Change requires a single-issue litmus test.
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This comment was by Steve in reference to the post – The Orlando Tragedy ad Gun Control: United We Stand, Divided We Fall
The people who are blocking gun control laws are obsessive about the issue. If you want to beat them, you have to be just as obsessive about the issue as they are. Otherwise, no amount of “unity” or “calls for common sense” or “public outrage” will make any real difference. Carrying rainbow-colored posters is no more effective at creating change than “praying for the families.” It’s actually regressive over the long term.
Millions of people supporting gun rights are single-issue voters, willing to sacrifice any other goal to any politician who supports their point of view. They are willing to scuttle other parts of the Bill of Rights just to protect the Second Amendment. They are willing to dump any candidate who even hints at a possible compromise with the opposition. They do not celebrate bipartisanship. They are not much interested in national unity, coalition building, or making a big, inclusive tent. That’s a big reason why they keep winning.
Until more people are willing to make gun laws into a single-issue litmus test just like the opposition does, there will be no change.
You can see the power of this when it comes to reproductive rights. Whatever protection there is for abortion access today, it exists because there are tens of millions of voters who are basically single-issue pro-choice voters. Their loyalty to liberal politicians is heavily connected to those politicians’ stance on abortion.
I know this sounds silly, but what we actually need is less reasonableness, less empathy, and more obsessive commitment. You have to drop the fear of being branded an extremist or too narrow or “becoming like the other side.” You have to drop the fear of being branded disloyal to your own party. If you’re a Democrat, and Hillary Clinton poses with a rifle for a photo op, you have to be willing to turn your back on her. If you ignore that moment, then you are not as committed to change as you need to be.
Unless, of course, the goal is more devious than that. Maybe not passing gun laws is for many liberal leaders the best thing over the long term: a constant stream of martyrs, regular expressions of outrage, constant reminders that they’re on the right side, without any real repercussions for doing nothing.
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You might consider that the people opposed to gun control are just more numerous than those who favor it. I know that contradicts years and years of surveys and public opinion polls which anti-gun activists often cite to support their claim that 99.9% of all Americans and their dogs favor draconian gun laws, but if a majority really wanted stricter gun laws, we’d have them. You can claim people opposed to gun control have some illegitimate advantage, but it just might be greater numbers.