Slog Comments

Let me provide a defense of the GOP, and explain why my default position would be to support them were they not such neanderthals on gay rights issues.

I drive a truck for a living. That living consists mostly of bringing food to people. There are states that recognize that what I do (i.e. playing an important role in keeping every man, woman and child in this country fed) is important. Those are almost universally the red states.

Blue states, especially those in the most liberal parts of the country, seem concerned almost entirely with throwing obstacles in my path. A huge problem is insufficient parking for trucks near the cities that presumably have millions of people who want to eat. Another problem is lack of facilities to clean the trailers to prevent food-borne illnesses. Another problem is overregulation of everything from diesel fuel facilities to whether or not I'm permitted to keep myself warn when the temperature drops below freezing. And on top of all this, the Obama administration has enacted new safety regulations that can result in my firing or loss of my license without the possibility of any kind of judicial oversight or review.

There are drivers who refuse to enter the state of California. My company actually has to pay us $150 extra to get drivers to agree to drive into New York City. And if you don't think this doesn't make it more expensive and more difficult to feed people in these areas.

The GOP today is, in many ways, a caricature of itself. Mitt Romney transparently does not have the interests of American workers at heart. But neither do the Democrats, at least not the workers who produce anything of value.

If you want to know why the FDR Democratic alliances fell apart, why blue collar voters supposedly vote against their own interests, it goes well beyond the social issues. We see, on a daily basis, the price of complying with all of the rules and regulations that Democrats sponsor. In the case of truck drivers who own their own trucks, they are the ones who must bear the cost of complying with those regulations. Incidentally, this is the lens through which the ACA is viewed-yet another government mandate to be complied with.

And this is also, in large part, why our wages are actually losing ground. Between the increasing cost of diesel (driven in part by oil and gas regulations and the push for more biofuels) and the increasing clean air and other regulations imposed, it's no wonder that company drivers today are paid nominal wages similar to those they were paid in the 80s. That represents a massive real pay cut.

And that's with more time away from home. I'm lucky if I see my partner once a month.

Republicans at least acknowledge the existence of these problems. Democrats, on the other hand, long ago largely abandoned the interests of working class Americans, with the limited exception of that dwindling number with union jobs in the private sector.

In spite of that, I voted Democratic this election, even though it's a vote against my own economic interest. On balance, I consider the gay rights issues more important in the long run. And I think Romney would be a disastrous President, even though GWB would be a tough act to follow in that department.

But I an by no means solidly in the Democratic camp, and if the Republicans do ever have the sense to leave the Middle Ages on gay issues, I will be very tempted to look on them favorably.