Many excellent analyses regarding Ford Nation and its utter devotion to RF. I'm not a psychologist but I believe part of the drive of Ford Nation derives from the feeling of belonging to something...finally. Many of the Nation are and always have been disenfranchised from the main stream of anything...deprived as children (whether by poverty or poverty of thought) or having arrived in this country and encountering the daily doses of marginalization and racism, these sufferers never "belong" to a group . They are, outside of their Nation, just a huge number of individuals all struggling and failing (not their fault!) in this world order of austerity and neo-liberalism.
Ford Nation is the frosh class at University, it is the old style union local, the sports team fans - what's key to the group is that their group, Ford Nation, is recognized objectively as a group, a force, and its members belong. Notice the demographics; outside of Nation activities, many of these people would never cross paths. I'm assuming that outside of Nation activities, its racist members return to intolerance in their daily lives - but during the physical gatherings and in their Nation mode, all differences pale as against those who challenge their group. The group, for which tee shirts are printed, banners are hung, the media covers and to which a Mayor pays homage - imagine!!
I guess I'm glad that this sector of Ford Nation gets some respite from hard existences and feels the comfort of belonging. It's too bad that our policies and attitudes syphoned some angry, frightened and largely ignored people into creating such a malevolent group - I fear it to be entrenched - I also fear that unless other candidates do something (both mayoral and councillor), and we all do something to demonstrate a commitment to the people who are mightily struggling, there may be more joiners to the group.
