Flathead Wade
 | |
| Era | The 2000s |
|---|---|
| Age | 40-49 |
| Home | Kalispell, MT |
| Demographic | white, contractor, patriot movement |
| Lean | Swing voter |
| Race | white |
| Predecessor | Bitterroot Dale |
| Successor | Montana Matt |
Wade is an excavation contractor in Montana's Flathead Valley and a veteran of the 1990s patriot movement who has become a constitutional libertarian. The Patriot Act convinces him that the two parties in Washington act as one, and he trusts only the politician Ron Paul.
Who they stand for
The militia movement of the 1990s dies out in two stages, first after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, when men like Wade quit rather than be associated with it, and again after the September 2001 attacks, when the federal government becomes the nation's protector for about a year. What replaces it is a constitutional libertarianism with new enemies and new media, including the 2005 Real ID Act, which Montana refuses to implement in 2007, the Patriot Act, the Supreme Court's Kelo ruling on eminent domain, and gun confiscations after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Alex Jones and Ron Paul's 2008 primary campaign become its leading voices, and it develops into the Tea Party and, in 2009, the Oath Keepers. In Montana it helps elect Jon Tester to the Senate in 2006 on a promise to repeal the Patriot Act, and the second-home boom in the Flathead Valley makes Californians the local grievance.
His predecessor, Dale, fears the ATF and the FBI, and gets his news from shortwave radio. His successor, Matt, fears surveillance and red-flag gun laws, gets his news online, and votes Republican. Wade stands outside both parties and votes for whichever candidate opposes the Patriot Act.
Playing to them
Wade rewards support for gun rights, the Tenth Amendment, property rights, an end to the Iraq war, repeal of the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act, sound money, and the loosening of federal control over public land. He belongs to neither political party. A Democrat who opposes government surveillance wins his vote, and a Republican who supports it loses his vote. The 2008 bank bailouts and the Federal Reserve's emergency lending convince him that both parties answer to the same banks.
He does not forgive surveillance, a gun registry, eminent domain seizures, a United Nations treaty, or the reintroduction of wolves. He argues rather than shouts, so a president who engages seriously with the Constitution's text can keep his respect without winning his vote. Winning his support by repealing the Patriot Act costs Fort Hood Cody, Security Mom Donna and Megachurch Heather, who want the Act kept and the war continued. His support for gun rights and his opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency cost Park Slope Dana and Fremont Anjali. On surveillance alone, he stands alongside Berkeley Leonard and Park Slope Dana, the one issue where these otherwise opposite personas agree.
Where they live
The five states where Flathead Wade makes up the largest share of the electorate in the 2000s:
- Montana
- Idaho
- Wyoming
- Alaska
- South Dakota
Lineage
Bitterroot Dale → Flathead Wade → Montana Matt
Same guns, same reading of the Constitution, a different enemy and a different information source each decade. Dale's enemies are the ATF and the FBI after Ruby Ridge and Waco, and he hears about them on shortwave radio. Wade's are the Patriot Act and the Federal Reserve, and he hears about them from Alex Jones and Ron Paul. Matt's are federal surveillance and red-flag gun laws, and he hears about them online. Each is less armed and more online than the last. Dale stood outside both parties. Matt votes Republican as a libertarian.