[A]ll of America is really the real America. But...

“[A]ll of America is really the real America. But in the right wing world, they like to pretend that where I am at this moment, in the heart of Manhattan, is not the real America, that the real America is to be found away from the coasts, out there in the great middle, in places like Missouri.

The Sean Hannitys and Ann Coulters of the world like to pretend that that‘s where the real Americans live, real Americans who like the flag more than north-easterners do, and hate taxes more and hate everything liberal, and like everything that‘s Republican.

Here is some Heartland thinking, that Hannity world would not recognize, as coming from their notion of, the real America. It‘s from an editorial in Sunday‘s “St. Louis Post Dispatch,” that mourns the loss of the party of Lincoln, and as the editorial put it, “the party of lesser mortals, like George H.W. Bush of Texas, Bob Dole of Kansas, and Jack Danforth of Missouri, statesmen who put country before party.”

“In today‘s Republican party,” the editorial said, “we have the spectacle of smart patriotic men and women putting their brains and integrity on ice to please a party dominated by anti-intellectual, social Darwinists and the plutocrats who finance and mislead them. Consider the mythology that makes up GOP orthodoxy today.

“Imagine the contortions that cramp the brains and souls of men and women of intelligence and compassion who seek state and national office under the Republican banner. They must believe, despite the evidence of the 2008 financial collapse, that unregulated or at most lightly regulated financial markets are good for America and the world.

“They must believe, economic growth can be attained only by reducing corporate and individual tax rates, especially among the investor class, and by freeing business from environmental rules that have cleaned up America‘s air and water, and labor regulations that helped create America‘s middle class.

“Republican candidates for office must deny that health care is a basic right and resist a real attempt to change and improve the system. GOP candidates must scoff at scientific consensus about global warming.

Blame it on human activity, bad. Cite Noah‘s Ark as evidence, good.

“They must express at least some doubt about the science of evolution. They must insist, statistics and evidence to the contrary, that most of the nation‘s energy needs can be met safely with more domestic oil drilling, clean coal technology, and greater reliance on perfectly safe nuclear power plants.

“They must believe that all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States can be rounded up, detained, tried, repatriated and kept from returning at a reasonable cost. GOP candidates should at least hint that unemployment benefits keep people from seeking jobs.

“They must believe that the founding fathers wanting to guarantee individuals the absolute right to own high capacity rapid fire weapons that did not exist in the late 18th century.”

The “St. Louis Post Dispatch.” Those east coast Ivy League elitists at “The New York Times” could not have said it better.”