Republicans are to blame for state’s changing politics

The writer of the "Delaware: Welcome to New Jersey" letter is unhappy because the politics of Delaware have changed. It has not changed simply because people who moved to the state are Democrats. It's changed over time because many became disheartened with the Republicans' promises of lower taxes bringing higher revenue (trickle down), their double talk of the government staying out of people's lives yet trying to legislate what they can do with their bodies or read in the library. Many Republicans now find it OK to simply lie when they don't like the facts. Most people see through this. There is a small percentage (35%) of the Republican party (less than 50% of the country) that has been convinced by partisan media otherwise.  

As Delaware goes, so go the parts of the country that are populated (not rural). The last 15 to 20 years, as people of various backgrounds have watched, they have often turned away from Republican politicians that are extreme. They profess lower taxes, yet taxes are only lower for the top 1% and business. They profess less government, but in reality they cannot define what they want the government to do less of or stop doing. You can't have less government and continue providing the same services. The discretionary part of the budget is roughly 20%. That's the only part that can be cut. Especially when people are unwilling to give anything up. My favorite was the hatred for socialized medicine followed by "don't touch my Medicare or Social Security." Those are both socialized programs. People say they don't want socialism, yet they already have and love socialist programs they depend on.

The problem with many Americans these days is they're short-sighted. They want to know how it will affect them today, not how it will affect society in 20 to 40 years. We could all nitpick programs started by either party that didn't pan out immediately but were started with the future in mind. The plan isn't for them to pan out in your lifetime, but in the lifetimes of your children and grandchildren. There are many such programs we enjoy now that were started when they wouldn't have been appreciated – electrification of rural areas, the national highway system. Some of these things take years or decades to pan out. We want our leaders to be forward-looking, not mired in the past. The internet was started and funded by the Defense Department in the ’60s. It did not become the world wide web until the 1990s. Yet can you imagine life without it today?

And in truth, Delaware politics hasn't changed all that much. At best Delaware was split. 

William Roth didn't win a statewide election by more than 60% but one time. Mike Castle was pro-choice and supported some gun-control measures. He voted against a constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage. The nonpartisan National Journal gave Castle an ideological composite score of 59% conservative and 41% liberal. His politics were more Democratic than Republican. Castle was a member of various liberal Republican organizations such as Republicans for Environmental Protection. He'd likely be called a RINO these days.