Republican Events are Very Different

Last week, Northampton County Executive John Brown had a nice little event at Williams Restaurant in Palmer Township. Since I received a mailer inviting me, I decided to join him. I'm not sure if the mailer was from his Auditor General campaign or from his official office, but that's no matter to me now.

This event was so different than anything you see at Democratic events. Instead of questions about education, gun control, the environment, expanding access to health care, and immigration reform, you get questions about veteran's benefits, cutting taxes, protecting the Second Amendment, cutting spending, and "people getting free stuff." During a discussion of the county prison, I heard a person say "give them bread and water." Most of the questions came from the angle that we need to get rid of programs. When Brown was talking about the "Cadillac Tax" portion of the ACA, he called it money that just goes to the federal government, where "it goes to people who get free stuff." You don't hear this stuff at Democratic events.

The people were different too. The crowd was very good, probably 50-60 deep when I was there. It was older, I'd say averaging in the mid-60s, and virtually all white. It was fairly suburban, and actually fairly middle class. Brown connected well to them, talking about how the recovery of the economy hasn't reached them, not in their home values or in their 401K's. You could see he knew how to speak their language.

Republicans speak a different political language than Democrats, and that was clear in this event. It's always good to take some time to see how the other side operates. I sure did in this case.