This just in:  Today, in an ongoing attempt to understand why ANYONE would vote Republican, I’ll be complaining about the Single Issue Voter.

Let’s start with this:  A single issue voter is one that is intellectually lazy.  They pick a single issue and then cling to the one party that sings the most promising song with regards to that issue. They are like that horse with blinders on.  They pretend that a candidate that supports their issue does not support anything else.

The biggest Single Issues…

Abortion:  Ignore the fact that no one likes abortion.

Some people actually believe to know the will of God.  They can’t name the capitals of the various countries in the world but when it comes to God…they have complete understanding.  The know for a fact that God, while creating a universe, every now and then looks over to make sure we and not having abortions.  In philosophy courses, they refer to a belief in God as “Mystery therefore Magic.”

Now, maybe they are right and God is anti-abortion.  I certainly don’t know one way or the other.  However, the Republican Party wants this vote so they say, “We will work to stop abortions.”  Score 1 for the GOP.

This ignores that making abortions illegal does nothing to stop abortions.  This ignores the fact that this same God Fearing Party is taking kids from their parents at the border.  They are in a constant battle to stop feeding the poor and needy.  In short, they do what it takes to get the vote “Let that baby be born!” and then turn their backs on it.  The GOP has very little to do with the common good.  They call those efforts “liberal”.  But, this is ignored because Pro-Life people are single issue voters and their intellect stops at the womb.

Gun Control: Ignore the fact that everyone wants to end needless gun deaths.

The GOP has discovered that single issue voters that like their guns, will vote for the party that allows virtually unlimited gun ownership.  The GOP has convinced this type of voter that any effort to stem gun violence is equal to the government taking away everyone’s guns.

The intellectually lazy does not look at the facts.  They don’t want to hear about solutions or how other countries are handling this.  They are too lazy (or fearful) to listen to the other side.  They say things like, “If we make laws to control guns, only the bad guys will have guns.”  By this logic, we shouldn’t have any laws because only the good guys will follow them.

Might = Right:  This is a biggie.  The old white males that make up the majority of the Republican Party grew up in a world where the United States won WWII.  They like it when the U.S. flexes its muscle.  When Trump put up tariffs, they cheer because they see this as being “tough”.  Ask them who is really paying for those tariffs.  Ask them what the basic economic terms “elasticity” or “Marginal Cost” mean and they stare at you like a cow.  They have no idea about economics but they like the idea that we are being tough.

White Superiority:  The truth is that we are a nation of immigrants.  The truth is that one of the major issues holding back our economic growth is a lack of labor.  We need immigrants.  However, there are single issue voters that think we are a nation of White People.  They think whites invented stuff.  Whites won the wars.  Being white means being a true American.  They will vote for the political party that subtly supports this idea.  How is it done subtly?  We blame immigrants.  We build walls.  We back off of treaties.  We call acts of terror by whites….crime and by non-white…terrorism.  Trump sees hate at a rally and claims “both sides are equal.”

Christianity:  I was probably 7 years old, sitting in Sunday School when I had the realization that I was studying a fairy tale.  I would ask, “Why would God want Abraham to kill his son?” and get back, “It was a test.”  I knew that was bullshit.  And yet, there are those that think that they not only know the will of God, they also know that God chose America to be the promised land.  God intended for the United States to be Christian.  Now, again, I have no way of knowing if this is true or not.  But…I’m quite certain that absolutely no one knows this to be true.  However, the single issue voter will vote for the party that will keep the other religions out of town.  That would be the Republican Party.

These five issues alone will bring a lot of voters to the Republican side of the table.  The Republicans don’t necessarily believe in any of this stuff but that act like they do and that’s enough.

There are other issues: Education, Global Warming, World Peace, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Taking care of each other, World Trade, Pursuit of the Truth, Space Exploration, the Disappearing Middle Class, Income inequality, Money in Politics.

There are just soooo many important issues and yet….they are ignored by the intellectually lazy.  The GOP goes after the low hanging fruit that is the Single Issue Voter, because their level of ethics allows for them to do that.

Time to save the world.

Up, up and away…

Jim