Jacksonville

A friend of mine had a letter published in the local fish wrap last week. He’s in his mid-seventies and one of about two white men from Florida that was a Republican before 1980. He’s smart, funny, and one of the nicest people I know. He’s also very well off and has been for almost half a century. I remember last year he was really excited because it was his fiftieth anniversary as a member of a country club, which meant he never had to pay annual dues again. His letter was about how much things have changed in Jacksonville since he moved here as a child in 1939. He gave a list of about fifteen bullet points of things that have sprung up in Jacksonville that make it a cool place to live, and he ended the letter by saying that not only was he willing to pay more taxes to keep Jacksonville growing but he felt it was the city’s responsibility to raise taxes. He gets a hard copy of the paper delivered to his door, which is strange because he doesn’t have a bird and doesn’t fish, so he didn’t see the comments on its web site. They were as stereotypical as they were ignorant. They’re the reason I don’t read the local paper, but I did because my friend had his letter published. It brought into sharp contrast the traditional pre-Reagan Republican and the dumbass that chooses a political party the same way he does a college football team. Jacksonville isn’t conservative. We’re not interested in smaller government. We’re interested in big government but we don’t think we should have to pay for it. Jacksonville is Republican and it’s killing the party. I write about this because I might be witnessing something historic, like when the Whig party went the way of the dinosaur. The complete disconnect from the idea that taxes fund government services, and fewer tax dollars means fewer government services. People here, educated people, don’t make the connection. I don’t care one way or the other. I’m a palm tree that will go any way the wind blows, but it’s interesting watching the collapse of an organization that had the world in the palm of its hand five years ago.