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Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
#1
Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
I am fairly conservative compared to other members of this board. I take sympathy with many conservative positions and often style myself as a Goldwater conservative. I think there are many other conservative Atheists, they just tend to call themselves Libertarians instead. However I, like most conservative atheists don't vote republican, because the party is openly hostile towards Atheists.

As a conservative the Democrats offer nothing to me, even as an Atheist the best I can say that the Democrats are not hostile towards me. That's it. In fact in recent years Democrats have become a more openly religious party. As both a conservative and Atheist, I find Obama's support and expansion of Bush's faith based initiatives to be completely disgusting. Many of my more liberal friends seem to be either unaware or to forgive Obama for this because once in a blue moon he mentions the existence of 'non-believers' in a speech.

What I was really wondering though was with the floundering of Republicans in the elections, and the fact that young people are overwhelmingly more secular and less Christian than their parents, why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote? They have policies that could definitely be geared towards Atheists, such as a hostility towards Islam and mulitculturalism. Or are they just a bunch of old stubborn white men who are content on going down with the ship?
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#2
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
Because we are in league with Satan.
Cunt
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#3
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
(December 7, 2012 at 4:38 pm)frankiej Wrote: Because we are in league with Satan.

Oh right, I forgot. Hail Satan!
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#4
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?



I think there are a number of reasons, so I'll just start a list, albeit intentionally incomplete:

1) Atheists are still a hated minority; it doesn't serve any party's interest to embrace a minority hated by the majority,
2) Atheists don't form a cohesive voting bloc (herding cats, etc)
3) atheists don't have readily identifiable ideological leaders, so access is problematic
4) atheist's voting behavior is likely more reliably predicted by other demographic identifications (black, Hispanic, poor), and so you'd essentially be spending the same dollar twice (with less purchasing power) going after them
5) belief in their own propaganda; I think it's a common perception on the right that there does not exist a large contingent of dedicated atheists (much less the 'non-affiliated'), so for the conservative, the atheist pie simply isn't big enough or significant enough,
6) they already have strong ties to people of faith, who form a larger voting bloc, and whose affections would likely be estranged by openly courting atheists,
7) Atheists and atheism generally leads to controversy and conflict in a largely religious society, something which any politician (or business) would do well to distance themselves from,
...


If I think of others, I'll try to add them.


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#5
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
I don't know about that last bit. Those hookers seem to positively thrive on controversy and conflict. Hell, where there is none- they're always on hand to provide the spark then fuel the fire. If we all agreed on anything they'd be that much closer to unemployment.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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#6
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
As an theist, why should my religious standing count for anything at all when considering who to vote for? Since gods are non-beings, religion is an non-issue .. for atheists at least.

Admittedly politicians who attempt to establish religion or its values -because they are their religion's values- do rightly show up on our political radar. Stopping them is a valid concern, but it isn't as though there are any atheist values I want reflected in the government.

As a flaming liberal I can't imagine how the conservatives could ever use my religious views to lure me into their tent.
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#7
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
(December 7, 2012 at 4:54 pm)apophenia Wrote: 1) Atheists are still a hated minority; it doesn't serve any party's interest to embrace a minority hated by the majority,
2) Atheists don't form a cohesive voting bloc (herding cats, etc)
3) atheists don't have readily identifiable ideological leaders, so access is problematic
4) atheist's voting behavior is likely more reliably predicted by other demographic identifications (black, Hispanic, poor), and so you'd essentially be spending the same dollar twice (with less purchasing power) going after them
5) belief in their own propaganda; I think it's a common perception on the right that there does not exist a large contingent of dedicated atheists (much less the 'non-affiliated'), so for the conservative, the atheist pie simply isn't big enough or significant enough,
6) they already have strong ties to people of faith, who form a larger voting bloc, and whose affections would likely be estranged by openly courting atheists,
7) Atheists and atheism generally leads to controversy and conflict in a largely religious society, something which any politician (or business) would do well to distance themselves from,

One thing on your list that I take issue with is that Atheists (or other non-religious) don't vote as a bloc. I think they vote Democratic (or not at all.) If you look at these boards, you scarcely see a Republican Atheist (Tino) and a plethora of Democrats and some apathetic libertarians. Some of it seems to simply be because of Republican hostility. Strategically they might manage to drop that hostility from their platform and keep the religious vote. Karl Rove himself is 'not a person of faith' after all. Also the ties to religion doesn't particularly seem to be working, especially with an aging electorate.
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#8
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
Quote:why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?

Because their jesus freak allies would have a shit hemorrhage.
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#9
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
(December 7, 2012 at 4:36 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: They have policies that could definitely be geared towards Atheists, such as a hostility towards Islam.

Right, I can see it now, atheists across America getting in line to gang up on Islam with a bunch of Christian Republicans. Rolleyes
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#10
RE: Why don't Republicans go after the Atheist vote?
Why doesn't the KKK go after the Black vote?
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