Although the religious right has long been the most reliable block of votes for the Republican party, I think that it is time for the Democrats to take another look at this group of potential supporters. Here’s why:
1. Republican gay sex scandals are now a common occurance. One of the tenets most sacred to the religious right is that of homosexuality being wrong. Since the very people that these voters have elected (believing that the politicians agreed on this sacred docrine) are the ones who are now attempting gay sex with underage pages and random men in public restrooms, they may begin to realize that these men will say ANYTHING to get elected and begin to doubt the wisdom of supporting a party of these liars.
2. Even the religious right is scared of Dick Cheney. While I am not particularly religious, I have many friends and relatives who are. Among those people, even the ones who will still come to “Der Murder Monkey’s” defense admit that they believe that Cheney is up to no good. Even Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee seems to share these misgivings, as he said on The Colbert Report that he would not want to go hunting with Dick Cheney.
3. One of the top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination is pro-choice. This is another issue that brings a knee-jerk reaction from the Pat Robertson crowd. A politician may have the cure to cancer, but he is still not going to get many votes from the religious right if he is pro-choice. This would be a good time for the Democrats to point to the fact that on some of the major issues, like abortion rights, the Republicans are moving leftward. This could cause still more of the religious right to reassess their adherence to a party that couldn’t care less about them financially (since studies have shown that most of the better-educated and more affluent Americans are among the less religious).
There are various ways that the Democrats could capitalize on these advantages, but I’ll have to agree with Bart that they probably won’t do it. This is the chance to take away the Republican’s most vocal support base, but I seriously doubt that it will happen.
I hope you are not suggesting that we pander to the right by being homophobic. I would say that we do have a chance of capturing some of the religious right because of the GOP scandals. However we should never stoop to their level of pandering to group that you don’t agree with morally.
Comment by N — September 14, 2007 @ 6:56 pm
Screw the religious right. They are an extreme minority and most should be investigated for tax fraud.
Comment by greyhawk — September 15, 2007 @ 2:27 pm
Gee, I thought the Religious Right was doing more than it fair share of the screwing, and that includes their designated catchers Ted Haggard and Paul Crouch!
Comment by JosephEBacon — September 16, 2007 @ 3:33 am
Well, I’m not saying that I particularly like the religious right. I’m just saying that they are a very vocal group who has proven themselves easily led in the past. I have some ideas as to how the Democrats could get the support of the relgious right, and fortunately, none of them involve stooping to homophobia. Thank you for your comments! I appreciate your taking the time to read what I had to say and tell me what you think.
Comment by idealistferret — September 16, 2007 @ 12:15 pm