[conservatism_IS_compassion]

3. Top and bottom. Obama is the embodiment of the new Democratic Party that appeals to the very poor and the upscale, the one reliant on federal largess, the other making enough money not to care all that much about the taxes necessary to fund it. On almost every issue—environmentalism, social issues, larger government—there is a new alliance that simply downplays the ordeal of the larger middle class of all races and ethnicities, especially those who are self-employed and wedded to more traditional values. The hardware store owner, dentist, real estate salesperson, and farmer, are seen as the “boss” with capital to dispense to others, rather than the critical but harried entrepreneurs who get up each morning with no certainty of an income or benefits. The chief difference between the support for the new Obamism among those in the gated community (tastefully gated) and the barrio was the level of vehemence and near anger in which it was expressed—far greater the more upscale the neighborhood.

I have long said that the base of the Republican Party is the middle class, which needs political muscle to protect it from the pincher movement of the limosine liberal and the "poor" (in quotes since, like Americans generally, their main nutritional problem is how to hold their weight down).

[dsc]

“their main nutritional problem is how to hold their weight down).”

Don’t forget that good food is expensive, and cheap food is fattening.