http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opinion/10brooks.html?_r=1&em&oref=slogin
David Brooks discusses the anti-“elite”, populist thinking that has turned Republicans from the Party of Lincoln* into the Party of Palin.
The political effects of this trend have been obvious. Republicans have alienated the highly educated regions – Silicon Valley, northern Virginia, the suburbs outside of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Raleigh-Durham. The West Coast and the Northeast are mostly gone.
The Republicans have alienated whole professions. Lawyers now donate to the Democratic Party over the Republican Party at 4-to-1 rates. With doctors, it’s 2-to-1. With tech executives, it’s 5-to-1. With investment bankers, it’s 2-to-1. It took talent for Republicans to lose the banking community.
*Who, it’s helpful to remember, was another limited-experience Illinois senator born to poor parents and who – through dint of self-discipline and self-improvement – rose to high political candidacy by way of the law.