Right-Leaning Voters Tend to Value the Dominance Hierarchy More Than Anything Else

Actual qualifications, and integrity are not a factor, as long as they can keep consolidating power

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I’ve been in a couple of discussions lately about the viability of former candidate Jasmine Crockett for a US Senate seat for Texas. Crockett was a highly qualified candidate, renowned for her effective communication style and her willingness to “speak truth to power.” Many found her to be the more dynamic candidate and were very disappointed when the nomination instead went to James Talarico, a white man.

My perspective is and has been that in such a tight race, where it’s going to be necessary to court Independents as well as some disaffected Republicans in order to have even a chance at winning, that a white man has a better probability of success in a MAGA stronghold like Texas. I do think Talarico has a lot going for him besides just that. I find him also to be a strong candidate, but even that may not be enough in a state that is very awash in conservatism.

Yes, there is absolutely an aspect that is about racism and misogyny (misogynoir) but it’s also more broadly about a belief in the rightness of hierarchy, something that is a core value for many right-leaning people, and that is perhaps even more salient than outright racism.

In 2024, I reissued a story I’d written in 2020 about the fundamental divide between core liberals and core conservatives as a way to help people better understand where those people are coming from. Those people being the ones who see the world through a very different lens than you, both in the family and in society at large.

One core group adheres to Strict Father Values and the other to Nurturant Parent Values. While there are certain more nuances and flavors on the political spectrum, these identifications speak to a basic outlook that is fundamentally different between the two broad camps.

[embed]People On Opposite Sides of the Political Spectrum Seem Crazy To Each Other Because they don’t understand or accept the fundamental outlook of the othermedium.com

The Strict Father model is what we might refer to as traditional and patriarchal. In this model, the man is the head of the household and his wife and children defer to his authority, which he uses to guide them, encourage them, and keep them safe. He typically sets and enforces rules for the house.

Self-discipline, self-reliance, and respect for legitimate authority are the crucial things that children must learn. In this way, the strict father shows his love, by putting those in his charge on the correct path and punishing them if they leave it. This is how he prepares his children for a happy and successful life. At least that’s how those who buy into this outlook view it.

On a societal scale, this translates to a belief in the rightness of a dominance-based hierarchy, law and order, self-sufficiency, and respect for authority. As cognitive scientist, George Lakoff who wrote about this in his book, Moral Politics, has noted, “Rewards and punishments are moral acts; giving someone an appropriate reward or punishment balances the moral books. The obligation to obey is a metaphorical debt. You owe obedience to someone who has authority over you. If you obey, you are paying the debt; if you don’t obey, you are refusing to pay the debt — an immoral act, equivalent by moral arithmetic to stealing, a crime.”

Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate running against Talarico is an icon of corruption. His own staff called the FBI on him on more than one occasion and Republicans in Texas tried to impeach him for bribery and abuse of public trust. His wife filed for divorce last summer, after discovering him in an affair, and one of the lawyers who represented Paxton in his impeachment has recently endorsed Talarico.

Dan Cogdell had this to say:

“I defended Ken Paxton for years in the impeachment trial and in state criminal cases,” Cogdell said on his podcast. “But in my view, respectfully, I think Ken has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas. And unlike Ken, I believe to my core, James, that you believe in unity over division and that you know how to assemble not only Democrats, but independents and Republicans — and we need that right now.” *~Texas Tribune*

There’s no way in hell that Paxton should have gotten the nomination, and there’s no way (in a sane world) that he should win, but the polls are very much neck and neck, and it could well be that this unrepentant crook will indeed be the next US Senator from the state of Texas.

But why would the party of law and order, and individual responsibility turn such a blind eye to Paxton’s sins?

The answer is simple.

They want someone in office who will maintain the power structures they have created and upheld. What he does in his own life matters less to them than whether or not he can keep a Democrat from winning and preserve the kind of structures that people with Strict Father Values tend to gravitate to.

We’ve seen this over and over again, particularly in the Trump era. The Right doesn’t care about pedophiles, cheaters, or even closet homosexuals in their midst, as long as these people are upholding the structure that Strict Father Values people believe in.

They’d prefer the shenanigans stay quietly in the background, but as with Paxton, his very public displays of corruption were not enough to get him sent home to California. Honestly, him waxing nostalgic about his original home state might be the one thing that many Texans chafe about, rather than his very clear levels of malfeasance. Texans tend to think their state is the center of the known universe so publicaly longing for California isn’t going to play too well. But then again, he’s the dominance hierarchy candidate, so for some, he can do no wrong.

The folk theory of the natural order is often used to determine authority in a Strict Father might makes right context. Examples of the natural order are as follows:

• God is naturally more powerful than people.
• People are naturally more powerful than animals and plants and natural objects.
• Adults are naturally more powerful than children.
• Men are naturally more powerful than women
• White people are naturally more powerful than non-whites

Another central tenet of a Strict Father Values outlook is that there is an in-group and out-group. Those within the in-group are justified in doing almost anything to protect their status and to defend themselves from any incursions by the out-group. After all, Might Makes Right is part of their operating system.

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So, the reason that I don’t think the very qualified Jasmine Crockett could have won in Texas has nothing to do with her as an individual. It has to do with who she represents in the artificial dominance hierarchy. People who believe in Strict Father Values have a clear idea of where women fit in the patriarchal hierarchy (even though some of them are themselves women). They have a very clear idea of where Black people fit in the hierarchy.

And the traditional hierarchy is what matters to them, including all the ways that their power is enshrined in maintaining that. James Talarico represents a challenge to that way of viewing the world, but not to the extent that Jasmine Crockett does. And in order to have any hope of winning this senate seat, the Democratic candidate is going to have to bring a significant number of Independents and disaffected Republicans to their side.

Trying to reach people who believe in artificial hierarchy, and who have been hard-core messaged their entire lives that the worst thing in the world is a Libtard are a hard sell. A lot of them are steeped (either consciously or subconsciously) in the belief that white men should be running the world. In addition, Texas just enacted new rules that make reading Bible passages and stories an acceptable part of public school education. That’s what we’re dealing with here.

In other words, this isn’t Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, where races are often quite close because the state is politically fairly balanced. There are a significant number of registered Democrats in Texas, but they don’t hold much statewide or Federal power. If we want to see that start to change, I think we need to do whatever is necessary to make a Democratic candidate electable in this environment.

People vote with their emotions, and Red State voters repeatedly vote against their own economic and other interests in favor of candidates who support their values and view of the world. Prices in the US for basics like food and gas are soaring, and yet the support for President Trump is still remarkably strong because he stands for the same cultural narratives and beliefs that a lot of his followers subscribe to.

I’d really like to live in a world where the best candidate wins, no matter their demographics. I’d like to live in a world where nobody would consider for a moment nominating one of the most crooked politicians in America to anything. I regret the fact that Jasmine Crockett is a Black woman played any part in her not being given the nomination, but at the same time, we have to interface with the world that we live in today, not the world we wished we did.

Right wing folks who adhere to Strict Father Values have made it clear they don’t care about anything other than preserving the hierarchy and their place within it. That’s why they voted for Trump, and that’s why most of them will vote for Paxton.

If Texas has any hope of a Democratic Senator, Talarico is going to have to bring all that he’s got. He’s known for coalition building, including effectively reaching across the aisle in the Texas House to get common sense bills passed, but he’s going to need all the stars to align in order to win against one of the most overtly corrupt politicians in American — something that shouldn't be the case.

Talarico met earlier today with Black Democrats in the state to try and mend rifts within the party so that then he can go on to begin making his case to the Republicans and Independents he is going to need in order to win.

Paxton literally doesn’t stand for anything other than the dominance hierarchy of the 1950s, but that’s unfortunately something that a lot of Texas voters still support. They don’t care how corrupt he is, as long as he shores up their eroding cultural dominance.

And that’s not something that Jasmine Crockett couldn’t have combatted because she represents everything they are afraid of. It’s unfortunate, but it is the political reality in Texas today.

Her actual qualifications should matter, but they don’t to many Texas voters, because the patriarchal dominance hierarchy is all that they care about — even when it harms them. Even when it’s corrupt.

© Copyright Elle Beau 2026

[embed]The Problem with ‘Strict Father’ Values I understand social conservative’s outlook, but I don’t condone themmedium.com

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