On my dog walks I often encounter a delightful man with whom I engage in short conversations about several topics. With caution we touch on politics and find we are in agreement on many issues. He is concerned about the direction in which our country is headed.
But he and his wife will continue as they have in the past to vote the Republican ticket from top to bottom. Because they are strongly antiabortion, and that outweighs any other considerations. Their votes contributed to Trump’s win, which is helping the cause so dear to them but, even by their own admission, has damaged the country.
Then there are those whose rallying cry has become the ultra left platform of Medicare for All/Free College Tuition/Affordable Housing/Minimum Wage/Climate Change/etc. Daring to oppose any one of these initiatives, or even failing to endorse them whole heartedly, is sufficient reason not to receive their vote. These are the people in 2016 who stayed home or voted for a third-party candidate during that year’s election. Every vote they denied Hillary Clinton was effectively one vote for Trump. And they didn’t even get the benefit of my Republican voting friend, because not one of their issues has been advanced by the Trump administration.
There are a host of hot subjects that are all or nothing for some voters on both sides of the political spectrum:
I have strong feelings on these issues. Let’s check out my views.
I believe the gun situation in this country has spiraled out of control and the ridiculous calling forth of the Second Amendment is absurd.
I think the ultra-rich and major corporations should pay their fair share of taxes, just as the rest of us are doing. I’m disgusted the middle class has become threatened with extinction while so much of the wealth of the nation has been concentrated in the hands of a very few. I think small businesses should have tax relief.
I think anyone not in favor of protecting the environment is dooming the earth to a premature death.
So are those who don’t believe in climate change.
Just for the sake of argument, suppose candidate A supports my position on the last three of these questions but not on the first, the one on gun control. Further suppose opposing candidate B disagrees with me on all four.
Continuing the hypotheticals, let’s assume, even though all the issues are important to me, in truth I’m a single issue voter who makes my choice dependent on only the gun control question.
The views of both candidates A and B differ from mine on the subject. It’s a simple choice for me. I will support neither, either not voting at all or going for a third-party candidate who has no chance of election.
How stupid would that be! I’d be helping candidate B win which would result in all of my issues being disregarded. Whereas, if I had voted for candidate A and he won, I’d have a chance on 75% of the ones important to me.
The point, of course, is single issue voting can have disastrous consequences. Possibly even for the issue which motivated the vote.
Sometimes we just have to suck it up and look at the big picture.
But he and his wife will continue as they have in the past to vote the Republican ticket from top to bottom. Because they are strongly antiabortion, and that outweighs any other considerations. Their votes contributed to Trump’s win, which is helping the cause so dear to them but, even by their own admission, has damaged the country.
Then there are those whose rallying cry has become the ultra left platform of Medicare for All/Free College Tuition/Affordable Housing/Minimum Wage/Climate Change/etc. Daring to oppose any one of these initiatives, or even failing to endorse them whole heartedly, is sufficient reason not to receive their vote. These are the people in 2016 who stayed home or voted for a third-party candidate during that year’s election. Every vote they denied Hillary Clinton was effectively one vote for Trump. And they didn’t even get the benefit of my Republican voting friend, because not one of their issues has been advanced by the Trump administration.
There are a host of hot subjects that are all or nothing for some voters on both sides of the political spectrum:
- gun control versus eliminating gun restrictions
- increasing taxes or never any new taxes
- environmental protection or environmental destruction
- climate change or climate denial.
I have strong feelings on these issues. Let’s check out my views.
I believe the gun situation in this country has spiraled out of control and the ridiculous calling forth of the Second Amendment is absurd.
I think the ultra-rich and major corporations should pay their fair share of taxes, just as the rest of us are doing. I’m disgusted the middle class has become threatened with extinction while so much of the wealth of the nation has been concentrated in the hands of a very few. I think small businesses should have tax relief.
I think anyone not in favor of protecting the environment is dooming the earth to a premature death.
So are those who don’t believe in climate change.
Just for the sake of argument, suppose candidate A supports my position on the last three of these questions but not on the first, the one on gun control. Further suppose opposing candidate B disagrees with me on all four.
Continuing the hypotheticals, let’s assume, even though all the issues are important to me, in truth I’m a single issue voter who makes my choice dependent on only the gun control question.
The views of both candidates A and B differ from mine on the subject. It’s a simple choice for me. I will support neither, either not voting at all or going for a third-party candidate who has no chance of election.
How stupid would that be! I’d be helping candidate B win which would result in all of my issues being disregarded. Whereas, if I had voted for candidate A and he won, I’d have a chance on 75% of the ones important to me.
The point, of course, is single issue voting can have disastrous consequences. Possibly even for the issue which motivated the vote.
Sometimes we just have to suck it up and look at the big picture.
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