They need to be in a pissed off mood on their way to the polls, and the reason has to be guns(or another conservative issue in our favor).
It's also not AS big of deal with PRESIDENTIAL races, but the races DOWN THE TICKET. Hell, I don't know all the candidate's 2a stands offhand in these races(it's nearly impossible), and I treasure a PAC.
10-20% of the membership does exactly what the NRA tells them election time. They need that ENDORSEMENT, especially when the candidates are not that well known.
The Democrats are for high taxes, gay and lesbian exaltation, bans on hunting, fishing and gun ownership, abortion on demand, abolition of the internal combustion engine and all related smokestack manufacturing, affirmative action and regulation of everything from tobacco to snowmobiles. The Democrats do not vote blue collar stalwarts' interests in ANY way any more. What are they thinking?
How do we get to those people? It's frustrating, because in Minnesota, the Iron Range folks are the ones who put people like Paul Wellstone and Mark Dayton into office, yet neither of those guys could go into a Hibbing bar and mingle with the locals in any comfortable way. Mark Dayton would be frozen in fear. To affect his earthy roots (as a professor of political economics (socialist)) Wellstone leaves all the "g"s off the end of his verbs when he's talking on behalf of the "workin" man. It's so contrived ... "I'm sayin' to all the workin' folks out here ... all who are seein' this great wealth and all this money goin' to the same old folks, yet you're bustin' your backs for your family, for your kids, earnin' your pay every day and still somehow you missed the boat, you are just scrapin' by". Hey Paul, how about eatin' me? That citizenry is culturally conservative, but they're too stupid to vote that way. You feel like grabbing them (if they weren't all 6'3" Croatians and Latvians with fists the size of canned hams) and saying "Hey, you don't HAVE to vote like Dad and Grampa and all the sometimes sober family always did, ok? Vote for you and your kids. The Dems hate you and disrespect everything you hold dear. Hey, listen to me! It's a secret ballot, nobody will know."
That's an incredibly mismatched bloc, and any GOP candidate that breaks through the collective blue collar brain damage is golden. The GOP should be winning all the manufacturing states, no excuse. Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Indiana, even Illinois ... the blue collar guys and women are reviled and despised by the gay, green, feminist, racist, gun grabbing Democrat elites and the midwest dairy farmers are getting ripped off by the New England patricians. How do the communists and cross dressing faculty from Harvard and the other Boston universities negate all those big burly Irish goofballs (like me) and their Italian counterparts who should NEVER vote for someone like Barney Frank or Ted Kennedy or Gerry Stubbs or Marty Meehan? Dan, I just think there are people who go through life and stuff just happens to them without review. What's up with that? I understand the mindset ... the Patriots won the big one, and the Bruins and Celtics are rocking and Red Sox are ready and that's more than enough for any man or woman to digest. "Yeah, I voted for the fag and the old drunk again, hey how about Billy G with two more goals last night?" Massachussetts is not big on female politicians, that's pretty apparent over the years. So they prefer their reps as sugar daddies for gay escorts and pedophiles hooking up with 17 year old male House Pages. It's a lunch bucket city, so I've heard.
That's not just Boston, I don't want to pick on them. It's a complete rational disconnection, smart and hard dealing people will drive 15 miles across town to save $60 on a dishwasher or $35 on a silverware set. Yet, they give up $12,000 a year in taxes with no clue, scrutiny, diligence or inquiry whatsoever. None. No idea how it's spent, who is spending it, what services they are getting back and why they are needed. They know every feature of the leaf blower they just saved a cool $15 by driving 25 minutes to another Wal Mart. The names of their county, state or U.S. Reps Hey, did you see the new leaf blower? It's hypnotized people, and the controlling amulet is the insidious withholding system. I know too many people like this, too many people whose eyes roll back in their skull when they complain about some fiscal shortcoming and I point out the thousands of dollars they pay to the county that they have no idea of destination or use. You dare bring up, or challenge, a political statement at a social gathering? You are more popular if you fart repeatedly in mixed company than if you initiate political chit chat. Nobody can back up their political philosophy, they know they should, and everyone agrees that it's just better left unexplored - and why can't Tom just talk about the joy of 7 year olds running around a big field aimlessly and occasionally getting close enough to maybe see someone actually kick a soccer ball? Stuff we talk about?