Thank you for stating it plainly. I felt that since the author preempted any possible response of "well, Republicans really are convincing people to vote against their interest" I found myself backed into a corner. But really, the extent of helpful content in this article could be reduced down to "don't be asshole, it never convinces the person you're arguing against." The rest is just aggravatingly misleading, holier-than-though pontificating. I was lacking the wherewithal and experience to articulate exactly this. Cognitive dissonance is abating.And that's the 50-year history of the Republican Party - convincing people to scapegoat someone else so they don't notice you're stealing their livelihood. The "smugness" of American Liberalism is nothing more than a jaw-open acknowledgement of this fact...