Zaller and his colleagues dub them "intense policy demanders," which, in today's G.O.P., includes all the familiar factions: religious leaders, gun enthusiasts, business élites, anti-tax activists, foreign-policy hawks.
The mosaic of madness includes but is not limited to: "9/11 "truthers," "birthers," "pro-lifers," government abolitionists, home-schoolers, creationists, secessionists, Constitutionalists, survivalists, militiamen, anti-immigrationists, religious fanatics, gun fanatics, anti-gay crusaders, and Ditto-heads.
Senator Hutchinson's defeat removes one of Congress's most emphatic religious, pro-gun and anti-abortion conservatives, a man whose campaign President Bush went to lengths to support.
In general, this means, said Zoja, echoing Lifton, that there is something "almost religious" about guns.
Cruz laid out seven areas where he urged caucusgoers to compare his record with that of his GOP rivals: abortion, religious liberty, guns, the Affordable Care Act, standing up to Washington, immigration and Iran policy.
In addition to religious conservatives and gun owners, Norquist reaches out to many groups not usually associated with the Republican Party.
But Cruz mostly spun a stump speech, warning about dangers to religious freedom and gun rights and his commitment to Israel, killing terrorists and abolishing the IRS.
Republicans are running in a world where border security is central and threats to religious liberty and gun rights run high.
Like laws conservatives support on abortion, voter ID, stop and frisk, and religious freedom, additional gun laws might be annoying for law-abiding Americans.
Too often, by focusing on specific acts of violence and possible specific causes, ranging from religious fundamentalism to gun proliferation, we forget about the big picture, our deepest assumptions about the place of violence in nature and history.
