro-choice in any rural Missouri district. I've seen it happen. (3/)

80% of union members I know vote Republican, and guns are the #1 reason why, because they complain about guns more than anything else. Crawford County is like any other rural county: They scream about race, abortion, trans people, etc., but they're paranoid on a whole other level about guns. (2/)

I’ve never come across that statistic about union members. I also don’t know many rural Democrats that aren’t also gun owners.

My 97-year-old father is a classic archetype of that. My Dad grew up poor in the Ozarks and his family had nothing until the New Deal. Dad went to WWII and later cast his first vote for Harry Truman. My Dad owns guns. He's racist and vaguely anti-Semitic. But he refuses to vote Republican even now.

This is my lifelong experience with union members across multiple states. It just keeps getting worse. From my experience, rural MO Democrats are little different than Republicans, except that the Dems have a far better understanding of the world. (1/)

I knew Frank Barnitz when he was my state rep and later my state senator. Hell of a nice guy. He's pro-gun, pro-life, and pro-mining. First of all, because he truly believed in those things. But if he didn't run that way, he would have been toast. We had Ken Fiebelman before that. Exact same way.

True story: In Cuba, MO, where I grew up, the local gun store was completely out of handguns at least three months before the '08 election. Because people were THAT paranoid about Obama. Where I grew up, people complain about guns far more than anything else. (1/)

Just gonna have to agree to disagree with you.

Hopefully, voters will realize their representatives don't represent them. They represent large donors.

Do you think gerrymandering has anything to do with the super majority? It's not that weird that the rural areas have Rep reps but the cities? I feel so discouraged.

Are people mean are willfully ignorant?

Sounds about right = not to sugar coat it, ignorant AF

Missourians are in the "hitting themselves in the head with a hammer" phase, but haven't yet reached the "feels so good when I stop" phase.

I am in Missouri and am going to call my state rep every week to keep him accountable. Become a squeaky wheel.