As I’ve been perusing the social networking sites this week, I’ve noticed an interesting pattern beginning to emerge. In the last couple of days since the resolution of all that budget and potential shutdown theater we saw last week, a lot of people are starting to realize that all these proposed cuts to the federal budget are actually going to affect them or those they love. People are noticing that haphazard cuts to the social safety net mean that grandma might not be able to afford her heart medicine, or that those cute kids from church might have to eat cat food because their underemployed single mother might not qualify for day care assistance or food stamps anymore.

And most of these people have been vocally of, shall we say, the steeped leaf beverage soirre persuasion, and have been generally supportive of exactly these kinds of policies by supporting candidates who hit all the right social conservative/casually racist buttons for them by questioning the legitimacy of the guy currently sitting in the White House.*

Now, of course, they’re noticing that the policies of the guys they swept into Congress last year are affecting “them,” rather than just those “other” people their wingnut congressperson blew those dog whistles about. I feel honest sympathy for these folks, I really do – many of them simply didn’t have enough information to make an informed decision. It’s tough, when you’re working two retail jobs and trying to raise a couple of kids, to find the time to do the research.

Here’s the thing: That’s what the candidates they’re voting for are counting on. The folks struggling to make ends meet aren’t the people these politicians are really looking out for, though they know that if they say the right words in the right forums, they can count on the rabble to support them unconditionally, and take as articles of faith the talking points that folksy lady from up north with the Bump-it and the weepy guy with the chalk board tell them from the TV that’s always on in the background**.

And those talking heads on TV aren’t looking out for them either, they just want to reinforce internalized beliefs of viewers so they’ll feel good about supporting advertizers.

I hope these people I see talking on the internet, in many cases friends and family, are starting realize what’s going on now, and consider it carefully the next time they go to the voting booth, and look for candidates whose positions align more closely with their economic interests instead of those who best reinforce social and emotional prejudices. Because honestly, by the time the internet petitions hit facebook opposing specific bills or policies, it’s usually too late to do anything about them.

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* – Their problem with him is primarily that his complexion doesn’t match the exterior paint scheme of his home/office.

** – Having Fox News on in the background everywhere is part of the problem too. The solution is to look somewhere else, but probably the best somewhere else with decently balanced coverage*** available to most people (even those without cable) is being targeted as one of the biggest cash sinks in the federal budget, never mind that public broadcasting funding makes up something like less than one percent of one percent of total government spending.

*** – You know NPR has to be at least somewhat middle of the road when the right wing calls it a shameless liberal mouthpiece and the serious hardcore lefties joke that it stands for Nice Polite Republicans. Also, yay for nested footnotes!