Just What Is The NRA's Hold Over Members Of Congress?....

[Johonny]

30. I always assume it was simply another fashionable way to be inclusive

Thus the NRA is more just inclusive symbolism and their real power is more a cult like status. Just as in the late 80s early 90s joining a megachurch was a sign you were doing the moral conservative thing. Becoming a member of the NRA is more and more just another conservative token that you are one of them. Getting an endorsement from the NRA is a rubber stamp that "your a proper conservative". Also, much like everything else in the GOP apparatus they get vastly more air time than their real influence. The GOP support the NRA because their voters support the NRA. Just as the GOP supports megachurch fundies because their voters support megachurch fundies. More and more the GOP is not so much a political organization but an inclusive cult. You need to believe the right things, donate the right way and be a member of the right organizations. Having an NRA card is another way to signal to the cult you are one of them. Meanwhile members of the NRA are making lots of $$$ just as those preachers did/do. They give a little back to politicians but more and more the NRA is about selling guns and ammo to people that really want guns and ammo because they are afraid. They are a marketing arm of the gun industry. Fear markets their guns and it motivates GOP voters so it was sort of bound to happen that they'd become linked in that cult like world.