Thread by @RadioFreeTom

All of the talk about globalization and inequality reminds me of a moment I had with a friend 26 years ago. (I remember because it was during the 1992 election.) I have work to do, but I'll tell this and leave it at that. /1

He was a Reagan and GHWB voter who was going over to Bill Clinton because of the welfare state, closed factories, etc. His example was the TV in his small restaurant. "Why can't they make that in America?!" he railed.
I said: "Would you pay more for it if they did?" /2

"No," he huffed. "The companies should keep the jobs in America and just take less profit on it and keep the price low and sell more TVs."
I said: "People like pizza. Why don't you lower your prices so more people can have pizza?"
He exploded at this obvious craziness. /3

His rule was: other people in a capitalist economy should take less profit and enhance his life, while he should charge as much as the market would bear.
He voted twice for Clinton. Twice for Obama.
And then he voted for Trump. To get even, or something.
/4

I don't know how you argue with that. It's a view of the world that has no rules, no sense of civic engagement. He's my friend, but his view of government was a slot machine you just keep pulling the handle on until you hit the right combo for a payoff. /5

So, when I say I lack empathy, I find it a challenge even among my closest friends. (My brother railed against big government while collecting multiple pension and disability checks in Democratic-controlled Massachusetts, for *decades*. I love him, but...yes, he voted Trump.) /6

There has to be some way out of this. I think it's embracing *adulthood* and virtue, and chucking partisan categories about "government" in favor of some basic common sense. But hard to do when the folks you want to help keep shooting themselves in the foot. /7x