To Understand the Shutdown You Have to Grasp the Mindset of the GOP Base
Fear of a changing society is one thing that unites all three factions. The battle over Obamacare, write the study’s authors, “goes to the heart of Republican base thinking about the essential political battle.”
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But there are also deep divisions within the base, according to the analysis. Evangelicals still focus overwhelmingly on social issues. They think gay rights are the biggest threat to our society, but they also worry about the loss of what they see as an idyllic small-town culture. They feel besieged as the cultural ground shifts beneath them, and see themselves as a beleaguered, “politically incorrect” minority.
Tea partiers display a libertarian streak, and are far less concerned with social issues. They are staunchly pro-business. But there’s an easy alliance between these two groups – which make up well over half of the GOP base – because Evangelicals think the tea partiers are fighting back, and vice versa.
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Unlike the tea partiers and Evangelicals, the moderate faction desperately wants lawmakers in Washington to find a common middle ground. They are less likely to worry about unauthorized immigration than the rest of the base, and some went so far as to speak positively about immigrants’ contributions to our society and economy.
http://billmoyers.com/2013/10/05/to-understand-the-shutdown-you-have-to-grasp-the-mindset-of-the-gop-base/That quarter made up of moderates is up for grabs, if the Democrats can persuade them that the evangelicals and tea-partiers are hopelessly nuts. They'll listen about immigration, and climate change, and they still believe in some form of government apart from the evangelicals desire to govern people's sex lives.
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