Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Jazz
If you want my nutshell version of what the biggest problem in this country, it's the rise of the single-issue voter. Folks that think that, for instance, the anti-abortion candidate is their best choice despite the fact that they are voting against their class interest is a major problem. I don't mean to pick on conservatives, but many of them are violently opposed to the programs that keep the working poor afloat. However, if they cloak themselves in the anti-abortion guise, they get votes and contributions from the conservative churches that have taken up the pro-life cause. It doesn't matter that the representative routinely votes against the interest of the majority of their constituents so long as they vote correctly on that single issue. See Eastern Kansas for proof.
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But if there's any validity to the more vitriolic comparisons made with abortion (=Holocaust or =Slavery), then single-issue voting might make sense in that case. That Hitler kept the trains running didn't redeem him and Lincoln's abuses are often overlooked thanks to his effectively anti-slavery administration. An undesired attitude toward social programs - assuming that the churches even support the government getting involved - could easily and rightly be overshadowed by something in the same ballpark as slavery.
Of course, that's a HUGE 'if' at the beginning of my paragraph there. Guess my point here is that single issue voting may be the right path to take at times.