Ever noticed how supporters of the Republican Party are also a lot of other things?
I may be late to the party here, but one interesting thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of republicans define themselves by their opinion on an issue, like “Birther”. AFAIK, a “Birther” is someone who believes that Obama wasn’t born in America. This is a kind of ridiculous way to define yourself. It would be like people who don’t like carrots defining themselves that way — calling yourself a “Carroteer” or something.
I understand people often do this; people who listen to “emo” music are “emo”; people who play video games are “Gamers”. It can have benefits — people can find common forums to discuss those things, and they probably do actually “define” themselves in that way (and legitimately so: being interested in a form of music or expression is a fine way to show your passion for something). However, it seems like on pretty much every policy issue people who tend to vote Republican basically divide themselves out by defining themselves with their policy, e.g. “Tea Partiers”, “Birthers”, etc. It immediately paints a “them” and “us” way of framing things; and it’s no longer important who is right or wrong, and there’s no way of convincing someone. I think it’s probably a marketing thing from that party.
For my money, everyone who defines themselves through such simple ideas all sit in one bucket: Crazy.