Timsup2nothin
Deity
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2013
- Messages
- 46,737
As to the other post that claims economic conservatives and the religious right are the same thing, no, they're really not. Though boneheads on all sides of the political spectrum have been loudly proclaiming that they must be for long enough now that they've largely merged.
I didn't say they were the same thing, I said they were stuck in the same position so they are stuck with each other. If the conservatives come out and say 'this election is going to be about economics, and nothing but economics. We will address no other issues and request that our opposition do the same' their opposition will happily do it and the conservatives will get creamed. The 'religious right' are totally different people, but face the same problem. If they make the election strictly and completely about their issue they too would get creamed.
So these two minorities have to join forces. The religious right concedes 'you can do whatever you want on economics' and in return the conservatives say 'we will back your craziness even if we don't believe in it'. Between them, since they are specifically not the same groups, they may be able to form a majority.
Then there is the small group in the intersection. There were always going to be some, but they have now 'embraced the wackiness'. Not only are they in the conservative minority, they are also in the religious right minority, and maybe a couple other fringe minorities the GOP brought in under the same 'we'll support your unpopular view if you support ours' terms. These folks, having personally embraced all these minority positions, then turned around and branded anyone who only embraced one as a 'republican in name only' and tried to drive them out of the party. This is producing a party committed to taking the unpopular side of every issue and accepting no compromise on any of them. Anyone who doesn't recognize that this process leads to complete surrender of any political power is, in my opinion, just too much of an idiot to even contemplate.