(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Backfire of Single Issues Voters [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-17 One of these things just doesn't belong The modern Republican party has relied on single-issue voters since the 1980s. Ronald Reagan demonized the gay community, letting them die without intervention from the AIDS virus. George W. Bush glommed onto that wing of the party and attached same-sex marriage as the bogeyman. The target of each issue, of course, is the LGBTQ+ community. They both bet that the moral majority—made up primarily of evangelicals would carry them to victory, and it did. Donald Trump added the underpinning of white supremacy to the policies of his predecessors. Add to that the whitelash of millions of Americans waking up every morning and resenting the black president in the White House. Racial politics has never been more lucrative for the GOP. Podcasters and Republican politicians profiteering off hate are exploding all over the airwaves. Conservative conventions have become grievance fest for anti-Semites, racists, and misogynists. Marjorie Taylor Greene can call for the separation (divorce) between the states and get millions in donations the next day. The former President has so egregiously flouted the law that most Americans finally demand accountability. Yet still, he asks for free money to pay the legal bills of a self-professed multi-billionaire, and the money rolls in from the thirty percent of his party he has on lockdown, averaging less than forty dollars a donation. The first of the issues to fall was ignoring the AIDS crisis. The Reagan administration’s initial reaction to the death and destruction from AIDS was to treat it as a joke. Mr. Reagan refused to utter the word AIDS until forced into it by singer/activist Dionne Warwick. Demands for help for the gay community came from big names stars Warwick and Elizabeth Taylor. George W. Bush rode to victory with his brain, Karl Rove, hammering the same-sex marriage issue and was reelected on the myths he created around the need to attack Iraq. Even Barack Obama let politics get in the way of what he knew was right. It took the current President, then-VP Joe Biden, to push him across the finish line on gay marriage. As has what is becoming the convention, the last four Democratic presidents have spent most of the first four years in office fixing the mistakes of their Republican forerunners. Jimmy Carter, following the lawless Nixon(Ford), Clinton balancing the budget after George H.W. Bush, Obama saving the economy after the second Bush, and Biden after Trump; where does one begin? The commonality with Republican politics can be summed up in a quote from Timothy Snyder: “Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.” Democrats are not without fault in the dark money parade that has turned politics into a fight for America’s life, death, and soul. Yet still, if Democrats are being poked in the eye, Republicans have had both eyes gouged out and blindfolded. Unlike Hollywood in the 60s, 70s, and 80s—which only allowed one leading male star of color per decade, the GOP has aligned with stars of White supremacy, anti-abortion, and guns. Their production so far is rated full of rotten tomatoes. Continue to Vote for Change [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/17/2164293/-The-Backfire-of-Single-Issues-Voters Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/