Does Social Issues matter when deciding your political affiliation?

[AFTT47]

It's a matter of priorities.

I was first old enough to vote in 1980. I voted for Ronald Reagan twice and once for the elder George Bush. My priority then was strength in confronting the Soviet Union. I felt that Democrats of the time were weak in confronting the Soviet threat. Other issues were secondary. I also thought of the Republican party at that time as the party of common sense.

Things had changed by 1992. The Soviet Union no longer existed. Climate change was beginning to be recognized as a major threat. Bill Clinton was a very different Democratic candidate for President. He wasn't weak on national defense. He struck me as a sensible and capable leader. At the same time George Bush rejected the idea of dealing with climate changed. So I voted for Bill Clinton.

By 2000, my personal priorities had shifted somewhat. I had become a "militant atheist" at that point so the fact that the Republicans were firmly in bed with the religious right made me seriously oppose them. The rise of right-wing talk radio spearheaded by Rush Limbaugh began to make me look at them as irrational. The machinations of Newt Gingrich reinforced that thinking.

I was unhappy that Barrack Obama won the 2008 Democratic primary against Hilary Clinton as I perceived him as weak. I am still at the center or maybe a bit to the right when it comes to matters of national defense. Still, I embraced the Presidency of Barrack Obama - a very good and decent man IMHO.

Then came the collapse of the Republicans. I didn't see this coming. I (I am white) naively thought we had put racism behind us in the 1980s. But the election of Obama was like turning off the kitchen light and embolding the cockroaches of white supremacists to scurry out from under the refrigerator. Suddenly, it became fashionable to be a racist. again. And then it got much worse. Republicans not only embraced racism but ignorance. Science itself is rejected.

Then it got MUCH worse. Incredibly, Donald Fucking Trump was actually elected President of the United States. Five years later, I'm still flabbergasted. Now, we have a political party that not only is in bed with the religious right and white supremacists, embraces scientific ignorance like a badge of honor but also is actively engaged in an effort to overthrow democracy itself!

Social issues! Are you kidding me? Here in the US, we have a political party that is nothing less than an enemy of all that is good and decent. That is the ONLY issue as far as I'm concerned.