The souls of Republican folk, part 2
by David Atkins
Dave Weigel reports from Nevada, speaking to a local Republican caucus partcipant:
"This is going to sound rough," he said. "But if you're a Democrat, you are my enemy. Democrats piss me off. They've gotten extremely socialistic." What did that mean? "Every time they get in, they raise taxes. They screw things up. I've got a jeep I've had for ten years; I pay $100 a year on the license plate. We just got a new Dodge; $600 to license it. You pay your money, they pass it on to the Mexicans, the colored people. Free education, handouts, all of that." Kent was 67, and dated his disdain for socialism back to Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society. "We've got maybe two Democrats in Virginia City. One of them owns the second-biggest bar. I won't set a foot in the door.
I'm sure that if Democrats drop the nasty tribalism and capitulate on our values enough by allowing cuts to Medicare and outlawing of abortion, we can come to reasonable bipartisan compromise with these folks.
Surely there's something we can do to win this man's vote or at least soften his ire. And I'm sure that whatever it is, it will totally be worth it in the spirit of post-partisan unity.
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