4 ms·

The Republicans chose abortion as a way to create safe voters for their party and voter disgust for the opposing party. Now they've won (at a state level) and t

The Republicans chose abortion as a way to create safe voters for their party and voter disgust for the opposing party. Now they've won (at a state level) and they need to keep those voters. They must continue the battle even after it's already won.

anonporridge 4y ago
The best thing you can ever have as a political party is a base of rabid single issue voters who want something that reasonable people don't. You get to count on their vote by default, so you don't have to consider or campaign towards anything else they want. It's especially good when these single issue voters are so extreme that the party can slip in policies that are against their other interests but still get their vote. TL;DR, single issue voters are NPCs.
- corrral 4y ago
  NPR's extensive coverage of Trump voters after the '16 election came up with quite a few cases of heavily religion-oriented voters who were like "yeah, he's obviously a huge piece of shit, but I 'prayed on it' and voted for him anyway" (purely because of abortion, clearly) These voters have been vindicated as doing exactly the right thing, according to their views, now that his court appointments have lead to the loss of Roe.
  - anonporridge 4y ago
    "But abortion" is an incredibly common refrain from my conservative Christian family and friends who otherwise claim Trump is awful. And then of course they fell into supporting his election fraud lies. The American church is dying because it can't stop making deals with the devil on the issues of abortion and LGBT liberty, both issues that Jesus said absolutely nothing about. Meanwhile, he said a hell of a lot about helping the poor, the sick, and the foreigner. In my mind, this kind of person isn't a real follower of Christ. They're modern day pharisees. Hypocrites who Jesus would have hated.
surement 4y ago
Lol, and the Democrats did everything in their power to codify Roe v Wade.
- Cyberdog 4y ago
  Did they? When? I think there were many times where the Dems had the majorities and clout to codify permitting abortion, at least in more "conservative" forms like "up to the third trimester unless special circumstances," between Roe and now and yet it never happened.
  - surement 4y ago
    I was being sarcastic. Dems have tons of single-issue voters over this and they know it.
kmeisthax 4y ago
These kinds of culture war battles actually do serve a valid electoral purpose: they ban liberals from moving to red states. Sure, you nominally have freedom-of-movement within the US. In practice, however, there's plenty of ways you can make people decide not to move. California is basically unlivable if you don't like three-hour traffic jams or paying insane rent, because the state is structured with a landed gentry of suburban old-time homeowners. Now, Texas is unlivable if you are an unmarried woman or want your children to be taught the history of racism in America[0]. The real thing that has screwed over Republicans is their stance on immigration. They could be reliably importing hordes of conservative voters from other countries if they hadn't spent so much time demonizing them for being too conservative. [0] The laws on the books only talk about "critical race theory". However it is actually rather difficult to explain, say, Jim Crow laws or the nadir of race relations without embracing at least some of CRT's base assumptions.

anonporridge 4y ago

The best thing you can ever have as a political party is a base of rabid single issue voters who want something that reasonable people don't. You get to count on their vote by default, so you don't have to consider or campaign towards anything else they want. It's especially good when these single issue voters are so extreme that the party can slip in policies that are against their other interests but still get their vote. TL;DR, single issue voters are NPCs.

corrral 4y ago
NPR's extensive coverage of Trump voters after the '16 election came up with quite a few cases of heavily religion-oriented voters who were like "yeah, he's obviously a huge piece of shit, but I 'prayed on it' and voted for him anyway" (purely because of abortion, clearly) These voters have been vindicated as doing exactly the right thing, according to their views, now that his court appointments have lead to the loss of Roe.
- anonporridge 4y ago
  "But abortion" is an incredibly common refrain from my conservative Christian family and friends who otherwise claim Trump is awful. And then of course they fell into supporting his election fraud lies. The American church is dying because it can't stop making deals with the devil on the issues of abortion and LGBT liberty, both issues that Jesus said absolutely nothing about. Meanwhile, he said a hell of a lot about helping the poor, the sick, and the foreigner. In my mind, this kind of person isn't a real follower of Christ. They're modern day pharisees. Hypocrites who Jesus would have hated.

surement 4y ago

Lol, and the Democrats did everything in their power to codify Roe v Wade.

Cyberdog 4y ago
Did they? When? I think there were many times where the Dems had the majorities and clout to codify permitting abortion, at least in more "conservative" forms like "up to the third trimester unless special circumstances," between Roe and now and yet it never happened.
- surement 4y ago
  I was being sarcastic. Dems have tons of single-issue voters over this and they know it.

kmeisthax 4y ago

These kinds of culture war battles actually do serve a valid electoral purpose: they ban liberals from moving to red states. Sure, you nominally have freedom-of-movement within the US. In practice, however, there's plenty of ways you can make people decide not to move. California is basically unlivable if you don't like three-hour traffic jams or paying insane rent, because the state is structured with a landed gentry of suburban old-time homeowners. Now, Texas is unlivable if you are an unmarried woman or want your children to be taught the history of racism in America[0]. The real thing that has screwed over Republicans is their stance on immigration. They could be reliably importing hordes of conservative voters from other countries if they hadn't spent so much time demonizing them for being too conservative. [0] The laws on the books only talk about "critical race theory". However it is actually rather difficult to explain, say, Jim Crow laws or the nadir of race relations without embracing at least some of CRT's base assumptions.