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what keillor points out is that the popular strain of modern conservatism is not compatible with american values. strong communities are not built by hyper-individualism, regressive taxation, or a lack of investment in social infrastructure.
they're built by good schools, safe streets, and strong families. what keillor is saying is that these values are not being served by the current Republican party. Enjoying his commentary is largely predicate on sharing his view, but that doesn't mean he didn't say something. I think part of it is that you have to understand it from a Minnesota lens.
We didn't give up on liberalism with LBJ, like Will suggests. We made it work, and even our republicans were liberal-they believed government could do good, and had a responsiblity to help when it could. But our suburbs are now breeding a vicious lot of anti-government zealots who are crumbling our schools, underfunding our emergency responders, pandering to xenophobia, and generally making a ruin of a once proud state. so, yeah...he comes across a little angry. He has a reason for that, though...
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