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Single Issue Voters 5/20/2012 8:17:20 AM
The GOP's appeal to niche voters is nothing but a ploy.
Republican strategy seems to rely on voters so fanatical about certain issues that they will ignore the reactionary essence of the party. Three main areas of focus are religious fundamentalists, gun owners, and pro-lifers.
David Kuo, former second in command of Bush’s Faith Based Initiative Office, wrote a book entitled TEMPTING FAITH in which he claimed Karl Rove’s staffers thought of fundamentalists in the administration as a “bunch of nuts”. It’s hard to believe that a political party that relies on corporation support for most of its financing would embrace people who believe dinosaurs existed during Biblical times. Corporations must embrace research and development in order to stay in business and R&D means science. One of these days these big donors are going to wake up and realize they’re working at cross purposes.
Gun owners need to develop a little bit of common sense. My dad owned a .30.30, a 12 gauge shotgun, and a twenty-two. He kept them just inside the cellar door. We never touched them. I don’t remember my mother ever telling us that we should stay away from them or there would be hell to pay; we just knew. One would think that hunters would be just a bit leery of those NRA members who seem to be moving toward legalization of machine guns and dynamite. Statistics tell us that “Stand Your Ground” legislation is just another political ploy. Chances are you’ll shoot your wife, neighbor, co-worker, or innocent bystander before you’ll ward off a burglar. And the more guns there are (280 million the last I looked) the easier it will be for a criminal to get one, and he always has the element of surprise in his favor. I don’t care how many guns you have; if you’re sitting in your lazy boy when that guy comes through the door, I’ll bet on the crook every time.
Pro-life: This one is so stupid I can’t believe it’s an issue. Women supported Roe vs. Wade 65%-35% when the Supreme Court ruled. These days it’s more like 50%-50%; I’m thinking that’s because of the availability of contraception. Two things that strike me though are that Pro-lifers also support capital punishment, and they favored the war in Iraq, which we didn’t have to fight. They also seem to care more about the unborn and the living dead than they do about the people in between. Can you say “Hypocrite”? The other thing is the availability of something called the Morning After pill. Although it prevents conception (doesn’t kill any babies), they’re fighting that, too. Pope John Paul II was also notorious for forbidding the use of contraceptives in AIDS ravaged Africa. What were those people, collateral damage?
I have a feeling single issue voters just don’t pay attention to the news or read a newspaper. If they did, they’d know that conservatives support some awfully dumb issues. Ron Paul would do away with the Federal Reserve, which has only kept inflation down since Reagan. Republicans continue to pour money into the Pentagon despite their claim that they’re for fiscal restraint. The Pentagon is a much bigger drain on our society than social programs. Billion dollar nuclear powered aircraft carrier anyone? At least social security pays for itself (the Federal government also owes the fund two trillion dollars, the GOP refuses to pay because of its no new taxes pledge). Concerning Medicare, billions are spent every year on unnecessary tests for terminal patients in the last six months of their lives. Obama tried to address that in the “Affordable Health Care Act”. The GOP used that as a campaign issue, referring to them as “death panels”.
If you see yourself in the above, please stop drinking the Kool-Aid and look at the whole platform. Republicans don’t have an alternative to what they call Obama Care. Forty-eight million Americans rely on the ER for their medical needs, and that means an average of a thousand dollars a year jump in your premiums. The John Birch Society keeps showing up at conservative conventions as do white supremacists. So do Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas, all avowed conservatives who happen to be justices on the Supreme Court. Conservative are racing at Mach speed into the nineteenth century when Robber Barons did whatever they pleased, women were denied the vote, and black people were oppressed by Jim Crow Laws. Take a look at some of the Tea Party legislation. It has a familiar ring to it.
