"Yup: Radicalized GOP is what killed expanded background checks"

[JHB]

5. It's not (just) the Internet, they started this long ago

This path started in the 70s with direct-mail fundraising, with computer-tailored form letters to push peoples' hot buttons, newsletters, and pre-Rush RW AM talk radio (e.g., Bob Grant, who was NYC-based but at night his show could reach as far as Ohio).

That expanded in the 80s as successes got copycats and more resources, and faxes and dial-in BBSs opened other avenues. Lets also not forget the Religious Right and their radio and cable networks. Finally media consolidation and weaponized vitriol gave us Rush, Newt, and the others who set the Republicans on their current course.

And I'd be remiss in not mentioning the billionaire- and corporate-funded think tanks and spin factories that helped feed all of the above.

This is no flash mob, it took time to dig themselves a hole this deep.