A key pathology of the far right, as embodied by the Republican / New Confederate/ Stupid Party, is the intentional disconnection from facts and data, unless they happen to support their world view. A prime example is the role that human activity plays in climate change, which is accepted by 97% of the scientific community. Yet another is the cause of the current situation in Iraq, which hardcore Rethugs want to blame on President Obama, who has been cleaning up Dubya's magnificent mess for 8 years. Yet another example is the Rethuglican voter's view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The Affordable Care Act suffered from a botched roll-out in 2011, but in the intervening years, has succeeded despite Rethug attempts to block or undermine aspects of the law, including an ill-fated shutdown of the Federal Government. The Kaiser Family Foundation has found that 74% of all new enrollees in the ACA marketplace rated their health insurance coverage as either "excellent," or "good," a slight uptick from last year's numbers. Yet, when they surveyed on the basis of party identification, only 25% of Republicans gave an "excellent," or "good" rating to the ACA. As Kevin Drum says:
"You can buy an ACA plan on the marketplace, get a subsidy, and be happy with your plan—but if you're a Republican you still overwhelmingly hate Obamacare by 74-25 percent."Hating something that's helped you, just because it's Obama's program. That's pathological, with no connection to what they've actually experienced.
