neither did Reagan
That's the selective revisionist amnesia post of the week.
No it's not. The religious right were courted for their votes. During the presidency of Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2, how much of their social agenda was ever accomplished? The RR backed them beause of "shared values" in the hopes that their agenda would progress under the candidates leadership. Did it?
I fear the same thing with the tea party. They helped to get a bunch of Republicans elected......but it remains to be seen if the status quo will change. Time will tell.
The truth in both instances, the RR and the TP are not big enough to go it alone and get candidates elected. All they can do is be the tipping factor.
The TP and the RR have a lot in common. Both are more or less natural GOP constituencies, both are large enough to be actively courted (dare I say used?) for their money, foot soldiers and votes but not large enough to split off and be successful if disaffected, and both have or had a large portion of members even among the leadership becoming politically active for the first time. So they weren't necessarily astute enough to have the influence on the party machine they hoped.
Nor, let's face it, would actually resolving their issues keep the group in the GOP pocket. Having those RR wedge issues to keep running on year after year was and is a big sell for the GOP. Why would they want them to go away?
I suppose I shouldn't speak of the TP in the past tense that way, but early indications don't bode any better for their agenda than they did for the RR. Time will tell.
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