Reply #25: And Here Is Another Reason

[iamjoy]

Politics makes strange bedfellows. To succeed in politics, some people change a position they have on an issue like guns or abortion. George HW Bush used to be Pro-Choice. Al Gore used to be Pro-Life. They changed. Perhaps these changes are a matter of convenience to advance their career, or maybe the milieu they inhabited for their career helped to reshape their views.

The Democratic party's support of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s chased large numbers of Southern Democrats into the Republican party. The South was more rural than the North (and we have already commented on the rural/urban differences on guns). So, the Republican Party became the "Pro-Gun" Party because their base was more likely to support it.

As for abortion, it's also part of the struggle for gender equality. The same people who supported equal rights regardless of race were likely to feel the same when it came to gender. Many Feminists feel that they only attain real equality if they can control when and if they have children.

Our political system (the US) does not encourage real dissent. I'm not talking about whether or not we need to fear criticizing our government, I mean within our parties. For Republicans, guns and abortion are the bully issues (there was no way McCain could pick Lieberman or Ridge as his running mate). As for Democrats, we may be a little flexible on guns and abortion (although I can't imagine a Pro-Life candidate on a national ticket), but not so much on organized labor. Of course, while Democrats must claim to support Unions, I don't know that there's always accountability for it.