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It's been shown that many people would side with democrats on the majority of social issues and vote for them if not for their stance on firearms. If the democr
by AustinDev 5y ago
It's been shown that many people would side with democrats on the majority of social issues and vote for them if not for their stance on firearms. If the democrats lost their ability to use that as part of their culture war platform they'd likely gain a ton of people who don't vote or vote R simply to retain their rights.
- bananabreakfast 5y agoThis is silly, because Gun laws are a central part of the platform and can't be abandoned. This is like saying if Republicans just dropped anti-immigration from their platform they'd gain a ton of people who don't vote for them because they're Mexican. Any move like this fundamentally alienates the base.
- oaktrout 5y agoWhat keeps a party's platform from changing? Would former republicans vote democrat if the republican party dropped its anti-immigration stance? Surely not, as there is still abortion, taxes, guns, etc.
- zepto 5y agoIt seems highly unlikely to me that many people would switch from D to R if the democrats stopped pursuing gun control. On the other hand I know many people who will hold their nose and vote R only because they don’t want to lose their gun rights.
- ctrlp 5y agoYou can't reduce the culture war to gun ownership. The Dems are doing just about everything they can to alienate traditionalists in the U.S., including gun owners. It's not even the most important wedge issue anymore. Rather, gun owners are concerned about defending themselves in a country organized by Democratic party policy. They'll need the guns when the police are defunded, or when the social workers come for their children.
- germinalphrase 5y agoI’m asking genuinely, is this a real fear: “…when the social workers come for their children”.
- starbase 5y agoI don't know about fear, though it's certainly a concern. I have had police and social workers come to my home, and to my child's school, because I let her walk to the park alone. The park was less than 100 meters from my home. In my own childhood--an objectively more dangerous time--I explored an area of over 100 square kilometers, unsupervised and with no means of phoning home, yet suffered no problems more serious than a skinned knee.
- ctrlp 5y agoWell, I can't say they will actually take up arms against social workers but it is a fear. Many parents fear the current trends from parental authority over children to state authority over children. If you don't see that trend, you're not paying attention. There are many parents who feel they have reason to fear home-schooling will be outlawed. There are parents who fear that children are being given instruction or choices at school that parents are not privy to and that would traditionally have required parental consent and might be considered brainwashing by some parents. Some parents fear that the this is the tip of the spear and believe they would do anything to protect their children from being harmed as they conceive of harm.
- germinalphrase 5y ago“ There are parents who fear that children are being given instruction or choices at school that parents are not privy to and that would traditionally have required parental consent” Are you referring to sex ed. here?
- ctrlp 5y agoAmong other things