The advantage of having single issue voters has usually gone
to the Republican party. Gun rights and abortion being the two most obvious.
When it comes to people who are passionate enough about one sole issue, they
usually overlook all others.
That’s one of the luxuries of President Trump. He knows as
long as he stays firm on those issues, he has a pretty solid base. An example would be the religious right. All they care about are conservative
judges. The type of judges that will overturn Roe v. Wade. They couldn’t care
less about President Trump’s morality.
The NRA is also a big winner. In public, President Trump can
call for expanded background checks, then he can also ask for a bipartisan effort
on banning assault weapons and increase spending on mental health treatment.
But none of that will happen. And it won’t happen because the NRA doesn’t want
it to happen. The NRA brings a block of these single issue voters and Trump
needs them.
The Democrats aren’t above this. If you’re not pro-choice,
you’re not welcome. If you understand that for now, this nation needs fossil
fuels, you can’t have a seat at the table. And if you own a gun, many Democrats
can’t understand why.
The big difference though is that a Democratic candidate can
agree with the majority of Democrats on all those issues and still not get
their vote. Democrats want their candidate to be perfect. And if they’re not, they
find a
Jill
Stein
. If you don’t believe me, ask Joe Biden. Right now, he’s getting beat
up by the other Democratic candidates for passing
Obamacare
.
So for now, just know that everything you hear from the President
will play to that base. And everything you hear from the Democrats won’t matter
to theirs.
Which proves that all these years later, Will Rogers is
still right.
“I’m not a member of an organized party, I’m a Democrat.”
Good riding with ya.
(Joel Heitkamp is a talk show host on the Mighty 790 KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. His award-winning program, “News & Views,” can be heard weekdays from 8 – 11 a.m. Follow Joel on Twitter @JoelKFGO.)
