Religious fundamentalist and Muslim zealots attached by extremism

                                                                         

When social norms change, sometimes they change so fast it's hard to keep up.
Only 10 years ago, ballot initiatives opposing gay marriage were helping Republicans win elections. But two weeks ago, when the Supreme Court effectively cleared the way for
 legal same-sex marriage, the response from Republican leaders was deafening silence.
In Red States, Many See Courts Eroding Their Values  Dec. 23, 2004
They were so quiet, some wondered whether the culture wars had finally ended with a Republican defeat.

Gary Bauer, a longtime social conservative activist, thinks that's nonsense.
"The idea that the culture wars are over is absurd," he says. “A war over the culture
 and the meaning of American liberty will continue to be a major factor in the
 American public debate.”

Other social conservative leaders agree with Bauer. Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said if the Republicans don't fight against gay marriage, he'll become an independent. Sen. Ted Cruz promised to introduce a constitutional amendment allowing states to ban gay marriage.
But those views are in the minority. While polls show opinion on some social issues, like abortion, are relatively stable, public opinion on gay marriage has changed —
and changed fast.

Democratic Party Embraces 'Values' DebateOct. 19, 2006
A majority of Americans now accept
 gay marriage, says Peter Levine, a political scientist at Tufts University.
He calls that “a profound generational change."

"In the long run, everyone's going to be for gay marriage," he says, "but in the short term, Republicans have a problem, which translates into a problem of perceived intolerance."
Conservative views on social issues, including gay marriage, are often called the third
leg of the Republican stool, alongside small government and strong defense. So the
party will have to adapt without alienating an important part of its voting coalition, says Ari Fleischer, who was a press secretary in the Bush White House.

"For Republicans, the challenge is if they take the issue uniquely as gay marriage head-on, many Republicans aren't going to want to change, who are older voters," Fleischer says. “Younger Republicans are willing to change on that issue — they already have changed."

The problem for the GOP is that right now there aren't enough young Republicans. Young people vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in national elections, and social issues are
one of the main reasons.

Calling For An End To The Culture Wars  Feb. 3, 2009
Kirsten Kukowski is the press secretary for the Republican National Committee, which is trying to help Republican candidates bridge the gap between the party’s base and changing public attitudes.

"For a long time we came across as maybe not as sensitive and not as compassionate on these issues," she says. “And I think a couple of years ago — right after the 2010
presidential election — for people in the RNC specifically, our strategists, a lot of our
 pollsters and a lot of the people around us in these campaigns, we sat down at the
table and said, ‘How do we change how we talk to voters?' "

Republicans are already changing. This year, most Republican candidates in tight races barely mention social issues on the stump. Others have moved to the center, disavowing their previous support for “personhood" amendments, which would give constitutional
rights to embryos. A handful of Republican Senate candidates have joined Planned Parenthood in supporting the idea of over-the-counter birth control.
In addition to RNC operatives, conservative intellectuals are also grappling with
 this problem.

“There's a group of us who are basically conservative but think that mainstream conservatism needs to rethink some of its strategic approaches and policy emphases,"
says Henry Olsen of the Ethics & Public Policy Center. "And we've been called reformicons, and we're fine with that."
Olsen and his fellow reform icons say social issues like gay marriage have to be navigated carefully — very carefully.

Evangelicals' New Chief Says Days Of Moral Majority Over  Aug. 30, 2013: 

“No Republican candidate can be nominated that openly supports
same-sex marriage. That doesn't mean that you need to talk about it in a way that implies disapproval or condemnation of gay and lesbian people. It certainly does not mean that you have to deny certain sorts of federal benefits that presumably could be extended to people without the formal extension of marriage," he says. “That sort of thing is the rhetoric of compassion and inclusion that a Republican candidate to win the presidency ought to pursue."

Gay marriage is where opinion is changing the fastest, but the public is also evolving on other issues, like immigration and climate change. The RNC’s Kirsten Kukowski says the party will debate all of this in the 2016 primary campaign.

“We're going to have a very interesting conversation in the next couple of months,"
she says. “And having been here through the last presidential [election] and then
through the midterms, this is going to be a very important conversation for Americans to have, and for us to have as a party.”

It’s clear where the public is going on issues like gay marriage — but not so clear where the Republican Party will end up. 

by MARA LIASSON
npr.org
                                                                                    
SOME COMMENTS:

The Original DB • 13 hours ago
The Republican Party's "perceived intolerance" of same-sex marriage is NOT a short term problem; their rabid intolerance of homosexuals has been the cornerstone of their party's platform for the past thirty years. Most Republican politicians would have no careers whatsoever had they not appealed to the ignorance and fears of their voting base by continually telling them who to hate and blame for their troubles in life. They just don't seem to have any constructive ideas to offer voters.

If the Republican Party cannot evolve on social issues, then it will have no place in our future.
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Ted S  The Original DB • 11 hours ago
Most Republican politicians would have no careers whatsoever had they not appealed to the ignorance and fears of their voting base---As Posted.

I have said it before, and I will shout it to the rafters until all of the U.S. hears it.

Those who appeal to fear as a motivation or persuasion tactic do so for one of two reasons.

One is that their position is too weak to stand on its own merits.

The other is that they are dishonest.
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ben balz  The Original DB • 9 hours ago
Bauer and those wingnuts are dead wrong: they've fully lost the American culture battle and those who cling to outmoded religious fundamentalist ideals in this country are increasingly perceived to resemble their zealot Muslim counterparts in the Middle East and elsewhere.
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Ted S  ben balz • 2 hours ago
Bauer and those wingnuts are dead wrong: they've fully lost the American culture battle--As Posted.

Which is why in another post I compared their mind set to the psychodynamics of those Japanese soldiers who continued to fight on in the Pacific Theatre after the surrender of Japan.

fundamentalist ideals in this country are increasingly perceived to resemble their zealot Muslim counterparts in the Middle East and elsewhere.---As Posted.

Again you are correct. Psychologically, it is referred to as projection and reaction formation.

Or as Shakespeare so succinctly put it all those centuries ago.

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks.
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Joe Osborne  The Original DB • 7 hours ago
The Republicans have spent the last 30 years building their campaign strategy on divisive "wedge" issues, banking on homophobia, sexism, anti-immigrant sentiments and religious zealotry to win them elections. It was a "culture war" as they called in the 1980's. They have lost the war, although they are still trying to fight some final battles.

Now they are looking at reversing course, but they've spent the last generation running on this, so if they turn around they lose the (dwindling) base they've built since the 1980's, but if they stay the course they're doomed in the long term.

Jerrymandering and bastions of regressive thought (the deep south comes to mind) will keep them from totally fading out for a long time, but in the long term they are facing obsolesence.
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thabe331  Joe Osborne • 5 hours ago
The Southern Strategy has hurt them in the long run. Distancing themselves from cities has put them in a very unenviable position
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Jeremy Scherr  The Original DB • 12 hours ago
One can certainly hope so. Either way counts as a win for America.
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robmorss  The Original DB • 6 hours ago
The trick for Republicans is to say "leave it to the states" when asked about gay marriage, knowing full well that the momentum is for acceptance of gay marriage, and in the rest of the states, the district courts, or even the Supremes at some point, will simply strike down the bans.