if congresspeople were getting payoffs, and that was driving their votes, they'd try to be quiet about it. they wouldn't send christmas cards of them holding guns with their kids.
Replies
I get that a lot of people on the left wish that the only enemy was capitalism, but that's just not how it works. fascism is really popular. fascist conspiracy theories and fascist identities drive the gun cult, and that's why politicians hate gun control.
aug 31, 2025, 4:08 am • 67 15 • view
I think climate policy and health insurance are more directly driven by donations...though even there it's complicated, because a lot of people in this country identify strongly with the rich...
aug 31, 2025, 4:09 am • 32 5 • view
Notice also that Republicans have based opposition to climate policy on cultural identity — AOC taking away your cheeseburgers, Biden taking away your gas stove.
aug 31, 2025, 4:35 am • 32 6 • view
right...though that all seems pretty half assed compared to guns. LIke, there I can see donations driving these sad efforts to claim some kind of cultural resonance.
aug 31, 2025, 4:37 am • 4 0 • view
which works more or less well, but the dynamic with guns is pretty different, I think.
aug 31, 2025, 4:38 am • 3 0 • view
and/or have reactionary biases related to fascist logics (hatred of collective action for good, for example.)
aug 31, 2025, 4:10 am • 24 3 • view
anyway. I've seen reich say this over and over; he is smart enough to know it's not true. there's been a fair amount of analysis/scholarship/discussion of the fact that gun policy is not driven by nra donations.
aug 31, 2025, 4:11 am • 20 3 • view
Being smart enough is necessary but not sufficient to know the truth
aug 31, 2025, 4:17 am • 1 0 • view
I'm not sure if he just doesn't want to believe it or thinks its a good talking point or some combination, but I wish he'd cut it out.
aug 31, 2025, 4:11 am • 15 1 • view
misinforming people about this stuff does not help. if you craft strategy based on the idea that NRA donations drive votes, you're going to have a losing strategy, because that's not what's going on.
aug 31, 2025, 4:12 am • 24 4 • view
like, stricter laws on campaign donations would have zero effect on getting gun laws passed. the only thing that will work is breaking fascist power, which means at a minimum enfranchising DC.
aug 31, 2025, 4:14 am • 23 2 • view
and I wish the anti gun forces were clear about that. changing the composition of the senate and the SC is the only way forward for actual gun control.
aug 31, 2025, 4:14 am • 28 2 • view
talking about it as if we just need to get money out of politics or create a populist grassroots movement...those are both worthy things in themselves, but they're not going to transform gun policy, and I think it's really misleading to tell people they will.
aug 31, 2025, 4:15 am • 15 1 • view
Agree. But also, guns are like… the entirety of filmed entertainment at this point, all of Pop culture is a good guy with a gun. It’s lazy, but omnipresent. How do we undo 100 years of myth?
aug 31, 2025, 4:33 am • 2 0 • view