RELIGULOUS VOTERS SUPPORT SANTORUM

Rick Santorum got a victory in the Louisiana Republican presidential primary on Saturday. Santorum got 49 percent of the vote, Romney 26 percent, and Gingrich 16 percent. Santorum declares that if Republicans nominated someone who was just a little different from Obama, then Americans may as well stay

Santorum found backing from the state's many religulous Christian evangelicals. Louisiana also has a large block of religulous Roman Catholic voters who, as a group, are regarded as more religulous than Catholics in many other states. Meme is a cultural invention that passes from one mind to another and thrives, or declines, like a gene. Memetics explores the concepts and transmission of memes in a similar fashion to genetics. A meme's success is due to its contribution to the effectiveness of its host. Memeplex, like the genetic code, is a set of ideas that reinforce each other. Religion is a memeplex.

The next showdown in the Republican nominating contest will be in Wisconsin on April 3. Maryland and the District of Columbia also vote that day. Because religions claim divine favor for themselves, over and against other groups, this sense of righteousness leads to violence because conflicting claims to superiority, based on unverifiable appeals to God, cannot be adjudicated objectively. Religions do tremendous harm to society by using violence to promote their goals, in ways that are endorsed and exploited by their leaders. Abrahamic Religions are inherently violent because of an exclusivism that inevitably fosters violence against those that are considered outsiders. Abrahamic legacy is actually genocidal in nature.

Louisiana's results suggest that Romney continues to struggle with the most religulous element of the Republican Party, some of whom distrust his Mormon religion and history of changing positions on social issues. Religions, scams, and hoaxes succeed because they exploit powerful psychological processes. These processes are the very ones that have enabled humans to survive and create art and technology, but also trasform Homo Sapiens into Homo Suckers!

A rationally ignorant voter is a voter who deems it to be in his interest not to stay informed. Since learning the various candidates' positions on a host of issues is costly and the chances of an election turning on a single voter's ballot are miniscule, many voters rationally choose not to be very informed about the issues.

When one couples this with the argument that public opinion generally favors policies that not only make voters feel good or moral or more patriotic, but also make for policy outcomes that most economists and more educated voters view as pernicious, it is hard to feel much confidence in the policy that is generated in a democracy. From this perspective, politicians who seek to be re-elected are justified in supplying voters with the policies they want even though they are unsound.

A second claim has to do with the effects of concentrated benefits and diffused costs on policymaking. Politicians frequently pay lip service to the public good, but if a politician is to be successful (that is, stay in office), he will typically support policy that is aimed at benefiting the well-organized and informed few rather than the unorganized and uninformed many. As a result, legislation tends to favor special interests over the public good, and once a policy is in place, it is nearly impossible to get rid of it.

Citizens who want the government out of their wallets, their bedrooms, their businesses, and their lives must vote for libertarians. Only libertarians try to minimize government and maximize individual liberty. It's not a shame to lose an election, but it's a shame to compromise your values in order to win an election. Obsession with polls is a sign of weak soul. The two major parties are willing to say anything and promise everything in order to win an election. Of course, after the election most promises are conveniently forgotten. The two major parties need an awakening call.

Smart words are more effective than smart bombs! Mighty words of a charismatic keynote speaker can transform your people to a new dimension of organizational climate, efficiency, self-actualization, enthusiasm, belonging, and motivation. I would like very much to speak at your conference in order to explain critical points much further. Basil Venitis, mailto:venitis%40gmail.com 

I support Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party for President of USA. Governor Johnson has an outstanding record for vetoing legislation as former governor of New Mexico. He vetoed more bills than all other governors in the country combined, stopping the expansion of Big Government.
 with what they have instead of taking a risk. No Santorum, Americans better vote for Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party!