Republican Like Me - Book 8

The title to this book references another book from decades ago, Black Like Me.  I remember being required to read this in high school  It's about a white guy who somehow gets his skin darkened and then goes to live in the south as a Black man in the era just as the Civil Rights movement was starting up.  Ken Stern, the author of Republican Like Me, kind of does the same thing, albeit, it is much easier.  Stern is a solid Democrat.  He's married to a staffer for a Democrat on the Hill.  He worked for NPR for almost a decade as vice president and then CEO.  He lives on Hobart St. NW in Washington DC where at the annual block party they take a pledge to welcome all people, black and white, straight or gay - except Republicans.  That last part is supposed to be a joke, but in actually Stern can't find any Republicans living in his neighborhood.  He realizes he's in a bubble.  So he vows to spend a year like a Republican, doing conservative things and really checking out the people he and all around him see as stereotypes.

This was the edition I read in high school

I admired this author immensely.  He is a great writer and a man of integrity and honesty.  He is able to present the good and the bad of both sides of an issue in a clear and nuanced way.  He's done tons of research and everything is backed up with facts and stats.  Stern attends Trump rallies, goes pig hunting in Texas, visits out of work coal miners in Appalachia, meets James O'Keefe (whom he really dislikes!) at the Right On line conference.  He attends church with evangelicals (he's a non-religious Jew married to a fallen away Catholic).  Stern's open mindedness and willing to give credit where credit is due and to criticize things that are not sound, even if it's a liberal policy, made my trust in the author grow as I read the book.  I don't agree with Stern on many issues.  I am a social conservative and he is not, nevertheless, I felt grateful that such a man exists and was able to write such an insightful and honest book.  He tackles every prickly issue head on as objectively as possible, weighs and examines the opposing approaches and then deftly goes through and explains all the strengths and weaknesses of both arguments.

After his year of "being Republican' Stern does not return to being a Democrat.  Instead he identifies as a Independent. He's angry at the Democratic party for abandoning the middle class, a move that lead to the rise of Trump, who took advantage of that vacuum.  His views on gun control, environmentalism and the media have changed.

Stern ends the book by intoning Lincoln's famous line from his 1st inaugural address, "Though passion may have strained, it must not break the bonds of affection."  The thing that frightens and dismays Stern is that we have grown so intolerant of each other.  With the demise of religion and unions, people are becoming more politically tribal. Wanting to be part of a group and have that 'team' win is instinctive in humans, but bad for democracy.  We have to fight than tendency   But there's hope.  And basically that hope involves getting outside your own bubble and talking to real people, face to face.

I highly recommend this book!  Two thumbs up.  I am going to recommend to the local Better-Angels group for their book club (unless they already know about.  I'm new at Better-Angels and don't really know what they've done in the past).

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