I’m part of an endangered species. We used to roam the wide plains of the Midwest and the open spaces of the American Southwest in vast herds. We could be found in thriving clusters throughout New England. Sadly now, we’ve been culled, driven out, and hunted as RhINOs.

I speak, of course, of that ever rarer creature, the publicly-declared moderate Republican. Derided as RhINOs (Republicans In Name Only) or driven into hiding, I know we’re still out there. I also know there are Democrats who don’t believe that everyone who disagrees with them is automatically a hick, racist, or ignorant, and who don’t feel businesses just exist to be blamed, milked, or nationalized.

Those of us in the “radical middle” need to come out of hiding...

read more