God, Guns, and Gays

We've all seen a zillion diaries now worrying about the gay marriage issue, often blaming it for Kerry's loss, arguing about whether we should oppose gay marriage or defend it or just try to avoid the subject altogether. And to all the people doing all the worrying, i have two words...

Gun control.

Ohio. Nevada. New Mexico. Colorado. Iowa. Missouri. Virginia. Florida. All states where the vote was within 10%, sometimes within 1%. All states full of gun nuts.

I'm saying that Kerry's generic Democrat stance on gun control cost us more votes than gay marriage. And it probably cost us the election.

Something very basic, and very important... gun nuts are a special form of single-issue voter. They won't vote FOR you because of your gun stance, but they'll vote AGAINST you. A lot of these people are basically Democrats, EXCEPT for the gun issue. And they wind up voting Republican. I remember just before the 2002 election, having a conversation with one of the Protection guys (federal police) at work. He was trying to decide between Wellstone and Coleman. He agreed with Wellstone on everything BUT guns. He voted for Coleman.

A goose hunting photo op a couple of weeks before the election didn't fool anyone. Voters know pandering when they see it. Saying "I'm a sportsman too" doesn't look like understanding, it looks like condescension.

But this is something we can do something about, and we can do it without selling our souls. As usual, Howard Dean was right. Frame gun control as a state's rights issue. What is appropriate gun control for New York is not appropriate for, say, New Mexico.

We don't need to tell one of our best voting blocs that they're less than equal under the law. We don't need to pander. We sure as hell don't need to try to move farther right than the GOP.  Hell, we don't have to move "right" at all on this - state's rights is a different direction altogether. And it's a good wedge, too... the GOP would have to argue AGAINST state's rights, and a lot of gun nuts are federalists, too. State's rights is one of the cores of Southern identity as well.

This is just basic, folks. Stop panicking about what the SCLM is telling you to panic about, and start thinking about low-cost solutions to bring voters back to the Democratic Party... solutions that don't sell out the rights of citizens.