rkw

As an aging liberal, I increasingly respect conservatives who are “Sasse-y and Flake-y”. I use this phrase to help me remember the names of the two conservatives whose books I’ve recently enjoyed reading: Ben Sasse, author of The Vanishing American Adult and Jeff Flake, author of Conscience of a Conservative: A Rejection of Destructive Politics and a Return to Principle.

I was raised by a Republican father and Democratic mother. As a child I heard them discuss and agree who would get their votes in each election. I guess, by the standards of their time, that they both would have been considered to be moderates in their parties. For me, it was just interesting to hear their conversations about politics, especially about presidential candidates.

Even though the state of my youth, South Dakota, was always predominately Republican, many folks still voted on more than just party affiliation. That’s how Democrats like George McGovern, James Abourezk, Tom Daschle, and Tim Johnson were able to become South Dakota senators.

It’s now my hope that the Republican party might actually return to the principled compassion embodied so well by conservatives like Sasse and Flake. Should that happen, it might encourage something similar in the orientation of the Democratic party as well.

And if not, well, I won’t be living through many more national elections anyway....

#100daystooffload Day 1 (written with StackEdit)