by Daniel Natal, The New American:

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs represents a pyramid, at the bottom of which are animal notions of food, warmth, safety. In the middle of the taxonomy is honor. At the top of it is “self-actualization”. The political left usually promises utopias, and fashions their appeals based on the top of the pyramid. Whereas the Republican Establishment is committed to remaining at the bottom of the pyramid. “Law and order,” they shout. “Safety! Guns!” So long as they mould their appeals based on low-level materialism, they will fail to capture imaginations and regain power. Bottom of the pyramid is bottom of the barrel. A nation needs more aspirations than just the promise of ‘rival tribes united by a shopping mall,’ but I’ll give you a gun so you’ll be safe in the world the corporations plan for you. If this is all the GOP is offering up, they will lose.