A reader comments on my latest column:
I am a native of Phoenix, Arizona, the epitome of suburban soccer/security mom, Mcmansion red state America. I also have traveled extensively in the UK. I haved lived in Boston for the past year, and it is very intriguing to realize that Boston, and indeed the entire Northeast, is culturally and even politically much closer to a foreign county – the UK – than it is to other contiguous parts of the same country like Arizona.
I agree. I certainly think that the differences between London and Boston are smaller than those between Boston and, say, Houston, or Miami, or Phoenix. It might also help explain the strains within contemporary conservatism. A British Tory or a New England Republican will be a limited government, libertarian type. Such a person may well feel more comfortable among conservative Democrats or Independents right now than among big government, Fundamentalist Republicans. Similarly, many conservative Democrats might consider voting Tory in England – at least now that the Tories have a decent chance of getting their act together.
The Dish 