I used to think single-issue voters were totally off-base. I mean, everything’s connected.
Political issues never stand alone. The solution to whatever problem motivates the single-issue voter will always affect other problems and other citizens. A good example is an issue that is central to this year’s presidential election, abortion.
As we’ve seen recently, abortion is not just one thing. Its tentacles reach deeply into many women’s lives. IVF is a good example. When a woman’s artificially fertilized egg is planted in her uterus, other fertilized eggs are often accidentally destroyed or are discarded once the procedure is completed.
Richard Conville
Many single-issue, anti-abortion voters believe a fertilized egg is a person and that destroying an embryo is murder. That single-issue voter will therefore favor banning IVF. Banning IVF then closes off to thousands of women the option of pregnancy and birthing children. In other words, “The solution to whatever problem motivates the single-issue voter will always affect other problems and other citizens.” And, therefore, the so-called “single-issue” is no longer single, but multiple.
Take another aspect of the abortion issue: Some single-issue, anti-abortion voters will take a more humane approach and support abortion to save the life of the mother. On the surface, that sounds reasonable and even compassionate. However, that stance brings with it a sticky problem of medical ethics.
It goes something like this: How near death must a mother be for the exception to be invoked (“to save the life of the mother”)? Would it take two or three organ failures (instead of just one)? Would she have to lose consciousness? Would her oxygen absorption have to dip below 90%? In other words, “The solution to whatever problem motivates the single-issue voter will always affect other problems and other citizens.” And, therefore, the so-called “single-issue” is no longer single, but multiple.
These are examples of problems created by citizens who base their voting decisions on just one issue. Plainly put, there’s no such thing as a “single issue.” Or so I thought.
“This year, as we approach the presidential election, I have become a single- issue voter.”
But this year, as we approach the presidential election, I have become a single- issue voter. Why? Because the preservation of the democratic institutions and practices that have Made America Already Great are on the ballot this year. And the former president has demonstrated he will trample those institutions and practices, were he to return to the White House.
First, he has shown us he is willing to use violence to secure political power. January 6 is Exhibit A. Do not forget: On that day, a mob of his followers broke into the Capitol and interrupted the certification of electoral votes from the states. They beat Capitol Police officers, broke into the Senate chamber, rummaged through the desks, sacked offices and left behind them a trail of excrement and the echoes of their chant, “Hang Mike Pence.”
Second, the former president has selected two people groups to scapegoat as the source of all our problems: immigrants and political opponents. And he has said publicly and multiple times that he would use the U.S. military to deport the immigrants and deal with his opponents.
Third, he would surround himself with those who worship him (or who are afraid to cross him). He has told us of his plans to direct the Justice Department to prosecute those who oppose him. And abolishing the Civil Service would have him appointing only loyalists to run government agencies: Internal Revenue Agents, Agriculture Department county agents, National Park superintendents. Above all else, he wants to emulate the “strong man” leaders of Russia, China and North Korea.
Finally, the former president does not argue policy or try to persuade others of the wisdom of his policies. He only denigrates his political opponents. Daily he demeans, dishonors, belittles, puts down, denounces, ridicules, slams, excoriates, pans, heckles, shames, humiliates, jeers at, condemns, derides, makes fun of and taunts those he sees as enemies — anyone who stands in his path to power.
He has told us over and over how he would govern. A second Trump administration would be propelled by violence, powered by hatred of scapegoats, propped up by a league of cowering yes-men, fed a daily diet of ridicule.
So I am a single-issue voter this time around (and notice: just like abortion, my “single-issue” is actually multiple.).
I want the Already Great America to continue to provide for a free press, freedom of religion and due process; to protect the vulnerable among us, both young and old; to protect the rest of us from the abuses of large corporations; to stave off our international enemies; and to protect this fragile earth, the only home we have.
The single issue of protecting American democracy overrides all other issues for me this time around. I will vote for Kamala Harris for president, and I invite you to join me.
Richard Conville is professor emeritus of communication studies at The University of Southern Mississippi and 46-year resident of Hattiesburg, Miss. This column was published in the Oct. 31, issue of The Pine Belt News.
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