Dear Friends,

I’ve known Pat Bertroche for over a decade through our mutual involvement with radio. We also share the experience of running for Congress — Pat as a Republican, me as a Democrat. We both lost — but I got more votes than he did. So there, Pat.

Our rapport involves a lot of banter (see pervious paragraph). I ask Pat why he would allow a left-wing loony like me into his sensible conservative home.

“I appreciate you insisting on me putting you up for the night, eating my food, watching my TV,” joked Pat. “When I saw you at my door, I felt bad for you. You looked like a bedraggled kitten.”

That was after a mere six-mile march. Pat should have seen me after the previous day’s nineteen-mile slog.

“The truth is, when Republicans and Democrats actually talk we agree a lot more than we disagree,” says Pat. “Part of the problem these days is that the media — all media, both mainstream and social media — is driven by clicks. So you tend to say things that get clicks, that make headlines.”

So true. Sound bites that are partisan and inflammatory — not those inclined to build cooperation and understanding — are what drive media, now more than ever.

This evening, four of us — two left-wing loonies and two reasonable Republicans, in Pat’s words — gather in Pat’s man cave. We eat, drink, watch the Red Sox – Yankees playoff game, and discuss a wide range of issues. We find ourselves agreeing on more than we disagree.

Pat points out one thing the Democratic and Republican parties have in common: “If you disagree with the leadership within your party, they ostracize you. There always seems to be a purity test.”

Amen to that. That’s been so true of the Democratic Party over the years. I rebelled against the “purity test” several times. It’s why I was publicly flogged 24 years ago. (Watch that here, if you can stand the carnage.)

But perhaps it’s changing, at least within the Democratic Party. There are three Iowa Democrats running for higher office that give me hope that new leaders within the Party are moving away from the hyper-partisan corporate elitism that has dominated its message in recent decades. Those candidates are Rob Sand, Sarah Trone Garriott, and Josh Turek. Check ’em out.

I didn’t ask Pat if he could see himself voting for Rob, Sarah, or Josh. But my sense from this March is that most of the people I’ve talked with are hungry for a new direction and new leaders in both major parties.

The Republican Party, sadly, has become the Party of Trump. When Ashley Hinson announced her candidacy for the US Senate, she pledged her loyalty to Donald Trump, saying she would be Trump’s “strongest ally” in the US Senate. That level of unquestioning devotion to a leader is not healthy for the Republican Party, or for democracy.

Most people I talk with on the Save America March are very concerned about our slide toward authoritarianism. Pat has a nuanced perspective on that: “The reason we’re heading toward authoritarianism isn’t because of Trump. Every president over the years has slowly consolidated power because Congress refuses to exercise its duties. Trump’s only using the tools available to him … tools that every previous president has used.”

Though it’s unbecoming of me as a talk show host to let my guest have the last word, because he was such a generous host, I’ll leave the conversation at that.

CHECK OUT MY INTERVIEW WITH PAT HERE.

Thanks for reading, listening, and joining me on this 300-mile march. — Ed Fallon