The Jungle Book

An article in the Washington Examniner accuses Democrats of voting for Ron Paul in the Republican caucus to disrupt the Republican nomination process.

In Iowa, according to Rasmussen, just 51 percent of Paul supporters consider themselves Republicans."Paul is doing the best job of getting those people who aren't really Republicans but say they're going to vote in the Republican primary," explains Smith. Among that group are libertarians, dissatisfied independents and Democrats who are "trying to throw a monkey wrench in the campaign by voting for someone who is more philosophically extreme," says Smith.

Or maybe not. I'm here in Iowa now, and recently had an interesting conversation with my mother. By way of background, she has traditionally been quite liberal, to the point where a socialist city councilwoman asked whether she wanted to run for council when the socialist retired. And yet...

On our way to the mall one day she spent 20 minutes telling us about her friend's daughter, who had opened a bakery cafe in a small town nearby. All had been going well for the first six months, with plenty of satisfied customers, until health inspectors informed her of a new regulation that required her to install pricey water filter in the bathroom. She had a filter for the kitchen, the bathroom used the same tap water that her customers drank at home, and her mother's quilt shop next door used tap water in the bathroom, but she either had to spend $10,000 or close down. She didn't have the money, so she closed her doors. Some time later, the only other restaurant in town closed for the same reason.

The government needs to get out of our lives. It just needs to get out.

Said the once-socialist. When I answered a phone survey and quizzed her for responses, she named Ron Paul as who she'd support. She doesn't plan on going to the caucus, but if she is any indication, I think people outside the Beltway need to realize that support for Ron Paul reflects a deep--and bi-partisan--distaste for the way politicians of both parties have allowed the kudzu-like growth of government.