“NRA Model”
Q: But isn’t that a direct way to get people involved, informing them about who to vote for to get the laws where they need to be? A: I’m not interested in people’s vote. I’m interested in people’s obsessive, single issue focus which expresses itself in a vote. I’m interested in an NRA model, not a Citizens for Gore Model. Q: What’s an NRA (National Rifle Association) model? A: The NRA model is: “Senator, I don’t care where you stand on abortion. Your position on the environment doesn’t mean a damn thing to me. You want to trade with China, you want to bomb China, that’s all fine. All I care about is my guns, see. So here’s the deal, you vote for me to keep my guns, I’m going to vote for you. I’m going to raise money for you, I’m going to campaign for you, I’m going to tell my friends about you. But if you don’t—regardless of how good a person you are elsewise, regardless if your opponent is Beelzebub—I’m going to do all that for him, the other guy.” And that terrorizes Congress into compliance. So I’m tired of liberals telling me “Well, children don’t vote.” Well you know, guns don’t vote but they seem to have a hell of a voice. That’s what I’m talking about, a single-issue obsessiveness like the anti-abortion maniacs. That’s what’s going to get a change, not people who simply register to vote. And indeed without that single issue you’re not going to have a candidate—that even if elected—is going to express your views. I’m going to vote for Gore because Gore is going to protect a woman’s right to choose. But I’m not voting for Gore because he’s spoken on my issue. The same with Bush, I can’t distinguish between them. Q: Why haven’t they spoken about it? A: No one’s demanding that they speak. People have demanded that they speak to the environment, to the goddamn internet, on all these cosmic social issues, people have demanded that they speak. You could not run for president of the United States without addressing these issues, but you can, demonstrably run without addressing the protection of children. Source: Interview “Andrew Vachss: Monster Hunter Slackers, Freaks, Mutants and the Future of Our Children” |